Ipt Hsc Essays

Ipt Hsc Essays Ipt Hsc Essay Ipt Hsc Essay Information Processes and Technology Study Notes Project Management ? Project Management is a planned and ongoing process that guides all the development tasks and resources throughout a projects development ? A Project Plan organises the project by specifying who will do the task, what has to be done, how the task is done, what resources are required, and what is to be expected ? PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES ? Active Listening: Listening to people is the main source of critical information required for a project to run smoothly. Listening is not the same as hearing; to listen requires attention and involvement ? Mirroring: Involves repeating back some of the speakers key words – indicating that you are interested and would like to know and understand more ? Paraphrasing: Listener uses their own words to explain what they think the speaker just said. The listener reflects feelings as well as meaning in their response ? Summarising: Listener confirms their understanding in the speakers mind, and hence helps to bring the conversation to an end ? Clarifying: Listener asks questions or makes statements that encourage the speaker to provide more detailed explanations ? Motivational: Encourage the speaker and reinforce in their mind that you are indeed listening and are interested in what they have to say ? Conflict Resolution: Need to manage conflict so that issues are resolved appropriately for all concerned, and in the best interests of the project ? Negotiation Skills: Negotiation should be a friendly exchange where differences are argued logically and in a reasoned manner. This can even prevent situations leading towards conflicts ? TEAM BUILDING SKILLS ? â€Å"Tuckman† Stages of Team Development: ? 1. Forming – Team members are only just getting to know each other ? 2. Storming – People are beginning to feel comfortable with each other ? 3. Norming – Team members now recognise their differences ? 4. Performing – The team is now operating as an effective, productive unit ? Team Building – building a team of two or more people with complimentary skills, behaviours and personalities who are committed to achieving a common goal ? Advantages – The people within the team are much more productive, and the systems they develop are of higher quality ? Disadvantages – Financial loss, employment loss and missed opportunities – unable to meet deadlines, produce quality work and operate within financial constraints ? PROJECT PLAN INCLUDES: ? Gantt Chart: Indicates when tasks need to be completed by ? Journal and Diary Entries: The diary is a record of appointments, events and meetings. The journal is a detailed record of what happened at each meeting, how tasks have been allocated, and when tasks are to be completed ? Funding Management Plan: Record of the scheduling and costing of tasks, and other expenses ? Communication Management Plan: Record of when meetings are to be held throughout the development of the information system ? SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES ? The work environment, including health and safety issues such as ergonomic design of furniture, appropriate lightning, and appropriate noise levels ? Security of data and information during development ? Copyright issues including who will retrain the copyrights for the new system ? Respect for the rights of needs and individual team members – such as privacy ? 1) UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM ? Systems Analyst: A person who analyses systems, determines requirements and designs new information systems ? Requirements: Features, properties or behaviours that a system must have to achieve its purpose ? Key Question 1: What are the problems with the existing system? ? Key Question 2: How does the existing system work? An understanding of the operations of the existing system must be understood ? Key Question 3: How do you identify the problems with the existing system? ? Answer to Question 3: Interview and Survey PARTICIPANTS in the existing system – They are able to identify problems and often they also have ideas in regard to solving these problems ? Answer to Question 3: Interview and Survey USERS in the existing system – Most information systems are primarily concerned with fulfilling the needs of its users, so their views and opinions on the systems are vital ? Prototype: Needs to be developed, and is produced to clarify how the system works, as well as clarify the nature of the problem, and represent how the new system may work ? After all the information has been gathered, a REQUIREMENTS REPORT is produced – A statement about the purpose/requirements of the new information system ? A requirements report includes aims and objectives of the system, and how it will HELP the organisation ? 2) MAKING DECISIONS/PLANNING ? Economic: to determine whether the system is affordable. This involves cost/benefit analysis to determine both initial costs to implement the system, and then recurring costs to maintain the system ? Operational: to determine whether a system will be usable by the target customers. The users must be able to effectively use, or to operate, the system ? Technical: to determine what hardware and software (Information Technology) is currently being used, and then to determine whether the hardware and software to build the system exists ? Scheduling: to determine the time frame in which a system must be developed. To determine whether it will be able to be completed within the specified time frame, it is useful to use project planning tools, such as Gantt Charts ? Traditional (Structured): AS the name suggests, involves very structured, step-by-step stages, which each must be completed before proceeding to the next step. – 1. Understanding the problem, 2. Planning, 3. Designing, 4. Implementing, 5. Testing, Evaluating and Maintaining ? Outsourcing: Involves using another company to develop parts of the system, or even the complete system ? Prototyping: A CIRCULAR approach to systems development, and new prototypes of the system are constantly being made in a loop before implementation: Designing Testing/Evaluating Understanding the Problem Designing†¦. The prototypes eventually evolve to a point where they become the final solution, and are essentially ready to move out of the loop, and for the next stage implementation ? Customisation: An existing system is customised to suit the needs and requirements of the new system. In reality – most business systems are customised versions of existing systems ? Participant: Means that the same people who will use and operate the final system develop the system ? Agile: An approach that places emphasis on the team developing the system rather than following a predefined structured development process ? 3) DESIGNING SOLUTIONS/DESIGNING ? Design Tools: ? System Flowcharts are a diagrammatic way or representing both the flow of data and logic through an information system [pic] ? Data Flow Diagrams describe the path data takes through a system. No logic, and no attempt is made to indicate the timing of events [pic] Context Diagrams are used to represent entire information systems [pic] ? A Data Dictionary contains a comprehensive description of each field in one of the databases associated with the information system. It commonly includes (4): field name, data type, field size, and a description of the purpose [pic] ? Storyboards give a general overview of the information system. They are used to document the screens used in a system, and the f low between them. ? Storyboards emphasise the user interface of a system rather than the functions performed by the system ? Linear Storyboard: modules are arranged in a sequence [pic] ? Hierarchical Storyboard: modules are arranged in descending levels [pic] ? Decision Tables represent all possible conditions and actions that will result |CONDITIONS |RULES |- |- |- | |Mark = 80 |Y |N |N |N | |Mark = 60 and =45 and

Change Management Essay Example for Free (#2)

Change Management Essay Essay Topic: Management , Development Many flaws can be found with the classical approach, the birth of which is widely accredited to Fredrick Taylor, in particular how employees became bitter and angry with the levels of â€Å"managerial thuggery† (Rose 1988) that Taylor promoted. There already existed high levels of worker-management conflict, and Taylors approach merely heightened the tensions that it had set out to tackle. Taylors view, and later, Henri Fayol’s view of how an organisation could be managed solely focused on the productivity of the worker and how efficiently work could be carried out. It did not take into account the morale of employees or any of their emotional needs, resulting in a workforce which became increasingly dissatisfied with their working environment. Mayo and Maslow developed an approach which was more emphasized on the management of worker morale and leadership rather than merely viewing employees as â€Å"greedy robots† (Rose 1988). This theory, which would evolve into what is known as the Human Relations approach to management, was focused on the thought that a happy and satisfied employee was a more productive employee. The classical approach to organisational management (1900-1930) emerged from the Industrial Revolution and was born out of a necessity to replace the â€Å"trial and error† approach, which was prevalent prior to this, with a more  focused and consistent approach to how an organisation should be managed. This new approach was focused on the efficiency of an organisation and in improving the performance and output of its employees. The classical approach can be divided into three main areas, scientific management, bureaucracy and administrative management. . (_Managing Change. Bernard Burnes)_ Fredrick Taylor (1856-1917) viewed the management of organisations production efficiency as a science and he is accredited with being the father of scientific management. Taylors view was that there was â€Å"one best way† to perform a task and his approach focused on breaking down each task so that it could be performed in the most efficient way. His research was heavily influenced by the studies of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth(1914). While Taylor was determined to reduce the time it took to complete a task, the Gilbreths tried to reduce the number of motions taken to complete a task. Taylor’s opinion was that â€Å"_human beings are predisposed to seek the maximum reward for the minimum effort†_ _(Taylor 1911)_ and to counteract this, managers must closely supervise workers to ensure that each predefined step in a task is carried out correctly. By breaking down each work process into smaller tasks controlled by the management, the knowledge required by workers about the work process is reduced. Workers become mere â€Å"cogs† in the machine that is the organisation, and can easily be replaced, as minimum training of a replacement worker is required. This in turn increases the managements control as the workers no longer have a monopoly of knowledge about the work process and cannot use their knowledge as a bargaining tool. Taylor, like the Gilbreths, believed that in order to increase a workers’ productivity, he should be motivated by monetary rewards for the amount of work he carries out. â€Å"_When a naturally energetic man works for a few days beside a lazy one, the logic of the situation is unanswerable ‘Why should I work hard when that lazy fellow gets the same pay that I do and does only half as much work?’ â€Å"(Taylor 1911)_ While Taylor and the Gilbreths were focused on improving the productivity of  individual workers at task level, Henri Fayol (1841-1925) with the administrative approach, was focused on efficiency at organisational level, top down as opposed to bottom up(Fayol, 1949). Fayols principles of organisation are; division of work, authority, discipline, unity of command ,unity of direction, subordination of individual interest to general interests, remuneration, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure of personnel, initiative, and esprit de corps.(Mullins,1989:201-3). Max Weber (1864-1924) developed the theory of bureaucratic management which, similarly to Fayols approach, was focused on the overall structure of an organisation. According to Weber a bureaucracy must have a number of distinct characteristics. It must have a hierarchical chain of command, where each employer is answerable to a superior, therefore power flows from the top down. Division of labour, where each task is broken down into smaller tasks, with different employees working on each separate part of the task. Each employee is selected on merit and qualification only with no bias shown to favourites. Formalised and detailed rules and regulations must be set out. The beginnings of the Human Relations approach can be traced back to studies on worker fatigue which were carried out while the scientific approach was still being established, and it is fair to say that both approaches overlap. Elton Mayo (1880-1949) expanded on these studies in the 1930’s, most notably with his Hawthorn experiments. (_Managing Change. Bernard Burnes)_ Mayo did not believe that workers were only concerned by monetary rewards, but instead suggested that by having their social needs met at work they would in turn be more motivated and their performance would improve. In his experiments he divided workers into groups and studied how their productivity responded to changes in the environment such as lighting and working conditions. To his surprise the worsening working conditions did not lead to worker productivity declining, in fact productivity increased. This  led him to conclude that workers motivation was increased by better communication, as the workers were consulted with prior to, and throughout the experiments. It was also concluded that workers performed better when they were in a team, and when they were receiving greater attention from their managers. (_http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/people_motivation_theories.htm_ ) Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) developed a management theory which is referred to as Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, as shown below. (image. http://chebri.com/commitment-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-and-herzberg-theory-of-hygiene-motivation-in-business/) Maslow believed that in order for a person to concentrate on the higher needs, first his lower, more basic needs must to be satisfied. He argued that once a person’s lowest level physiological and safety needs are met; the higher level needs become more important to them. For example in a management situation the physiological needs of an employee are things like adequate lunch breaks and sufficient wages. The safety needs are met when a safe working environment is provided. Social needs are satisfied when there is a sense of community in the working environment. The esteem needs of employees are the needs for recognition from superiors for work carried out and achievements. Self Actualisation is the need of an employee to reach their full potential, this need changes, as different levels of potential are met the employee then needs to attain a higher level. .(_http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/_ _)_ Douglas McGregor (1906-1964) stated that there are basically two types of manager, one who had a negative view of his employees and the other who had a more positive view. In his concept he called the negative view Theory X, and the positive one Theory Y. Theory X assumes that employees do not like work, and a threat of punishment is required to ensure that they perform to required standards. It is also of the assumption that workers do not have  any ambition and will avoid responsibility; they are primarily interested in security. Theory X could be used to describe the Classical approaches to management. Theory Y managers on the other hand take the human relations approach and assume that work is natural to people and can be a source of satisfaction to them. Theory Y managers believe that workers will seek responsibility and are motivated to meet goals. McGregor believed that managers who adapted the Theory X approach created an environment where workers were only motivated by financial or material gain, whereas Theory Y managers created a workplace where employees were more responsible and more willing to contribute. McGregor came to the conclusion that organisations needed to adapt the approach set out in Theory Y, which is essentially the human relations approach_._ For the purpose of this essay extensive research was carried out on the approaches that modern industries take regarding management. Information gathered from an interview with an employee of ESB Ireland, an electricity supplier which is one of the largest employers in Ireland, gave a unique insight into how this particular organisation continues to put into effect many facets of the human relations approach. Eoghan, who is employed as an electrical engineer, provided documentation and described how at the beginning of each year all employees have a one to one meeting with their manager to discuss and agree upon goals which they then attempt to achieve throughout the year. The employee is provided with guidance from their manager regarding the work processes on a continuous basis. The diagram shown below, which is taken from the ESB’s performance and development document, illustrates how formal and informal communication between manager and employee is seen as essential and is maintained throughout the year. _(Performance and Development Document ESB 2014)_ Coaching is also provided on a one to one basis with employees when it is  required. _†Coaching is a proven means, carried out in a confidential manner, by which more individual potential can be unlocked to achieve higher levels of career and business performance†_ _(ESB Performance and Development Document 2014)_ Through researching a case study carried out on building materials group CRH, similar approaches to performance management were identified. The CRH approach to performance management is broken down into three areas which are almost identical to those taken at ESB, these are; planning, coaching and reviewing. As is the case at ESB the work processes are carefully structured and discussed with the employee in the planning stage. Coaching is also carried out for each employee’s specific needs which in turn increases knowledge and improves communication. In the review stage each employee is assessed individually and given the opportunity to respond to feedback. _†Self-assessment, collection of information, appraisal and a review meeting all drive performance improvement†_ _(http://www.business2000.ie/pdf/pdf_10/crh_10th_ed.pdf)_ CRH are of the view that it is essential that employees are capable of working on their own initiative or as part of a team, as they state in their candidate requirements that candidates must have; _†Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team_ _Ability to analyse situations and develop innovative solutions_ _(http://www.business2000.ie/pdf/pdf_4/crh_4th_ed.pdf)_ It’s understood that the most important asset of any organisation is its employees, and trying to retain the services of these employees. The classical approach to management does not take this into account and instead is solely concerned with increasing productivity and extracting the maximum labour from its workers. It can be argued that the classical approach increases productivity and raises the output of each employee; however, in the long run it does not lead to a satisfied and contented workforce. This approach is dated when it comes to the fast paced business environment that exists today. In most modern workplaces it is essential that workers are capable of working on their own initiative and making important decisions themselves, the classical approach to management does nothing to promote or nurture these skills, and in fact it discourages them. The classical school of thought is that there is â€Å"one best way† for all organisations to be structured and operate _(Burnes. 2004)_, however, as established through this research, the approach that ESB takes disproves this theory, as each employee is treated as an individual and encouraged to provide opinion on how the work process should be structured and best performed. The meetings and one to one contact with managers gives the employee a clear understanding of what is expected of him and improves communication between the employee and management, which is one of the core aspects of the Human Relations Approach. These initial meetings as well as the guidance which is provided throughout year to the employee by ESB management is clearly influenced by Mayo’s conclusions following the Hawthorn experiments that employee morale and performance increased with better communication and prior consultation to the work process. _(Burnes. 2004)._ The coaching sessions which are provided at ESB help to improve skills and self-confidence in employees as well as providing management with the assurance that their workers are competent and performing to a high  standard. This type of approach to coaching and continuous improvement and learning is in direct contrast to the ideals of the Classical Approach, and particularly to Fredrick Taylors. Taylor believed in reducing employee’s knowledge about the work process rather than encouraging learning and understanding. By reducing the workers knowledge he believed that management had a greater control over their employee’s (_Burnes. Managing Change)._ The view taken by ESB is completely different, as they believe that the more skilled and confident that an employee becomes, the greater an asset to the organisation he will be. By providing training and coaching to employees ESB are investing in human capital, which means the more skilled an employee becomes the greater his economic value is to ESB_._ _(http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/humancapital.asp)_ There is a quote from CRH that appears in the case study which was researched which proves that their organisation embodies almost every aspect of the Human Relations approach; _†The challenge for CRH is to be a Group that attracts and retains people_ _not just because it is an industry leader but also because it provides a_ _culture and working environment which creates opportunities for all_ _employees to grow personally and professionally.†_ _(http://www.business2000.ie/pdf/pdf_4/crh_4th_ed.pdf)_ Tesco.http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tesco/developing-appropriate-leadership-styles/leadership-styles.html#axzz3JGcBkQ5Y http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol14-issue6/A01460105.pdf?id=7380 http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/frederick-taylor-theories-principles-contributions-to-management.html http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1911taylor.asp http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/people_motivation_theories.htm http://chebri.com/commitment-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-and-herzberg-theory-of-hygiene-motivation-in-business/ http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/ _http://www.business2000.ie/pdf/pdf_4/crh_4th_ed.pdf_ Change Management. (2016, Aug 06). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Employee motivation and Incentives Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee motivation and Incentives - Coursework Example Positive recognition is another very important factor, if an employee comes up with a great solution to a problem, he should be rewarded and appreciated for his creativity, this will also make the organization competition and the other employees will also put their thinking caps on. The fourth and the last method is by providing stock options to the employees, they will not only work for the same organization but they will start going that extra mile to ensure their growth, these are some of the best ways to hold on to employees who perform well in an organization. The most lucrative of all is the employee stock option, employees start working very hard after buying the shares of an organization and that organization grows by leaps and bounds. Part 2: The most common type of compensation is salary, almost every organization compensates its employees by paying them their salaries, organizations who think out of the box give their employees regular performance related bonuses which is the second type of compensation.

Stem Cell Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Stem Cell - Research Paper Example The consent of donation of human stem cells includes difficult dilemmas in the process of derivation. The most important ethical issues related to delivery of stem cells are Informed and voluntary consent, Creation of embryos for research purposes, destruction of embryos, benefits and risks of experimental intervention, medical risks of oocyte retrieval and protecting women infertility treatment. Despite of tremendous promise of HESC research it has faced enormous opposition because harvesting of HESC destroys human embryo. The derivation of HESC requires the removal of the uttermost layer also known as the trophoblast. The development of the process is facing heated opposition because it involves an unethical stand against the killing of innocent human embryos. This research paper deals with the responses that arise from the thesis question. Human stem cell research has a great effect on the advancement of medical technology against deadly diseases. There are mainly two type of stem cells derived from human body; embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are isolated from blastocysts found in its inner cell mass. On the other hand adult stem cells are found in human body tissues. The production of adult stem cells has been very helpful in the past few years because it has helped in treatments like transplantation of bone marrows. There are several other uses of stem cells that have helped in proper evolution of medical technology in the world. Earlier stem cells were obtained by killing human embryos. There were several controversies related to the harvesting process of stem cells. Human embryos are part of human beings that is formed as a result of reproduction process. The harvesting process of stem cells hence was regarded as an unethical stand. In the present circumstances stem cell research is widely used for treatment of a number of diseases. The treatment of diseases like diabetes,

Sexually Transmitted Diseases :: Essays Papers

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Perhaps the most prominently clashing border in the world is where the world’s super power lays beside a depressed country. The United States and Mexico has formed a very unique border culture where opposites must live together. The border stretching nearly two thousand miles is increasing in growth causing the already prevalent problems of drought, unemployment, pollution and peso devaluation only to engrave themselves deeper into Mexican culture. Now sexually transmitted diseases have added to the complicated web along the border. Sexually transmitted diseases are a threat that faces women of any ethnicity. Even with the increasing number of the various forms of contraception, venereal diseases are still abundant. In the United States, awareness programs implemented in schools and health clinics have produced an increase in having protected sex and therefore a decrease in sexually transmitted diseases. The success has been phenomenal and it has been proven that educat ion is the key for a healthier population. Unfortunately, Mexico has taken nearly the opposite effect. Faced with economic depression, Mexican women are battling teen pregnancy, venereal diseases and HIV infection at an alarmingly higher rate than the U.S. Mexican women have a lack of resources to help them understand the diseases, sexual awareness programs are scarce and ignorance is to blame. Ultimately, it narrows on two causes: the fact that Mexico is poverty-stricken and the cultural beliefs concerning condom use and family planning. The epitome of the American super power versus Mexican’s depressant state is the formation of the maquiladoras in Mexico. Maquiladoras are â€Å"American owned plants that depend on the nimble fingers for rapid assembly of parts that are shipped back to the U.S. (Carnegie Corporation 2)." Parts such as toys, sunglasses, garage door openers are assembled daily. It is advantageous for the U.S. because tiny, cumbersome, tedious work is accomplished by cheap labor. It can be argued that it is advantageous for Mexico as well in the sense that it provides thousands of jobs, but women in the maquilas are sexually harassed, depressed and taken advantaged of. While this report does not focus on the maquiladoras, their behavior must be examined because it is these factories that define and represent the border. Generally, maquila workers have less education, averaging a total of 7.3 schooling years, a low income, averaging $1.

Assessing A Company’s Future Financial Health Essay

Google is a multinational corporation that serves thousands of consumers worldwide. Through Internet related products such as Internet searches, maps, emails, mobile apps, and other online contents for users Google became the company it is today. Every employee of Google is different in his or her own way; making it a well-diversified organization similar to the global audience they serve. Google’s mission statement is to organize information from all around the world and make it universally accessible at a quick and orderly fashion. This means creating a search engine smart enough to understand the difference between Jaguar, the car, and jaguar, the animal. Google went public in 2004 and has been doing exceptionally well ever since. It has an estimated number of over three hundred million servers using the search engine every day. From these statistics it is easy to say that Google is number one in the Internet information industry. This industry is considered to be one of th e most important economic sectors due to the fact that it is for industries that are information intensive. Although there are many search engines similar to Google, such as Yahoo, Facebook, Groupon, Microsoft, and Pearson education, Google seems to be the one consumers use more frequently. The analysis of this paper will discuss the current financial status of Google, conditions relevant to the market, competitors, and recent news. One way to measure the financial health of Google’s current status is to analyze the S.W.O.T analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This being said Google should maintain its current strengths of a successful audience which helped reach a high of $13,100,000,000 operating income for the current fiscal year. With the growth of the company over the last five years Google’s net income, gross profit, and revenue have gradually increased. Hitting a low point towards the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 then rising again in 2010. Even  during a recession, a time of need, Google remained lucrative through its assets, liabilit ies, stable stock price, and efficiency for paying back debt. Google’s total assets have steadily increased from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008 to the second of 2009. This slow growth period is probably due to the economic recession. Google also saw a strong growth in assets from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter 2012. Google has mainly kept its liabilities relatively low compared to assets. There was some increase in liabilities in 2010 as well as an extensive increase 2012 compared to earlier years. The stock price during the recession drastically decreased for many companies but this was not the case for Google. In 2008, the beginning of the recession, Google’s stock price increased by $7; every year since the recession the stock price has risen and is predicted to continue rising for future years. Google also remains a strong company because of their efficiency on paying back their debt with their cash received from operations. This can be shown by their operating cash flow to total debt ratio. Google’s operating cash flow to total debt ratio is 2.56%. Meaning cash is double the amount of debt issued. Therefore, Google is able to pay back their debt fairly quick. Although Google has some strength’s the company also has some weaknesses. A key factor that contests Google’s respected reputation is its bond rating. In 2011 Google started to issue bonds; they received a rating of AA, the fourth down level of ratings a company can receive. However, the double a rating still means the company is a high credit-quality investment. According to credit rating Agency Moody’s, who gave the rating, Google received the rating due to their substantial financial flexibility as well as its conservative financial philosophy. For the year ending December 31, 2012 for Google, it finished with $60,454,000 in current assets. This is a big increase from 2011, which had $52,758,000 in current assets, a total increase of $7,696,000. The bulk of this increase is due to net  receivables, which could be the result from selling advertising space on credit or one of the many products Google offers. Cash and cash equivalents also had a major jump of $4,795,000, which could be the result from selling phones, advertising, apps, and other cash generating assets Google owns. This is a promising sign to investors because if they can sustain the growth hopefully enough cash will be retained and dividends will be offered. Assets 2012 2011 2010 Current Assets Cash and Cash Equivalents14,778,000 9,983,000 13,630,000 Short Term Investments33,310,000 34,643,000 21,345,000 Net Receivables 9,729,000 6,387,000 5,261,000 Inventory 505,000 35,000 – Other Current Assets 2,132,000 1,710,000 1,326,000 Total Current Assets 60,454,000 52,758,000 41, 562, 00 Google’s total assets have steadily increased dating back from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008 to the second of 2009. This slow growth period is probably due to the economic recession. Google also saw a strong growth in assets from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter 2012. Google has mainly kept its liabilities relatively low compared to assets. There was some increase in liabilities in 2010 as well as an extensive increase 2012 compared to earlier years. Google has a total asset turnover of .6%. The total asset turnover can be interpreted to mean the amount of sales, that each unit of assets can generate. Simply, it’s smarter to get more sales on the assets that you are deploying to a business. The higher the total asset turnover, the better the business is doing. Therefore, Google’s percentage of .6% is an indication that the company is below the average industry of .7%. The current ratio measures a company’s ability to pay short-term liabilities. The higher the current ratio, the more capable the company is of paying its liabilities. Google has a current ratio of 3.94, in comparison to the industry average of 4.8%. Due to the fact that Google is under the industry average it means that Google can pay  back its short-term debt but not as quick as other companies in the industry. The quick ratio is very similar to the current ratio; in the way it also measures the company’s ability to pay of short-term liabilities. The only difference is that it adds the inventory of the company to its calculations. Google maintains a quick ratio of 3.7, which still shows it, is efficient in paying off its short-term obligations. The debt to equity ratio indicates wha t proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. Google has a debt to equity ratio of 11.61%. This is considered high and means that the company has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. The high number can result in inconsistent earnings as a result of additional interest expense. Google has a return on assets of 10.5%. This is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. Since Google maintains an ROA below the industry average, of 15.6%, this shows that the company is earning less money on investments. Google has ‘day’s sales outstanding’ or DSO of 49.8. This means that Google takes a relatively long time to receive revenue once a sale has been made. This could be because most of their sales could be done on credit. With the expansion of the industry, Google has an opportunity for growth. The current growth rate for 2012 for Google is 11.29% and it is predicted to increase to 17.43% in 2013. The reason Google is predicted to grow over the next year or so is because the demand for online use is more predominant. With the growth of this industry it is vital that Google is aware of the threats it may encounter. One of Google’s biggest competitors, Microsoft, has introduced a newly organized search engine called Bing. The search engine Bing is gradually growing and advancing their technology making them a threat towards Google. Whenever Google advances their technology Bing turns around and does something to make their search engine better, creating a war between the two. Google is generally strong in its ability to cover debt. It has a current ratio of 3.94%, meaning it can efficiently cover its short-term liabilities. The company also has a debt to assets ratio of .07%. This number measures the company’s financial risk by determining how much of the company’s assets have been financed by debt. Since Google’s number is equal to industry average it is easy to infer that Google has average financial risk because its assets are significantly higher than its short and long term debt. Google also shows a strong ability to pay off their  interest because their EBITDA to interest ratio is extremely high at 154.64. The operating cash flow to total debt ratio measures how well the cash generated from Google’s operations covers current liabilities. Google’s operating cash flow to total debt ratio is also high at 2.56. This is a good sign and means Google is able to generate a large sum of cash to pay off debts. When a company with operating cash flow is considerably higher than its net income the company is considered to have high quality. This is the case with Google. In 2008 Google’s net income was $6,632,000,000 and its operating cash flow was $7,853,000,000. Over the last five years both net income and operating cash flows have increased. Net income increased to $13,339,000,000 and the cash from operating activities increase to $15,874,000,000. Since Google is generating a good amount of their money back they have been able to reduce debt alo ng with buying backs some of their stock. Google investing activities primarily consist of information technology, consumer discretionary, and financials. In 2008 Google’s investing activity started out at $5,319,000,000 and gradually increased over the last five years till it reached $19,041,000,000 in 2011. In the beginning of 2012 Google’s investing activities decreased to a $12,101,000,000. In 2012 Google’s main investment was information technology with a hint utility research. Over the last few years Google has spent an exceptional amount of money on capital expenditures, items that last a long time to keep the company running. Over the last three years Google spent an average of $2,755,333,000 on capital expenditures. Cash from financing activities measures the movement of cash between a firm, its owners, and creditors. Financing activities consist of issuing dividends and issuing or selling stock. In 2008 and 2009 there was no long-term or short-term debt issued but in 2010 Google issue over $5,246,000,000 worth of debt and only paid back $1,783,000,000 of the debt. The following year Google issued $10,179,000,000 dollars’ worth of debt and repaid more then 2/3s of the debt, making them a credible company. Over the last few years Google did not have any dividends. In 2010 Google repurchased a stock of $801,000,000 because they felt their stocks were undervalued. When a company buys back stock they increase their earnings per share and increase the market value of the outstanding shares. From 2009 to 2010 cash from financing increased drastically, from $233,000,000,000 to $3,050,000,000,000. With a CAPM beta of 1.23 and a P/E ratio of 21.65 Google is a riskier firm. Google’s beta of 1.23 is above average making it riskier than other firms in the industry due to the amount of debt issued. However, firms with higher risk have higher return. Google’s P/E ratio is also currently under the industry average of 28.70% making the stock undervalued. Over the next year Google had predicted that their P/E ratio would decrease to 17.88. Return on equity or ROE, shows a corporation’s profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. Relative to the industry average of 15.30% Google has a relatively high ROE of 17.18%. Meaning Google generates a strong profit with the money shareholders invested in the company. In comparison to Google, Microsoft has a ROE of 24.5%, EBay has a ROE of 21.28%, Akamai Technologies has a ROE of 8.94%, and Baidu with an exceptionally high ROE of 53.6%. Another way to compare Google to its competitors is to compare benchmarks. Benchmarking of Google’s competitors would be measured in terms of profit margin. The higher the profit margin the more profitable a company is. Google has a profit margin of 59.92 % while its biggest competitor Microsoft has a profit margin of 75.23% and Apple has a profit margin of 43.87%. This means that Microsoft has a competitive advantage of cost control compared to Google, Apple, and other com petitors in this industry. Throughout the years Google has remained a strong well-known company that supplies organized information from all around the world to thousands of consumers every day. Through exploiting strengths, executing opportunities, fixing weaknesses, and distinguishing threats Google can remain a top-notch company and continue to dominate the Internet Information system. Some recent news for this company is the mind-blowing lawsuit between Apple and Google. Within the last year Apple had sewed Google for seeking unreasonably high license fees for patent use on wireless technology. Apple claimed that Motorola was in violation of their patent by seeking a license fee of 2.25 percent of the price of devices. Over the last week Google was  pleased to hear that this lawsuit was dropped due to the fact that there was no basis for the claim. References: â€Å"Google Inc.† Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. . â€Å"Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results Investor Relations Google.† Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚€Ã‚“ Investor Relations ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚€Ã‚“ Google.n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012. â€Å"Reference for Business.† Google, Inc.N.p. n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.

Response Essay Everyday Use By Alice Walker - 1033 Words

Student’s Name: Professor: Class: Date: Response Essay on â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker Everyday Use is a short story written by Alice Walker as part of the story collection in the book Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. The short story is a powerful piece of writing that takes the reader on an insightful journey into the challenges, struggles, and realities of growing up as an African woman. The main issues that are palpable throughout the story are the issues of black consciousness and the stereotypes of rural black African women. I believe that the purpose of the text is to highlight the interconnectedness of the past and the present. The author wants the reader to appreciate the struggles and challenges that Black women faced†¦show more content†¦As African Americans gained civil rights, a new generation, eager to break away from past horrors, emerged while others remained chained to the specter of past inequality and poverty. The story scrutinizes the intense tensions and trains that were created as these two conflicting worlds came together. I believe that the short story clearly presents the stereotypes of rural Black women, and the challenges and struggles that African women faced with regard to heritage, personal fulfillment, and family relations as the past collided with the present realities. The concepts of family and Black women within this short story are highlighted by the fact that the three main characters among who the story revolves are all Black women and members of the same family. The clash of the past and future, personal fulfilment, heritage struggles, and the stereotyping of rural Black women is visible in the clear contrast of attitudes and ambitions of Dee and her boyfriend, who represent the future, and mama and her daughter Maggie, who in this case embody the past. The stereotypes of rural Black women are depicted in the seemingly dilapidated state of mama’s old homestead. 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