Preparing People to Manage, Support and Use of ERP systems Dissertation

Preparing People to Manage, Support and Use of ERP systems - Dissertation Example , the quantitative and qualitative data were subjected to both statistical and thematic analysis. The study has found that the employees who were investigated expressed that loss of control of the organisation and complexity of ERP were acceptable in their present organisation along with the effectiveness of the alignment of ERP to business process and strategy and the resistance of users. In addition, the study likewise found that Planning was a key enabler of ERP implementation, along with management of the project and education and training. The variable of culture has particularly been disagreed upon as an enabler of successful ERP implementation. In addition, it was also found that management of the project, education and training and involvement of users are all significant, positive predictors of effectiveness of ERP deployment. As such, a number of recommendations had been presented. Acknowledgements Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1. Background 9 1.2. Project Rationale 1 2 1.3.Project Aims and Objectives 13 1.3.1. Project Aims 13 1.3.2. Project Objectives 13 2. Literature Review 2.1. Introduction 14 2.2. ERP systems: A Brief Overview 14 2.2.1. The Importance of ERP systems 15 2.3. Obstacles to the Effective Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning 19 2.4. Factors that Positively Affect Effective ERP Implementation 25 2.5. Empirical Studies 32 2.6. Conclusions 37 2.6.1. Key Conclusions 38 2.6.2. Refined Research Questions 40 3. Research Methodology 3.1. Introduction 41 3.2. Research Philosophy 41 3.3. Research Strategy 42 3.4. Data Generation Methods 43 3.5. Data Analysis 46 3.6. Sampling 46 3.7. Ethics 47 3.8. Limitations 48 3.9. Conclusions 48 4. Results and Discussion 4.1. Introduction 50 4.2. Questionnaire Analysis 50 4.3. Interviews Analysis 74 4.3.1. Business Process and Strategy 74 4.3.2. Loss of Control of the Organisation 74 4.3.3. Complexity of ERP 75 4.3.4. User Acceptance/ Resistance of Users 75 4.3.5. Planning and Management of the Project 76 4.3.6. Teamwork 76 4.3.7. Support from Top Management 77 4.3.8. Communication 78 4.3.9. Management of Change/Culture 78 4.3.10. Education and Training 79 4.3.11. Overall Effectiveness of the ERP Implementation 79 4.4. Discussion 4.4.1. Introduction 80 4.4.2. Obstacles in ERP Implementation 80 4.4.3. Enablers in ERP Implementation 83 4.5. Conclusions 85 5. Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1. Conclusions 87 5.1.1. Conclusion 1 87 5.1.2. Conclusion 2 88 5.2. Recommendations 5.2.1 Recommendations 1 89 5.2.2. Recommendations 2 89 6. Personal Reflection 90 Bibliography 91 Appendices 97 List of Tables Table 1. Items measuring obstacles in ERP implementation 46 Table 2. Items measuring enablers in ERP implementation. 49 Table 3. Gender: Frequency and percentage breakdown. 50 Table 4.. Age: Frequency and percentage breakdown. 51 Table 5. Level: Frequency and percentage breakdown. 52 Table 6. Tenure: Frequency and percentage breakdown. 59 Table 7. Descriptive statistics:

Challenges facing advocacy in nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Challenges facing advocacy in nursing - Essay Example Reluctance is also a factor to nursing advocacy; nurses are in most cases reluctant to become politically involved. They have failed to attain a strong legislative voice. Legislators and policy have been seen to be more willing to deal with nurses as a group rather than as individuals; thus supporting and joining professional organizations. In addition nurse’s professional organizations generally espouse standards of care that are higher than those required by the law thus voluntary controls are often forerunners of legal controls as explained by Marquis & Huston (2008 P.89) . They should let the media know when their portrayals of nurses are inaccurate or in other words insulting. Negative picture portrayed of the Nursing profession; the nurses should fight and ensure they bring out a positive picture of their profession to others rather than just a misinterpretation. Advocacy in nursing wont succeed if a negative side of them is out their in the public, they should speak positively. Lack of media coverage is also a factor to advocacy in nursing; Nurses represent a majority number of healthcare professionals and yet they only account for a smaller portion of the quotations in health coverage by news media. Constello et al (2010 P.240) argues that, lack of appreciation from the public is of the challenges facing Nurses advocacy. There are many virtues and qualities that most nurses hold. These include clinical expertise and sharp assessment skills but in return, they do not get full appreciation from the public. Hudak et al (2008 P.130) attributes quality compensation Patient safety as posing challenge to nursing advocacy; enlightening and educating nurses about what to expect and how to cope with changes imposed by sources as Medicare thus they can learn how to advocate themselves as professionals so that a crisis can be avoided and meet the needs of aging population. Readmission of patients is also a challenge faced by nurses as they try to advocate.

Free

Free Will vs. Determinism Essay Free will and determinism are two opposing beliefs as far as responsibility for outcomes or results is concerned. Free will signifies that as we make choices and decisions by ourselves, we become responsible for the results of our decisions and actions. Determinism, on the other hand, tells that humans have no influence on the future and its events and that human beings’ influence on their future is determined by present and past occurrences. In this writing, we present an analysis of the realities of these two philosophies. We will go through two stories: Daisy Miller, a novel by British author Henry James; and The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story by American writer Charlotte Gilman. Our goal is to find out the extent of free will and determinism. Is reality a mix of these two principles? DAISY MILLER The main characters in this novel are Daisy Miller, a beautiful American girl, and her suitor Winterbourne, also an American. In their encounters in Switzerland and Italy, they fall under the scrutiny of people in the society surrounding them. Daisy’s flirtatious attitude is frowned upon by Mrs. Walker, a fellow American who owns a parlor in Rome. Mrs. Costello, Winterbourne’s conservative aunt, strongly disapproves of Daisy’s because she agreed to date with him after only a half hour of being acquainted with each other. Their Free Will Prevails Over Other People’s Opinions. Daisy is not dissuaded by the disapproving eyes of the other Americans, neither is she affected by the ineffectual attitude of her own mother. Winterbourne, on his part, continues to court Daisy despite the disapproval of his conservative aunt; It is their free will that made them stand against the minds of these other people who could have otherwise, influenced their decisions. Winterbourne could have acceded to his aunt’s desire if he chose to but he followed his own will and pursued courting Daisy. Daisy could have chosen to change her ways to gain the approval of her compatriots considering that they are all in a foreign land but she stuck to her own will to act and behave as she really is, although they can consider her as some sort of an outcast; someone who is not accepted in the society where she moves. Determinism Can Be More Closely Associated with Daisy’s Death. The novel was set in the 19th century during which time, the â€Å"Roman fever† (malaria) was endemic to many Roman neighborhoods. Winterbourne warns Daisy about its dangers upon seeing her in the Colosseum. Daisy rushes home but still, she catches the fever and dies a few days later. She could have been more careful and avoided catching the illness but this could be considered as something that is more out of her own control. This can be compared with accidents which can occur no matter how much care is taken by a person. There are outside forces that can go beyond one’s control. THE YELLOW WALLPAPER This is the story of a wife who falls into complete insanity after being locked up in the upstairs bedroom of a mansion rented by her husband, a physician, so that she can ‘recuperate’ from a ‘temporary nervous depression’ during one summer vacation. Determ inism is Observed from the Outset of the Story. The woman, who narrates this story as a series of journal entries, is locked up inside the bedroom against her will. She could not go out nor see the outside world, nor see her baby. She is completely controlled by actions of her husband. Her Free Will, at the Same Time, Remains Strong Within. Although she has fallen into insanity, her desire for freedom is made manifest by the visions that she sees in the wallpaper, especially the figure of a woman who is trying to escape from the bars of the shadows. In her mind, she has to free the woman in the wallpaper, thus she strips the designs off the wall, later on believing that she is the woman who has escaped from inside the wallpaper. In the end of the story, thinking that she is ‘free at last’, she steps on the unmoving body of her husband, symbolizing that she has triumphed and that her will and desire for freedom has been achieved. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO WORKS Both â€Å"Daisy Miller† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† are set in the 19th century. There were existing conditions at that time that interplayed in the plots of the stories: the Roman fever endemic that caused the death of Daisy Miller and androcentrism or male domination in human affairs that gave power to the physician to lock up his wife. In spite of these factors, the main female characters both carry in them strong wills. In â€Å"Daisy Miller†, the main characters live their lives in the outside world mingling with various personalities, as contrasted with the main character in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† who is locked up inside a barred room, dealing with herself all along. CONCLUSION From the above works, one may deduce that a person has a strong will and determination to do or to have what he wants without having to give to an outside factor neither any credit for a desired result nor any blame for a bad outcome. Factors beyond a person’s control, as strongly suggested in determinism, can truly cause the outcome in a situation but the interplay of free will always exists along with it. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte. The Yellow Wallpaper. United States: New England Magazine. 1892. Print James, Henry. Daisy Miller. United Kingdom: Cornhill Magazine. 1878. Print

Cold War Causes and Effects

Cold War Causes and Effects The timing of the Cold War was crucial and one of the most diverse in the recent world history. Not only was it a war of diversity, but a war of great length that lasted about fifty years. What made this time so significant was that the whole world was involved in this war in some way. The world was split into two opposite teams and one minor mistake could have easily resulted in another world war. The Cold War is different from most wars for the simple reason of it was a war that was never actually fought. The Cold War started because Europe lost power at the end of World War II. This left the Soviet Union and the United States competing for economic and military rule. Both countries believed their policies were the best and ultimately wanted all others to follow. George Kennan coined the term containment to describe the appropriate American response to dealing with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Ojserkis, 2003: 53). Containment was a way for the United States to stall the spread of communism and they used this as their main strategy. The United States used both economic and military tactics to ensure their security and influence policies against communism. The Cold War had relatively calm periods but also had periods of high tension. Despite many conflicts, there was never any military force directly between the Socialist and Capitalist. U.S. President Harry S. Truman developed the Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947. The policy stated that the U.S. would support Turkey and Gr eece to prevent their fall to communism. Several circumstances produced this unexpected presidential success in foreign affairs: the appointment of a new Secretary of State; Trumans own leadership-often erratic, but tough in responding to the large issues of foreign policy and national security; and an economic crisis in Europe (Hammond, 1969: 19). The Marshall Plan was a program developed by the United States to help aid European Countries after World War II. George C. Marshall was the man with the plan and his efforts for world peace would later be honored by the Nobel Peace Prize. The Marshall plan was also offered to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, but they did not accept it. The United Nations had the role of stopping wars between different countries. The Marshall Plan helped better the lives of many people. As soon as Congress had authorized the Marshall Plan expenditures for the first year, the Administration, with the cooperation of the Republic leadership in the House and Senate foreign relations committees, began to lay the legislative groundwork for the North Atlantic Treaty (Hammond, 1969: 26). The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, was created as a result of the Cold War and was designed as a defense mechanism against communism. Doubtless the Warsaw Pact, multilateral military alliance with a combin ed command structure, was largely what it appeared to be-a mirror image of NATO (Hammond, 1969: 57). Russia formed the Warsaw Pact as a comeback to the establishment of NATO. Our membership in NATO today is still necessary for peace among the nations. After World War II, the Soviet Union strengthened its military power enough that it felt able to challenge the United States in Europe. One major crisis of the Cold War involved the Soviet Union blocking grounds to Berlin in attempt to allow Communist to start supplying fuel and food. The Soviet Union wanted control over the city of Berlin and they thought by cutting off all ground supplies they could do so. Little did they know, the United Kingdom and United States would respond with the Berlin Airlift to reach the people of West Berlin with the supplies they needed. Flights were continued daily for about a year and then the block finally ended. How the United States and their allies overcame the block and helped the people of Berlin would determine their destinies for many years to come. Although the Berlin blockade undoubtedly increased Cold War tensions and helped foster the environment in which the American arms build-up would later develop, it did not, in itself, lead to any la rge and long-term strengthening of the U.S. military (Ojserkis, 2003: 23). The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. As a result of the collapse of the Communist, the Cold War ended. This is what finally gave the United States major military powers. A war without a fight is difficult to explain. That is what makes the Cold War so unique. This was an expensive war; both sides took hard hits financially and it lasted over four decades. The Cold War probably could not have been avoided since there were too many differences between the United States and Russia. With so many controversies between the leaders it is hard to believe that anything could have been done to have made them see eye to eye.

2005 Superbowl :: essays research papers

Pats vs. Eagles   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through the 2004-05 National Football League season, there was a lot of speculation about who would win the Super Bowl, just like every other year. As the regular season ended, it came down to just twelve teams, then eight, then four, then just two. Two teams who have worked very hard to represent their separate leagues, and the game they shared was a great one. Although the Philadelphia Eagles played a very good game and were able to put up 21 points, the 24 points by the New England Patriots, because of solid offence, sound defense, and a +2 takeaway margin, the Patriots were just too much to handle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Eagles came into this game with their star wide receiver injured. Terrell Owens, just two months earlier, was diagnosed severe sprain of his ankle's deltoid ligament and a fracture of his fibula. There was a lot of speculation about whether his ankle would be able to hold up, and it turns out his ankle would do just fine. Owens ended the game as the leading receiver for the Eagles with nine receptions for 122 yards and a long of 36. But this was not enough to keep the Eagles in this game. His quarterback, Donovan McNabb, threw an outrageous 51 times and completed 37 for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns. If this was all he did, these stats would have made him the Super Bowl MVP. However, McNabb also threw a season high 3 interceptions, and most of these were very uncharacteristic, and very unfortunate for the situation the Eagles were in. The running game was also non-existent, rushing for only 44 yards. The high number of mental errors by Philadelphia, along with th e lack of running game held them from scoring numerous times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Patriots did not have these mental mistakes. New England Quarterback and two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady had a few early mistakes, and unforced fumble, and led his receivers into some dangerous situations, but after the first quarter, the Patriots offence started to click. Brady ended the game with 236 yards on 23 completions, and 2 touchdowns. New England also had the Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch, who left the game with a Super Bowl record 11 receptions for 133 yards. Passing is a very big part of football, and the key to a good passing game is a good running game.

Changes in Nursing :: Nursing, Medicine, Article Review

The article I chose discusses the continual change in the roles of nurses. The article also poses a concept that nursing now is not based on caring, but medicine. â€Å"By accepting continual changes to the role of the nurse, the core function of nursing has become obscured and, despite assuming medical tasks, the occupation continues to be seen in terms of a role that is subordinate to and dependent on medicine.† (Iley 2004) Nurses are taking a more professional role, and more tasks are being delegated to assertive personnel. Therefore, with all these changes occurring, the role of the enrolled nurse is unclear. â€Å"Previously, having two levels of qualified nurse in the United Kingdom had been seen as problematic for health service managers and nurses themselves, and the ending of enrolled nurse programs in 1992 helped to solve this problem.† (2004) The study in this article gathered the characteristics of enrolled nurses and differentiated the groups converting to registered nurses, groups in the process of conversion, and groups interested or not interested in conversion. This study reveals the situation of enrolled nurses in context of continuing towards the professionalization of nursing. â€Å"The data from this study support the possibility that the role of nurses as direct caregivers is seen as a positive dimension of the work they undertake.† (2004) The findings imply that nurses need to get back to being caregivers, instead of concentrating on obtaining professional status in medicine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The significance of this article is that nursing is continually changing. The role of the nurse will always be based on direct care giving, however, nursing as an occupation is professional.

Impressionism vs. Mexican Muralism

Impressionism vs.. Mexican Muralist As we all know, cultures and events shaped the world were being mirrored in the world of art. From Impressionism to Mexican Muralist, art has experienced lots of movements and it is easy to get confused regarding the similarities and difference between Impressionism and Mexican Muralist. In this essay, I will clear those things from two paintings: Camille Pissarro Boulevard Montmartre (Afternoon, Sunshine) and Diego River's A Dream off Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.The two images above are excellent examples of different styles of the Impressionism and Mexican Muralist. While the content is relatively similar, such as natural background, bright color, and even both of them depicted a scene happened in the afternoon, the feeling of the two paintings is remarkably diverse. The painting Boulevard Montmartre has a much softer edges and low-tone feel too it, compared to the stark contrast of A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park with its clea r boundaries and striking use of color.Actually, besides the optical effect, Mexican muralist also aimed at conveying social and political messages to the public. Impressionism which can be noninsured as the first obviously modern movement in the art occurred from 1860 to 1890 in France, and its effects have spread well beyond Europe and eventually the United States. Its sponsors who against Academic des Beaux-Arts, which predominated the French art scene at that time, were accordingly rejected to exhibit their art works in Salon des Paris, such as works from Meant, Monet and so forth(Lana Barras Hill 119).Instead of portray likenesses that mirrored a subject in as much as detail as possible, Impressionism artists focus on natural light and intend to capture the fleeting movement in an instant time. In order to perform this effect vividly, they moved from the studio to outdoors. One of the representative works which can reflected this style is Boulevard Montmartre, a series painting s drawn by Camille Pissarro in early 1897. â€Å"Pissarro was looked upon as the father of the impressionism group, and he was the only painter to exhibit at every one of the eight Impressionist exhibitions† (Ian Barras Hill 135).Pissarro was inspired to paint outdoors. As a freer handling of brighter colors, he always applied colors softly and his talent clearly lay in the reality of nature in landscapes with figures. After spending six years painting for rural setting, he returned to Paris and rented a room at the Grand Hotel De Russia in Paris in order to have a perfect view and unusual angle of the intersection of the Montmartre Boulevard† (Anne Gray 16).Boulevard Montmartre, afternoon, sunshine is an extraordinarily energetic painting of the fourteen painting series, which displays a fasting moving and dynamic urban life in Paris during the working hours of the day. Since he is looking out the left of his bedroom window, his eyesight was falling and the vanishing p oint is higher. As a exult, the strong central shape of the receding boulevard, flanked by rows of trees, street-level shops and impressive apartments, dictates the open, powerful composition and high perspective.Rapid, thick brush strokes used on the sky and road draw the eye down this thoroughfare, which has crowds and heavy traffic. Like the blurred photos, figures, commissaries and omnibuses in this painting hold no discernible details. Pissarro captures a bustling movement in an instant time and just rough sketches of them. Of course, a broad pointillism is also used in many places, such on a road surface. In addition, the scene is presented with a palette of great subtlety and colors are applied side-by-side with mixing creating a vibrant atmosphere: grey, browns and whites accented with red and tiny amounts of green.Certainly, softly edges between pedestrians and background produced by Pissarro makes the color much more natural. Abbreviation depicted the subject matter imply that the Impressionism artist emphasizes on capturing the essence of the subject. Besides, Pissarro still focus on the changing natural light and weather effects, and the figures under the sunlight which contrasts the shadow, dark Cambridge and looting convey the rich atmosphere effect. Nevertheless, Mexican Muralist which prevails specifically during the ass's and ass's is extremely different from Impressionism.The three main and most important artists during this movement were Jose Clement Rocco, Diego Riviera, and David Alfalfa Queries, and the muralists in Mexico were interested in Aztec and Amman cultures, depicted some Mexican people and their heroes' live and work. During the early years of the twentieth century, those three representative muralists who were influenced by the European modernist art returned to Mexico and began to paint and teach. Dorothy Chaplin 26).In contrast to Impressionism, Mexican Muralist movement is not only an artistic movement but also a social and political movement. In fact, the mural styles by Mexican Muralist artists were regarded as a teaching method, aimed at convey social and political messages to the public regardless of race and social class. Among the three Mexican muralists, Diego Riviera who were good at large wall works in fresco is the most prominent and controversial artist in Mexico. Riviera developed his own native painting style that was also social realism. Under the influence formAztec, he was skilled in applying bold and vivid colors to paint Mexican peasant or large simplified figures. (Ivory Davies 38). River's mural A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park which is a fifty foot fresco takes the viewer on a Sunday walk through Alameda Park. It was painted on a wall of the Hotel Paradox in 1947. Minion, an earthquake destroyed hotel, but the mural, perhaps the best known of River's works was relocated to a new museum across the street (Renee Pamela 8). † The painter presents people and events i n Mexican history from cotes, the emperorMacmillan, the revolutionaries Million Capita and Francisco Madder, to his own day' (R Hagen 101). Portrayed in the mural are numerous historical figures, more or less from left to right, but not in chronological order. Specifically, Diego Riviera in this mural depicted as a child holding the hand of a fashionably dressed skeleton figure, the omnipresence of death in the everyday life of Mexico. The figure standing maternally beside him is his wife, who is a self- portrait artist and feminist icon in Mexico and parade around them is impervious rich and unrequited poor.Unlike the repose for capturing the transient quality of life in impressionism, River's painting intends to present a universal political dream in Mexico and covey some social and political message to the public. As in the Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, this is no class martyrdom and colonial tragedy. The message of Dream of Sunday is accusation of the tension of t he violent matter. Besides, he also combined historical and allegorical imagery. Actually, balloons on the background represent the strife for Mexican Liberty.As previous stated, there are more than a hundred satirical figures in this mural. Unlike pedestrians with rough sketches in the Boulevard Montmartre, Riviera cataloged social types from ruler to the bottom of the society, costumes, adornments artifacts, animals, and plant. This mural is a descriptive and documentary painting, which carried to utmost limits of crowded detail and illustrative functionalism (Gilbert Chase 11). In turning away from softly edges and rough sketches which impressionism artists of their day aspired, Riviera chose a realism to convey that subject matter through this fresco. What's more,Riviera was mastery of sense of composition, space and striking use of color. Instead of dark clothes and commissaries in Boulevard Montmartre, people from different classes wear brightly colorful costumes. Furthermore, the bright yellow and purple applied in the tree or sky stands in sharp contrast to the grey and brown sky in Boulevard Montmartre. In conclusion, River's artistic masterpieces were a collection of many European styles. Although Mexico Muralist inspired by the painting technique of impressionism, artists during Mexican Muralist began to realize all this innovation ad little to do with real life.As a result, in order to convey political and social messages to the vast number of uneducated people, Riviera chose a traditional art form and style to present the new subject matter (Gilbert Chase 12). Got away from focusing solely on optical painting in Impressionism, Mexican Muralist artists who began to carry a clearly discernible social and political comment in their artworks creates a new era in the human art treasure. Works Cited Anne Gray. Incubi: last impressions 1907-17: National Gallery of Australia. Seep. 2009. Print. Dorothy Chaplin.