Role of ICT in the Education System Dissertation

Role of ICT in the Education System - Dissertation Example To build a strong global knowledge, it must be ensured that information is equally accessible to all people. A community can get engaged in various social, economic, scientific, cultural and political activities only if it gets quality education. Proper access to quality education is most important for people with special educational needs (SEN). Such people are broadly defined as â€Å"being caused by differences in gender, age, physical and mental abilities, levels of education, ethnicity, income level, etc.† (ICTs in education for people with special needs, 2006, p.10) All people should have equal opportunities to education irrespective of their cultural and social backgrounds. There is a general tendency to discriminate disabled students and deny them educational facilities. This means that this group of people has low literacy and skills thereby high rate of unemployment. However, in a democratic society, focus is on providing quality education and training to all learner s. According to UNESCO â€Å"education has to take on the difficult task of turning diversity into a constructive contributory factor of mutual understanding between individuals and groups† (ICTs in education for people with special needs, 2006, p.12) In order to provide effective education to all learners, people with SEN should have access to regular schools with special focus on their needs. An education systems should be able to survive all difficult situations and make people eligible for any activities in a community and should also make them adaptable to other communities. Many human rights organizations protest against segregation in education facilities and demand equal education to all. Since disabled people have variable educational needs, extra focus should be given on helping them to overcome their functional limitations to access regular education which will pave the way for their self development. In this regard ICT (information and communication technology) pl ays an important role in education process as it generates new learning experiences. With the use of technological innovations people with physical disability can be helped to interact, for instance, people with motor disability can be helped to write and people with visual deficiency can be helped to read. In order to remove the barriers that prevent student from getting proper education, application of ICT has become indispensable. ICT has three main uses like compensation, didactic and communication uses (ICTs in education for people with special needs, 2006, p.31). With the help of AT (assistive technology) disabled people can reduce the difficulties caused by their disabilities to gain access to standard education and participate in all activities of their communities. However, although technology can benefit a person to approach regular schools and activities, it can sometimes enhance segregation of disabled persons (ICTs in education for people with special needs, 2006, p.44) . The main objective of AT is to facilitate SEN people to write, read and communicate with a â€Å"wide range of input devices, pointing devices, and software.† For instance, there are alphabetic devices for language impairments, and symbolic devices for speech impairments with which they can develop their own communication board on the computer screen. The computer is very useful for students with cognitive problems to acquire basic skills for learning process. Computers can motivate these students (ICTs in educati

How organizational culture relates to innovation Essay Example for Free

How organizational culture relates to innovation Essay How Organizational Culture Can Support Creativity and Innovation when we think of the terms Innovation and creativity we automatically think of the Individual. We often ask ourselves, what can the Individual bring into an organization? What type of creativity does the Individual have that can support the organization and how would it help the organization grow? As we ask ourselves these questions we are often overlooking the important aspects that correlate to an individuals capability of creativity and innovation It is important to understand the context In which the Individual functions (Mclean. 05, pg,227). one vltal aspect Is the organizational culture. organizational culture Is denned as the shared values, beliefs and traditions that exist among individuals In an organization. When we refer to the culture in an organization we should consider if everyone In the organization have shared values and beliefs that contribute towards the organization. If so what is the organization doing to influence these work ethics. It is important that individuals maintain a healthy organizational culture because it is an observable powerful point In the organization. hitch has a potent effect on the company well king and Its success. Now that we have analyzed the Importance of organizational culture, lets examine In how it can be done. Creativity and Innovation comes into the organization in a form of a cycle in most cases. These two aspects are influenced by the organizational culture, while the organizational culture is mostly influenced by the organization itself and the experience the workers bring with them tom previous employers (Qwabe. 2013, P. 3). The organization Influences from the very beginning of the hiring process. From the selection process the company chooses a certain amount of Individuals In which they eel have qualities that can bring a positive outlook to the company. These qualities may include; dynamic personalities, strong values and a clear vision on how to operate the business. Another way the company influences from this point is the type of attitude the interviewer is portraying to the interviewee. During the selection process the Interviewer gives a sense out their ethos and their attitude towards the company. This approach transmits to the Interviewee and Influences them In such a way that can determine the enthusiasm on being hired (Qwabe, 2013, P. 7) The other influence the organizational culture has is the experience the workers bring with them from previous employers and other external forces. Past experience can affect the work ethics and any contribution an individual may have with the current company. The influence towards the organizational culture can also be vice versa, In which the experience the company had with the previous employees. In such case the organization learns from critical experiences from the external forces. As the learning occurred, the organizations history becomes memories that After the selection process the organization must continue the positive attitudes nd work as leaders to maintain the positive behavior to ensure long term survival for the organization culture. When the organization leaders motivates the employees, the employers are more likely to feel engaged to their work resulting from better and more satisfactorily work outcomes (Sarrows, Cooper, Santora, 2008, P. 46). There are many tactics some organizations have developed to transmit this motivation and to enhance the positive working environment within the organizational culture. There are six factors in which the organizational leaders use to promote the positive environment. These six are; articulating a vision for the future, providing an appropriate role model, fostering the acceptance of goals, setting high performance expectat ions, providing individual support and providing intellectual stimulation (Sarrows, Cooper, Santora, 2008, P. 46-147). Organizational leaders use these six factors to affiliate it into their own leadership style. This helps them with the enhancement of creativity and innovation by advocating the organizational culture. There are four functions in which help bring the organizations culture to life. These four functions include organizational identity, sense making device, collective commitment and social system stability (Qwabe, 2013, P. 12). The first function that will be discussed is the organizational identity. When an organization has a sense of identity it is giving the employees a better sense with what the organization wants, giving the employee a more coherent vision and understanding to the organizations objective. Therefor it is providing the employee a more comfortable state where the employee can feel more part of the mission while also strengthening the establishment of what the company is really about and what they stand for. The second function is the collective commitment. When referring to collective commitment we are referring to the energy the employee drives around the important aspects of the favors the organization. It is important for an organization to articulate collective commitments because when employees assemble together and commit themselves to their goals and missions, the relationship amongst each other change for the better. They feel morally obligated to embody their own actions and motivate each other to reach their daily goals. Social system stability is another function of organizational cultural, yet it is also a very important appliance to the organization itself. Social system stability provides a more positive work environment giving the opportunity for the employees to have a more respectable work place. This function helps employees with the ability to resolve conflicts using a problem-focused approach rather than a person focused approach or a blaming mentality. These approaches help avoid any possible conflicts in the workplace creating the workplace to be less tensed and a more complaisant environment. device the organizational culture is being given a broader understanding on what the companys strategy and values are. It gives the employee a sort of behavior shaping hat helps employees a sense of their surroundings. With this function the employees have a better comprehension in to the objective of the organization, how the organization functions and how the organization aspires to succeed their goals (Qwabe, 2013, P. 13-14). In conclusion it is set that organizational culture does indeed support creativity and innovation. These articles have also prover that the organization itself is greatly influenced within the members of the organizational culture. This is an important aspect of a successful organization. References Qwabe, N. P (2013). University of Fort Hare Faculty of Management Commerce Department of Industrial Psychology. (ONINE) Available at:http://www. academia. edu/1964153/ Organisational_culture_lnnovation_and_creativty. (Last Accessed 1 1. Nov. 2013). McLean, L. D. (2005). Organizational Cultures Influence on Creativity and innovation: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Human Resource Development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 7(2), 226-246. Sarrows, J. C. , Cooper, B. K. , Santora, J. C. , (2008). Building a Climate for Innovation Through Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. 15 (2), pp. 145-148

Virtualization, VM Ware, Linux kernel and Linux

Virtualization, VM Ware, Linux kernel and Linux Virtualization, VM Ware, Linux kernel and Linux device drivers Virtualization is a system or rather a technique for hiding the physical characteristics of computing resources from the way in which other systems, applications, or end users interact with those resources. This consists of making a single physical resource (like a storage device, a server, an application, or an operating system) appear to operate as multiple logical resources. It can also comprise making multiple physical resources (like storage devices or servers) appear as a single logical resource. It can also take in making one physical resource to appear, with fairly diverse characteristics, as one logical resource. It is the universal theme of all virtualization technologies to hide the technical detail by means of encapsulation. An external interface that hides an underlying implementation (for example, by simplifying a control system, by combining resources at different physical locations, or by multiplexing access) is created by virtualization. Owing to the recent development of new virtualization platforms and technologies, attention has been refocused on virtualization. It is a confirmed software technology. Through this technology, the IT landscape is speedily transforming and the manner of computing is also fundamentally changing. (VMWare 2008) The technology of virtualization can benefit any person who uses a computer, from the IT professionals and Mac enthusiasts to commercial businesses and government organizations. It saves time, effort and money while it also achieves more with the computer hardware already owned by the users. (VMWare 2008)Virtualization is used in various diverse contexts; they can be grouped into two major types: Platform virtualization involves the simulation of whole computers; and resource virtualization involves the simulation of combined, fragmented, or simplified resources. Certainly, it is also an important concept in non-computer contexts. A virtualized interface is employed to a complex device by many control systems; therefore gas pedal of a modern car does much more than simply increasing the flow of fuel to the engine. The returns on investment in any business can be improved with the use of Virtualization. It effectively lets one computer to do the job of multiple computers, through sharing the resources of a single computer across multiple or several environments. Virtual servers and virtual desktops allow hosting multiple operating systems and multiple applications locally as well as in distant and inaccessible locations. It gives freedom from physical and geographical limitations. Better desktop management, improved disaster recovery processes, increased security, and high availability of resources are the other benefits that one gets from building a virtual infrastructure apart from the basic advantages that are savings in energy and lower capital expenses because of more efficient use of the hardware resources. There are some benefits of virtualization, which are as follows: Through virtual machines, the workloads of several under-utilized servers can be consolidated to a smaller number of machines, possibly a single machine. This results in benefits of savings on hardware, environmental costs, management, and administration of the server infrastructure. They also serve the purpose of running the legacy applications. A legacy application just might not operate on newer hardware or operating systems. And if it runs on it, there may be under-utilization of the server; therefore consolidation of several applications is useful. This is not easy to do without virtualization; applications are usually not written to co-exist within a single execution environment. Virtual machines offer safe and isolated sandboxes for running applications that can not be trusted upon. Such an execution environment can also be created dynamically on the fly as something is downloaded from the Internet. Virtualization plays an important role in building secure computing platforms. They can be used to create operating systems or execution environments with resource limits. Generally, partitioning goes together with quality of service in design of QoS-enabled operating systems. The illusion of hardware or hardware configuration (including the multiple processors and SCSI devices) is provided by the virtual machines. It simulates networks of independent computers. They can run multiple operating systems at the same time, which are of entirely different nature. Some such systems may be hard or impossible to run on newer real hardware. They allow powerful debugging and performance monitoring. Debugging of operating systems can be done without losing productivity, or creating more complicated debugging scenarios. Whatever is run by the virtual machines, can also be isolated by them. So, they provide fault and error containment. Faults can be injected proactively into software in order to study its consequent behavior. Application and system mobility is helped by the virtual machines, since they make migration of software easier. They are excellent tools for research and academic experiments. It is safer to work with them because they provide isolation. They sum up the complete state of a running system: the state can be saved, examined, modified, and reloaded. The existing operating systems can run on shared memory multiprocessors. They can create arbitrary test scenarios and can result in some very imaginative, effective quality assurance. Virtualization can retrofit new features in the existing operating systems without too much work. Several tasks including the system migration, backup, and recovery can be made easier and more manageable. It is an effective means of providing binary compatibility. In co-located hosting, virtualization on commodity hardware is extremely popular. Such hosting is economical, secure, and appealing on the whole. In core, it can be said that virtualization helps to convert hardware into software. The software like VMware and ESX helps to transform the resources of an x86-based computer hardware that includes the CPU, RAM, network controller and hard disk. In order to create a virtual machine, this is fully functional and capable of running its own applications and operating system similar to a real computer. Multiple virtual machines are known for sharing the resources of hardware without having any interference among each other. This helps to safely run the various operating systems and applications on a single computer. VMWare The VMware Approach to Virtualization: This approach inserts a fine layer of software directly on the hardware of computer or might be on a host operating system. This layer of software is capable of creating machines that are virtual and contain a monitor of virtual machine. This allocates hardware resources energetically and transparently. This helps the multiple operating systems to run on a single physical computer concurrently. (VMWare 2008) Virtualizing a single physical computer marks the beginning. A robust virtualization platform is provided by the VMware. This helps to scale the hundreds of interlinked physical computers and storage devices that can form complete virtual infrastructure. VMware, Inc. is a publicly-listed company on the New York Stock Exchange. It designs and develops proprietary virtualization software products for x86-compatible computers, counting commercially-available as well as freeware versions. The desktop software of VMWare runs atop Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The enterprise level software and the ESX Server of VMWare run directly on the server hardware without the need of an extra core operating system. The name VMware comes from the abbreviation VM, which means virtual machine and ware comes from second part of Software. Achieving the Benefits of Virtualization: VMware’s proven technology is the basis of free VMware Server. With the help of this software, which is robust yet easy to use, many things can be done. Developers can create multiple environments by means of different operating systems on the same server so as to restructure software development and testing. New applications, IT testing of patches and operating systems can be simplified by permitting system administrator to test in secure virtual machines and by leveraging snapshots to be able to roll back to a clean state. Server positioning can be simplified by once building a virtual machine and then developing it multiple times. In ready-to-run virtual machines, software can be evaluated without installation and configuration. Legacy operating systems such as Windows NT Server 4.0 and Window 2000 Server can be re-hosted in a virtual machine running on new hardware and operating system. Pre-built, ready-to-run virtual appliances can be leveraged, which include virtual hardware, operating system and application environment. On Virtual Appliance Marketplace, virtual appliances for web, file, print, proxy, email and other infrastructure services are available for download. Free operating systems have several advantages as characterized by Linux. One of which is that their internals are open for all to view. Anybody, who has requisite skills, can readily examine, understand and modify the operating system, which is once considered as a dark and mysterious area whose code was restricted to a small number of programmers. Operating systems can be democratized with the help of Linux. The Linux kernel is a large and complex body of code, which is not possible to be hacked. Kernel hackers would need an entry point where they can approach the code without being disturbed by the complexity of its codes. Frequently, the gateway is provided by device drivers (Corbet, Rubini Kroah-Hartman 2005). In Linux kernel, device drivers play an important role. These device drivers are a different kind of black boxes that make a particular hardware piece respond to a well-defined internal programming interface. Also, they completely hide the details regarding the working of the device. With the help of a set of standardized calls that are independent of the specific driver, various user activities are performed. The role of device driver is to map those calls to device-specific operations that act on real hardware. The writing of Linux device drivers is interesting because of number of reasons. In order to gain access to a particular device that is of their interest, individuals need to know about the drivers. By making a Linux driver available for the products, hardware vendors can add large and growing Linux user base to their potential market (Corbet, Rubini Kroah-Hartman 2005). It is necessary to reliably run the Linux kernel without considering whether a new hardware is added or removed from the system. Due to this, an additional burden is placed on the device driver author. For USB drivers, when the device with which a USB driver is bound with, is removed from the system, the pending urbs that were submitted to the device begin to fail with the error – ENODEV. The driver is required to identify the error and properly clean up any pending I/O if it occurs. The hot pluggable devices are not only limited to the traditional devices like the mice and keyboards. Now, number of systems supports the removal and addition of the complete CPU’s and memory sticks. The Linux kernel properly handles the addition and removal of such core system devices so that there is no need for the individual device drivers to pay attention to these things. References VMWare 2008, Retrieved April 17, 2008 from www.vmware.com Mullins, R 2007, VMware the bright spot on a gray Wall Street day, IDG News Service. Corbet, J, Rubini, A Kroah-Hartman, G 2005, Linux Device Drivers. 3rd Edition, OReilly Media.

Phishing :: Computer Hacking Scams

Phishing The Oxford pocket dictionary defines phishing as the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company. This is what phishing is known for now in today’s internet driven world but it was not always the case. Phishing actually predates computers. Some people did it over the phone for years and they called it social engineering. So why would someone think of phishing some one? There is a simple reason: to exploit people. These people are commonly known as scam artists. What these phishers normally do is send out millions of scam emails posing as something or someone who they are not. Normally they hope for a few people who received the email to respond to them by clicking the fake website and provide them with financial and or personal information. Also, anyone who has an email address is at risk of being phished. People can increase their risk of being targeted if their email is posted on a forum or website. The people phishing can also get many more email addresses by using a spider. A spider is something that searches through many websites and saves an innumerable number of email addresses, every one it can find. So in a nut shell, phishing is very profitable for criminals because, they can attain millions of email addresses and potentially set them up for an attack at relatively no cost to themselves (Be al, 2006). There are some key factors and elements that one needs to help recognize if they are being phished. This scam often has three key elements or factors that will come about when someone is planning an attack. First, when checking your email and look to see who the email is sent from. It will often be from a legitimate company’s address. If the email address looks suspicious then be wary, but this is an easy obstacle for phishers to climb over. It is very quick and easy for someone to change the â€Å"from field† in most email clients to trick the person receiving the emails. Second, the email almost always will contain very similar images or logos that have been copied off of the real company’s website. Third, upon opening the email, it will have a link along with text saying you should click the following link to make sure the personal information is correct. When trying to determine if you are part of a phishing experiment, there are many little things you mig ht want to notice.

Why is education important in order to achieve the MDGs

The Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs ) are eight international development ends that were established after the 2000 Millennium Summit in which United Nations Member States and International Organisations consented to accomplish by the twelvemonth 2015 ( United Nations Millennium Development Goals, 2010 ) . The MDGs set clip edge marks in bettering societal and economic conditions in the universe ‘s hapless states, which advancement towards cut downing income poorness, hungriness, disease, deficiency of equal shelter and exclusion, while advancing gender equality, wellness, instruction and environmental sustainability. They besides embody basic human rights so that each individual on the planet has the right to wellness, instruction, shelter and security ( Ki-Moon, 2010 ) . Three major countries of Humanity are focused in the MDGs: First, reenforcing human capital by bettering substructure, and increasing societal, economic and political rights, specifically concentrating on increasing the basic criterions of life ( United Nations, 2006 ) ; Second, bettering substructure through increasing entree to safe imbibing H2O, energy and modern information communications engineering, magnifying farm end products through sustainable patterns, bettering transit substructure, and continuing the environment ; and eventually the societal, economic and political rights, including authorising adult females, cut downing force, increasing political voice, guaranting equal entree to public services, and increasing security of belongings rights. The ends are intended to increase an person ‘s human capablenesss and progress the agencies to a productive life ( United Nations, 2006 ) . As persons moving together we have the power to take action and influence the procedure of making the MDGs by 2015 ( End Poverty Millennium Campaign, 2010 ) . Education is of import in accomplishing these ends. A basic instruction of a good quality is necessary for developing an apprehension of the universe and the possibilities it provides, and for being able to work efficaciously within it. Without the cognition and assorted accomplishments developed through schooling and basic instruction plans, the chances for persons and the ability to move independently are greatly reduced ( UNESCO, 2010 ) . Escalating the motion towards instruction MDGs will take straight to an acceleration of many of the other MDGs ( 2010 MDG SUMMIT, 2010 ) . In this essay I will explicate why instruction is of import in order to accomplish each of the eight millenary development ends. The first end of the millenary development ends is to eliminate utmost poorness and hungriness. Poverty forces kids out of school displacing their instruction driving them into the low paid work force because parents can non afford to educate them. Haines & A ; Cassels ( 2004 ) explain that one twelvemonth of schooling can increase a individual ‘s net incomes by 10 % with each extra twelvemonth of schooling raising the mean one-year GDP by 0.37 % . Accessible instruction can assist feed an faultless rhythm of enhanced growing and an elevated decrease in poorness, helping the hapless and profiting society as a whole. Education provides people with the accomplishments and cognition they require in order to increase income and develop employment chances. By educating the hapless, adult females and vulnerable groups it opens doors to occupations and recognition and has the potency for economic growing. With rigorous Torahs on compulsory instruction the millenary development end to eliminate utmost poorness and hungriness should be accomplishable in the hereafter. The 2nd MDG is to accomplish cosmopolitan primary instruction. Every kid regardless of where they live deserve the right to an instruction. The Development Education online Depository ( 2010 ) province that cosmopolitan primary instruction involves come ining school at an appropriate age, come oning through the system and finishing a full rhythm of primary instruction. By eliminating primary school fees 1000000s of kids worldwide have the opportunity to derive literacy and numeracy accomplishments increasing the per centum of educated people in the universe, increases the chances for employment and a stable hereafter for many kids which in manus will assist in accomplishing the MDG of accomplishing cosmopolitan primary instruction. The 3rd MDG focuses on advancing gender equality and authorising adult females. Attaran ( 2005 ) province that there are 759 million people in the universe that can non read or compose, and of those people two-thirds are female. Females face many barriers to education in several states around the universe, runing from negative attitudes to the load of family work and distance to school. In order to right the balance instruction needs to be made a precedence, particular attempts such as using female instructors, back uping hapless households and doing the instruction system girl-friendly could assist in advancing gender equality and in authorising adult females. Severine & A ; Shahani ( 2009 ) claim that there is a strong correlativity between educating females and an addition in adult females ‘s net incomes, improved kid and household wellness and nutrition, an addition in school registration, protection against HIV infection, higher maternal and child life anticipation, reduced birthrate rates and delayed matrimony. Equal schooling for both male childs and misss is the foundation for development in accomplishing the MDG of advancing gender equality and authorising adult females. The 4th MDG purposes to cut down child mortality. Supplying instruction to girls provides a great opportunity of endurance to her kids in the hereafter. Severine & A ; Shahani ( 2009 ) claim that a female parent with secondary or higher instruction more than halves the hazard of kid mortality compared to a female parent with small or no instruction. As mentioned above there is a strong connexion between educating females and higher maternal and child life anticipation every bit good as betterments in kid and household wellness and nutrition, they are besides more likely to immunise their kids. Educating adult females, with at least primary instruction, the MDG of cut downing child mortality is more likely to be achieved. The 5th end purposes to better maternal wellness. Maternal instruction is one of the strongest counterpoisons to childbearing-related hazards ( United Nations, 2010 ) . By educating females it enables them to do improved wellness associated determinations, fewer female parents would decease and the MDG of bettering maternal wellness would hold a greater opportunity of being achieved. The 6th MDG intends to battle HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Education is the key to battling HIV/AIDS, malaria and many other diseases. Education establishments take a cardinal function in the bar of HIV and other catching diseases as they can make out to a big figure of people, promoting positive attitudes and behaviors supplying them with the cognition and accomplishments to cut down their opportunity of undertaking HIV. School wellness plans are besides ideal in supplying consciousness and hygiene patterns to assist contend malaria and other diseases. Haines & A ; Cassels ( 2004 ) province that adult females with an instruction higher than primary degree are five times more likely than literate adult females to be cognizant of and cognize about HIV/AIDS. Education offers an of import step of protection against HIV and other diseases. The MDG for cosmopolitan primary instruction is estimated to forestall 700, 000 new HIV infections each twelvemonth ( MDG Monitor, 2007 ) . It is claimed that instruction reduces the exposure of misss, and each twelvemonth of schooling offers greater protective benefits. Education is the best vaccinum against HIV and Aids and other diseases it is besides the most cost effectual manner to accomplish the MDG of battling HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The 7th MDG is directed at guaranting environmental sustainability. Education for sustainable development ( ESD ) can assist us to populate sustainably. ESD is defined by UNESCO as the purposes to assist people to develop the attitudes, accomplishments and cognition to do informed determinations for the benefit of themselves and others, now and in the hereafter, and to move upon these determinations. By supplying instruction for environmental sustainability it besides educates pupils on cardinal issues including poorness decrease, sustainable supports, planetary heating and clime alteration, gender equality, corporate societal duty and the protection of autochthonal civilizations ( TeachMDGs, 2010 ) ESD will let persons to do determinations that meet the demands of the present without compromising those of future coevalss. Education is indispensable for guaranting environmental sustainability. The 8th and concluding millenary development end is directed at developing planetary partnerships for development. Developing states financially can non supply cosmopolitan primary instruction for free to their people. Therefore a planetary partnership is needed to make full the fiscal spread for instruction so that globally the education-related development ends can be achieved. And if underdeveloped states make instruction a precedence they can so in bend hike their economic system, which can assist to accomplish all of the millenary development ends. Teaching and larning in schools should take to heighten accomplishments, cognition and behavior related to the millenary development ends. Schools should be after their course of study so that content covered increases the impact that instruction has on the MDGs. Such as, in order to battle child mortality and to change female authorization, course of study on cleanliness, sanitation, and steps to minimise contagious diseases. In the instance of environmental sustainability the school should include plans such as the demand to conserve H2O and trees. To better the nutritionary position of the pupils the school can present meal plans to guarantee the pupils have atleast one nutritionary repast each twenty-four hours. Schools can besides advance gender equality by the different functions that school leaders take. Positive behavior aimed at accomplishing the MDGs can be learned and reinforced throughout instruction. By presenting grownup instruction and literacy plans for both work forces and adult females can supply chances for employment, bettering labour productiveness and presenting plans such as H2O and sanitation. The impact of grownup instruction for adult females can ensue in lower kid mortality rates and higher degrees of maternal wellness. With the completion of secondary instruction adult females are more likely to seek out prenatal attention and better medical intervention, are more likely to direct their kids to school, and have greater economic chances that will relieve poorness and hungriness. All in all grownup instruction in occupational and life accomplishments will positively impact the millenary development ends. 2010 should non be the beginning of the ‘new and unsure ‘ journey towards the millenary development ends, instead it should be the ‘refueling ‘ point on this ocean trip that has been traveling on for the past 10 old ages. The following five old ages complete the journey in accomplishing the MDGs by 2015. With the execution of the millenary development ends in school course of studies globally the program to make the finish should be accomplishable.ResourcesAttaran, A. ( 2005 ) . An Immeasurable Crisis? A Criticism of the Millenium Development Goals and Why they can non be Measured. PLoS Medicine 2 ( 10 ) 318. Development Education on-line Depository. ( 2010 ) . Making Global Connections through Education. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.developmenteducation.info// Haines, A. & A ; Cassels, A. ( 2004 ) . Can the Millennium Development Goals Be Attained? British Medical Journal, 329 ( 7462 ) 394-397. MDG Monitor. ( 2007 ) . Quick Facts. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.mdgmonitor.org/country_progress.cfm? c=BEN & A ; cadmium Moon, K. ( 2010 ) . Millennium Goals. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml Severine, D. , & A ; Shahani, L. ( 2009 ) . An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach: Freedom and Agency. Sterling, VA: Earthscan. TeachMDGs. ( 2010 ) . The Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //teachmdgs.net/// United Nations. ( 2006 ) . The Millenium Development Goals Report: United Nations Development Program. Retrieved from www.undp.org/publications/MDGReport2006.pdf United Nations Millennium Development Goals. ( 2010 ) . Acme on the Millenium Development Goals. Retrieved from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.un.org/milleniumgoals/

Kudler Fine Foods – Functional Area Interrelationships

Kudler Fine Foods – Functional Area Interrelationships Bus/475 July 16, 2012 Kudler Fine Foods Kudler Fine Foods offers delicacy food s to its customers. Kudler treats its foods with love and care. These delicacies give customers excellent meat, bread, seafood, and wine. Kudler’s mission, vision, values, and goals are extraordinary. This paper is a review of Kudler’s reason for existence, organizational structure, steps in collaboration, positive action plan, and collaborative roles of the key stakeholders. Kudler uses these steps to have a successful organization. The organization is successful because customers can get quality foods here.Organization’s Existence Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale specialty food store offering its customers the best in imported and domestic fare. The founder and owner Kathy Kudler had a vision for the business she wanted to develop because she found relief from the stress of working as vice-president of marketing for a large defense contractor by cooking gourmet foods. Realizing that it was not easy to find the necessary ingredients, Kathy noticed there was a business opportunity that she could capitalize on. Kudler’s mission is to provide customers with a pleasing shopping outing.Kudler wants their customers to understand that the products sold at their stores are nothing less than what Kathy Kudler uses in her own home. The goal is to provide customers with the best service by going â€Å"to extensive lengths to assure that Kudler Fine Foods is the purveyor of choice for customers aspiring to purchase the finest epicurean delights† (Kudler Fine Foods, About, 2011, para. 3,). The value that Kudler Fine Foods wants to instill in the company is to treat the customer’s shopping experience like Kathy would treat her own by shopping the world for the best to provide the products not offered in other stores.Kudler is highly selective in regard to the team members. The goal of Kudler Fin e Foods is to expand and to have outstanding growth in the fine foods and specialty industry, and continue to have high profits in the future. Analysis of the Organizational Structure After analyzing the type of organizational structure employed by Kudler Fine Foods, it is clear that their main focuses are on the customers and the company’s reputation. The company’s hybrid structure employs directors and managers with functional area expertise, geographic location focus, and product area specialization.There are limited spans of control in this small company and communication flows are not overly complicated. The founder Kathy Kudler was tired of the large corporate world and wanted to relieve some of the stress in her life. Therefore, back in 1998 she created a business plan and obtained funding to open the first Kudler Fine Foods. Because of the clear organizational structure and mission statement, Kudler Fine Foods was a success and broke even within the first nine months.The main driver behind that success was offering each customer a delightful and pleasing shopping outing with the fresh and finest products from all around the world. The continual success has given Kathy and the management the ability to open two more stores in the Southern California area. Kudler Fine Foods also offers home delivery and that is another key position that supports the organization structure. Because there are currently three stores open in the Southern California area and customers ordering via the Internet, Kathy needs to take a larger leadership role and rely on the store managers.The managers of the stores need to understand clearly the organization’s mission statement and Kathy’s vision to continue with the success the organization has had since opening in 1998. The staff members at each Kudler Fine Foods location are key positions that directly reflect the vision and structure that Kathy has developed as the founder. In these key positions, it becomes essential for the store managers to ensure their staff is continuing to focus on the goals of providing customers a superb shopping experience. Each employee working for Kudler Fine Foods is in a key position to ensure the company continues its success.Collaboration Process The success of Kudler Fine Foods depends on the implementation of a good business strategy and collaborating among the functional areas to meet the organizational goals. The proof of a successful strategy is the three stores Kudler recently opened. The goal is to implement the company mission and †Go to extensive lengths to assure that Kudler Fine Foods is the purveyor of choice for customers aspiring to purchase the finest epicurean delights† (Kudler Fine Foods, About, 2011, para. 3,). Step 1: The business strategy goals are to capitalize on specialty products and offer products for all incomes.The business strategy is a collaboration of the broad differentiation strategy and focused mark et niche strategy. The broad differentiation strategy concentrates on â€Å"seeking to differentiate the company's product offering from rivals' in ways that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. † The focused market niche strategy principles are differentiation and concentrating on a narrow buyer segment that may outcompete rivals by offering niche members customized attributes that meet their tastes and requirements better than rivals' products† (Thompson, Gamble, & Strickland, 2006, p. 14). Step 2: The complimentary strategic option Kudler Fine Foods will outsource selected value chain activities by creating global supply chain relationships that will manage low-cost and high-quality merchandise. The goal is to keep a competitive edge in the grocery and spirits departments by successfully partnering with suppliers that may create a competitive pressure for rival grocery stores and liquor stores (Thompson, Gamble, & Strickland, p. 57, 2006).Step 3: Functional are a strategy supporting the complimentary strategy is to enhance research and development by adding in-store surveys to comply with customer needs and wants. Also plot out a strategic group map that will identify competing grocery stores. Step 4: Timing a company’s strategic moves in the marketplace to create the first store of its type that is number one in the marketplace. Kudler Fine Foods is capitalizing on its niche and differentiation by opening two more stores. Along with the horizontal integration, this creates a stronger presence in the marketplace.Step 5: To control the cost drivers, the organization will incorporate a software package to manage inventory in all three stores. The software will collaborate with vendors and customers by adding an electronic data interchange software to manage suppliers and customer orders. This will allow just-in-time orders and alleviate overstocking perishables or large quantities of expensive items. Lateral and Vertical Collaboration Vertical communication flows up and down the organization’s chain of command (Richmond & McCroskey, 2009).Lateral or horizontal communication occurs between peers. Vertical channels are more formal and take the form of e-mail, memos, policies or procedures, posted notices, staff meetings, or face-to-face meetings. Horizontal communication is less formal and focuses on how employees feel about what is (or is not) happening in the company. Kathy Kudler holds a monthly operational review meeting to discuss customer service, monthly sales, and what new items to offer. Other than a few memos and policies, Kathy’s meetings are the best example of vertical collaboration at Kudler.Nearly all of the vertical communication flows to Kathy. The time she spends time at each store gives line level employees some face-to-face opportunities. Department managers of each product category are â€Å"encouraged to check with their counterparts at other stores on the pricing, quality, and delivery of the merchandise they order† (Kudler Fine Foods, Sales & Marketing, para. 6). This is a good example of horizontal collaboration. Kudler Fine Foods would benefit by using its intranet site to post information from monthly operations review meetings.An employer to employee blog is a good way for employees to make comments or ask questions. Key Stakeholders The following key stakeholders influence Kudler’s ability to achieve its goal of offering a â€Å"pleasing customer experience† with â€Å"the finest epicurean delights† (Kudler Fine Foods, About, 2011, para. 3). †¢ Customers: The goal cannot be met unless customers are buying products. Feedback gathered through employee interaction and through surveys provides Kudler with insights for improvement. Kathy Kudler: Establishes the company’s goals, decides how to communicate effectively with stakeholders and provides the necessary leadership and resources. †¢ Three administrative directors: Responsible for planning, leading, organizing, and controlling in functional areas of operations/purchasing/inventory, administration/human resources, and finance/accounting/computer Support). This group must have regular communication with Kathy and with each other. Plans are communicated down the line through meetings, e-mail, training, policies, and procedures. Store managers: Supervise line staff and run day-to-day operations at each store. This group opens and closes the store on time, makes sure it is clean, secure, well-stocked, and appropriately staffed, resolves problems, responds to customer needs, and follows correct cash-handling procedures. †¢ Department managers: Three managers at each store are responsible for the inventory in their product area. They collaborate with Kathy and other managers at monthly operational review meetings. †¢ Line staff: This group is the direct link with customers.They provide assistance, check customers out, bag groceri es, stock shelves, and receive inventory. They need a formal mechanism for community up the line. †¢ Suppliers: Kudler is dependent on suppliers to get perishable inventory on the shelves. Kudler has a new supplier relations program in place. †¢ Lenders: Kathy Kudler keeps a good credit rating and relationship with her bankers to tide her through the peak seasons and maintain cash flow. †¢ Competitors: Kudler can keep an eye on what competitors are offering by visiting their stores on a regular basis. Community stakeholders: Kudler can adopt and support a deserving community group to keep up a positive profile in Del Mar, La Jolla, and Encinitas. Conclusion Kudler Fine Foods uses the organization’s goals, structure, collaboration process, action plans, and key stakeholders to become successful. Kudler is now a nationwide store. Customers love to shop at Kudler because of the quality of food that is offered. Kudler established all of these accomplishments from t he organizational existence and structure.The collaboration process and action plans have clarified the objectives. These objectives made Kudler’s goals successful. The key stakeholders see these accomplishments. The key stakeholders will continue to support Kudler Fine Foods. References Kudler Fine Foods. (2011). Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/index. asp Richmond, V. P. & McCroskey, J. C. (2009) Organizational Communication for Survival: Making Work, Work, (4th Ed. ). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson Education, Inc. Thompson, A. A. , Gamble, J. E. , &