Church to Connect Essay Example for Free

Church to Connect Essay â€Å"Our future is not to be found in our preservation but in our investment† (19). â€Å"The best way to predict the future is to create it† (20). â€Å"Fewer people are attending church because of the diminishing influence of Christ on the church itself. † â€Å"We equated being a good citizen with being a good Christian. We lived without persecution and soon found ourselves without conviction. We didn’t lose America; we gave her away! In our panic and powerlessness we turned to political means to seek to regain what we once had through spiritual awakening . Yet as a moral majority we could not accomplish what God could through Gideon’s few† (28). â€Å"Once we were called Christians by an unbelieving world and now we call ourselves Christians and the world calls us hypocrites. Is it possible that it wasn’t the nation that was becoming dangerously secular but the church? We were neither relevant nor transcendent. We have become, in the worst of ways, religious. We are the founders of the secular nation† (29). â€Å"The church became a refuge from the world rather than a force in the world. Predictability and stability became dominant themes†¦. The gospel shifted from a church on a mission to a church that supported missions† (30). â€Å"How could we ever think that the Christian faith would be safe when its central metaphor is an instrument of death? It is not a coincidence that baptism is a water grave depicting death and resurrection. It is no less significant that the ongoing ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of sacrifice. How did we ever develop a safe theology from such a dangerous faith? †(33) â€Å"Institutions preserve culture while movements create culture† (34). â€Å"For years the bulk of American Christians who were committed to missions could only participate through giving and praying. Today, the call to crosscultural ministry doesn’t even require going; it just requires staying with a purpose† (45). â€Å"Where once the pagan lived in the country and the danger of the city was to be Christianized; now Christians tend to live away from the cities and view the urban dweller as the true pagan† (46). â€Å"Gideon was focused on mass; God was focused on momentum† (69). â€Å"It’s hard to believe that a movement born of visionaries and dreamers would become dominantly known for its traditions and rituals† (138). â€Å"Just because a person cannot read doesn’t mean she lacks the capacity to learn. One’s present condition is not an indication of potential, but of development† (211). III. SALIENT POINTS/ANALYSIS 1. The Need for the Church to Connect with this Generation The author speaks about how in the past 40 years communities have changed dramatically yet many local churches have stayed the same. This explains the irrelevancy and bankruptcy of the church in regards to being salt and light and functioning as agents of change for culture. Even the way the gospel is communicated has to be changed if we are going to reach this present generation. One of the dramatic changes in our environment is the shift from words to images. To do church in a way that is entirely textdriven is the kiss of death. People don’t read, they simply observe. Beyond the emergence of a postliterate society, we have a culture raised on entertainment (17). As McManus states, â€Å"While not many churches perform their services in Latin today, our language, style, music, and methods are pretty much Latin to the unchurched population† (81).

Integration of the Grading System Essay Example for Free

Integration of the Grading System Essay I. Introduction Informatics Education Group, founded in 1983, has more than 600 colleges in 52 countries. It is a corporation dedicated to provide quality education to its students. It offers courses in higher education for corporate productivity and Business solutions. Informatics’ commitment to giving quality education encompasses all aspects from course design to student assessment or examination and staff training. This commitment to excel beyond customers’ expectations by providing quality services to its students has pushed the proponents to create a system that will help the school administration and faculty to produce accurate class cards and transcript of records for its students. With the increasing number of students in Informatics college manila also increases the workload of the school administration specifically the registrar’s department and faculty members. In order to provide a better service to the students, the proponents are motivated to create a system that will assist the school administration and faculty to minimize the time spent on managing, submitting and producing the grades of each student. Also, the purpose of the proponents in creating a grading system is to lessen the queue during enrolment with the help of a system that will assist the Informatics College Manila in releasing of the students’ grades. II. Background of the Study This study, which is fundamentally aimed at assisting the Registrar Department of Informatics College Manila, attempts to create a grading system with transcript database system that is integrated in the Informatics College Manila Enrolment System, providing an efficient way of serving the students during enrollment and releasing the grades. The proposed system shall lessen the laborious manual process in student grade assessment, releasing of transcript of records of graduate students and releasing of student class cards. Getting their official transcript of records would then be easy since the database of the grading system will be shared with the database of the transcript database system. The Registrar Department is the only department within the school is in charge of creating, accessing, and processing the releasing of grades and transcript of records. This department headed by the Registrar, who is in charge of supervising the processes. After of enrolling, the student can get there from the registrar. The processes for the grading system are as follows: (1) In the existing grading system, the lecturers will input all the grades of the students using Microsoft Excel, (2) The lecturers will submit the grades of all the students for that term, (3) The registrar will encode the submitted grades in the database for ease of access such as printing if the student wants to have a copy of their grades. Now when getting the transcript of records, the students must fill out the request form. Afterwards, the registrar will summarize the grades of the student who requested for a copy of the transcript of records. III. Statement of the Problem The Proponents would like to enhance the current enrollment system of Informatics College Manila. The proponents intend to include a grading system that would improve the current enrollment system. A. General Problem The Problem that the proponents of this study would like to address is to enhance the current Enrollment System of Informatics College Manila by including a grading system to have a better service to the Informatics College Manila students. B. Specific Problem The proponents have determined the following areas: 1. The workload of the registrar and lecturers are increasing resulting to deficiency in the students grades. 2. Preparing students’ academic records can be time consuming. 3. Retrieving old records of students who stopped for a long time can be difficult. 4. Releasing of grades during enrolment leads to a long queue. IV. Objective of the Study The proponents of this research have identified the following objective as checklist in the enhancement of Enrollment System by adding a grading system. * To have a grading system so that the students can rely on having an accurate grade and speed up the manual process of releasing the grades. * To build a monitoring system that can keep track of the submission of grades of each lecturer. * To improve the delivery of services especially the issuance of academic records like the transcript of records for those students who are requesting. * To develop an efficient and effective record-keeping and retrieval system of the student records. * To maintain and preserve the academic records of the students of the school. VI. Significance of the Study The Integrated Enrolment System and Student Grading with Transcript Database System will provide Informatics College Manila with a more accurate and timely way of giving out class cards and transcript of records of the students. The results of this study may prove beneficial and useful to the following individuals: REGISTRAR– the system will help him/her release the class cards and transcript of records with ease. This will also help him/her provide a better service to the students by lessening the queue during enrolment. ACADEMIC HEAD – this will assist him/her in compiling the students’ grades. LECTURERS – this project/system will help lecturers focus more on their lesson plan. This will also help them to submit the students’ grades on time. STUDENTS – this system will provide ease in getting their grades. The students will also be assured that their grades are accurate and are properly documented on the database. INFORMATICS COLLEGE MANILA – the system will provide the whole institution with a systematic way of handing out grades and transcript of records. FUTURE FIELD RESEARCHERS – the system may be helpful and useful in providing contribution to future researches. V. Scope and Limitation of the Study In this study, the proponents gathered information regarding the proposed system, which is a Grading System, if it is viable asset to the Administrators, Managers, Professors, and Students of Informatics College Manila in terms of its existing methodology and how it is organized. The study also aims to record all the grades of the students of informatics College Manila into a database. This will provide efficient access of grades for the registrar and an organized, accurate and timely submission of grades of the lecturers. The proposed system will serve as an enhancement of the current enrolment system of Informatics College Manila so that most of the students’ records will be consolidated into one database, keeping it organized and easy to manage. First, the super administrator or database administrator account, which will contain the features of: * Creating of new accounts

Relationship Management in Dell Computers

Relationship Management in Dell Computers 1.0 Introduction The Dell Computers Company was founded by Michael Dell. The business started by selling various computer products by use of the direct business model when most companies at the time employed the services of dealers and distributors. At its inception, the company concentrated on the relationship management with customer focused marketing. At the time, according to Joan (2000, p.73) most companies for instance Compaq and IBM concentrated on being engineering centric. On the contrary, the Dell Company was selective in the production, focusing on the products that enhanced the relationship between the company and its customers, with Michael Dell adopting a direct business model in marketing. The model harnesses virtual integration which permits the business to specialize in products which satisfy on customers, present and future needs. In our case study of Dell Computers we shall look into the various aspects of relationship management that the company has applied in ensuring its success ful growth. 2.0 Key Account Management and Global Account Management Key account management (KAM) can be defined as the management of customer accounts which bring most profitability and are of strategic importance to the Company. In essence, this concept in relationship management seeks to analyze those key accounts of importance to the company, forecast on their needs, and give them premium services and value added products thus increasing on satisfaction and more customer retention. The key accounts management can also be referred to as strategic account management. This concept gets global with the company having key accounts all over the world. As such, the global account management (GAM) can be defined as a strategy in which a company selects on some customers globally with the capability to deliver on their needs. There are key reasons why the companies practice global accounts management but the main one is to get competitive advantage and gain more revenue while enjoying the difference in economies of scale. Key account management can also be defined as offering customers with large accounts products and services tailored to their needs to attract loyalty. In the first step the key accounts management entails identifying those accounts of strategic importance. Key accounts according to Jukka (2001, 202) are selected according to the volume of sale or the profitability the company intends to get from the customer relationship. In addition, the selection is based on the volume of the purchases from the customer and the period the relationship has been in existence. According to Michael dell, the Dell computers continue identifying on key accounts and this has helped the company in increasing the company by the fast cycle segmentation (Joan 2000, p.77). The company is able to grow on revenues w hile keeping down on the expenditure by focusing on profitable segments only. The next element in key account management is analyzing on the key accounts. The account is studied on the basis of the history of any relationship and more so the economic status of that account. In an interview Michael Dell agrees that dealings with big institutions and corporate companies which are profitable, easier to manage and are unlikely to default in making their payments is the core of the business at Dell Computers (Joan 2000, p.76). In addition, at this stage determining the switching cost which entails the cost of replacing the outgoing partner with a new one, is important incase the relationship ends (Jukka 2001, p.203). The Dell Company maintains a strategy on selection of key accounts and avoids taking on very powerful accounts which could bring huge switching costs and this keeps the demand of its products on level. As a matter of fact, the company does not serve customers with more than one percent to two percent of its revenue (Joan 2000, p.77). More over, the ability for the company to organize and respond to various needs of the customers holding the large accounts is very important. The organizational capabilities have been greatly improved in Dell computers with dedicated teams designated to run on the key accounts. Large accounts make up most of the business at Dell computers. It sells to them standardized products besides predicting on their demand and future needs through virtual integration. The company also monitors on the global accounts in different parts of the world. With very huge accounts the company deploys a team onsite to effectively manage on the customers needs. To ensure success in management of key accounts a company needs to have competent key account managers and other team members. In making the selection of the staff members of these teams it is imperative that members with wide experience and qualifications are chosen for the task. The evaluation of the account relationship could also be considered where the key manager is overburdened with his role and adapt a network of organizational relationships. In addition, for KAM to be effective there should be an efficient information exchange between the key account team and the partner. 3.0 Big customers, customer segmentation and marketing orientation 3.1 Big customers Customer value is an important aspect in relationship marketing at Dell Computers and we should thus study it. In value strategic models there are three types of value elements. The first one is esteem value and influences the customer to buy a product for the sake of just owning it. On the other hand, the utility value influences the need to have the product due to its characteristics in meeting the want of the consumer. Finally we also have the exchange value which influences on the worth of the customer with the product creating interest with time. Satisfaction among the customers is what makes them to make repurchases. As matter of fact, this feeling of satisfaction becomes extreme when the product performance exceeds the expectation. The loyalty among the customer is cultivated by giving value added products as compared to the other sellers. Indeed satisfaction is of great influence in maintaining customer loyalty, enhancing marketing by word of mouth and making the buyer come back to purchase more (Wolfgang Andreas 2006, p.313). According to a report by Azaddin Salem Khalifa (2004, p.646) customers who are extremely satisfied due to their value added products were 45% more likely to be loyal and were six times more likely to come back for more purchases than dissatisfied customers. At Dell they realized that in adding this value to the products and ensuring on customer satisfaction then more focus was to be made on the needs of the customers. As a result, the company has seventy percent of its customers comprising of large educational, governmental institutions and corporate companies. The company reduces the risk by handling accounts of these big customers. The company continues to target these big consumers to enhance profitability with its scalable business. Indeed, in maintaining these key accounts nationally and globally the company is able to increase on revenue while suppressing on expenditures. 3.2 Customer segmentation With the direct model and a very fine customer segmentation of big consumers the company is able to predict the needs of its few customers and order goods tailored towards this information. As such, a fast inventory velocity the Dell Computers maintains with the suppliers is important in providing more flexibility and speedy ordering of goods. According to the founder of the Dell Computers, a fast cycle segmentation involving big customers offers lesser managerial problems with the company being able to tailor programs to the needs of the customers (Joan 2000, p.78). This can be attested to by the variety of products the company produces with inventory being reviewed by more than thirty times in a year. Where value is an important component in forecasting demand, the Kanos model dictates that in order for a company to not only satisfy but make the customers delighted in using the products, it becomes imperative for such a company to pay less attention to the normal customer activity cycle but focus on the customers needs (Azaddin 2004, p.649). Indeed, innovative features which are unexpected by the customers do not cause any form of dissatisfaction but if included they lead to satisfaction and delight of the customers. On the other hand, the benefits and the costs ratio model defines value not only on the benefits the customer is able to get but on the sacrifices the customer incurs. Such sacrifices are categorized as time and effort required in obtaining the product. In same argument it then follows that the right values include a low price for the product delivered in time, a premium service and impeccable quality. We can also conclude that intangible costs decrease this value. The Dell Company ensures on timely delivery of its products to big consumers effortlessly. The big customers are not only able to order their products online but they are also able to access technological support information easily and a dedicated team of third party maintainers. Other than to respond and predict its customers needs in time, segmentation of its customer into big but fewer accounts greatly help the Dell Company to greatly reduce on costs. Indeed information on the needs of the customers at present and in future should be available for a more coordinated approach in designing the products, 3.3 Marketing Orientation. Marketing orientation can be defined as an implementation of a marketing concept with focus to customers. The term in detail entails coordination in marketing and focus in profit and customer orientation. Ajay and Bernard (1990, p.3) argues that a customer focused orientation entails implementing on market intelligence obtained and any other information obtained from the customers. This concern to the needs of the customer helps in customer delight at the end. We have already seen that Dell Company values on the satisfaction of its customers by virtual integration and segmentation to tailor products relevant to their needs. In marketing orientation, proper coordination between various departments is very imperative. The information on market intelligence should be utilized by all the departments in coming up with customized and need specific products. This concerted effort in dissemination of intelligences leads to a coordinated response. When applying customer focused marketing model a company also needs to focus on profitability. The Dell Company effectively increases on profitability by market segmentation and having a more coordinated and a fast products delivery system with its suppliers. 4.0 Suppliers The dell company only partners with only a few suppliers to ensure speedy implementation of the information relayed from the company in a virtual supply chain. Orders are made in a networked computing system. This further enhances in the improvement of speed and more so the quality of the products. Indeed in relationship marketing a level of trust with the supplier is important. For instance, the Dell Company does not require checking on the goods ordered from credible companies it works with and this further helps in increasing the inventory velocity and eliminating on warehousing expenses. The company integrates its suppliers to seem like they are the part of the company. In addition, the company cooperates with the suppliers in ensuring timely delivery of products and services to its customers which is attributed to this integration. The company, with advancement of technology has seen it forge more integration with the suppliers and other partners by sharing on databases. One of the intangible costs a customer incurs is time. As such for the company to gain on the customers loyalty products need to be delivered in time with less effort. This makes dell company partner with some few suppliers who share on same values of quality and are flexible in their ordering system. With its suppliers the Dell Company has been successful in reducing the risk associated with inventory by sourcing goods from credible suppliers who then supply them to the Dell customers thus helping the company to save on time and resources. The direct model the company utilizes helps in eliminating the problems that emanate from involving distributors and dealers. The company believes in speedy transactions with its suppliers and maintains very low levels of inventory with them. In essence the company maintains a very slim gap between the point of demand and point of supply. Indeed, with such concept the Dell Company has continued to ensure efficiency and is easily able to determine the units it needs. Indeed, we can conclude that by applying virtual supply chains, by sharing information and eliminating inter-company links with its suppliers Dell has been able to achieve speed-to-market for its products. 5.0 Competitors In customer focused marketing model, it becomes important to study on the competitor orientation as well. The exercise details on gaining more understanding on the potential of the main competitor and the current competitors. With direct selling method of its products and virtually integrating its customers the Dell Company is easily able to trample on its competitors. Virtual integration implies removal of boundaries where products are ordered in an informal way such as through the internet. Most of the Dell competitors still continue to use vertical integration system with focus on producing in volumes with products being experimental in nature. This virtual supply chain at Dell, with information being relayed through a network, compounded by a light inventory helps the company in beating of competition from its rivals. This value added relationship with its suppliers helps the Dell Company to work towards one cause. 6.0 Dells CRM (customer relationship management It can simply be defined as a strategy with focus in increasing the customer satisfaction and loyalty by offering innovative and customized products and services (Elaine Margret 2004, p.24). The company system that strives to observe CRM consolidates information which is available by all the members of the company, the customers and the suppliers being also virtually integrated inside Dells business. . The Dell computers forecast on the demand of its customers and then develop need specific products by involving the services of sales-account managers in virtually integrating with the customers. The needs and other products improvements which are contingent are then communicated to the company for implementation. The Dells CRM system also involves monitoring the purchases of its customers globally and this provides more insight on the operations of the company. In addition, the company employs the use of software in monitoring the assets of its buyers. Companies have various ways of gathering information. As such, some companies employ the use of loyalty schemes where customers are awarded points which can then be redeemed. In the process, the buying habits of the customers are studied using the information obtained and kept in the database. According to a research done on Tesco, the scheme was found to be beneficial in sustaining customer relationship and was effective in attracting loyalty due to the value that was being given to the Tescos customers (Jennifer 2005, p.195) In another research done by (Wolfgang Andreas 2006, p.313) the relationship value was found to influence on the commitment, satisfaction and more so the trust from the customers which can be defined as the relationship quality. The Dell Computer enhances on more consumer contact not only by direct sales model but also in other ways. For instance, information databases are shared between the customers and the management at the company. This helps the customer find technological solution and integrates him or her into Dells business. For instance, a customer at Dell is able to get to the various internal technical tools which saves on the customers time and helps the Dell Company in saving on costs. The customers segmentation of the company comprises of big customers hence their needs are easier to forecast and tailor the right products in time. The Dell Company continues to incorporate technology in the systems of the customers with some teams working onsite for better delivery of support services and maintenance of the products. In addition, Dell Computers organizes forums and meetings like platinum councils for these big consumers where information on the needs is gathered. Information on the planned products is also relayed to these customers (Joan 2000, p.81). CRM enables the company to maintain one on one relationship with the customers. It is worth noting that, in such meetings the ratio of the representation between the company and the customers is usually one to one. In essence, besides these meetings being informative they also help the company forecast on the demand of the customers. The company contracts with maintainers from other companies who make service calls on the behalf of the company which further enhances on the value to the customers. More over, the Dell computers have established intranet sites for mega customers which offer them convenience in buying and more so offer them useful technical information about various products. Indeed, such customized services integrate these customers into the Companys system. The Dell Company continues to employ technology in giving customer focused products and services. The company continues to offer premier services and even helps the customers to develop their own version of the dell website (Joan 2000, p.80). We can look CRM as a tool that in particular aids a company in identifying on the premium customers due to its interactive nature with them. In addition, a more coordinated marketing strategy is able to be formulated with sharing of information between the various departments and hence streamlining on the designing of the value added products. When developing the CRM, a company as we have already seen, needs to gather necessary information pertaining to its customers. This is done at various touch points and a general idea about the needs of that customer can then be determined. The benefits that come up with such a strategy are many. Besides helping in forecasting the demands of the customers such systems help improve on process management and customers information (Elaine Margret 2004, p.26). In addition, the CRM helps in increasing the sales volume and due to the accuracy of the information obtained the complaints by the customers are greatly reduced (Elaine Margret 2004, p.26). 7.0 Conclusion Indeed, the Dell Company can be said to practice relationship marketing. In this aspect the Company has abandoned on the traditional ways of vertical integration and distributorship and continues to relate with its customers in delivering specific need products. In addition, the Company has virtually integrated its suppliers and the customers in its business in its speed to market system. Employing technology in relationship management and ensuring information is available to all, the Company continues to make strides in new ways of marketing and customer focused delivery of products and services.

The Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research papers

The Great Gatsby Essay  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discuss Nick Carraway’s character. How reliable is he as a narrator? What aspects of his character make him an effective narrator? Nick Carraway is not only a character in the novel The Great Gatsby, he is also the narrator. This is very important because it makes him a central figure, like Gatsby. He is so involved in the plot that he becomes quite important and significant in the story. The whole novel is told by Nick and in a way he discovers his own development throughout the events of the book. As Nick says of himself, he is â€Å"both within and without.† This is related to the fact that he is both a character and a narrator in the story. It gives a great success as to how Gatsby’s story is told. Nick is a young man from Minnesota who moves to New York in the spring of 1922 to learn about the â€Å"bond business.† The bond business refers to Nick’s choice of career as an investment broker. He rents a house in West Egg, which is in Long Island; a wealthy area inhabited by the rich people. Nick lives next door to a man named Jay Gatsby, which throws magnificent parties every Saturday night. Nick is different to the other residents of West Egg. He went to Yale and has social connections in East Egg (His cousin Daisy and Tom Buchanan), another area of Long Island home to the well-known upper class. The first paragraphs show Nick’s qualities. His father always told him to not criticize anyone because...

Comparing the Struggle Depicted in The Color Purple and Desiree’s Baby :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Struggle as Depicted in The Color Purple and Desiree’s Baby  Ã‚   The Color Purple written by Alice Walker and Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby, were written during different times periods yet there are many similarities on how the women struggled. Both stories depict women who experienced hardship, and through out it all they continued to show unconditional love.   In the two stories they have instances dealing with children that are quite similar.   It goes to show that novels can span totally different time periods and still could discuss the same things.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      The unconditional love within families can be enough at times to keep people going during the hard times that they experience.   This holds true between sisters. In The Color Purple Nettie and Cellie's unconditional love for one another helped them deal with the troubles they both faced.   There unconditional love was shown through Cellie’s relentless writing hoping that one of her letters would get through.   At no point did she ever give up.   This love helped Nettie live with her verbally and physically abusive husband, Albert.   Desiree on the other hand not being blood related to the women she called her mother; Madame Valmonde still had a tremendous amount of love for her.   When Desiree’s husband told her to leave her mother said to her, â€Å" Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you†.   This is showing that it doesn’t take blood to create a strong bond and that no matt er what; unconditional love will always help you get through hard times. During the different times that both stories were written the way that African Americans were treated were quite similar.   Back in 1909 when The Color Purple took place it was before woman were really seen as what they are and they were just figured to be a caretaker and a maid.   The fact that Nettie was black didn’t help because she was considered to be dumb while in fact she was intelligent.   During her years when she was married to Albert she with a little help of her sister Cellie learned how to read.   Slavery was taking place during the period Desiree’s baby was written in.   It was a horrible thing to be African American and a woman during that time.   When it was thought that Desiree was an African American her husband shunned her and wanted nothing to do with her.

The Lost City Atlantis Essay -- Mythology

Introduction We have all heard about the legend of Atlantis. It’s said that Atlantis was an advanced civilization with highly developed economy and technology. But one day, catastrophe occurred in sudden. Atlantis entirely sank beneath the waves in only one day and one night. In thousands of years, Atlantis has caught the imagination of people from all over the world. Many adventurers, historians and anthropologists spent their whole life trying to open the mysterious veil of Atlantis. But has Atlantis ever existed? Description of Atlantis Plato gave the first and principal written account of Atlantis in his dialogues, â€Å"Critias† and â€Å"Timaeus†. In his description, Atlantis was a huge island located near the Straits of Gibraltar. In this island, there was a great empire which had flourished more than nine thousand years earlier. Atlantean residents had extraordinary intelligence. Their society was far more advanced than any other civilization at that time. The wealth of Atlantis was so unimaginable that even the walls were covered in gold. Furthermore, Atlantis had a huge trading network and a powerful navy. But with the passage of time, the Atlanteans became more and more arrogant, and they even wanted to rule the whole world. They were defeated by brave Athens soldiers. After that, fatal earthquakes and floods occurred in Atlantis; and in a single day and night, the island of Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea. Arguments about existence of Atlantis In 1882, Ignatius L. Donnelly published a book named â€Å"Atlantis: the Antediluvian World†. In this book, Donnelly tried to demonstrate his hypothesis that all known ancient civilizations were descended from a specific civilization, which was Atlantis. He observed that ancie... ....co.uk. 24 Feb. 2012 . Mystery Quest: Lost City of Atlantis. Prod. Ryan Miller. DVD. A&E Home Video, 2010. News, CBC. "Signs of Atlantis found in southern Spain." CBCnews. 14 Mar. 2011. CBC/Radio Canada. 24 Feb. 2012 . Staff, Msnbc.com, and News Service Reports. "Lost city of Atlantis believed found off Spain." Msnbc.com. 14 Mar. 2011. Msnbc Digital Network. 24 Feb. 2012 . Stewart, Iain. "Echoes of Plato's Atlantis." BBC News. 17 Feb. 2011. BBC. 24 Feb. 2012 .

Mastering Teacher Leadership Business Research Essay

This case presents a situation that is quite common in the education field and addresses the responses by institutions to new legislation imposed upon them. As is often the case, the legislators do not address the impacts to organizations, leaving the actual implementation to the end user (i.e., public and private schools). In this particular case, Wittenburg University (WU) is faced with the decision of whether to develop and deliver a Master of Arts degree in classroom leadership. 1.) Build the management-research question hierarchy for this opportunity. The initial step in the research is the creation of a management-research question hierarchy, to formalize the process. For this case study, the management-research hierarchy is presented in Appendix A. The purpose of this hierarchy is to examine the various stages of the research question and present a logical sequence of increasing focus that will allow the development of a survey instrument that can be delivered to potential pro gram applicants. The initial stage is to identify and state the management dilemma, which in this case is the impending new legislation. The State of Ohio intends to require all licenced teachers to have, or complete, a master’s degree before obtaining their second licensure to teach. Given that this is new legislation and WU is not obligated to offer a program, the â€Å"management dilemma† actually presents an opportunity for WU to develop a new degree program, thereby increasing revenue for the university. The second stage of the process is to identify the management questions. In this case, WU needs to decide what purpose would the new program serve?; would this program duplicate teacher development courses?; what format should the new program utilize (e.g., part-time, distance)? The third stage addresses the particular research questions: Does WU have the faculty/administrative capacity to offer the full program?; is there sufficient return on investment to offer the program?; and if all is positive, should WU develop and offer the program. Investigative questions, as part of a survey instrument should examine the demand for the program, what is the potential market, what other competition exists, and what would the program-costing model look like. One other variable that should be explored is the potential of Ohio teachers moving to  another state to avoid the legislation. On a similar scale, movement within the policing industry is often impacted by similar factors, so this question should be examined. The final stage of the process is that actual measurement component, whereby researchers will examine the demographic information, correlate and analyze the data collected from the surveys. In order to increase the confidence level of the analysis, survey questions should utilize appropriate ranking/rating scales, and ensure open-ended questions are avoided. Once the data has been analyzed, researchers will be able to provide WU administrators with sufficient information upon which to base a decision on whether to pro ceed with the program. 2. Evaluate the appropriateness of the exploratory stage of the research design. As noted earlier, the new State of Ohio legislation presents an opportunity for WU to implement a new graduate study program, and increase their enrollments. Before proceeding to the program development stage, however, WU needs to conduct exploratory research to guide their decision making process. An initial step in the process is to conduct secondary research, utilizing available resources, to identify similar programs (i.e., competition) and responses to similar legislation in other states. Given that the majority of this secondary data will be discovered via internet searches, the researchers should conduct a source evaluation. The course text identifies five factors to evaluate secondary data: â€Å"Purpose – the explicit or hidden agenda of the information source Scope – the breadth and depth of topic coverage, including time period, geographical limitations, and the criteria for information inclusion. Authority – the level of data (primary, secondary, tertiary) and the credentials of the source author(s) Audience – the characteristics and background of the people or groups for whom the source was created Format – how the information is presented and the degree of ease of locating specific information within the source.† (Cooper & Schindler, 2008, p. 109) Sources of appropriate data could include alumni surveys from WU, State of Ohio statistics related to post secondary institutions, national data bases, and a study of existing Master of Education (MEd) programs. By utilizing the above noted filters to secondary information, the researchers will be able to ensure they have considered all variables and factors in making a  decision. 3. Evaluate the sampling strategy. In this case study, WU mailed the survey to all of the 1,600 identified teachers residing in Clark County, which is the home county of WU; essentially this is not a sample, but rather a census. The remaining 400 surveys were then mailed to â€Å"systematic sampling† to teachers in the surrounding counties. I see an issue with this, as the parameters of the systematic sampling are not detailed; for example, were teachers who already completed a MEd degree included in the sample? I would suggest that the 400 surveys were mailed to a convenience sampling rather than a proper probability sample. Factors such as these may have contributed to the low response rate from the survey. Given the implementation time line of the new legislation, it would have been valuable to survey potential teachers (i.e., those currently in an undergraduate program), as they would likely form the WU MEd cohort. This would give a clearer picture of the market potential of the program. 4. Prepare a preliminary analysis plan for this study. Which variables do you want frequencies on? Why? The initial stage of the data correlation and analysis would be the proper coding of the data and entry into an appropriate software database. For this case study, the data was presented as an Excel file, so the exploratory data analysis would include a complete descriptive statistical calculations and frequencies for applicable questions. I would suggest questions that create nominal or ordinal data are the most appropriate for frequency tables, and provide a clearer picture of the survey respondents. The data sets may be utilized to confirm if the teacher sample is representative of the overall population, and cross tabulations conducted to draw correlations between categories. I would suggest that data specifically addressing respondents who require a master’s degree, or those contemplating pursuing higher education would be of particular interest, as they represent the p otential student market. Researchers will also need to account for non-response errors and missing data within the coding and analysis stages 5. Which variables do you want to cross-tabulate? Why? Given the nature of the research questions, it would be beneficial to identity, through crosstabulations, those teachers who have not yet applied for their second licensure to teach and what level of education those teachers currently have. This would clarify the potential  market for the WU program. In addition, cross-tabulations to identify potential teachers relative to their home counties would give a clearer picture of those teachers who could/would realistically attend the WU program over another program closer to their homes. A final cross tabulation that may prove beneficial is the number of teachers who currently are not impacted by the new legislation, but may look to the WU MEd. program for professional development courses. As noted earlier, the new legislation presents an opportunity for to expand upon their graduate level programs, but given the costs to initiate a new program, the decision to proceed  must be based upon valid and credible research data. Therefore, the exploratory research undertaken is critical, as it will form the foundation for any decisions made by the university administration. References Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2008). Business research methods. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical research planning and design. Upper Saddle River, NY: Pearson Education Inc. 6