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Business Rules and Data Models

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A database is filing system and an application used to collect, organize and store information for various reasons such as to have a huge amount of information for future use, to computerize a computer procedure of some classification according to the stored data and for quick search ability. Databases determine the information displayed on websites, to keep fiscal records, to record computer files as well as to maintain one’s in- box. Colleges use huge amounts of different data that need to be classified and stored for their references in academic work. On the other side, data base is crucial to keep track of the instructors, their subjects and the courses they teach (Kroenke, 2006).

An entity is an object that has a physical existence or conceptual existence such as; a place a person, a university course, a thing, a person, a job or a company that data can be collected.

For instance to develop a college’s database for maintaining information on students, the application should be able to provide and store data on students such as when was the student was admitted; is the student still with the college; if the student has left the college when did he leave the college; which course does the student partake; who is his/her instructor; what stage the student is in and much more. In the above example, the entities are college, course, student, and instructor. The entities that are being tracked are stored in database tables that have table rows and their names on the row box (Kanchinadam, 2008).

Attributes

An Attribute is a property that makes up an entity thus Databases have information on each entity that is tracked in character fields known as attributes. This usually corresponds to the data base table columns. For instance, the student’s entity might have attributes corresponding to the student’s first and last name, date of birth, and a unique student identifier such as the admission number.

Business rules are the rules a company or firm uses to define its constraints. They assert the manner in which the business is controlled or influenced. The rules apply to individuals, corporate behavior and the organization of the firm’s computing systems in order to achieve the organizational set goals. The art of writing down business rules ensures that incidences where conflicts occur because of poor interpretation of rules are limited and it is also cost effective.

There are several business rules; For instance, the facts relating relevant terms to each other rule is used to illustrate how a language can be expressed. In this case, a customer’s decision to place a business order acts as a business rule. The facts that have been documented by the customer can act as relationships and also as attributes in creating graphical models.

The description of business terms is mainly the basic business rule. It is used to provide a description of the manner in which individuals think and discuss about things. Terms are documented in the glossary and can be utilized in creating conceptual models. Conceptual data models are used in the structuring of strategic data models. The model posses an abstract nature hence referred to as the conceptual models. The model has a varying number of entities between 100-1000 entities though they are dependent on the model’s scope. Often, in the conceptual model, the attributes have data types that are assigned with both length and precision. The model too addresses in two dimensions majorly the cardinality and null ability (Kanchinadam, 2008).

On the other hand, physical models use objects including columns and tables that are generated on the basis attributes and entities that were identified in logical modeling. The physical model is software data specific. Their constraints may include foreign keys, check constraints as well as primary keys (Kanchinadam, 2008).

References

Kroenke, D. M. (2006). Database processing: fundamentals, design, and implementation (10th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Kanchinadam, K. M. (2008). DataMapX a tool for cross-mapping entities and attributes between

bioinformatics databases. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.

Academic Writing Genres in Postgraduate Levels: Similarities and Differences among the varied Genres

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Word Count: 1925Academic writing that serves as one of the compulsory activities of students pursuing their studies at postgraduate level is a somewhat challenging yet exciting experience for students (Petrova 2017). Such forms of writing at a postgraduate level require lots of critical reading, thinking, analyses and evaluations. Subsequently, authors rely on available data and information as baseline for establishing new documents. It is very important that students learn to write effectively because it can improve their logical thinking, organization skills and data collection skills. In addition, good writing can lead to better mark and overall impressive performance. This essay will dissect and explain the main genres of academic writing at postgraduate level. Also, it will look at the skills a student needs to write successfully.

Precisely, there are four main writing genres at postgraduate level which entail essays, research proposals, research reports, and reflective writing. Essay writing entails in-depth exploration, analysis, and evaluation of a given topic. Moreover, essays are written in prose and presented in a continuous structure with the use of connected paragraphs from the introduction, body, and conclusion. Also, essays are grouped into four basing on their purposes; descriptive, argumentative, expository and narrative essays (Solomon et al. 2013). Narrative essays present writers’ stories from certain points of view to attain specific goals. Descriptive essays offer intricate details and descriptions of characteristics and traits of chosen subjects. Expository essays entail critical explanations of subjects’ traits, characteristics, and description. Finally, argumentative essays endeavor to persuade and convince their audience of particular stances and claims.

On the other hand, research proposals are academic documents that strive to explain details about the plan, methodology, purpose, and objective of a research study that could be undertaken in future. Accordingly, writers employ their critical thinking capabilities to elaborate and explain the importance of conducting research studies in chosen subjects as well as necessary resources. Moreover, research proposals do not contribute additional information but endeavor to present existing gaps and the need for necessary research studies (Walonick 2005). Hence, research proposals are established to exhibit and explain reasons why some research should be conducted in a given field of study to attain some missing information.

Moreover, research reports are types of academic writing which rely on particular sections which entail discussion, methodology, literature review, finding and discussions, and recommendations and conclusion to present detailed information concerning selected topics. Accordingly, the authors employ their critical reading, analysis, and evaluation skills to develop research reports (Walonick 2005). Writers would find and critically read suitable resources for necessary evidence and development of the literature review sections. Consequently, research reports strive to expand existing knowledge through their conclusions and recommendations.

Furthermore, reflective writing offers detailed responses that a writer develops through their critical thinking capabilities with regards to a given document or situation (Rai 2006). Accordingly, writers critically analyze and evaluate specific life experiences and develop suitable responses. Thus, reflective essays depend significantly on personal emotions, judgment capabilities, and authors’ writing skills.

Also, each of the academic writing genres relies on evidence to support their points. Different academic writing documents depend on predetermined information to support their ideas and give them authority (Cumming, Lai and Cho 2016). Since critical thinking facilitates the development of personal opinions and ideologies, evidenced and findings from earlier experiments and research findings are crucial in validating and proving such individual inferences. For instance, each type of academic writing relies on either direct quotes or paraphrased versions of other scholars’ findings. Thus, evidence act as qualifiers and validators of all categories of academic documents.

Still, all the different types of academic writing adhere to particular order and structures to guide the audience. Every form of academic writing exhibits a specific structure and order to ensure that their information flows smoothly from the begging to the end (Street 2009). Most academic documents rely on the use of three-part approach which entails the use of an introduction, body, and conclusion. Even so, every category of writing has a unique structure and order due to their varied purposes. For instance, research reports rely on sub-sections with the use of sub-titles that entail literature review, findings, and discussions, conclusions, and methodology to extensively elaborate and explain its varied groups of information.

Additionally, each type of academic writing exhibits in-text citations and the use of a reference list to reinforce their points and provide links to areas of further reading. Citations and references are crucial in all academic writings since they attract more value and qualify the documents (Fox, Paine, and Sauterey 2016). References play vital roles in supporting ideas that an individual develops through their critical thinking capabilities. Moreover, writers appreciate previous academic projects through the use of references and citations. Information that other academicians and scholars established contributes significantly to validating and reinforcing claims of a writer. Therefore, references are vital sources of evidence as well as validators and qualifiers of academic documents.

Further, academic writing at the postgraduate level relies significantly on critical thinking capabilities, evaluations, and analysis. Advanced levels of academic writing extend beyond mere descriptions of an idea or subject to include personal interpretations, responses, and conclusions (Andrews 2007). Since virtually every form of academic writing at advanced levels of studies strive to expand existing knowledge, personal inferences and conclusions are essential in contributing to such desired growth. Moreover, educational documents require writers to use reliable findings and facts to develop new information through critical thinking.

Besides, each form of academic writing has a specific thesis that acts as their baselines. Theses are vital aspects of academic writing since they act as a guide and controller to ensure that the writer remains within the essential areas of coverage (Toprak 2014). For example, theses dictate the extent of what the writer would cover, the type of objectives and research questions that a writer would use. A well-directed document is relatively easier to understand and read since the audience would have specific expectations. Therefore, academic documents strive to explore, explain, and support particular theses.

Nevertheless, a key difference amongst the varied writing genres is based on the degree of research studies that a writer has to conduct. The amount of research studies that an individual does depends on the quantity of information that is needed (Shim 2005). For example, research reports and research proposals require extensive research studies to attain adequate documents that would be used in the literature review and other sections of the paper. On the contrary, essays and reflection tend to rely on limited but enough sources to support their claims and ideas. Since reflections strive to present personal emotions, interpretations, opinions, and believes about a given subject, they depend primarily on a writer’s critical thinking, evaluation and analysis skills rather than exhaustive research studies. Hence, the extent of research studies differs from one category of writing to the next.

Correspondingly, all forms of academic writing at postgraduate level demand advanced research and reading skills. Research skills are essential in ensuring that a writer provides the right and valid information that enriches their wealth of knowledge. Similarly, critical reading enables readers to collect crucial information from a given document. Accordingly, research skills involve intensive and extensive critical analyses and evaluation of available materials to establish the most suitable ones that would be employed in a given piece of writing. For instance, an individual would have to find, read, analyze and evaluate various documents to determine and select the most appropriate sources that would be used to enrich their literature review section (Fox, Paine and Sauterey 2016). Such a practice is highly-involving since the practice of establishing verified, and credible sources consume lots of time and energy. An individual could end up replicating the work of another person, thus generating similar information rather than expanding the existing ones by failing to conduct adequate research studies. Still, a writer should conduct exhaustive research studies to avoid plagiarism while increasing their knowledge for better information development (Bakhtiyari et al. 2014). Thus, research skills are critical in all academic writing.

Similarly, advanced writing skills are crucial in postgraduate level writing activities. At postgraduate levels, academic writing tends to be more sophisticated since it entails expression and explanations of particularly complex subjects in in-depth and lengthy approaches (Langan 2013). For example, an individual could be required to provide basic descriptions of a chosen topic then offer their inferences and conclusions. Accordingly, a writer should be able to establish a suitable writing structure and style to develop an interesting document that is relatively easy to read and understand. Moreover, writers should use appropriate terms and sentence structures that are relatively easier to understand by avoiding ambiguity while ensuring clarity and simplicity. Also, meticulous referencing, appropriate structuring, proper grammar, apt planning, and drafting of academic documents are critical in promoting quality work. Thus, suitable writing skills are essential in every type of academic writing at postgraduate levels because they enable writers to adequately communicate their messages to the target audience.

Likewise, proper time management and planning is another essential skill in the development of all the varied academic documents. Appropriate time management enables writers to adequately study, analyze, evaluate, and interpret collected data while ensuring that sufficient time is available for writing quality documents (Rani and Mangala 2010). An individual would probably conduct quality analysis, evaluations, and interpretations when they have ample time. Research and critical thinking activities consume relatively lots of time and energy. On the other hand, students at postgraduate levels tend to operate under tight time schedules following the complexity of their studies. Accordingly, an individual should establish and stick to a suitable timeframe that puts into consideration every aspect of the writing processes.

Additionally, all the varied categories of academic writing rely primarily on proofreading and editing to gain adequate quality. Proofreading and editing a document contribute significantly to ensuring that it exhibits all the desired qualities while presenting extremely minimized or not errors (Harwood, Austin and Macaulay 2012). For instance, writers could proofread and edit their work to ensure the inclusion of all the required sections and proper titles/ subtitles while embracing the correct tenses and vocabulary. Well-edited and proofread documents are free of punctuation and spelling mistakes. Consequently, such documents would exhibit high-quality because they communicate effectively while ensuring a smooth flow of information from one point to the next. Moreover, the writers would present full details by ensuring that they provide all the necessary details. Therefore, proofreading and editing are vital tools that are used to refine academic documents to ensure they are of high-quality.

Overall, academic writing at postgraduate level comprises four main genres that entail research proposals, research reports, essays, and reflections. The varied groups of documents tend to be more sophisticated since they demand lots of critical thinking skills to provide valuable information for expanding existing knowledge. The main similarities in the varied groups of writing entail the use of critical thinking and evaluation skills, time management and planning skills, editing and proofreading skills, writing skills, the use of a thesis, and essential reading and research skills. On the other hand, the differences exist in the structures and extent of research studies that are employed to develop the different types of documents. Research papers demand extensive research studies since they focus on literature reviews. On the other hand, reflections and essays tend to rely on limited amounts of research because they depend mainly on critical thinking, analyses and evaluation skills of an individual. Therefore, academic writing at postgraduate levels is more demanding and requires a sufficient understanding of the varied writing genres to ensure quality work.

References

Andrews, R., 2007. Argumentation, critical thinking and the postgraduate dissertation. Educational Review, 59(1), pp.1-18.

Bakhtiyari, K., Salehi, H., Embi, M.A., Shakiba, M., Zavvari, A., Shahbazi-Moghadam, M., Ale Ebrahim, N. and Mohammadjafari, M., 2014. Ethical and unethical methods of plagiarism prevention in academic writing. International Education Studies, 7(7), pp.52-62.

Cumming, A., Lai, C. and Cho, H., 2016. Students’ writing from sources for academic purposes: A synthesis of recent research. Journal of English for Academic purposes, 23, pp.47-58.

Fox, C.W., Paine, C.T. and Sauterey, B., 2016. Citations increase with manuscript length, author number, and references cited in ecology journals. Ecology and Evolution, 6(21), pp.7717-7726.

Gerth, H.H. and Mills, C.W., 2014. From Max Weber: essays in sociology. Routledge.

Harwood, N., Austin, L. and Macaulay, R., 2012. Cleaner, helper, teacher? The role of proofreaders of student writing. Studies in higher education, 37(5), pp.569-584.

Langan, J., 2013. College writing skills with readings. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Petrova, O., 2017. Writing as a part of postgraduate training English (Doctoral dissertation).

Rai, L., 2006. Owning (up to) reflective writing in social work education. Social work education, 25(8), pp.785-797.

Rani, E. and Mangala, S., 2010. Need and importance of soft skills in students. Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies, 2(3).

Shim, E., 2005. Introductions in research papers: Genre analysis of academic writing. ENGLISH TEACHING (영어교육), 60(4), pp.399-422.

Solomon, A., Nursing, M.O.C.T.I., Bravery, H.E.O., Prompts, A.M.E., Skills, E.O.E., Plan, V.E., Writing, N.S.I.C., Araby, L.E.O., Writing, B.E.T.W., Writing, C.O.E. and Grabbers, P.E., 2013. By the Book. New York Times Sunday Book Review, 26.

Street, B., 2009. ” Hidden” features of academic paper writing. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL), 24(1), p.1.

Toprak, F., 2014. The graduate students’ autonomy development in a thesis writing course for postgraduate students at EMU (Master’s thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU)-Doğu Akdeniz Üniversitesi (DAÜ)).

Walonick, D.S., 2005. Elements of a research proposal and report. Survive Statistics.

Business Strategy Plan for American Red Cross

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Institution Affiliation

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Business Strategy Plan for American Red Cross

Introduction

The chosen organization for this task is the American National Red Cross. This is a local organization in my area that provides humanitarian and emergency services to people faced with disasters. The non-profit organization provides disaster relief, disaster preparedness, and disaster education to Americans faced with floods, fire, thunderstones, and earthquakes. It also provides humanitarian assistance to the communities faced with the pandemic like in the case of Covid-19. According to my interview with the manager of the organization, I managed to retrieve a lot of information describing the vision, mission, and objectives of The American National Red cross. The manager depicts that the American National Red Cross is an affiliate of the Red Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Red Cross, and the Red Crescent Movement. The basis of its history, the American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton in 1881 in Dansville, New York (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Notably, its first local chapter gets traced at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dansville. Moreover, the organization has managed to score four stars at the Charity Navigators because of the increasing provision of blood donations, provision of tissue services, plasma services, Leukoreducation, and research in blood laboratories. It has continued to provide cellular therapies in blood as well as the training services like the administration of emergency oxygen, asthma training, basic life support, and lifeguard management (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Furthermore, it also provides disaster services and the national response framework to the services to mitigate the detriment of the increasing disaster challenges in the United States of America. Therefore, the project examines the organization’s motivation, innovation strategy, and people strategy to determine the objective of service provision. It also evaluates the American National Red Cross’s social responsibility plans, the organization culture, competitive position, possibilities, potential generic strategies, potential grand strategies, potential value discipline, and the potential generic strategies. Most importantly, the study describes the National Red cross change management strategies that the management has considered and the recommendations which depict the areas the company should improve.

The American National Red Cross Motivation

The American National Red Cross gets motivated by the desire to create assistance for Americans without discrimination. It provides humanitarian services to the people that are affected by the disasters like diseases, floods, world fires, and pandemics (Pellegrino et al., 2020). Also, it is motivated by the need to alleviate human suffering in the United States of America through the protection of health and life hence the provision of respect for the human being for social, economic, and political life sustainability. The American National Red Cross has managed to promote friendship, understanding, cooperation, and lasting peace among Americans through the eradication of the forces that may become a detriment to peace (Issaias, 2022). Through the use of a strong network of donors, volunteers, and partners, the American Red Cross has been inspired to make compassion into actions to enable the people affected by the disasters to receive care like shelter and other basic needs. It also prepared the communities for disasters by making them understand the ease of access to safe medical services. Wnenev4r an emergency occurs; the trained individuals are motivated to work hence enabling the use of the Red Cross skills in saving the life. Notably, the American Red Cross is motivated by the fundamental principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality, and independence (American Red Cross, 2011). It continues to provide voluntary services through the use of the principle of unity and universality. The use of the principle of Unity has enabled the organization to undertake services across the American territory.

How the American National Red Cross Monitors Ethics

Monitoring the ethics within the company enables the employees to become productive in all areas delegated to them by the management. Before monitoring the ethics, the company should ensure that all the employees monitored are provided with the knowledge of what is monitored, the reason for monitoring, and the methodology of monitoring. Also, the American Red Cross must limit what is to track by tracking the things that rea relevant to keep the company productive. The American Red Cross also ensures that the employees’ data are kept safe through the provision of access to data (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). As such, the major method of monitoring ethics is through the use of the telephone where the manager can record the telephone conversation. Also, the Red Cross has managed to monitor the ethics through the use of geolocations and videos to determine the location of the employees once delegated the duties. Emails and social media can suit the ethical monitoring strategy through the determination of the social relation of the workers with the clients.

Innovation Strategy

The American National Red Cross has applied technological innovation which has created a mechanism for changing American lives. Through innovation, the models of human interaction for the accessibility of the humanitarian aid provisions have been enhanced by the organization. The program provided by the organization remains the strategy that the American National Red Cross uses in response to the provision of blood services, military support, and training services for the delivery of the mission which alleviates human suffering during emergencies. Notably, the innovation at the American National Red Cross operates by focusing on the opportunity delivery that impacts humanity in the shortest possible time (Bessant et al., 2015). Majorly, the areas of innovation are artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence enables the American National Red Cross to transform the methodologies of delivering its services. Through machine learning power, the organization has created the supply and demand predictions for continuous service provision. Also, the American National Red Cross has implemented Chatbots which describes the customer-facing information system for the improvement of the service delivery by the staff. Consequently, the organization uses voice skills to provide easy access to the Red Cross information and the use of transactions. (American Red Cross, 2011). Majorly, the voice skills get enabled by the management through the use of Amazon Alexa and a plan for the extension with the Google Home and the Smart Speaker. Another innovative approach by the organization is the use of Robotic Process Automation which aids in the automation of the manual process for the improvement of the employee experiences hence devoting the workforce time to strategic activities and repetitive tasks. An in-depth analysis of the organization shows that the American National Red cross applies digital transformation as an innovative approach through the use of the digital ecosystem for the visualization of all the aspects of the disaster response (Bessant et al., 2015). The geographic Information system continues to characterize the innovative strategy of the American National Red Cross through leveraging of data for the analysis of the information and the creation of visualization tools hence easing the support for domestic disaster operations. The technical staff has also used drones for the provision of immediate and aerial; perspectives for the improvement of situational awareness. Furthermore, the American National Red Cross uses the mobile apps launched in 2012 to enable people to learn and deliver immediate response services to disasters. The open-source software continues to enhance digital communications. The projects of open-source software provide portable mapping services in areas with limited networks like the photogrammetry used for the processing of the drone imagery.

People’s Strategy

People’s strategies depict the move by the Red Cross to provide a humanitarian and peaceful environment that enables Americans to adapt to 21st-century challenges. The strategies create a mechanism through which the Americans and the organization prepare for the dynamic global networks for amicable service delivery. Also, the people’s strategies create anticipation, response to, and quick recovery from the crisis through the improvement of the local response and the preparedness for easy tackling of the crisis (American Red Cross, 2011). People create a lead safe, dignified life and healthy opportunities as a strategic move towards the promotion of the mental, social, and physical; health of the individuals affected by the disasters hence acting as a mechanism of supporting livelihood. Another strategy that peoples use to enhance the comprehensive growth of the American Red Cross is the mobilization for inclusivity and peaceful communities. The American National Red Cross promotes and provides support to the equitable, more inclusive, and cohesive environment for the eradication of the humanitarian detriments that affect the economic, social, and psychological life of Americans. Through the embodiment of humanitarian values, people have created a mechanism of enhancing social responsibility hence determining quick response to the life scenarios that undermine human services (Donaldson et al., 2016). People are also prepared to mitigate the climate and the environmental crisis through the use of sustainable environmental management frameworks. The workforce in the American Red Cross has taught people about the need to understand the growing gap in the health and well-being of Americans hence easing the need to provide the peaceful resolution of the merging challenges. Through migration and identity, the Americans have formed a framework through which local migration has been safely enhanced for the promotion of economic, social, and political development within the American societies. Moreover, people have inspired and mobilized volunteerism as a strategy for promoting the non-profit organization’s values, vision, and mission. Other strategies that people have implemented towards the growth of the American National Red Cross are the influence of humanitarian actions, effectively working as a distribution network and enhancement of trust and accountability.

American National Red Cross Corporate Social responsibility plans

The social responsibility plan of the American National Red Cross as a non-profit organization creates a mechanism for enhancing the long-term commitment between the company, workforce, and society in general. As such, there exist several social responsibility plans that the Red Cross has put in place for the sustainable achievement of the vision, mission, and values. Majorly, the American National Red Cross works towards achieving the 2030 goals agenda as a sustainable development agenda through the provision of humanitarian aid and assistance. The 2020 plans describe the move by the organization to eradicate human suffering and the creation of peace through the mitigation of the human-caused factors and detriment as well as the provision of the opportunities and training to strategize the move of solving the challenges of the natural calamities. Also, the American National Red Cross has created a framework for enhancing social responsibility through the induction of corporate volunteering (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Corporate volunteering has enabled the Red Cross to organize marathons that involve all the members of the American society regardless of age, gender, or social; affiliations. The marathon has been used by the organization as a marketing tool to sensitize the public on the need to promote social approaches to human calamities. The American National Red Cross also organizes for blood donation campaigns to increase the provision of blood to the hospitals to ease accessibility to blood transfusion services to those in need (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Digital volunteering characterizes the social responsibility plans where the community members have provided cheap and voluntary services for the digital transformation of the organization. Other social service plans that the American Red Cross has implemented are the support of religious celebrations like Christmas and the Easter holidays. Moreover, social responsibility plans for the American Red Cross define the move to get the event sponsorship. The event sponsorship provides economic and financial services to the organization (American Red Cross, 2011). The management is always looking forward to creating an enabling environment that attracts the sponsors like the Diamond Trust Bank, federal government funds, and other organizations that are willing to support humanitarian aid.

The Organization Culture

The American Red Cross work toward achieving the common goals in the provision of humanitarian aid to the public through a strategized framework. As such, it is characterized by several cultures for the achievement of common goals. Majorly, the American Red Cross has a compassionate culture through its dedication to improving the lives of those affected by the disasters. Compassionate culture enables the effective treatment of people with care and respect. Also, the American Red Cross gets characterized by a collaborative culture where the employees and the volunteers work towards creating togetherness through partnering with other organizations like Johnson and Johnson (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). The culture of creativity continues to characterize the American National Red cross. Creativity enables the organization to seek new ideas and create rooms that are liable to change hence creating a better environment for the service delivery to the vulnerable. Commitment culture enables the American Red Cross to hold accountability for the determination of the clear objectives and the mission delivery of services to the public. Moreover, the credibility culture enables the organization to act with integrity and transparency hence creating a notion of public trust and the honor of the promises (American Red Cross, 2011). Cultural sensitivity continues to define the culture of the American Red Cross where the employees have the capability of reflecting cultural diversity. The diversity is achieved by the partners, suppliers, workers, and project initiators. Most importantly, the organization offers resources to the group of employees without regarding the LGBTQ communities, the African-Americans, and the Latinos. The minority groups in the United States of America air their views and concerns for the generation of opinions that are helpful for the sustainable development of the resources. The organizational culture of the American Red Cross continues to characterize the professional development where the employees are given the chance to develop their profession through further studies by the management. The American Red Cross has enhanced the strategic leadership headed by the chief executive officers. Other branches in management include the financial officers, human resource department, and disaster management officers. Also, the American Red Cross has a high retention rate of employees because of the need to show examples to the public on the provision of humanitarian services as opposed to individual needs.

The Organization’s Environment

The environment of the American Red Cross favors the need for climate and ecosystem conservation for the provision of humanity to the vulnerable in society. The organization comprises the director of the climate change and sustainability that organizes fundraising for the domestic climate change actions hence supporting the resiliency of the communities that are vulnerable to extreme weather. Also, the grants and the community initiatives enable the organization to offer grants and financial assistance to the communities affected by natural calamities (American Red Cross, 2011). It also characterizes the voluntary workers who provide services for the benefit of vulnerable societies.

Competitive Position of the American National Red Cross

The American Red Cross remains number one in the provision of services to the people affected by the disaster in the United States of America. The first position is achieved by the move to involve strategic measures in the management of the available resources and the need to eradicate the detriments that affect the social life of the employees, stakeholders, and the entire American population (American Red Cross, 2022). The major competitor is World Vision which has moved to attract sponsors due to its increasing move to provide sustainable services to the vulnerable in society. World Vision is a private company that was started by the Evangelical Christian Humanitarian Aid groups. It provides healthcare by creating easy accessibility to water and sanitation programs for the vulnerable members of American societies (American Red Cross, 2022). Also, the Goodwill Industries of Texas competes with the Red Cross through the provision of government and public services to the communities affected by the disasters. It gets sponsorship from most of the well-wishers and the government hence creating a divisive mind that has split the financial sponsorship of the American Red Cross. Goodwill Industries of Texas is located in Tyler as its headquarters. Consequently, Sutter Heath remains the major competitor of the American Red Cross. Sutter Health provides the hospital care and the other healthcare programs hence scrambling for financial resources with the American Red Cross.

Possibilities

There exist several possibilities that make the American Red Cross viable for the provision of services to disaster-affected people in the United States of America. It has the possibility of restoring the family links by locating the loved ones missing due to war., civil unrest, and natural disasters. It also sends messages to the separated family members. It also has the possibility of training the American communities on disaster response and preparedness through the implementation of disaster preparedness programs (American Red Cross, 2011). It provides emergency healthcare services that get aimed at tackling the healthcare challenges like Covid-19. The possibility of providing blood services has enabled the organization to save many lives by using contemporary medical technology in blood donations and transfusions. Through the use of the quality assurance units, the American Red Cross has been able to manufacture FDA-regulated products that meet compliance standards (Cotter, 2018). The American Red Cross has continued to provide awareness and education programs through the use of contemporary technology and video programs that inform the public about the need for self-protection in case of a crisis. It emphasizes disaster readiness hence mitigating the expected challenges that the societies might undergo.

Potential generic strategies

The American National Red Cross gets characterized by business-level generic strategies for the sustainable development of the organization. It has cost leadership which enables the management to carefully use the financial resources to achieve the goals and objectives of helping the disaster-affected people in the United States of America. The differentiation strategy also characterizes the American Red Cross. It enables the organization and the management to evaluate the current trends in the provision of services with the past and the future trends in the management of disasters. Consequently, the focused cost leadership strategy employed by the American Red Cross has created a framework through which the organization has focused on the service provider to the vulnerable in society (Rozario, 2003). Furthermore, the focused differentiation strategy has enabled the American National Red Cross to apply the methodological framework in the analysis of the criteria of delivering the services to the public that aims at the mitigation of the challenges affecting the human race.

Potential grand strategies

The potential grand strategies used by the American National Red Cross are growth, stability, and defense. The growth as a grand strategy enables the American Red Cross to comprehensively grow in terms of technological innovation to increase the probability of providing humanitarian services to the public affected by the disasters. Also, stability as a grand strategy enables the organization to be stable in the provision of services and the maintenance of the productive workforce for the sustainable delivery of services (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Furthermore, the defensive strategies enable the American Red Cross to determine the effective approaches in defending the communities against aggression like in the case of the war. It continues to link the government and its people through a defensive mechanism for handling disasters.

Potential value discipline

Potential value discipline defines the nature of the American Red Cross as a local organization within the area. The American National Red Cross get characterized by diversity, inclusivity, and equity where the management band the entire organization attains rich diversity through the equitable distribution of resources to areas affected by the calamities. Also, fair treatment and progressive discipline define the American Red Cross by creating a lovely working climate for the employees (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Also, the non-discrimination approaches enable the organization to use the defined mechanism of handling the issues relating to the company’s inclusion in the workplace. Security safety and health define the American Red Cross through which the organization can provide security to its workers, safety to the affected public, and the provision of health care services to the general community. It continues to provide environmental conservation measures through the induction of sensitization formulas for the benefit of the ecosystem. Violence-free workplace and a harassment-free workplace give a clear definition of the American Red Cross where the management tries to manage the violence occurrence through the use of the peaceful method of conflict resolution.

American National Red Cross change management strategies

The American Red Cross consists of half a million volunteers and 35 000 employees headed by the board of governors who oversees the management and the organization’s strategies. The board of governors consists of 12 to 20 members including the chair who is appointed by the president of the United States of America. The president and the CEO are appointed by the board. As such, the management has the responsibility of planning carefully for the activities of the organization. The board of governors also communicates the strategies that require implementation by the workforce. Consequently, they provide a mechanism through which the communities participate effectively in the development of humanitarian provision (Egan & Pravongviengkham, 2016). Another mechanism through which the board of governors uses the change the strategic management includes the invitation of the companies to participate in the provision of humanitarian aid, creating the roadmap for the implementation of the changes and the provision of the training to the employees and the general communities on the disaster management.

The recommendations depict the areas the American National Red Cross should improve

The American National Red Cross should devise communication and messaging policies that are not perceived as moralizing to enable the workforce to work diligently towards achieving the company’s mission and vision. The use of an effective communication model will create a framework through which the organization will easily identify the challenges affecting the general society in times of crisis and disasters (Briones et al., 2011). Through the application of the technological system of communication, the American Red Cross will create an atmosphere for the provision of sustainable services.

The management should develop multicultural approaches in recruiting, training, and assigning duties to the staff. The use of multicultural approaches will mitigate the conflict and stereotypes within the organization (Potera, 2011). Reduction of bias and duty delegation will motivate workers by enabling them to work as brothers.

The head of the delegation should decide on the empowerment formulas in risk management. The risk management framework will determine the possibility of continuing with the operation. Also, if the operation seems to be unprofitable, the risk management team should issue guidelines for suspending the activities.

Conclusion

American Red Cross remains the major charity organization in my local area and America at large. It has enabled the well-wishers to provide economic, social, and psychological assistance to the individuals affected by calamities, disasters, and war. It has also enhanced health care provision and the provision of educational services to the Americans on the need to handle the calamities like diseases. As such, the American National Red Cross has motivated the workers through the use of the sustainable service provision mechanism to increase their need for humanitarian aid provision. It also uses technological innovation approaches to enhance communication like drones, and the geographical information system. There exist competitors which enhance the provision of the quality services like World Vision. Notably, the changes in the management strategies ha enable the organization to get the appropriate approaches to handling the issues that may become a detriment to the provision of services. Moreover, ethics remains the most effective criterion for making the workforce get motivated toward achieving its goals. Furthermore, the American National Red Cross should improve in some areas to increase its chances of effectively reaching the American communities that are affected by Natural disasters and wars.

References

American Red Cross. (2022). American Red Cross competitors and similar companies. Craft. https://craft.co/american-red-cross-1/competitorsAmerican Red Cross. (2011). American Red Cross Guide to Services. https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDF_s/GuideToServices.pdfBriones, R. L., Kuch, B., Liu, B. F., & Jin, Y. (2011). Keeping up with the digital age: How the American Red Cross uses social media to build relationships. Public relations review, 37(1), 37-43. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811110001335Bessant, J., Rush, H., & Trifilova, A. (2015). Crisis-driven innovation: The case of humanitarian innovation. International journal of innovation management, 19(06), 1540014. https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919615400149Center for Ethical Organizational Cultures. (2018). The American Red Cross Faces Organizational Integrity Challenges. https://harbert.auburn.edu/binaries/documents/center-for-ethical-organizational-cultures/cases/american-red-cross.pdfCotter, C. (2018). Red Cross. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, 10. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/pdf/1914-1918-Online-red_cross-2018-04-10.pdfDonaldson, J., Campos-Nanez, E., Mazzuchi, T., & Sarkani, S. (2016). A collaborative resource allocation strategy for hurricane preparedness for private, public, and government sectors. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, 31(1), 13-17. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/agispt.20160587Egan, T. B., & Pravongviengkham, T. (2016). American Red Cross: a history and analysis. Naval Postgraduate School Monterey United States. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD1030846Issaias, T. (2022). Imperial spectacle and emergency shelters: the American Red Cross programs presented at Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, 1915. Planning Perspectives, 1-32. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02665433.2022.2104350Rozario, K. (2003). ” Delicious Horrors”: Mass Culture, The Red Cross, and the Appeal of Modern American Humanitarianism. American Quarterly, 55(3), 417-455. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30041983Potera, C. (2011). Red Cross Nursing Aligns with IOM Recommendations. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 111(12), 14. https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/fulltext/2011/12000/Red_Cross_Nursing_Aligns_with_IOM_Recommendations.8.aspxPellegrino, J. L., Charlton, N. P., Carlson, J. N., Flores, G. E., Goolsby, C. A., Hoover, A. V., … & Swain, J. M. (2020). 2020 American Heart Association and American Red Cross focused update for first aid. Circulation, 142(17), e287-e303. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000900

Academic Writing Genres in Postgraduate Levels: Similarities and Differences among the varied Genres

By (Name)

Couse

Professor

Institution

State

Word Count: 1980Academic writing that serves as one of the compulsory activities of students pursuing their studies at postgraduate level is a somewhat challenging yet interesting experience (Petrova 2017). Whilst academic writing at undergraduate levels tends to be less demanding, academic writing at a postgraduate level requires lots of critical thinking and associated skills. Precisely there are four main writing genres in postgraduate level which entail essay, research proposal, research report and reflective writing. Essay writing entails in-depth exploration, analysis and evaluation of a given topic that is written in prose and presented in a continuous structure with the use of connected paragraphs. On the other hand, research proposals explain details about the plan, methodology, purpose and objective of a research study that could be undertaken in future. Moreover, a research report relies on particular sections which entail discussion, methodology, literature review and conclusion to present detailed information concerning a selected topic. Reflective writing offers detailed responses that a writer develops through their critical thinking capabilities with regards to a given document or situation (Rai 2006). Such categories of writing demand the use of particular structures and supporting evidence to back up information that is generated through critical thinking and the use of specific writing skills. Nevertheless, some variances exist amongst the different genres because of their varied purposes. Therefore, essay, research proposal, research report and reflective writing genres exhibit certain similarities and differences relating to their structures, required skills, development processes and purposes.

Each of the academic writing genres relies on evidence to support their points. Different academic writing documents depend on predetermined information to support their ideas and give them authority (Cumming, Lai and Cho 2016). Since critical thinking facilitates the development of personal opinions and ideologies, evidenced from earlier experiments and research findings are crucial in validating and proving such individual inferences. For instance, each type of academic writing relies on either direct quotes or paraphrased versions of other scholars’ findings. Nevertheless, such evidence should be obtained from reputable sources that may include quality scholarly articles that were developed through proven and acceptable processes like scientific experimentations and research studies. Without evidence, a document would be less convincing, and hence a writer may not attain their desired objectives and goals. Therefore, an individual has to conduct extensive and intensive studies and evaluations of available documents to determine the most suitable ones to be used in a given topic of writing. Thus, evidence act as qualifiers and validators of all categories of academic documents.

Secondly, all the different types of academic writing adhere to particular order and structures to guide the audience. Every form of academic writing exhibits a specific structure and order to ensure that their information flows smoothly from the begging to the end (Street 2009). Most academic documents rely on the use of three-part approach which entails the use of an introduction, body and conclusion. Each type of writing presents an introductory section that serves to inform and prepare the reader on what to expect from the other parts of the document. The body of the writing is where the author expresses and explain their points. Finally, the conclusion section offers summarized points and personal inferences that are drawn from the findings. Even so, every category of writing has a unique structure and order due to their varied uses. For instance, a research paper relies on sub-sections with the use of sub-titles that entail literature review, findings and discussions, conclusions and methodology to extensively elaborate and explain its varied groups of information. On the other hand, some forms of writing that include the essays rely on are continuously-flowing documents that are written in prose to ensure that their paragraphs are interrelated. Hence, order and structure are crucial in every type of academic writing at the postgraduate level.

Additionally, each type of academic writing exhibit in-text citations and the use of a reference list to reinforce their points and provide links to areas of further reading. Citations and references are crucial in all academic writings since they attract more value and qualify the documents (Fox, Paine and Sauterey 2016). A piece of writing could be isolated from the wealth of academic writings if it does not recognize and appreciate work of other writers. References play crucial roles in supporting ideas that an individual develops through their critical thinking capabilities. Moreover, appreciate previous academic projects through the use of references and citations. Information that other academicians and scholars established contribute significantly in validating and reinforcing claims of a writer. For instance, the diverse categories of academic writings use in-text citations and reference lists to support their information. Therefore, references are vital sources of evidence as well as validators and qualifiers of academic documents.

Further, academic writing at the postgraduate level relies significantly on critical thinking capabilities, evaluations and analysis. Advanced levels of academic writing extend beyond mere descriptions of an idea or subject to include personal interpretations, responses and conclusions (Andrews 2007). Since virtually every form of academic writing at advanced levels of studies strive to expand existing knowledge, personal inferences and conclusions are essential in contributing to such desired growth. For instance, an individual could rely on recommendations and suggestions from previous research papers to conduct new studies, thus uncovering more vital information and growing the wealth of information. Academic documents could be of no or less value if they replicate what other persons accomplished without providing additional information. Nonetheless, findings from previous work by other scholars and academicians are referred to provide foundations for new writings. Moreover, academic documents require writers to use reliable findings and facts to develop new information through critical thinking.

Furthermore, each form of academic writing has a specific thesis that acts as their baselines. Theses are vital aspects of academic writing since they act as a guide and controller to ensure that the writer remains within the essential areas of coverage (Toprak 2014). For example, theses dictate the extent of what the writer would cover, the type of objectives and research questions that a writer would use. A well-directed document is relatively easier to understand and read since the audience would have specific expectations. Moreover, a reader who gains a clear understanding of what the writer intends to present would be eager to learn applicable procedures and eventual findings. Still, theses are important during evaluation of a document. Therefore, academic documents strive to explore, explain and support particular theses.

Also, all forms of academic writing at postgraduate level demand advanced research and reading skills. Research skills are essential in ensuring that a writer provides the right and valid information that enriches their wealth of knowledge. Similarly, critical reading enables readers to collect crucial information from a given document. Accordingly, research skills involve intensive and extensive critical analyses and evaluation of available materials to establish the most suitable ones that would be employed in a given piece of writing. For instance, an individual would have to find, read, analyze and evaluate various documents to determine and select the most appropriate sources that would be used to enrich their literature review section (Fox, Paine and Sauterey 2016). Such a practice is highly-involving since the practice of establishing verified, and credible sources consume lots of time and energy. An individual could end up replicating work of another person, thus generating similar information rather than expanding the existing ones by failing to conduct adequate research studies. Still, a writer should conduct exhaustive research studies to avoid plagiarism while increasing their knowledge for better information development (Bakhtiyari et al. 2014). Thus, research skills are critical in all academic writing.

Still, advanced writing skills are crucial in postgraduate level writing activities. At postgraduate levels, academic writing tends to be more sophisticated since it entails expression and explanations of particularly complex subjects in in-depth and lengthy approaches (Langan 2013). For example, an individual could be required to provide basic descriptions of a chosen topic then offer their inferences and conclusions. Accordingly, a writer should be able to establish a suitable writing structure and style to develop an interesting document that is relatively easy to read and understand. Moreover, writers should use appropriate terms and sentence structures that are relatively easier to understand by avoiding ambiguity while ensuring clarity and simplicity. Also, meticulous referencing, appropriate structuring, proper grammar, apt planning and drafting of academic documents are critical in promoting quality work. Thus, suitable writing skills are essential in every type of academic writing at postgraduate levels because they enable writers to adequately communicate their messages to the target audience.

Similarly, proper time management and planning is another essential skill in the development of all the varied academic documents. Appropriate time management enables writers to adequately study, analyze, evaluate, and interpret collected data while ensuring that sufficient time is available for writing quality documents (Rani and Mangala 2010). An individual would probably conduct quality analysis, evaluations and interpretations when they have ample time. Research and critical thinking activities consume relatively lots of time and energy. On the other hand, students at postgraduate levels tend to operate under tight time schedules following the complexity of their studies. Accordingly, an individual should establish and stick to a suitable timeframe that puts into consideration every aspect of the writing processes.

Additionally, all the varied categories of academic writing rely primarily on proofreading and editing to gain adequate quality. Proofreading and editing a document contribute significantly on ensuring that it exhibits all the desired qualities while presenting extremely minimized or not errors (Harwood, Austin and Macaulay 2012). For instance, writers could proofread and edit their work to ensure the inclusion of all the required sections and proper titles/ subtitles while embracing the correct tenses and vocabulary. Well-edited and proofread documents are free of punctuation and spelling mistakes. Consequently, such documents would exhibit high-quality because they communicate effectively while ensuring smooth flow of information from one point to the next. Moreover, the writers would present full details by ensuring that they provide all the necessary details. Therefore, proofreading and editing are vital tools that are used to refine academic documents to ensure they are of high-quality.

Nonetheless, a key difference amongst the varied writing genres is based on the degree of research studies that a writer has to conduct. Amount of research studies that an individual conducts depend on the quantity of information that is needed (Shim 2005). For example, research reports and research proposals require extensive research studies to attain adequate documents that would be used in the literature review and other sections of the paper. On the contrary, essays and reflection tend to rely on limited but enough sources to support their claims and ideas. Since reflections strive to present personal emotions, interpretations, opinions and believes about a given subject, they depend primarily on a writer’s critical thinking, evaluation and analysis skills rather than exhaustive research studies. Hence, the extent of research studies differs from one category of writing to the next.

Overall, academic writing at postgraduate level comprises four main genres that entail research proposal, research reports, essays and reflections. The varied groups of documents tend to be more sophisticated since they demand lots of critical thinking skills to provide valuable information for expanding existing knowledge. The main similarities in the varied groups of writing entail the use of critical thinking and evaluation skills, time management and planning skills, editing and proofreading skills, writing skills, the use of a thesis and essential reading and research skills. On the other hand, the differences exist in the structures and extent of research studies that are employed to develop the different types of documents. Research papers demand extensive research studies since they focus on literature reviews. On the other hand, reflections and essays tend to rely on limited amounts of research because they depend mainly on critical thinking, analyses and evaluation skills of an individual. Therefore, academic writing at postgraduate levels is more demanding and require sufficient understanding of the varied writing genres to ensure quality work.

References

Andrews, R., 2007. Argumentation, critical thinking and the postgraduate dissertation. Educational Review, 59(1), pp.1-18.

Bakhtiyari, K., Salehi, H., Embi, M.A., Shakiba, M., Zavvari, A., Shahbazi-Moghadam, M., Ale Ebrahim, N. and Mohammadjafari, M., 2014. Ethical and unethical methods of plagiarism prevention in academic writing. International Education Studies, 7(7), pp.52-62.

Cumming, A., Lai, C. and Cho, H., 2016. Students’ writing from sources for academic purposes: A synthesis of recent research. Journal of English for Academic purposes, 23, pp.47-58.

Fox, C.W., Paine, C.T. and Sauterey, B., 2016. Citations increase with manuscript length, author number, and references cited in ecology journals. Ecology and Evolution, 6(21), pp.7717-7726.

Harwood, N., Austin, L. and Macaulay, R., 2012. Cleaner, helper, teacher? The role of proofreaders of student writing. Studies in higher education, 37(5), pp.569-584.

Langan, J., 2013. College writing skills with readings. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Petrova, O., 2017. Writing as a part of postgraduate training English (Doctoral dissertation).

Rai, L., 2006. Owning (up to) reflective writing in social work education. Social work education, 25(8), pp.785-797.

Rani, E. and Mangala, S., 2010. Need and importance of soft skills in students. Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies, 2(3).

Shim, E., 2005. Introductions in research papers: Genre analysis of academic writing. ENGLISH TEACHING (영어교육), 60(4), pp.399-422.

Street, B., 2009. ” Hidden” features of academic paper writing. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL), 24(1), p.1.

Toprak, F., 2014. The graduate students’ autonomy development in a thesis writing course for postgraduate students at EMU (Master’s thesis, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU)-Doğu Akdeniz Üniversitesi (DAÜ)).

Michael Barzelay have published various books like Breaking through Bureaucracy: A new vision for managing in government, the new public management: improving research and policy dialogue. His research is concerned about making management field into design science. He has extensively written about this in his books and talked about it in conferences. His work focuses on European commission’s supervision of financial management of spending programmes by European union and other member states. His main contribution is in the book Preparing for the future. His ideology of science in public administration is mentioned in his book The new public management : improving research and policy dialogue

Mock Counseling Session

John Doe

University of Central Florida

Abstract

Professional counseling can be very beneficial to one’s health and well-being. Counseling is used to help clients with change, prevention, or life enhancement. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the potential benefits and complexity of true counseling. There are many theories and methods which are used to treat clients and regardless of the counselors preferred method they must be trained sufficiently at conducting counseling sessions and interviews. A mock clinical diagnostic interview was conducted with a mock-client and many important skill sets learned through the course were utilized. The counseling session is guided by both non-verbal communication and verbal communication. Active listening and understanding of the clients presenting issues guided the mock session.

The cosmic amount of different theoretical orientations and techniques used by psychotherapists can be overwhelming. The styles are constantly changing as new findings come out. Even psychodynamic theory, which is one of the oldest known theories and links back to Sigmund Freud, has been altered in certain cases to a more contemporary method which is “less dogmatic, more flexible and integrative, supported by evidence, more pragmatic, highly attentive to relational needs, less hierarchical and applicable to a wide range of clinical problems with vulnerable populations” (Bliss & Rasmussen, 2013). The varieties of techniques are ideal for certain situations and a counselor must pick and choose depending on their clients’ needs. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, behavioral theory, humanistic theory, existential theory, and eclecticism theory are just some examples of different styles employed in psychotherapy and are certainly dissimilar to each other.

Counseling has an impressive length of history and can be traced back to the Enlightenment period. Counseling is not necessarily a hard science in a sense because the lack of one specific guideline. According to the American Counseling Association, professional counseling is “the application of mental health, psychological and human development principles through cognitive, affective, behavioral and systematic intervention strategies, which address wellness, personal growth, and career development, as well as pathology” (Kaplan, Tarvydas, & Gladding, 2014). Counseling has many different specialties each suited for different scenarios. However, a common goal of all counseling is to help the client with change, prevention, or life enhancement (Hackney & Cormier, 2013). Unfortunately, many people that could benefit from counseling fail to give it a try due to cultural reasons, bias reasons, or simply are intimidated by the whole process. Some individuals might fear that seeking counseling would damage their family’s reputation due to strong stigma by close others, which might result in the individuals’ development of negative attitudes toward seeking professional help and a lack of willingness to seek counseling (Choi & Miller, 2014).

A mock clinical diagnostic interview was conducted to practice using the skills learned for counseling throughout the course. The interviewing process takes hundreds of times to fully master it and this was my initial interview. Probing is important in the clinical diagnostic interview and when a client states something with an imperative meaning the investigation should be made to further dissect the potential problems. Base lines of questions have been set forth to ask the client but are not meant to be strictly followed but rather as a dedicated guideline. Inferences based on what the client articulates should be given in detail by the client and redundancy should be avoided in the interview.

The counseling intake interview I would be performing is a very important process. “Intake interviews, as part of the assessment phase of counseling, gather information about the client’s reasons for seeking counseling, current and past functioning, social history and interpersonal style, and goals for counseling” (Mears, 2009). First impressions are vital while trying to establish a relationship with the client. If the client feels too uncomfortable with the therapist for any reason proper treatment may not be available or the client could even choose not to continue the counseling process. In this primary interview conducting a good starting rapport with the client will be the main goal along with deciding which psychotherapy technique to use in future sessions. With further counseling down the road and a stronger relationship with the client I could then begin defining the presenting problem, identifying and setting goals, choosing and initiation interventions, and planning termination and follow-up.

Before the mock interview I prepared myself emotionally and physically. Physically, I made sure I was well groomed and would be taken seriously by the client while at the same time seem approachable and not make the client feel awkward. The goal is to make the client feel comfortable enough to open up and even something so subtle such as counselor appearance can have an effect on the mood. I also made sure the mock office was a comfortable setting and ensured there wasn’t going to be any furniture between us which could produce a psychological barrier. As for my psychological preparation, I recited the questions to be asked beforehand so it would be one fluid motion when the time arrived. I also prepared probing questions and studied some Rogerian examples as a refresher to person-centered therapy.

As my mock client walked in I stood up and greeted her. We sat down adjacent to each other and began the mock session. The communication within a counseling session is both verbal and non-verbal. I made sure to sit with an open, relaxed posture as to convey comfort with the process. I would be using the head nod at certain times to show acceptance and understanding of what the client has to say. I also was mindful of my facial expressions because it has been found that “long-held belief that counsellors must engage their clients in a meaningful and demonstrable manner as indicated by their non-verbal behavior appears to generalize to their facial expressions also” (Sharpley, Jeffrey, & Mcmah, 2006). Since the client is at the interview to express her thoughts verbally, I knew when to remain silent and when to speak. One of the most important things a counselor does is listen. The self-improvement of a client is seeking is actually within themselves and the therapist is there to help make that happen. Silence is powerful and encourages many positive effects.

Before this counseling intake interview began I dwelled into as much information on the client as possible and read all paperwork given on the client. Since the purpose of the intake interview is to gather information necessary for the evaluation and treatment of the client I made sure to take notes as we began. I was really interested to know as much as I could about the client so I had her clarify what she is like as a person and important figures within her life. I made sure to have her tell me any current complaints and any history of psychiatric problems as well. She expressed that she has a certain degree anxiety to me. Anxiety is not uncommon for her age, “mental disorders appear to be on the rise among college students and are having a significant effect on their attrition, with anxiety identified as one of the most common presenting issues” (Lindsey, 2014). The anxiety even affects some aspects of her life while lowering self-confidence and having somewhat of a negative impact on everyday things such as driving, working, and sometimes shopping. There were no visible medical complications except a lack of sleep at times due to the anxiety. This lack of sleep was very uncommon so it was not too worrisome. If there had been much sleep disturbance it could be linked to a more serious psychiatric problem as “sleep disturbance is significantly linked with an onset of major depressive disorder” (Batterham, Glozier, & Christensen, 2012). The most recent episode had been about a week ago. She said the episode seemed to increase as she gets older but could not decipher the origination or what triggers it.

While interviewing the mock client I used a variety of verbal skills used by professional counselors. I used open-ended questions, closed questions, clarification responses, reflection responses, minimal reinforcers and paraphrases. The main purpose of using these techniques is to “keep the focus on the clients, their stories, and their reactions” (Hackney & Cormier, 2013). As the interview went on she distressed a traumatic experience with an American Staffordshire Terrier when she was young, which could actually be the source of her anxiety. I then used an open-ended question to probe further into this problem. After further details I determined that this was an important life event that affects her even today so made note to follow up on this subject later on in future counseling sessions because a main goal during the intake interview is to lay the foundation for future interactions. Confronting a client too early in an emerging relationship could have devastating effects. I recited a summary statement of the traumatic event and story she told me to let her know I was actively listening.

After we had been in the interview for some time, I noticed she had resentment towards her father’s work schedule. I used a technique call the interpretation response for this and introduced a counselor-initiated interpretation. This response is used to assign meaning to a feeling that the client is having. The meaning of the feeling can then be moved in a different direction. I tried to use the information given as a question and had the client interpret the meaning. When the client interprets the meaning the therapist can either accept or modify what they have to say.

By the end of the counseling session I had probed more into the anxiety disorder the client had been describing. I suggested that there are many coping strategies that may help with the anxiety including perspective taking, communication strategies, anxiety relief tactics, diversions, self-reflection and self-help, and reviewing possible scenarios (Mortensen, 2014). I gave her the information on potential coping strategies and she agreed to come back for further testing to determine exactly what would be right for her.

In conclusion the mock clinical diagnostic interview conducted was excellent overall and helped clarify many details I was unsure of before I began. Learning about how beneficial counseling can be has given me a deep respect towards psychologists. The Professional Counselor, A Process Guide to Helping by Harold L. Hackney and Sherry Cormier really helped guide me through this mock-interview and this course as a whole. Being a counselor requires someone very knowledgeable and patient and this firsthand experience helped me appreciate the study that much more.

References

Batterham, P. J., Glozier, N., & Christensen, H. (2012). Sleep disturbance, personality and the onset of depression and anxiety: Prospective cohort study. Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Psychiatry, 46(11), 1089-1098. doi:10.1177/0004867412457997

Bliss, S., & Rasmussen, B. (2013). Reflections on contemporary psychodynamic theory in clinical social work. Journal Of Social Work Practice, 27(3), 211-215. doi:10.1080/02650533.2013.818938

Choi, N., & Miller, M. J. (2014). AAPI college students’ willingness to seek counseling: The role of culture, stigma, and attitudes. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 61(3), 340-351. doi:10.1037/cou0000027

Hackney, H., & Cormier, L. (2013). The Professional Counselor: A Process Guide to Helping. (7th ed.) Boston: Pearson.

Kaplan, D. M., Tarvydas, V. M., & Gladding, S. T. (2014). 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling: The New Consensus Definition of Counseling. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 92(3), 366-372. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00164.x

Lindsey, C. (2014). Trait Anxiety in College Students: The Role of the Approval Seeking Schema and Separation Individuation. College Student Journal, 48(3), 407-418.

Mears, G. (2009). Conducting an intake interview. In I. Marini, M. A. Stebnicki (Eds.) , The professional counselor’s desk reference (pp. 127-134). New York, NY, US: Springer Publishing Co.

Mortensen, R. (2014). Anxiety, work, and coping. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 17(3), 178-181. doi:10.1037/mgr0000020

Sharpley, C. F., Jeffrey, A. M., & Mcmah, T. (2006). Counsellor facial expression and client-perceived rapport. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 19(4), 343-356. doi:10.1080/09515070601058706

APPENDIX, TRANSCRIPT:

Therapist: Could you tell me about your childhood. What was it like growing up?

Client: Umm, I had a pretty solid upbringing. My parents stayed together and took good care of my sister and me. We moved a few different states because of my dad’s job and ended up in Florida.

Therapist: Oh?

Client: I didn’t get to keep friends for very long because of the constant moving.

Therapist: I understand that you had to move a lot as a child because of your father’s job and earlier you stated that you weren’t looking forward to seeing him during the holidays. Do you think you resent him because of the constant moving?

Client: I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. I just feel like he never made time for us.

Therapist: So you feel hurt by the fact that he was always working.

Client: Kinda, I know he loves us but I think he could have tried to spend more time with us.

Therapist: That must be very difficult for you. Is this something that you would like to address more during the course of therapy?

Client: Thanks, sure.

Therapist: Can you tell me about your relationship with your mother? What is she like as a person, and what was she like as a parent?

Client: I’m very close with my mom and in terms of the type of mother she was, she was always caring and like catering to others. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Therapist: So your mom is attentive?

Client: Yes, always putting the needs of others and the people she cares about before her own.

Therapist: Now I’d like you to describe a specific encounter with your mother, something that stands out. It can be an incident that’s typical of your relationship, really meaningful, really good, really bad, whatever comes to mind.

Client: I remember I ran off and got lost at a mall once when I was young and she searched frantically and found me despite how many people there were. I was scared and was crying and she came and comforted me.

Therapist: That must have been a chaotic time for you. Is this one of the reasons why you say she is so caring?

MMM306 Final Exam

Student’s Name

Student ID Number

Question 1

Introduction

Top management teams and scholars in various fields acknowledge the challenge that globalization presents to organizations today. Businesses are keenly aware of how tough it has become to identify suitable internationalization strategies and choosing the right country to invest and do business with. Still, a majority of companies, especially multinationals corporations, have stuck to approaches that have been conventionally deployed, emphasizing the standardized strategies to new markets and the occasional experimenting with minimal local twists. Consequently, many MNCs are struggling to come up with successful approaches to enter and conquer emerging markets. Starbucks desire to venture in to the Republic of Baldokistan presents a similar scenario. The management of Starbucks must address some important considerations as it ventures into a new, international, emerging market given its unique institutional environment. By entering this market, Starbucks will see to fruition a long term plan to gain more control and bargaining power over the supply chain of raw materials essential to its global business operations. Baldokistan provides a good avenue for such a bold business venture and will support the company’s internationalization strategy.

Analysis

The international business landscape has changed significantly over the last decade following the 2008/2009 financial crisis that crippled firms and industries alike. The last three two years have also changed how international business is conducted with the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, a fundamental reality is maintained that despite the volatility of emerging markets and their differing economic abilities, they are essential to the development and growth of international companies. Established MNCs have learned that winning in the emerging markets is not easy. In countries such as Baldokistan, the business environment can turn out very difficult, hard to navigate bureaucracies, and poor infrastructure may hamper an organization’s efforts to succeed. Yet, a majority of organizations such as Coca Cola have continued to dominate and succeed in these markets. For Starbucks, capturing important growth opportunities will be key to making a name for itself in a nation that remains largely untouched by the outside world. Before intense competition for raw materials and other resources emerge, Starbucks must employ its strength to control the savvy domestic players.

Starbucks will enter the Baldokistan economy via foreign direct investment (FDI) under a greenfield investment. At present, the external environment in the host country is FDI-conducive as the nation is labelled a a fast-growing emerging economy, the next golden hub of agricultural and food production business opportunities in modern Asia, and a highly adaptable country that is committed to undertaking radical social, political, and economic reforms to align itself with the leading economies in the world and actively engage with and participate in world socio-economic affairs. Further, the country is predicted to become one of the top countries in Asia in terms of ease of doing business in the next five years. These elements are important to Starbucks as they reveal stable nation, one that has the political, legal, environmental, social, cultural, and technological ability to drive the company’s internationalization agenda in Asia.

FDI in the form of business acquisitions has grown in efficiency and strategic alignment. This is an indication that the emerging economies are continuously building advanced local sectors and industries that are attractive to investment targets including MNCs. In the Greenfield approach that Starbucks intends to use in Baldokistan, creating a subsidiary to build operations from the ground up will be a welcome idea in a nation that is actively looking for investment opportunities and growth. A greenfield FDI will provide the highest form of control for Starbucks as it realizes its vision to increase its bargaining power through owning a significant portion of the raw materials supply chain. Overall, FDI will play an important role in transferring technology from the home country into thev host country.

FDI continues to be among the most important contributors of economic growth. FDI is not only a key driver of growth for an MNC but also a tool applied to enter and successfully perform in a new economy. For Starbucks in Baldokistan, FDI will generate an impact of technology as well as knowledge transfer, make significant improvements to its competitiveness, improve the productivity and long-run growth of the firm and overall boost the local economy. Yet, the effects of greenfield FDI are not universal but unique to different nations and locations depending on the situation. One benefit in the case of Baldokistan is that a positive spillover effect would grow the productivity of the domestic firms, augment domestic investments and provide a firm entry into the economy for Starbucks.

Starbucks will attain several advantages by employing a greenfield FDI approach to shape the local institutions in Baldokistan. First, the company will gain high level and high-quality control over the sale and manufacturing of products. This will set an industry pace that will allow it to leverage the technologies and knowledge and skills gained through years of operation. It will then be able to attain economies of scope and scale through the marketing, production, and research and development, a fete that other local competitors might not achieve. Years of operations and a host of partnerships around the world will enable the organization to bypass trade restrictions. By creating jobs for the local Baldokistan economy, Starbucks will control local institutions through CSR and other good will initiatives.

The industry-based view ignores the informal and formal institutions that provide competition among industries. The model sees institutions as a background. In contrast, the institution-based view of strategy focuses on the active interaction between organizations and institutions, considering strategic choices as the main outcome of the choices. In the case of Starbucks in Baldokistan, strategic choice is not only driven by the capabilities of the firm and industry conditions, but also informal and forma institutional frameworks that the firm must confront. Institutions dictate the strategy an MNC takes as it attempts to formulate or implement approaches to generate competitive advantage. The differences in institutional systems between Baldokistan, an emerging economy, and the United States, a developed world where Starbucks originates from, will force the company to pay more attention to the differences created in terms of doing business.

Recommendations

Starbucks should grow in the emerging markets by winning locally, a strategy that may be attained through the creation of competitive advantages o the basis of its size, financial capability, market dominance, marketing prowess, and research and development capabilities. Starbucks should transfer its core competencies and capabilities into Baldokistan and then gradually build profit drivers in there as it continues to increase its bargaining power. By tapping into the rural Baldokistan economy, the country will get additional penetration to offset the saturated American market.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Overall, Starbucks will see to fruition a long-term plan to gain more control and bargaining power over the supply chain of raw materials essential to its global business operations. As an emerging market, Baldokistan provides a good avenue for such a bold business venture and will support the company’s internationalization strategy. Starbucks must leverage its core competencies and advantages in terms of its size and financial muscle to create stronger competitive advantage.

Question 2

In an extension strategy, firms are open to various approaches that are all intended at creating the best environment to conduct business. One of the most important avenues is a joint venture. A joint venture provides several benefits including new insights and expertise, better resources, sharing of costs and risks, and are incredibly flexible. Cafe2Go proposed joint venture with a Malaysian firm will provide an opportunity to gain new insights and expertise. It will open up the company to business operations in a new country while hiding behind the buffer of an already experienced business partner. The firm will also reap the benefit of having an access to better resources, including specialized staff and technology, already familiar with the local culture and business operations. The proposal will only take 5 years meaning that the arrangement is by definition, temporary. Overall, the chances of success are higher as the firm is already riding with a renowned brand.

Nonetheless, an issue raised during the meeting is the protection of the firm’s intellectual or strategic assets, particularly the innovation capability of the firm through its unique technology, process and skills of running a specialty coffee shop. This innovation capability has been the foundation of the firm’s competitive advantage because it is not only valuable (V), rare (R), and organised (O) within the firm but also extremely inimitable (I). To address this issue, Cafe2Go will contribute only the amount of information and other resources that are important for the partnership. Intellectual and strategic assets will not be compromised in any way especially the innovation capability of the firm. The use of technical expertise will be protected under the agreement and will only be used to help make the venture stronger. The innovation capability of the organization will allow market penetration in Malaysia, allowing the firm to expand after the terms of the venture come to an end. Overall, the joint venture will provide access to new markets and distribution networks. increased capacity, enable sharing of risks and costs with the local partner, offer access to greater resources, and it is flexible to enable the firm to protect its strategic assets.

It is recommended that the proposed joint venture is an effective strategy that will enhance the firm’s value chain because of synergy and will likely lead to the firm’s competitive advantage in a highly competitive industry in Malaysia. The technological and innovative capability of Cafe2Go will be an important element to push the company forward in a highly competitive industry characterised by buyers’ strong bargaining power. The Malaysian market is not only very competitive but also has pressure from consumers on businesses to get higher quality products, better customer service, and at significant lower prices. Additionally, the markets substantial number of substitutes means that there are other products in other industries that provide similar benefits to consumers. Substitutes limit the potential returns in the industry by placing a ceiling on prices charged to generate profit. Cafe2Go must additionally employ its innovation capability to create competitive advantage. This will allow the joint venture to put pressure on the competition, gain more advantage, and fight the power of consumers and substitute goods in the Malaysian market.

Model Individual Winning Business Proposal for the Homeland Plastics Case

Author’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Model Individual Winning Business Proposal for the Homeland Plastics Case

To: Project Manager Date: April 27, 2012

From: [Student Name],

Re: Proposal; Homeland Plastics should suspend its operations in Ramina

Background. As a result of the concerns raised in regard to environmental issues relating to Homeland Plastics, it is essential to appreciate that it is a universally accepted foundational concept of business that the primary principle of Homeland Plastics is to maximize profits. Although, there is nothing erroneous with profits maximization, the unceasing pressure for maximum profits may create several ethical problems for Homeland Plastics’ operations in Ramina.

Proposal. Taking into consideration the ethical issues, I suggest that Homeland Plastics suspend operations until it complies with the water emissions guidelines established by Finland’s Ministry of the Environment (MEF). On the other hand, the alternative would be to relocate to Vyborg, where the established water emissions guidelines are less stringent. However, taking into consideration the cost of doing business between the two locations, I hereby propose that Homeland Plastics relocates to Vyborg.

Reasoning. I hereby suggest that, in the best interest of Homeland Plastics, it would be more appropriate to comply with water emissions guidelines established in Ramina. This would however, bring about the issue of business ethics. Business ethics may be largely extraneous for the majority of managers, since it fails to offer any convenient advice. On the other hand, as a chemical engineer, I am of the opinion that moral philosophy, has a propensity to value altruism, the concept that an individual ought to do good, since it is appropriate, or will be of advantage to others, but not since the individual will profit from it. Homeland Plastics is duty bound to protect the environment it operates in, but on the contrary, business ethics may conflict with profit maximization. From a business ethics perspective, externalities permit companies such as Homeland Plastics to contaminate environmental habitat or result in human heath concerns. It ought to be comprehensible that if an externality causes harm to the environment or harms a person, then that externality is an obvious infringement of ethics. However, a number of senior managers in Homeland Plastics may not appreciate the ethical repercussions of the externalities and ecological damage. While all stakeholders in this issue realize Homeland Plastics is rather of a black box in this proposal, the consequence is still an awkward blurring of the confines between the profit maximization, and the quest of self-interest. For instance, the confines between altruism and self-interest, interests and ethics, economic realities and ethical demands, financial and moral costs, and ethical imperatives and profit motives are not readily distinct at Homeland Plastic’s case.

On the other hand, Homeland Plastics’ senior management is bound by fiduciary responsibility.  Fiduciary responsibility in this regard applies to the responsibilities of Homeland Plastics corporate directors to implement the best interests of the company. If the directors of Homeland Plastics construe this mandate narrowly, then there would be a short-range focus on profits that would ultimately harm both the business and society. The unevenness arises from the reality that profit maximization is obliquely justified. It is constructive to note that this predicament is one that business ethics would share with legal principles.

The best next steps: It is essential to note that, the concern with competitive markets that Homeland Plastics engages in, and the market-clearing prices, is not merely an abstract, philosophical hypothesis concerning what may justify the drive for profit-maximization. The whole legal structure of Homeland Plastics, in conjunction with the pertinent regulatory environment, should be organized in a way that would promote competition, as well as the exact category of competition that is liable to produce market-clearing prices.

(Name)

(Instructors’ name)

(Course)

(Date)

Men happier than Women in Work-Life balance

This article examines one of the most controversial topics regarding employee productivity in the replace. As researchers would argue, a number of factors ranging from motivation to gender affect productivity in the workplace. More specifically, the article draws attention to how an employee’s gender may affect productivity in the workplace. As the article explains, men are more likely to maintain a proper work-life balance than their female counterparts. A survey carried out by the Captivate Network on more than 670 employees illustrated that whereas men are 25% happier at their respective workplaces, women are 75% more happy when in their homes. This, in turn, implies that women are happier when away from their jobs as compared to their male counterparts. A closer examination of the issue reveals that, because women are happier at home, the likelihood of productivity being affected by their personal lives is very high. This further illustrates the inability of some employees to balance their personal and professional lives.

In relation to human resources, this article reflects one of the most imperative human resource practices regarding the provision of a work-life balance for their employees. Human resource personnel need to provide their employees with the opportunity to balance their personal lives and their works, without straining these employees. The effects of having a poor work-life balance is serious especially for women and human resource professionals need to design programs that will allow the provision of these. Employees who lack the necessary balance in their private and professional lives are affected both psychologically and physically. This will in turn affect their productivity in the workplace, as it reduces an employee’s concentration to his or her duties in the workplace. Human Resource professionals are, therefore, urged to develop an organization culture and environment that supports work-life balance for employees. This can be attained through the provision of a number of benefits for the employees, which are solely aimed at promoting a good work-life balance.

This article is relevant for HR professionals because it draws on a topic that demands a considerable amount of input from the human resource department in any organization. This is because it is the human resource department that is charged with the duty of ensuring that the output of each employee in the workplace, regardless of gender, is at its maximum. It also assists in creating awareness in human resource professionals on the different employee demands based on gender. By recognizing these differences, HR professionals can create programs that promote work-life balance, so that a particular gender of employees do not feel that their duties and responsibilities in the workplace strain their personal lives. Sequentially, HR personnel, together with the other managers in the organization need to develop policies regarding the maintenance of a proper work-life balance for employees. This should, however, be done in a way that considers both genders, without having an inclination towards one particular gender of their employees. After all, the human resource department is also charged with the responsibility of promoting workplace equality and fairness. Some of the ways in which HR professionals can guarantee a work-life balance for their employees include creating weekly schedules, taking breaks during the day, proper time management, as well as, taking vacations.

Link:

http://www.hrreporter.com/articleview?articleid=11155&headline=men-happier-than-women-with-work-life-balance-survey