Mountain West Health Plan Case Analysis Essay

PROBLEM STATEMENT a. FACTS OF THE CASE: Mountain West Health Plans, Inc. – Denver-based health insurance company Martin Quinn – Senior Vice-President for Service and Operations Evelyn Gustafson – Former and retired Director of Mountain West Customer Service Department. Her motto â€Å"always put yourself in the subscriber’s shoes†. In her time, there were only 10% turnover rates in the department compared to the typical 25% to 45% rate for customer service representative. She firmly resisted all attempts to increase efficiency and lower cost in the department where salaries accounted for close to 70% of the budget. Erik Rasmussen – newly hired Director of Customer Service, the replacement of Ms. Evelyn. He is a young man in his late twenties with a shiny new bachelor’s degree in business administration. The management tasked him to bring down the cost on the department. Under Mr. Erick, the company, for the first time measured the representatives’ performance and used software that generated automated work schedules based on historical information and projected need. Also, the company cut back on training. The department cost was finally heading downward, though department morale was downward, with the current turnover rate climbing at 30%. Also receiving more complaints from subscribers of inaccurate information from inexperienced or representative who sounded rushed. b. KEY PROBLEMS How Mr. Quinn will address the issue of low morale among the employees in the customer service department and its high turnover rate, while keeping and meeting the goal of the company to increase efficiency and lower the cost incurred in the department? KEY OBJECTIVES To meet the company goal to increase the efficiency of the customer service department and lower its cost. To uphold the morale of the employees and to reduce turnover rate from 30% to 10%. ANALYSIS OF CAUSES A. Analyzing the leadership and management style of Ms. Evelyn and Mr. Erik, including their strengths and weakness, and their source of influence: MS. EVELYN GUSTAFSON MR. ERIK RASMUSSEN Behavioral Approach People Oriented – attention to people Task Oriented – attention to task Leadership Grid Country Club Management – Thoughtful attention to the needs of people for satisfying relationships leads to a comfortable, friendly organization atmosphere and work tempo Authority-Compliance Management – Efficiency in operations results from arranging conditions of work in such a way that human elements interfere to a minimum degree. Strength Consideration and motivation of the needs of her subordinates, a happy work environment as a result of her good interpersonal relationship. Valued the interest and personal development of her subordinates. Focus on productivity and efficiency in the accomplishment of organizational goals. Weakness Uncontrolled cost in her department result of excessive flexibility and too much focus on employees’ personal concern. Inability to analyze the internal culture, less concern of his subordinates’ personal development, interest and needs. Source of influence Legitimate power – authority granted from a formal management position in the organization. Reward power – stems from the authority to bestow reward on other people. Referent power – comes from an individual’s personal characteristics that command others’ identification, respect and admiration. Legitimate power and Coercive power – refers to authority to punish or recommend, and the opposite of reward power. Leadership of Ms. Evelyn – She is focus on people, highly concerned on the needs and interest of her people. She believes that when people are happy, contented and comfortable they will work hard to accomplish the organization goals. She sees that it is easy to gain the support of people, when its leaders fosters respect and  fair treatment, considers their needs and interest, and shows trust in them. Source of influence – From the authority of being a manager, she has access on giving rewards e.g., flexible scheduling, fr equent breaks, offering plenty of trainings opportunities. She used this to gain influence on her people. Leadership of Mr. Erik – He is more concerned on the accomplishment of goals rather than people. He believes that employee’s needs plays secondary to the need of effective and efficient work places. His type of leadership views that â€Å"employees are only tools in accomplishing task†. Source of influence – from the legitimate power given to him by management, he ensure to get things done, and with the achievement he got support from the top management. B. It is also important to note the Style of Followership of the subordinates of these bosses, to further analyze the existing concern of the department. The employees in the customer service department could be describe as: a. Dependent uncritical thinker – does not consider possibilities beyond what he or she is told, does not contribute to the cultivation of the organization, and accepts the supervisor’s ideas without thinking. DEVELOPMENT AND SELECTION OF ALTERNATIVES (ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES) ALTERNATIVES ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES To recommend Mr. Erik to a particular leadership training that would develop his leadership skills. He will be more effective leader as he develops an interactive leadership style. Measurement is reduction of turnover rate in his department. It would somehow take time, as leadership style cannot be acquired overnight. To give Mr. Erik another task to accomplish: to promote strategies that would increase efficiency and effectiveness of his people and at the same time minimize turnover rate. Being a task oriented leader, Mr. Erik will ensure  that he will accomplish this task, which will make him realize that he would attain it by being concern on the interest and needs of his people. If Mr. Erik will take it another way around, he might insist on his authority to accomplish the new task. Job Enrichment – giving employees control on the resources in performing their tasks, give them elbow room on how they will accomplish their task, give them opportunity to grow, and give them a set period to accomplish it. Employees would have greater sense of responsibility with their involvement and commitment on the task. Increase motivation Contributes high morale Low turnover High performance Management may lose control on employees RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION: Recommending combination of alternative 1 and alternative number 3 – Job Enrichment, this alternative would be more effective, than the existing statistical standards that emphasized speed, recording the customer service calls, using of software to generate automated work schedules. This will promote high morale, as you will be considering people big part and contributor in the accomplishment of task and not as a â€Å"tool† only. While at the same time, Mr. Erik undergoing a leadership training to enhance his people skills, being young, he is more focus on promoting himself as achiever. It is but typical to young professional, but as he goes along, he will start to develop his leadership style with balanced skills on both people and task. WORKPLACE APPLICATION In my company, I observed different styles of leadership. The most prominent in my heart, is the leadership style of my immediate boss. She is woman, her immediate subordinates are both male, I agree on the women rated higher almost in all aspect in leadership ability as shown in Gender differences in  leadership behaviors. I also described her as follows with the following situations that she exhibits as a leader: Servant Leader – she fosters selflessness to serve both people and organization. Her personal vision â€Å"to have one million employees†, she even gave away to her people some precious personal things e.g., cellphone, bags, shoes, clothes. Authentic Leader – she demonstrate high level of passion and commitment, leads with her heart, have compassion for others, have the courage to make difficult decision, she loves to be surrounded by good people and contribute to their growth. She is never after on any merit or credit, she preferred it be given to her people. She always treats trainings and development of her people as investment. She sends me here as full scholar.

Foreigners in their own country Professor Ramos Blog

Foreigners in their own country Christine Sun Kim’s Tedtalk presentation introduces us to her world. A world without sound. She was born deaf and for some time, she felt excluded from the hearing world because of her deafness. She learned very early that everything she does makes noise, and because of this she became hyper aware of sound. Her self awareness of living in a hearing world makes every action a conscious thought to maintain hearing etiquette. Like not to scrap your utensils, don’t slam doors, don’t burp in public etc A world we don’t even give a second thought, because as hearing individuals this is the world we live in. In Kim’s Tedtalk, she presents to us not only inspiration in her art work but something hidden in-between the lines. The deaf community is a large and very over looked minority group that most hearing individuals simply don’t understand how to interact with, foreigners in their own country. Kim explains in the eyes of society, without a voice, y ou hold no social currency. So in order for her to be seen as an equal or to even be taken seriously by others in the art community, she needs to seek out interpreters that WILL see her as an equal and become her voice. Kim teaches us about deaf culture and encourages us to go out and learn more about the deaf community and its rich diversity. She encourages us that ASL isn’t just for the deaf, just like how music isn’t just for the hearing. This is still an issue that is very much present and dealt with poorly because the lack of education and understanding of deaf awareness. This is a truth most deaf individuals simply live with, for instance going to the movies is un-enjoyable because of outdated equipment and most theaters refuse to have separate show-times for movies to include subtitles. Going out to eat can be exhausting if the server doesn’t know how to interact with someone who is deaf, or worse interacting with a police officer who has never encountered someone who is deaf, the list goes on and on. The ASL sign for â€Å"hearing† is the same sign for â€Å"publicâ€Å". This is something I find disheartening because this implies the public isn’t for the deaf. I have two questions I want everyone to ask themselves, have you ever met someone who was deaf? And what could we do to help deaf individuals feel more included in today’s society as equals without taking away their culture.

The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essays (1029 words) - Free Essays

The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essays (1029 words) - Free Essays The Fall Of The House Of Usher Death is defined as, The termination or extinction of something. Edgar Allen Poe uses this description in The Fall of the House of Usher in different ways. Poe's intention when writing The Fall of the House of Usher was not to present a moral, lesson, or truth to the reader; he was simply trying to bring forth a sense of terror to the reader. Poe's mind works this way, and critics believe this statement, especially when related to this story. Poe is grouped with other writers in the Romantic period. Writers of this period focused on life, emotions, and the existence of the human race. Although Poe's work has many characteristics of Romanticism, The Fall of the House of Usher, falls into the Gothic category. It is usually admired for its 'atmosphere' and for its exquisitely artificial manipulation of Gothic claptrap and decor. Bringing forth the symbolism of death is a major part of this writing. All of the characters in The Fall of the House of Usher are linked to death; by physical objects or by other people. There are no symbols of absolute good. The physical aspect of the House of Usher symbolizes death, in the chain of events, during the story. Even Poe's description of the house has deadly characteristics. Poe describes the house as having eye-like windows and being covered by minute fungihanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves; a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn. This fissure is presented to the reader, early in the story, to represent that Roderick's love for his twin sister, Madeline, was dying, because she was suffering from a mysterious malady, or disease, that baffled her doctors. This caused Roderick to be emotionally and physically depressed, and was described as a madman at this point. He was convinced that his whole surroundings, the stones of the house, the fungi, the water in the tarn, the very reflected image of the whole, was woven into a physica l oneness with the family, condensed, as it were, into one atmosphere-the special atmosphere in which alone the Ushers could live. And it was this atmosphere which had molded the destinies of his family. Roderick invites a friend to the House of Usher to visit and support him during this crisis. The narrator is involved in all of Roderick's emotions and problems during the course of the story. He sees Roderick's compassion for his sister during her illness. After Madeline dies he assists Roderick in the placement of her body in a steal coffin in a vault under the house. The reason for such protection of Madeline's body was the fear of her doctors. They were so fascinated by the strangeness of her disease that Roderick feared that they would steal her body for pathologic reasons. Poe uses this whole scenario to show that Roderick really cared for his sister. It was as though they were one being, relying on each other for life; -a brother, his twin sister, and their incredibly ancient house all sharing a single soul and meeting one common dissolution at the same moment. Once Madeline died, Roderick had lost part of himself. Madeline was his connection in the human realm. He knew that his love would eventually kill her, and it did. They loved without any resistance and eventually dragged each other to death. For the Holy Ghost says you must not be as one thing with another being. Each must abide by itself, and correspond only within certain limits. In the end, Roderick's guest finally expresses that Roderick is truly a madman. The purpose for this is that Madeline was alive when they sealed her in the coffin. Usher knew that he had done this many days before, Long-long-long-many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it-yet I dared not-oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am!-I dared not-I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! After Usher finally speaks about what he knew, a figure of Madeline appears to them, but then without those doors there

Tips For Writing An A+ Worthy Essay

Tips For Writing An A+ Worthy Essay Tips For Writing An A+ Worthy Essay If you are a student, you know it can be difficult to write a powerful essay. It can also be daunting if you don’t comprehend the content of the research you read. Here are some tips for writing an A+ worthy essay: Topic is Key Having a firm understanding of your topic is important in order to convince the reader. To get an A+, though, the essay needs to stand out from the crowd. If you can add some originality to how you address the topic, this can improve the final grade. Creating the Thesis First, concentrate on the thesis, as it’s through line of thought that holds your essay. Brainstorm ideas that will become your arguments. Dont buy into the myth that having three arguments is necessary. Having one strong argument can be enough to convince your reader. But if you have developed several good, convincing arguments, by all means, use them. The Hook The hook (also known as the attention grabber) is included in the introduction and is used to spark a readers interest. Your hook is also used in the conclusion. The attention grabber can be in the form of a question regarding the topic, but should cover a broader thought which then leads into the thesis. By adding the hook to the conclusion, you provide an answer to the initial question that got your readers attention. Giving a thorough answer will allow your reader to fully understand the writer’s point of view. Research, Research, Research Research plays a crucial role in an essay, so make sure you have all of the facts to help explain your arguments. The library or internet are great places to begin seeking information to back up your thesis. While researching and using the information, create a bibliography to recognize the resources you used. Transition Statements Connect each section of your essay with a transition statement. These allow your essay to read smoothly from beginning to end. Do you have an essay that you are having difficulty putting together? Are you confused about a particular section of your essay? Contact today toll-free at 1-800-573-0840.

Web Services. Design Patterns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Web Services. Design Patterns - Essay Example Web services have appeared as a most attractive and extensible technology that facilitates application-to-application interaction, using open standards and protocols. At the present, the use of web service has become very common. Basically, a web service is a software application that is purposefully designed for running over the internet. In this scenario, the web server is used to host a web service that is accessible to its users for use over the internet. Once the web service is created, it has to be uploaded on a web host, with the intention that Web service can be made available to everyone over the Internet. We should not use web server for the purpose of testing a web service. A web service can be tested by making use of a local web server (VKInfotek, 2012; Wang et al., 2004). Basically, the web services are created to address the need of connecting applications from incompatible and mismatched environments, for instance UNIX and Windows, or J2EE and .NET. The main theme behi nd the emergence of Web services was basically to efficiently deal with the challenge of interoperability and integration of applications developed in diverse platforms. In addition, Web services support almost all the programming languages on any platform. Additionally, the web services can also be used in the case when there is need to apply a specific functionality, feature in a wide variety of business applications. In this scenario, the integration of a web service to a business application improves the functionality and scope of that particular application. Furthermore, a web service can be integrated with web applications, windows applications, mobile applications and websites (VKInfotek, 2012; Wang et al., 2004). In addition, there exist a wide variety of web services across the web that have the capability of carrying out simple as well as complex tasks for instance performing the simple task of information processing as well as executing complex business processes. Also, w e have a variety of standards and protocols that have been developed to deal with web services such as Web Services Description Language (WSDL) that presents machine-readable information of Web services, simple object access protocol (SOAP) that enables exchange of messages between Web services, a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry which is a directory of Web services WSDLs (Wang et al., 2004; Phu, 2005). In the light of the above discussion, we can conclude that in the near future, Web application development will be dominated by Web Services, and it is expected that most web application development will involve just the calling of existing Web Services. DQ2: Other Design Patterns This week we discussed and implemented the MVC design pattern for Web based database interfaces. However, there are otherdesign patterns that may be directly applicable to PHP programming, orweb programming in general. Find another design pattern which could be used for web b ased development and write a synopsis on it, pointing out whether it would be applicable for use within your project or not. Comment as applicable on design patterns that other class membersprovide. â€Å"A design pattern points to an issue that can take place repeatedly in a programming environment, and then points out the idea of the way out to that issue. In this scenario, this solution can be applied to this or any other similar problem a million times over, even there is no need to do it the same way twice" (Wallace, 2000). In simple words, a design pattern describes a problem and its solution. However, descriptive name should be used for a design pattern so that it can be

Quality of education in post-conflict in Rwanda and post-disasters in Essay

Quality of education in post-conflict in Rwanda and post-disasters in Pakistan - Essay Example Education can spare and support lives, offering physical, cognitive and psychosocial security when conveyed in protected, nonpartisan spaces. Education restores routine and gives individuals trust for the future; it can likewise serve as a channel both for meeting other essential compassionate needs and conveying basic messages that advance security and prosperity. During conflicts and catastrophes, education systems, students and personnel suffer the effects of the conflicts and catastrophes and forced displacement. Some of these effects include, loss of life, loss of property and loved ones, loss of educational opportunities, and mass rape and other sexual violence which is as a result of alteration of the school programs. Conflicts and catastrophes intensify inequality, disrupts the whole society. This can have severe psychological effects particular to the children who are in school (Schweisfurth, 2006). However, not having enough education worsens security and deepens poverty in a country. The presence of unequal education opportunities fuels a sense of injustice and grievances. Education of terrible quality can be exceedingly divisive, especially if choices about educational module content, course books or dialect of guideline prohibit or permit denunciation of some social gatherings, and if education strengthens messages that savagery i s a worthy answer to individual, social or political issues. Education has vast value for its own sake. This means that all young people and children, including those that have been affected by conflict and catastrophes have the right to receive a quality education. Nevertheless, education is needed in emergency setting to prepare the society for ultimate post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction and social-economic development (Jones, 2006). Balanced development with economic development obliges that young people of all social, ethnic, religious and

How to Avoid Injuries and Death in Motorsports Research Paper

How to Avoid Injuries and Death in Motorsports - Research Paper Example With this superior engine power and high speeds involved, motorsport is dangerous and involves freak accidents. As observed by Lipp et al. (2007), the high engine power of these engines makes them attain extremely high speeds with speeds as high as 369.9 km/h having been recorded in previous events. This makes the probability and severity of accidents extremely high. In fact, it is riskier than other sports such as football, boxing, rugby and the others. In spite of this risk, Gilbert (2014) observes that it is an addictive sport such that once started, drivers never quit no matter how many times they get involved in accidents. Therefore, this calls for detailed measures to make the sport safer for all the participants. motorsport  is all about speed. Engines are designed to produce over 8,000 horsepower, making the vehicles attain speeds of over 300 mph within a short period of time (Gilbert, 2014). As technology towards manufacturing more powerful and faster vehicles is adopted, a more innovative effort is also geared towards promoting the safety of the participants. As a result, there has been a significant achievement on motorsports safety technology over the past couple of decades. The technologies involved have been geared towards minimizing the likelihood of drivers suffering serious injuries due to a crash (Foster, Begemean & Melvin, 2011). As such, motorsports safety has sought to act directly on the driver to reduce the impact of the crash and control the crash energies that the vehicles develop. With this regard, technology has focused on four key areas. The first area is the neck and head support technology. It would be appreciated that motorsports involve high speeds and restraint on the driver. According to Foster et al. (2011), this risks basilar skull fracture on the driver due to the immense tension forces that build up in the neck as a result of the head whipping forward against the restrained torso when a frontal impact occurs. Thus, the technology to make drivers safe in such a scenario has focused on developing proper neck and head restraints.