Russia Trip essays

Russia Trip expositions Model United Nations (MUN) is an overall movement, held in various places far and wide. It centers around creating understudies discussing aptitudes and expands their insight into the political world, as understudies compose and attempt to pass goals concerning genuine circumstances occurring on the planet today. A year ago, twenty-five understudies were chosen to speak to Dhahran Academy High School (DAHS) at a MUN meeting held in St. Petersburg, Russia. The best and most tip top debaters of the school were picked. The chaperones that regulated them were Mr. what's more, Mrs. Gertz. Alongside them came their charming child Gabriel. On the night of March nineteenth, understudies say goodbye to their friends and family and left on a transport going to Dammam air terminal. They were set out toward Amsterdam, Holland where they would have a six-hour delay before loading up their next trip to St. Petersburg. While on the transport six dear companions (Jad and Majd Chaaya, Carlos Napauri, Ahmad Majzoub, Damien Loughery and Omar Sallman.) discussed their energy and excitement of getting to Russia. In the wake of showing up at the air terminal, sacks were stacked, international IDs and tickets checked and everybody was on the plane. The flight was entertaining and didnt appear seven hours. On it was a fat woman with wavy orange hair, glasses and a very huge stomach. This woman had experienced a type of narcoleptic sickness where she would drop and stir arbitrarily. Sadly she was situated close to Majd and Ahmad! Two hours after takeoff, the woman dropped and was oblivious for quite a while. During this timeframe Majd and Ahmad started taking photos close to her. They appreciated taking the photos, presenting like an angler close to his catch of the day, while the remainder of the young men snickered a lot After a long however entertaining flight the understudies showed up at Amsterdam. To pass the hours prior to the following flight Carlos, Ahmad and Omar went to eat. They went to Sba... <!

International business through an International Strategic Alliance

Chapter by chapter list Errand. 1Existing universal vital union for investigation purposes LG Electronics. Errand: 2 Motivation for the arrangement of the universal vital union chose. Errand 3. Basic conversation of the types of the board that can be utilized to deal with the collusion. Undertaking 4. Propose 4 suggestions to senior administration of your new organization about how the potential vital association could be upgraded. References Question-select one existing worldwide vital partnership for investigation purposes (contextual analysis)? Assignment. 1Existing global vital coalition for investigation purposes LG Electronics In the technique, we comprehended three center skills item administration, understudy initiative market authority. For example L.G. Gadgets make an incentive for customer.L.G item are that item in the market who will make an incentive in the market. First we concentrated on the firm for breaking down the firm framework maker of cell phone. L.G. is the item in the market that have the firm skills to grow a lot of the worldwide portable markets increment the association gainfulness. Today, world has bunches of rivalry in the market. First dissect the market at that point make an item as indicated by the client needs. There are loads of serious items in the market .In the center skills of item advancement (item authority in the market). Item is that type in the association which is successful for the entire market. Technique attributes are partitioned into four sections. These parts are clarify below:(Mongay, 2012) (1) COMPETENCIES MUST BE VALUABLE: Value abilities help the firm an incentive for the client in the market. Adventure showcase openings or kill dangers for contenders. For instance : association with an item advancement in the market or make another item abuse the business in the market as per the client needs or In another term we can say misuse the business as indicated by the outer condition. For example APPLE iTunes advanced music stores give a great deal of room to store the music in this gadget. They are sensible in cost with simple access for clients, fulfilled their need of listening the music. They are helpful simple to get to this item. Smooth plan of L.G. cell phone pull in the client .There are loads of capacity, video office, music office, ability to sit in the market stage the part of contenders at that point make a qualities in the market parcel of current proposals in the market.(Demers, 2013) (2) COMPETENCIES MUST BE RARE: Rare methods few. First of fall we will know total the undertaking or the assignment with a similar quality item. Firm holds the center skills that are important however not uncommon. Search for example L.G numerous other substitute items in the market. Both the firm are center skill in the worldwide world. Be that as it may, the abilities of both the item are significant in the market. These items are not uncommon but rather the item esteem in the market. In any case, we will clarify the case of uncommon item in the market. These items are LG .interestingly, in the item are the structure of the item the smooth plan of LG item or the level model of LCD screen Television. These are the uncommon things in the product.(PULIZZI, 2013) (3) COMPETENCIES MUST BE DIFFICULT TO IMITATE: Competitors need to mirror another firm worth uncommon center abilities. Anyway doing so might be troublesome. For example L.G. item administration is that the item plan or capacity of the capacity. In any case, there are part of rivals in the market. (4)COMPETENCIES MUST BE DIFFICULT TO NONSUBSTITUTABLE: These trademark are those trademark that have not a viable alternative for that item in the market.Nonsubstitude items are plan of L.G items that have no substitute in the market. The structures of the versatile, Function of that portable are very surprising. There are no substitutes in the entire world.(ROBERTS, 2014) Question-assess basically the inspiration for the arrangement of the worldwide key partnership chose? Errand: 2 Motivation for the arrangement of the worldwide vital union chose Fruitful business collusions are the basic key parts in numerous ventures. In any case, numerous systems are bombing at some point as indicated by the accomplice, barely centered around industry, poor union administration for executing the item making new one. At some point association will be illed from the entire procedure of techniques. Colleague take wrong choice for apply the methodology in the firm. At the point when firm is opened a few focuses are noticed that: These point are: key administration based industry accomplice determination process, another powerful accomplice choice instrument are utilized in the particular firm or target firm which is material to different machine industry settings, rich worldwide travel industry application that represent the correct accomplice choice procedure systematic device that are appropriately utilized in the association. Key coalition arrangement has increment drastically over the previous decades. Vital unions moved the serious worldview in numerous local universal markets from firm to firm rivalry to more union based market to advertise rivalry in the entire world. Various kinds of techniques are utilized in the association. These systems are the way firm can change the standard with innovative creative reasoning. In addition, key advancement are online travel, computerized correspondence diversion , including cell phone ,, for example, numerous other distinctive kind of substitutes or in another named we can say option of the item or numerous other various methodologies are likewise follow in the association. The association can satisfy the client esteem through new mix of execution property. Association trying to recognize, create keep up the upper hand progressively step by step. Distinctive kind of procedures is follow in the association. These procedures are viable adaptable in the association . These methodologies are satisfying the need of client as indicated by their necessities needs. Nonetheless, expanding the developing number increments vital unions many bomb which are performing more noteworthy extent perform ineffectively. Albeit such disappointment might be for some interrelated reasons: These reasons are two normal causes are poor accomplice determination poor union administration. A few cases predominant collusion the board abilities may not be beaten poor coalition the executives or in another term we can say poor union key procedure. Various sorts of key procedure are utilized in the association however some vital unions are poor bomb in the association some are abundance the business or overabundance the firm in the market. For this situation determination of new powerful accomplice in the association numerous other new unique sort of apparatuses procedure are utilized to expand the business or firm .Many other distinctive kind of strategy are utilized these procedure are factual strategy, diagrammatical technique, contextual investigation strategy, ass essing technique, likelihood technique or numerous other various kinds of method are likewise utilized in the business or association. Vastly different sort of calculated strategies is utilized to broaden the business or firm. Informal community, new culture, condition are embrace in the business or actualizing a wide range of kind of strategies, apparatus, procedure for upgrade the business or firm. Some down to earth encounters are utilized to comprehend the market center around showcase technique. As indicated by the individual needs other various kinds of instruments strategies for looking for the changed techniques are utilized in the firm to expand the business development of industry. Usage changes of item or system in the market as indicated by the needs of client or outer condition or numerous other market methodologies are utilized to execute the business in the association. Question-incorporate a basic conversation of the types of the executives that can be utilized to deal with the union? Errand 3. Basic conversation of the types of the executives that can be utilized to deal with the collusion Key union might be one of the most abused works in the business today. Various kinds of procedure are utilized in the business. The five rules of key unions are: What is that making collusions genuinely vital to a specific organization? It is workable for a partnership to be key one of the repels in relationship. Numerous partnerships are as income age which is significant for business or in another term we can say firm. Be that as it may, income alone may not be making legitimate vital for the business or firm in the association or without income the association can't play out any objective in the association. There are five general rules that are utilized for key partnerships. These measures are as underneath: Basic to the accomplishment of business objective or targets in the association or firm Basic to the turn of events or support of upper hand Hinders a serious danger Make or keep up vital decisions in a firm or in another term we can say association Critical hazard to the business These five are the basic focuses in the key collusions which will be clarified beneath. Basic TO A BUSINESS OBJECTIVE OR GOAL: First step is to comprehend what the objective in the association is. What is the basic sort of coalition are produce income in the market procedure. How they interface in the market? Income is the most significant partnerships in the market. Without income association can sit idle. The most significant coalition is income. Only one out of every odd collusion that produces however income is key. For example sway on income if there is an effect in relationship. Genuine relationship vital is the most significant effect in developing the income in the, advertise. Notwithstanding a solitary vital collusion related gathering of partnerships in the association. Systems administration is the most significant procedure for gathering the collusions in th

Reasons I Dont Own a TV

Reasons I Dont Own a TV What? You Dont Own a TV? Why? Thats a question I get quite often. And the answer is simple: Because Id watch it. A lot. You see, I really enjoy television. Its easy to watch. Its passive. Its entertaining at times. And I dont have to do much work (unless you consider pushing the buttons on the remote to be work). But there are many other important things I can do with my life, and so the costs drastically outweigh the benefits Money. Sure, there are the monetary costs associated with television viewing. There is the TV itself, which can cost up to a few thousand dollars. I have a friend who has eight flatscreen TVs in his house (I shit you notâ€"he even has one in his master bathroom). Theres the monthly costs of cable or satellite (plus all the little extra fees for cable boxes, DVRs, HD service, premium channels, etc.). Theres the DVD or Blu-Ray rentals and  purchases, many of which we dont watch. (Come on, I bet youve done it before: youve rented a DVD just to return the unwatched movie a week later. Its okay, weve all done it before. The trick is to stop doing it!) And then theres all those fancy ancillary items we think we need: the surround-sound system, the Blu-Ray player, and dont even get me started on video games, thats an entirely differentâ€"and equally troublingâ€"story (I know grown men in their thirties who play video games more than five hours a day). But TV costs us a lot more than money Time. TV viewing robs us of our most precious asset: our time. Even with the Internet, the average person watches more than five hours of television a day. Thats 35 hours a week. Yikes! If you get rid of your TV, you can reclaim this time for yourself. Attention. TV robs us of our attention. Sometimes we think were multi-tasking  if were doing other thingsâ€"folding laundry, working on the computer, etc.â€"while were watching TV. Deep down we know this isnt true, though. We know that TV distracts us from our tasks, which causes us to either: a) take more time to complete the task (look, TV is robbing us of even more of our time), or b) it reduces the quality of what were working on (e.g., have you ever tried to write somethingâ€"a paper, an email, a work assignmentâ€"while watching TV and noticed that it just wasnt that good? Thats because we arent able to focus our attention on several things at once and still expect the same quality in our finished product.) Awareness. Awareness is the most precious kind of freedom. We should cherish it. But TV often makes us oblivious to the world around us. And thus, in a roundabout way, TV robs us of our freedom. Relationships. If youre watching TVâ€"especially if youre watching it aloneâ€"then you are taking away from your relationships with other peopleâ€"time in which you could contribute to others. Creativity. If we are constantly consuming, then we are not creating. Thus, TV has the ability to rob us of our creativity. Sure, watching TV is easy. But is it worth it? Thats the question you must ask yourself. Im not suggesting that you have to get rid of your TV to be a minimalist. You dont. But you always have options: Ryan disconnected his cable service during our journey into minimalism. He got rid of all his DVDs and video games, but he kept his TV. We still watch movies on that TV from time to time, which brings up another point If you get rid of your TV, like I did in 2009, you can schedule time to watch TV with other people. I dont do it often, but if I want to watch a program or a movie, I can watch it  at someone elses house, and afterward, we can discuss what we watched. Such planned viewing is far less passive and helps us  build and strengthen our  relationships, rather than take away from them. You can get the TV out of your bedroom. You can limit your viewing to one day a week. Schedule it and dont deviate from the schedule. Or, if you need to take baby steps, try to turn off your TV for one week. Unplug it and put it somewhere out of sight if you can. Or cover it with a sheet and make sure you dont turn it on for a week. So, if you get rid of your TV (or drastically reduce your viewing), what are you going to do with all your reclaimed time? The short answer is: you can do whatever you want. You can create something meaningful. You can exercise. You can focus on your relationships. You can contribute to other people in meaningful ways. Its liberating not to have a TV. Television sucks the life out of our lives. It takes our money, our time, our attention, our awareness, our freedom, our relationships, and our creativity. And in return it gives us a little entertainmentâ€"it pacifies us for the moment. For many of us, television our drug of choice. Additional  reading: Can I Get Him to Stop Watching TV?

The Eyes Are Full Of Dust By Raymond Carver - 1113 Words

â€Å"Much of our ignorance is of ourselves. Our eyes are full of dust. Prejudice blinds us† (Abraham Coles). In other words, our ignorance of our own misconceptions leads to prejudice and once we realize this we can rid ourselves of this prejudice. As the narrator in Cathedral, a short story by Raymond Carver, learns of his own misconceptions about blind people, the â€Å"dust† slowly gets washed out of his eyes and he begins to see. As a result, he learns more about himself and obtains a new view of the world around him. The narrator s prejudice towards the blind is evident throughout the story and his reactions to evidence contrary to his beliefs, at first, show that he is in denial and defensive of his misconceptions. When he first meets the blind man, the narrator notices that he does not carry a cane or wear dark glasses. His initial response to this seems defensive. He points out â€Å"creepy† or different things about the blind man like how he has â€Å"too much white in the iris† (5). Right off the bat, the blind man is not what the narrator expects. As a result, he not only feels that he needs to point out the blind man’s flaws, but he also feels that he needs to be right about something as indicated by his use of â€Å"I knew it† repeatedly when he asks the blind man what he would like to drink (5). Additionally, when the narrator turns the TV on, he hears something that does not agree with his previously determined conceptions about the blind. He discovers that, like any ordinaryShow MoreRelatedBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 Pagesfor Belonging. It has been strongly suggested that when you are choosing a related text do not choose from the below list. Tan, Amy, The Joy Luck Club Lahiri, Jhumpa, The Namesake Dickens, Charles, Great Expectations Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer, Heat and Dust Winch, Tara June, Swallow the Air Gaita, Raimond, Romulus, My Father Miller, Arthur, The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts Harrison, Jane, Rainbow’s End Luhrmann, Baz, Strictly Ballroom - film De Heer, Rolf, Ten Canoes - film Shakespeare, William, As You

The Impact Of Paul Gustave Dore s 1869 Oil On Canvas,...

Around two months ago, I posted an image of Paul Gustave Dore’s 1869 oil on canvas, ‘Andromeda,’ to a large Internet forum called ‘Reddit.’ If you’re unfamiliar with the website ‘Reddit’, it is simply a site that is heavily run by the contribution of users, providing open discussions about specific ideas and news. To my amazement, the post made it to the front page, receiving much attention, but along with it came other ethical discussions that related to art as a general consensus and how the idea of ‘beauty’ has influenced current viewers with their expectations for museums and galleries. With comments on my post such as â€Å"Actual art on [Reddit!?]† and â€Å"Art isn’t art unless it’s old† – it was at this point that I became more aware of Thomas Horsfall’s view of, what he put as, â€Å"arts bitterest enemies.† To elaborate further, Horsfall suggested in his paper, ‘Art in Large Towns†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ dated 1882, historical and modern art visually entices the average viewer and their knowledge about its context, but people who only recognise a piece for its visual aesthetics have poor knowledge of the true approach to art. So, do we, the viewers go to museums and galleries in hope of finding beautiful imagery? Are we, as suggested by Horsfall, positively influenced on our ideas of beauty and taste by our viewings? Well, firstly†¦ What is beauty? By Oxford dictionary’s definition, beauty is defined by the â€Å"combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic

Scholasticism in Religious Architecture Free Essays

Matt Pearson Professor Ansell Humanities 201 5 August 2013 Scholasticism in Religious Architecture â€Å"Sacred architecture is not, a ‘free’ art, developed from ‘feelings’ and ‘sentiment’, but it is an art strictly tied by and developed from the laws of geometry† (Schneider). This is a governing principle behind the architecture and stained-glass images in Chartres Cathedral: the building wasn’t Just built without a plan or the art didn’t Just happen, it is a systematic creation using geometry (Crossly 232). Scholasticism is the main contributor to the use of geometry to organize how the Cathedral was built. We will write a custom essay sample on Scholasticism in Religious Architecture or any similar topic only for you Order Now Briefly described, scholasticism is taking events, concepts, or miracles, that we can’t understand, and organizing a structured argument to provide an explanation. In the Chartres Cathedral, the architecture and art not only display sacred religious events and scenes from the Bible, but also secular events, such as everyday chores like farming or cleaning. There is clearly a union trying to be made here between things of this earthly world – science, philosophy, reason – and things that go beyond the earthly world – faith, theology, revelation. This is where scholasticism is found, cause it organizes events and understanding to find God in the secular and sacred. In Chartres Cathedral, the building as a whole is meant to take us from the corruption of this world and into the presence of God, which embodies light. There is great detail in each stained-glass window, specifically in the exactness of the geometry and also in the Biblical stories they portray, which again point us to God, and also show how scholasticism has helped shape the organized design behind many things in the Cathedral. Scholasticism is a â€Å"term used to designate both a method and a system. It is applied to theology as well as to philosophy’ (Turner). Historically, it came from early Christian institutions. They would have someone as the head of the school that would act as the philosopher or theologian to help carry out the method of dialectical teaching to the students. This is done in an attempt to put understanding and reason to mysteries like science and faith or reason and revelation, and how these conflicting pairs can exist together. Not only can these opposites exist, but they â€Å"must harmonize† together to form greater understanding (Turner). SST. Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest Scholastics of his time. He was monumental in bridging the gap between theology and philosophy by his reasoning that â€Å"God is the author of all truth, and it is impossible to think that He would teach in the natural order anything that contradicts what He teaches in the supernatural order† (Turner). A structure, as grand as the Chartres Cathedral, introduces an interesting paradox for religious and secular views, because the architects â€Å"however much directed towards the glory of God, still turned man’s eyes elsewhere and diverted elsewhere he wealth he could have put to better purpose† (Affair 55). This meaner that the architects were trying to turn people’s hearts and minds to God, but, in an attempt to do so, they were expending vast amounts of resources on secular architecture. They wanted to build a place that would mentally take you from this world and into God’s world. This concept is easily seen as people enter the doors of the Cathedral and see all the light that is coming in through the stained-glass windows at all times of the day. These windows truly illuminate the building and allow the participants to feel God or light. The Cathedral also was a place for people to make their religious pilgrimages and would aid them in their search for God. Many of the stained-glass windows show events of Chrism’s ministry, but for the sake of exploring scholasticism and its relation to Chartres Cathedral, we are going to focus on Just two windows: The Tree of Jesse and the Rose Window. The Tree of Jesse shows â€Å"Chrism’s royal genealogy [rising] up from Jesse, who lies at the bottom of the window, to Christ, who sits enthroned at the summit† (Preach 42). The window is a column of squares made up of smaller rectangles. In each square is figure and a continuation of the tree stemming from Jesses frame, which represents the continued line from Jesse to Christ and how Christ is born an heir to the king because of the unbroken chain. At Chrism’s feet sits Mary, and around both of them are seven doves, which represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, â€Å"the gift of wisdom†¦ The gift of understanding†¦ The gift of counsel†¦ The gift of fortitude†¦ The gift of knowledge†¦ The gift of fear of the Lord†¦ The gift of Reverence† (Aquinas). Having Christ, Mary, and the doves all together at the top also represents something else, the double personality of Christ, human through His lineage, divine through His union with the Holy Spirit† (Preach 44). The miracle of Chrism’s birth can’t be explained through science, because of Mary and the Immaculate Conception, but some understanding is given to Chrism’s lineage through the structure of the window. It shows Christ is connected to being a King through Mary, or God, and through Jesse, who was an earthly king. The organized structure shows the use of scholasticism, because of its push for organization to explain miraculous events. A main contributor to scholasticism is SST. Thomas Aquinas and his text Sum Theological. One argument he presented was â€Å"The Life of God† and â€Å"Whether all things in God are life? † (Aquinas). He takes all the objections he can find to the question he has asked. He will then make a â€Å"response† or an explanation to every objection to explain the initial question being asked. This is a very structured procedure, but it is seen in â€Å"The Tree of Jesse† window, because it addresses the concern, is Christ really God and is He an earthly and heavenly king. It then takes each objection and finds a response: Christ is an earthly king because of his genealogical connection to Jesse, ND Christ is a heavenly king, because of his miraculous or immaculate conception by the Holy Ghost, through his virgin mother, Mary. The Rose Window is actually in two places in Chartres Cathedral on the south and north walls. The Rose on the south transept has Christ at the center, surrounded by apostles. Below the Rose Window are five â€Å"lancet† windows, which have, from left to right, Isaiah, Daniel, Virgin Mary holding Christ as an infant, Ezekiel, Jeremiah (Affair 90). This is to surround Mary with the â€Å"four great prophets† (Preach 89). On their shoulders sit the â€Å"Evangelists,† Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke, which symbolizes their role in proclaiming Chrism’s birth and divinity. The Rose itself symbolized beauty and perfection, which represents Mary as a fair virgin and also Christ as the only perfect human. The Rose symbolism is only strengthened by the presence of these stained glass windows that surround the rose. To give an example, in one of the medallion windows that surround the center of the rose, â€Å"Mary, is exalted as Queen of Heaven†¦ He is seated on a throne and holds a scepter† (Preach 93). The Rose on the north transept has SST. Anne holding Mary at the center. This is a unique image, because now it isn’t Christ who is the infant, but it is Mary and she is â€Å"in the arms of her mother Anne, the person who establishes the genealogical link with the Old Testament† (Preach 93 ). This shows us the importance of Mary in all of Christianity. Below the Rose are five more â€Å"lancet† windows, like on the south side, except these stained-glass windows have different images, which are, from left to right, Milkweed, David, SST. Anne holding Mary as an infant, Solomon, and Aaron (Affair 91). Anne is â€Å"surrounded by the most famous of the ancient kings† which show how important Anne is and the oracle that came from her (Preach 93). All of this detail and organization in both Rose Windows shows scholastic thought, because, as mentioned before, Chrism’s birth and conception is an unexplainable miracle, but guiding our train of thought with these images helps to explain the miracle. There is one more detail in the Rose that really cements scholasticism in the Cathedral, it is the process to create the Rose. First, a process is carried out to find twelve evenly spaced spaces around a circle. Second, a star with twelve points is drawn in the middle, every line being exactly the name length. At the base of each point, close to the center, twelve equal circles are made. Another star with twelve points is then drawn inside the bigger star, once again each line being the same length. A circle is made around the inner star and in the center of this circle is where Christ is placed in one window and Anne and Mary are placed in the other window. The precision that is used reflects the scholastic procedure Thomas Aquinas uses. Great care and concern are taken to create the desired result and to give an explanation too miracle. Thomas Aquinas used this teeth in writing to explain the miracle of God and the Rose Windows use this method in imagery and biblical symbolism to explain the miracle of Christ and Mary. Thus, we can see that Chartres Cathedral has Biblical symbolism in the stained-glass windows and scholasticism is used within these windows as the organization. Chartres Cathedral is built in great geometric precision to take people’s thoughts from this world into God’s world (Crossly 233). Through the geometric precision, scholasticism is very present. Scholasticism is found in the Stem of Jesse by the organizational structure used to present the explanation of Chrism’s divine birth. This is a miracle that can’t simply be explained, but the Stem of Jesse window systematically takes us from Jesse to Mary and then to Christ to explain the miracle. Scholasticism is also found in the Rose Windows in the precise geometric construction and also in the images that are shown. The conception of Christ is a miracle, but the different images show how it can be explained. In all of these Biblical events and miracles, scholasticism creates an organized way to understanding them. Works Cited Aquinas, Thomas. Sum Theological. Kevin Knight, 2008. New Advent. Web. 6 August 2013. Crossly, Paul. Rhetoric Beyond Words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. How to cite Scholasticism in Religious Architecture, Papers

USPS Synthesis Essay free essay sample

Over the past two centuries, the United States Postal Office has helped the United States grow by providing communication across the country. The USPS quickly able to provide communication all across the world. In the fast paced society, it is difficult to for the USPS to keep up with all the new gadgets. Especially because the internet allows people to communicate with others in a much more efficient and reliable way. Customers also choose other companies like UPS and Fedex. By reconstructing the USPS, it can slowly meet the standards of a changing world. One of the steps to helping the USPS keep up with all the new technology is to increase services and give their customers more options. People are choosing other ways because postal services aren’t as efficient as the internet. According to Source A, they are dropping from six- to five-day delivery. With the lack of faith in their services and drop in delivery days, the number of customers will probably decrease due to the slow services. We will write a custom essay sample on USPS Synthesis Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The USPS should be providing a seven-day delivery service so their customers can be guaranteed to receive their letters and packages faster and easier. The inefficient and unreliable service causes the number of mail to decrease but increasing services can help attract and gain the trust of customers. Throughout the years, the number of letters and packages are decreasing. According the Source B, the mail volume has decreased drastically from 2000 to 2009, while the number of delivery points has increased. There are less mail but more delivery points, which means mailmen would have mail that are scattered all over the city, causing the efficiency of the services to decrease. Though the mail volume has decreased, there is still a great amount of people who value handwritten letters (Source F) and those people are probably one of the factors that help the USPS stay in business. If they plan out their distributions correctly, their mailmen would be able shorten their route and fasten the rates of people receiving mail. The USPS needs a boost in organization, which will be able to increase the efficiency of the distributions and allow mailmen to help out at the post offices. Most people choose the internet instead of the USPS because of the slow, unexcited workers. Source A suggests to motivate the staff members. Giving workers more benefits and higher wages can help motivate them to work efficiently. Customers often stand in line waiting for ten to fifteen minutes because of the workers who take their time and can’t wait until they get to leave work. Another suggestion from Source A is closing branches and having each center provide different services. Those who need to mail a simple letter can get out of the post office faster and those who need help with larger packages can get the assistance they need. Faster working and motivated staff members can help the customers get assistance as soon as possible and can help the USPS meet the needs of this fast changing world. The USPS is a great way to help people communicate with each other, especially with those who live far away. The lack of efficiency and motivated workers restricts USPS from moving forward and meeting the standards of what people expect nowadays. It has helped the United States for the past two centuries and there are still people who love to send mail so it would be disappointing to see the USPS close down. The USPS needs to train their workers so that they can provide and increase efficient services as well as gain trust from the customers who drifted away.

Group Analysis Report

Introduction Changes normally disrupt the normal work process of an organization. Such changes are likely to remain permanent. Changes result from both internal and external factors, which relate with an organization. Therefore, organizations must find ways of adapting to such changes.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Group Analysis Report specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In most cases, we experience conflicts because of changes that occur from both internal and outside the organization. As a result, organizations must adjust their management and communication strategies in order to cope with changes. Conflicts and their challenges have become major sources of concerns in many organizations. Conflicts are responsible for massive wastage of resources within organizations. In most cases, people only focus on negative impacts of conflicts. However, we can rely on conflicts to achieve good results. Feedback f rom conflicts can be sources of opportunities to improve communication and relationships within the work team. Conflicts provide opportunities for organizations to formulate effective means of communications, address challenges within the group, and change workplace strategies. Specific conceptual frameworks and theoretical models can address conflicts with an organization. In this case, the organization must understand the concept of workplace dynamics. As a result, an organization can continue to work in an optimal manner and achieve best results. The purpose of this report is to address the issue of work team problems, perform group diagnostics, and analyze results relative to the ideal of conflict management and workplace dynamics.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Overview of the workplace group (committee): Rup Landscape Company Rup Landscape Company has served its clients and gained national recognition based on the quality of its landscape and management services it provided in the United Arab Emirates. The company has over 30 years in landscape management. The management has transformed the company and created a complete commercial landscape company with both construction and management services. The drives for this reentry were to enhance the growth of the company and provide customers with complete range of landscape services and management. Throughout the history of the company, Rup has provided services with cutting-edge practices and has attracted contracts from various prestigious organizations like the government agencies, Dubai Police, City Center, Dragon Mart, Union properties, GEMS, and Rotana among others. Most members of the management team have served the company for more than 20 years. They have continued to ensure that Rup remains the industry leader in the UAE landscape industry. The company has dedicated itself to excel lent services. It also offers opportunities to excel and grow their careers. The company has unique work values, culture, and practices. The company has various committees with various duties. The organizational committee on focus deals with project development processes. The roles of the committee include: Providing information to the company on maintenance and repair needs Reporting landscaping needs in the area Making recommendations to the management for seasonal improvements Recommending and deciding on the company to award contracts Approving projects for action Conflict Resolution In all organizations, there are conflicts. Hence, we have to accept conflict as a part of group dynamics within the organization. Elements of conflicts reflect such ideas of antagonism and undesirability within the committee. However, we have to notes that not all forms conflicts are dysfunctional.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Group Analysis Report specifically f or you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Depending on how a firm handles its conflict, there are productive aspects of conflict that can bring in new solutions to a situation, clarify roles and power relationships within committee members, bring irrational aspects of conflicts into the open, and provide a way of solving conflicts. If a group engages in destructive conflict, then the outcomes can result in loss of the main objectives in the quest for sub-group interests, encourage the committee members to be defensive, and may results in a collapse of the committee. According to Condliffe, â€Å"conflict has three vital components, which include interests, emotions, and values. Conflict processes go through stages of perception, realization, avoidance, flashpoint, intervention, strategy, and evaluation† (Condliffe, 2002). Conflict models allow people to understand what conflicts are, their root causes and avoidance strategies. However, such models ca nnot provide all the solutions to conflicts. Rather, they provide us with better ways of understanding conflicts and resolution methods. We shall use the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model (Swinton, 2006) in an attempt to understand the conflict within the committee of Rup Landscape Company. The committee has been involved in conflict on several occasions. In few cases, the results have been unsatisfactory and cause disharmony, fallout, and distractions from the core duties of the committee. In addition, the organization also experiences losses attributed to productivity (Tillett and French, 2006). Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Figure 1: The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument Conceptual frameworks and group diagnostics Rup is a formal organization that promotes landscape services and management in Dubai. The committee shares common goals and values. Consequently, Rup has beliefs, values, and norms for its group members. Such values, norms, and beliefs rest on the ideology of developing and promoting success of the organization and career growth of members. Therefore, collaboration within the committee is paramount. The belief system consists of a strong belief in the development and use of best practices within the organization. The organization instills the value of collaboration and community of practice (Hislop, 2005). It has formal work systems, which members interact through open communication systems. Conflicts usually occur due to differences in decision-making on awarding contracts and allocating scarce resources to projects, values, and goals. Such conflicts have repercussions for the organiz ation. The organization has used opportunities from conflict resolutions to build a strong community, reinforce its beliefs, values, and norms. In addition, it has strengthened teamwork within the committee. Fig 1: Conceptual Framework for Rup Belief in best practices, values, norms, and goals Rup believes in promoting best practices, values, norms, and goals in the landscape industry. The committee members believe in using Rup’s goal and practices for guidance. Therefore, members can collect, organize, recommend, and award tenders to other stakeholders. The organization aims to promote develop such values, practices, and achieve its goals through its committee. However, the belief in using, developing, and promoting the use of formal practices varies among members. There are members with strong beliefs in developing and promoting best practices while other have moderate view about formal practices of the organization. This was according to some of the responses from members of the committee (see appendix). Members who had a strong belief in promoting best practices, values, and norms in order to achieve organizational goals did not express conflicts. On the other hand, members who had moderate views about formal practices in the committee had conflict with other members of the committee. These divergent views led to conflicts among members. Achieving goals The committee members worked together in order to achieve the organizational strategic goals. Goals had two aims, which were to promote the growth of the company and its employees. Such goals enhanced formal approaches to tasks. However, roles and desire to achieve goals differ based on what different members prefer. The organization had fix deadlines and assigned projects to its members. At the same time, members had the freedom to select the best formal practices of accomplishing tasks. Most members believed that the committee had to use both formal and informal practices when allocating resources , awarding tenders, and reporting on the progress of various tasks while other members insisted on the use of formal practices in order to enhance the image of the organization. Collaboration among members In most cases, the committee had to collaborate in most projects. This was the only formal way to grow the organization and achieve both personal and organizational goals. Therefore, the committee had to develop a strong sense of collaboration because of its belief in best practices within the industry. Conflicts arise when other members of the committee preferred informal aspects of managing certain roles of the committee. Ultimately, the committee worked as a team in order to resolve conflicts in belief systems and strengthen its membership. Collaboration creates value for the committee The committee collaborates in order to provide best services to clients and ensure the growth of the organization. Committee aims to create a strong community because of its collaborative approac h to issues. Members can make their contributions and expect positive criticism on the best methods to adopt towards a given projects. The committee hopes that collaborative approach will allow all members to contribute and enhance teamwork. This is a way of reducing cases of conflicts within the committee. The committee leadership promotes collaborative approach towards issues. Open systems The committee encourages open systems in communications among members. Committee members have the freedom to express their opinions about some decisions about projects. The committee keeps records of important decisions that members make about tasks. This enables members to track their decisions and improve on areas with faults. The committee encourages its members to refer and report any failures in the decision-making processes that can lead to failure in a project. It encourages open criticism in project management. Some members believe that the organization can use both formal and informal a pproaches when making decisions in order to facilitate processes and eliminate bureaucratic tendencies, which cause delay in project completion. On the other hand, some members promote formal approach for accountability of processes in decision-making. Formal management system The leadership of the committee relies on formal management systems. The committee has developed from a community of practice because of organizational shared goals. There are no formal contracts within the organization. The committee aims to create formal systems in the company. The committee can only realize this goal through collaboration among members with divergent views. Thus, it can integrate different ideas in order to strengthen formal processes within the organization. Formal processes aim to instill accountability within the organization. Thus, committee members can feel that they have personal responsibility for organizational goals. Group Diagnostic Developing the committee Hislop (2005) notes how a community of practice evolves among members, and such shared interests can create a strong committee. Members usually share common goals, values, and similar outcomes. In such communities, members should resolve their differences without any external interference. The committee has been able to solve its disputes as they arise, and members can trace resolutions in the communication log and archive. The committee may have constant conflicts, but its leadership must resolve such conflicts in collaborative ways in order to strengthen the committee. Conflict Resolution The committee uses a collaborative approach to solve all conflicts it experiences. Conflicts emanate from different views on decision-making processes. Collaboration allows members to adopt moderate views in projects for a win-win situation for the organization and its clients. In the end, the committee aims to achieve formal processes in decision-making. Conflicts occur because the committee considers formal processes as bureaucratic and time-consuming. Therefore, some members prefer informal processes of decision-making. The resulting conflicts take a great amount of time to solve because the process must account for views all members of the committee. It is important to note that solutions usually result in a strong committee with a reinforced belief in organizational values and goals. The committee also displays elements of group dynamics just like in any other group. Committee members have diverse behaviors and attitudes. Concepts of group dynamics relate to both formal and informal organizations (Luthans, 2005). The group dynamics enable us to understand how the committee co-ordinates its structures, functions, process, and conflict resolution mechanism. The committee works together with the aim of achieving a common goal of developing and promoting the best practices. However, informal processes interfere with the progress achieved and affect choices of projects and periods of completion. The formal nature of the process requires members to have specific duties based on their expertise and competence. Some members do not observe formal organizational practices in decision-making and distribution of resources, which result in conflicts within the committee. However, the committee resolves such conflicts through a collaborative process in which all committee members express their views. The aim of conflict resolution is to strengthen teamwork and belief in organizational best practices and formal approach to processes. Developing teamwork Effective conflict resolution within the committee encourages teamwork. Members look for various solutions to their problems by expressing their ideas in an open system. Opinions on whether the committee should still depend on its old informal practices or implement changes that focus on formal processes differ. Collaboration has formed the basis of resolving such conflicts within the organization. The committee promotes teamwork by i nviting contributions from all members in problem solving. Changes for improvement Landscape services and management industry has become competitive in UAE. Many companies have emerged to compete for the same clients. Therefore, only organizations with best practices shall succeed. This is the aim of Rup. A collaborative approach in conflict resolution has created a strong team that aims to promote best practices within the organization. In addition, it has reinforced the belief in organizational values and goals. Conflicts will emerge as Rup finds the best ways of providing services through effective decision-making processes. However, some conflicts take a lot of time to resolve. Therefore, the committee should improve on time management when resolving conflicts. It should adopt gradual change processes to ensure that members adopt formal practices within the organization. Members’ satisfaction varies based on the adoption of formal practices within the committee. Some memb ers promote the use of both formal and informal processes in decision-making, reporting, and awarding tenders. On the other hand, some members advocate for formal processes. However, the committee aims to solve such problems by adopting a collaborative model. This has ensured that the committee considers contributions from all members and makes decisions on the best interests of all stakeholders. The committee must understand its own weaknesses in order to improve on adopting changes and decision-making process. The committee leadership should rely on scenario-based models in order to choose appropriate conflict resolution model that can serve the organization under time pressure. The committee should not overuse the collaborative model to the extent that leads to compromise of goals, values, and long-term goals of Rup. Conclusion Changes in the modern industries are responsible for many conflicts. Therefore, conflicts are inevitable in such organizations. Rup shows that conflict ca n be favorable for creating effective outcomes, teamwork, and a strong community. The organization has been able to achieve such results because of a collaborative approach to conflict resolution. However, the committee must improve on change and time management because members are reluctant to adopt best practices and values. As a result, conflict resolution is time-consuming processes that delay other projects. Appendix Contributors Beliefs Satisfaction Leadership Conflict Resolution 9 Members believe in community of practice (COP) Achieve best practices, values, and goals Some members have strong formal processes only Others adopt moderate view on the use of formal and informal processes in decision-making Most members are satisfied conflict resolution outcomes Formal approach because of the aim of the organization to instill best practices within the company Enables great collaboration among members Encourages an open system of communication Encourage the development of a c ommunity of contributors Reinforces belief, teamwork, and great collaboration Members are satisfied with the conflict resolution mechanism References Condliffe, P. (2002). Conflict management: a practical guide. Sydney: Nexis Butterworths. Hislop, D. (2005). knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc. Luthans, F. (2005). Organizational Behavior (10th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Swinton, L. (2006). Workplace Conflict Management: Strategy for Successful Resolution. Web. Tillett, G., and French, B. (2006). Resolving conflict: a practical approach, 3rd edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. This research paper on Group Analysis Report was written and submitted by user Rey D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on The Search For The Standard Authority Of The Early Church

The search for the standard authority in the Early Church I understand and have not violated the Seminary ¡Ã‚ ¦s position on plagiarism ____________________________________________________________ Introduction: The Problem of Authority One of the hallmarks of the Reformed tradition is the concept of sola Scriptura, which is the teaching and belief that the only authoritative special revelation from God that man has is the written Scriptures or the Bible. Underlying this belief is the understanding concerning the nature of Scripture itself, that it is the inerrant, infallible, and inspired word of God. The idea of sola Scriptura stems from the work of the Protestant Reformation where figures like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli countered the claims of the Roman Catholic Church who attributed their authority in the church ¡Ã‚ ¦s traditions or what is called the magisterium. The magisterium is the official teaching body of the Church that is inspired by the Pope. Underlying this conviction is the belief that Jesus Christ transferred His authority to the apostles and their ordained successors, the bishops, where the primary authority was given to the Roman see; this concept is also known as apostolic succession. Ho wever the reformers denied that such authority could be attributed to an individual or tradition within the post-apostolic church as seen in the Westminster confessions, which reads:  ¡Ã‚ §The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men. ¡Ã‚ ¨ (WCF 1:6) Clearly we see that for the reformers, the authority of the Scriptures would find no equal, whether in terms of traditions or any individual whose claim to authority is said to parallel Scripture. H... Free Essays on The Search For The Standard Authority Of The Early Church Free Essays on The Search For The Standard Authority Of The Early Church The search for the standard authority in the Early Church I understand and have not violated the Seminary ¡Ã‚ ¦s position on plagiarism ____________________________________________________________ Introduction: The Problem of Authority One of the hallmarks of the Reformed tradition is the concept of sola Scriptura, which is the teaching and belief that the only authoritative special revelation from God that man has is the written Scriptures or the Bible. Underlying this belief is the understanding concerning the nature of Scripture itself, that it is the inerrant, infallible, and inspired word of God. The idea of sola Scriptura stems from the work of the Protestant Reformation where figures like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli countered the claims of the Roman Catholic Church who attributed their authority in the church ¡Ã‚ ¦s traditions or what is called the magisterium. The magisterium is the official teaching body of the Church that is inspired by the Pope. Underlying this conviction is the belief that Jesus Christ transferred His authority to the apostles and their ordained successors, the bishops, where the primary authority was given to the Roman see; this concept is also known as apostolic succession. Ho wever the reformers denied that such authority could be attributed to an individual or tradition within the post-apostolic church as seen in the Westminster confessions, which reads:  ¡Ã‚ §The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men. ¡Ã‚ ¨ (WCF 1:6) Clearly we see that for the reformers, the authority of the Scriptures would find no equal, whether in terms of traditions or any individual whose claim to authority is said to parallel Scripture. H...

No topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 76

No topic - Essay Example The ideological difference between the Asian drama and the western drama shows a perfectly structured media system in terms of respect for the culture and citizenship as a whole. This research paper explains concepts necessary for understanding of media of globalization and citizenship. Korean Wave (and Korea Herald articles): Korean wave as a global concept plays a very vital role in the understanding of the media of globalization. This is because as a media personality, comparing and contrasting the various views regarding Korean wave as international concept. Significance of the Korean wave additionally brings in the notion of globalization culturally in inter-Asian cultural studies (p.50). Per se, understanding of media of globalization and citizenship requires outstandingly unique and worldly accepted concepts. The Korean Wave presents such uniquely required concepts especially in looking at this cultural media of globalization and citizenship. Korean wave concept liberally presents the concepts of racial proximity, cultural proximity and their limitations. This implies that media of globalization and citizenship is a conglomerate mass media concept which should be an important part of

Apital punishment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Apital punishment - Research Paper Example Of the developed western countries, only the United States continues to actively practice capital punishment, and this varies significantly between different states. History of capital punishment Prior to the 18th-century, capital punishment was prevalent in England for a range of types of crime, including theft and assault. However, as power shifted towards a parliamentary system, and away from the monarch having sole power, the use of capital punishment decreased. This was partly driven by a desire to see more democracy, and also because the death penalty was becoming ineffective at reducing crime rates (Lieberman 200-203). At this time the list of crimes that were punishable by death was so extensive that enforcing the law was difficult and often impossible. Because the only option for those convicted of capital crimes was death, many were released or recommended for royal pardon, based on compassion (Lieberman 209). Consequently, the use of capital punishment began to decrease, a nd there was an increase in the rate at which criminals were imprisoned In southern France 1977, a Tunisian worker was killed by guillotine as the result of a conviction of murder. While there was nothing significant about the conviction itself, this was the last time that an individual was executed through capital punishment in Western Europe in the 20th century. This trend was prevalent throughout the world, and in the same year only two people were put to death in the United States (Zimring 15-16). The worldwide perception of capital punishment has changed throughout the decades. Initially, Europe believed that the presence of the death penalty was the decision of the individual nation. However, since 2000 Europe has placed a strong emphasis on the human rights aspect of capital punishment, believing the use of the death penalty to be a violation of human rights (Zimring 17). Capital punishment in the United States The occurrence of capital punishment within the United States of America remains an issue of significant moral, political and legal relevance. America is the only developed nation in the western world that continues to use capital punishment as a legal means of punishing criminals (Zimring viii). The use of capital punishment in the United States is varied, and some states actively use the death penalty, while others have abolished it altogether. While the number of people sentenced to death has been dramatically increasing, the same trend has not been observed in number of people executed (Zimring 6). The history of capital punishment in the United States is surprising and unpredictable. In the 1950s and 1960s the pattern of executions followed that of the rest of the western world, with a steadily decreasing number of deaths by capital punishment per year. By 1965, this figure had decreased to less than ten executions each year. A moratorium was released on capital punishment in 1972, which lasted until 1970. However, from 1970 to the present d ay, the nationwide rates of capital punishment have been increasing, and they currently resemble the rates that occurred prior to the moratorium (Zimring 6-7). Capital punishment shows substantial variation across the states. Thirty-eight states have legal statutes that allow the death penalty, although several of these have not executed an individual for decades. Furthermore, variation among the states that practice the death penalty is significant. In 2000, 40 people were executed in the state of Texas, out of the 85 executions that occurred across the nation (Zimring 7). One significant change that has occurred in the death penalty since its inception is the movement

E-business Literature Review

E-business Literature Review Recent advances in the technology have created a surge in â€Å"technology-based self service† (Dabhokar et al. 2003). Such developments are changing the way that service firms and consumers interact and are raising a host of research and practice issues relating to the delivery of e-service. Further, Information technology (IT) made a tremendous impact on the business world. Business processes and operations that used to take days or weeks can now be done in a matter of seconds with the help of IT. This makes individuals and customers to be better served than in the past (Rodgers et al. 2002). Different people have different understanding for the purpose as in order to have a common uniform understanding author will like to define the terminology of e-business, e-service and e-commerce, the following section will discuss about definition, distinction and the differences between these three in order to have a better understanding. E-BUSINESS E-business probably began with electronic data interchange in the 1960s (Zwass, 1996; Wigang, 1997). However, it was only in the 1990s, primarily via the internet, that e-business has emerged as a core feature of many organisations (Melao, 2009). E-business has become an inescapable fact of life, nearly as essential to commerce as the telephone (Waters, 2000). With the technological advancement e-business has a huge impact on day to day operation of the businesses. Furthermore, e-business expands the connectivity of the organization to include its suppliers, employees, and the business partners. E-business is the next wave in the technological revolution created by the Internet (Biggs, 2000). E-business is defined as ‘The use of electronic networks for business (usually with web technology’ by Deloitte and Touchà © Consulting Group further IBM defined e-business as the transformation of key business through the use of Internet technologies (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). According to Turban et al. (2006), E-business refers to a broader definition of e-commerce, not just the buying and selling of goods and services, but also servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, and conducting electronic transactions within an organisation. E-business provides a global platform where individuals and organizations interact, communicate, collaborate and obtain information. Further, Currie and Parikh, (2006) stated that e-business web based systems increasingly represent a competitive advantage for companies and have undergone great organizational changes. Businesses online provide an information-rich environment by which competitors can identify, match and impro ve product innovation (singh, 2002)B2C E-business is growing at an explosive rate. As a means of growing existing market share, entering new markets, forging alliances with business partners and taking the all important customer relationship to a new and unprecedented level, e-business is an unparalleled tool (Deise et al.2000).E-business is revolutionizing the way business is conducted. Similarly it does more than e-commerce as it interconnects the whole and extended organization thus allowing for improved communication among suppliers, employees and customers. In addition to this e-business allows for the extended organization to be connected which means that all the employees, customers or clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders, regardless of the geographic region are interconnected ( Rodgers et al. 2002) . It involves attracting and retaining the right customers and business partners and it includes digital communication, e-commerce, online research and it is used by every business discipline (Strauss and Frost, 2 001, p: 6). E-business allows service providers to interact with their suppliers and customers as this improved relationship causes and potentially could lead to loyalty and then results in increased profits and competitive advantage for the firm (Follit, 2000). E-COMMERCE The immense popularity of the internet in recent years has been fuelled largely by the prospect of performing business online. With the rapid global growth in electronic commerce, businesses are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by using e-commerce to interact with customers (Lee and Lin, 2005). E-commerce refers primarily to the buying and selling activities over the Internet, which includes transactions such as placing orders, making payments, and tracking delivery of orders on the Internet (Rodgers, 2002). The e-commerce is defined as buying and selling of product service or information through computer networks mainly the internet (Wen et al., 2001) and people immediately think of consumer retail purchases from companies such as Amazon (Chaffey et al, 2006). However, e-commerce refers to both financial and informational electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with (Chaffey, 2006). Further, Singh (2001) supported the defin ition by referring e-commerce to an online service offered to customer to support their shopping experience over the internet. E-commerce is exponentially increasing the availability of information, giving customers access to more knowledge, of better quality and faster than before. Technological advancement led an explosive development in electronic commerce, the causes of that are the internet end the World Wide Web (WWW), which are making electronic commerce much more accessible. Internet e-commerce includes electronic trading of physical goods and of intangibles such as information. This encompasses all the trading steps such as online marketing, ordering, payment and support for delivery (Trimmers, 2000.p.4). E-commerce is used everywhere in everyday life. Now a days it is utilized for everything from credit card authorization, travel reservation over a network, wire fund transfers across the world, point of sale (POS) transactions in retailing, electronic banking. It helps in generate demand for the products and services and improves order management, payment and other support functions (Awad, 2004.p.2). Similarly, e-commerce decreases the cost of creating, processing, distributing and retrieving paper based information. Further facilitates the benefits which include improved image, improved customer service, simplified processes, compressed cycle and delivery time, eliminating paper work and increased flexibility (Turban et al, 1999, pp.15). Moreover, e-commerce is not just about buying and selling as it is also about electronically communicating, collaborating and discovering information (Turban et al, 2004). It can involve the Internet, groupware programs, public e-mail networks (Adms,1994), technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and electronic funds transfer (EFT) and more recently , services associated with mobile telephones and digital television (Voss, 1999). E –commerce has become very popular because of the benefits and convenience it brings along as it is no longer an alternative, it is an imperative (Wen et al, 2001).E-commerce is generally based on monetary transaction and e-services are the part of electronic commerce. E-SERVICE E-services are important in B2C e-commerce for managing customer relations and enhancing sales. Rapidly advancement of technology such as wireless, broadband, smart cards, data warehousing, data mining and agent technologies, are contribute toward the effective accessibility and servicing of the correctly targeted customers for business while providing more choices, options and ultimately power to customers in their transactions with business (Rust and Kannan, 2003). Further e-service provides a new business paradigm for the organizations operating in the electronic environment. Below figure show a paradigm shift from traditional e-commerce to e-service. SOURCE: Rust, R, T and Kannan, P, k., 2003 There are three primary reasons for firms to develop e-services. Firstly, Shapiro and Varian (1999) argued that on margin, consumer acquisition and service costs are generally much lower in an online medium versus that in an offline medium. Secondly, e-service inexpensively and effectively delivers high-quality, timely and in-depth product information desired by consumers (Iqbal et al. 2003). E-services also provide consumers with benefits such as better price quality comparisons (Evans and Wurster, 1999) and customized search processes based on criteria of importance (Lynch and Ariely, 1999). Finally, the use of e-services enables firms to develop a deep understanding of consumer behaviour (Iqbal et al, 2003). The view of e-service is much broader than the concepts of IT services, web services or infrastructure service as it e-service includes all these services further it also encompasses the service product, service environment and service delivery that comprise any business model, whether it belongs to a goods manufacturer or a pure service provider ( Rust et al, 1996). The customer’s interaction or contact with the organization is through the information and communication technology (ICT) in e-service. This remote service encounter subsequently has developed into a self-service experience (Dabholkar, 2000; Sara, 2000). However, experience of self service and e-service are quite different. In self service operations, a customer has to go to the information and communication technology centre while, in e-service, a customer can conveniently receive the service through the internet at home or other places. In other words, self service is less flexible than e-service due to constrai nts of location (Surjadjaja et al., 2003). Similarly customer’s interaction or contact with the organization in the e-service is through the technology, such as web site. During an e-service encounter customer have to rely entirely on sight and sound while the traditional service experience can use all senses. In addition to this e-service unlike traditional service is not constrained by distance and opening hours, thus delivered delivers convenience. Linked with convenience is customer control. As customer can choose the channel through which they will acquire a product, the mode of delivery for the product, the extent of customization of the product and the extent to which they are involved in the design and delivery of the product (Rowley, 2006). Advancement of technology led the transformation of physical products to pure e-service components and has significant implications for building customer relationships. Below chart shows the e-commerce path to profitability as how the traditional path and e-service path flow increase profit of the firm. SOURCE: Rust, R, T and Kannan, P, k., 2003 Above chart shows traditional path services laid emphasis on automated service or self service operation, firms used to focus on increased efficiency and productivity of business and reduce the cost of the product or service in order to increase profit. On the other hand on e-service path firms are focus on enhanced service operations, provides greater conveniences and support services to customers. Further improved customer satisfaction and retention by providing best quality service for example grocery chains are looking to use loyalty cards and focus on one-to-one promotion and marketing efforts based on the information gathered using these cards allow the grocery chains to develop relationships with their customers. Moreover, they provide value to customers through focused information provision, reduced search time and increased convenience for the customers (Rust and Kannan, 2003). As in the electronic world the customer and the merchant do not meet face to face and the clients are more sensitive with increased options and solutions available to them online (Singh, 2002). Many companies are adopting Internet-based e-services for conducting business transactions and sharing business information with their customers and business partners (Torre and Moxon, 2001). E-service has been defined as web-based service or interactive service that is delivered on the internet (Reynolds, 2000). According to Rowley (2006) e-service is deeds, efforts or performances whose delivery is mediated by information technology that include the Web, information kiosks and mobile devices. Such e-service includes the service element of e-tailing, customer support and service and service delivery. Further, E-service is defined as the provision of service over electronic networks. This concept includes services provided by a typical service organization as well as the services provided by t he goods manufacturers where the quality of customer care plays an important role (Rust and Kannan, 2002). According to Ruyter et al. (2001, p. 186), â€Å" an e-service is an interactive, content-centred and Internet-based customer service, driven by the customer and integrated with related organizational customer support processes and technologies with the goal of strengthening the customer-service provider relationship†. Further (Sahai and Machiraju, 2001) defined e-service as it is a service available via the internet that provides information, completes tasks or conducts transactions. It can be any electrically provided services offered directly or indirectly to customers, including direct as well as after sales services (Van Riel et al.,2001; Lagrosen, 2005). In addition to this e-service can deliver high quality, timely and extensive product information to consumer inexpensively and effectively. They can provide better price and quality comparisons (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Furthermore, a company that can respond to the needs of the customer accommodate their requests prom ptly and support their buying decisions creates value and wins customer patronage and loyalty (Singh et al.2001). E-service operation include all the customer centric activities starting from pre-transaction, transaction and post transaction interactions through the internet in delivering products or services within service level agreement ( Surjadjaja et al., 2003). Clearly, although the aforementioned author agree that providing personalized and accurate customer information with better tracking, delivery and payment details is an online service in B2C e-commerce generally appreciated by customers. Similarly e-service functions incorporated on e-commerce sites that can quickly provide online shoppers with decision-making support win e-customers and get them to make a purchase (Singh, 2002). Furthermore, e-service is becoming increasingly important not only in determining the success of failure of electronic commerce (Yang et al., 2001), but also in providing consumers with superior experience with respect to the interactive flow of information (Santos, 2003). E-service can be usefully conceptualised as an interactive information service. Such as information provided by or collected from and about the customers can be gathered and analysed by the e-service provider and used as the basis for the customization of the service that organization offe rs to the customers (Rowley, 2006). Examples of e-services are computer-related services such as personal, cultural, recreational, communication and financial services. E-service concept is not simply a combination of words electric and service. As in true e-service operation part or all the interaction between the service provider and the customer is conducted through the Internet. Thus an automatic teller machine (ATM) transaction is an example of a simple electronic plus service experience, while buying a ticket on the Net is an example of e-service experience (Surjadjaja et al., 2003). E-service may be considered to be relatively new channel of service provision as well as new way of conducting business; research on e-service is still developing (Hung and Wong, 2009). E-Service as self-service There is an important conceptual relationship is that between e-service and self-service. As most authors have described the e-service experience as a self service experience (Dabholkar, 2000; Meuter et al., 2000; Zhu et al., 2002) although Surjadaja et al, (2003) differentiate between e-service and self service. Further they argue that in self-service operation customer has to go to the technology such as ATM to receive a service, while in e-service customer can receive the service through the Internet at home or in other places. Self-service technologies are often used to enhance the overall service experience delivered to the customer by focussing human service agent intervention at the point at which intervention can make the most impact. As e-service firstly, reduce marginal consumer acquisition and service cost, due to the reduction in human intervention and ease of e-service scalability (Binter et al., 2002; Iqbal et al., 2003). Secondly, e-services deliver consumers high quality, anytime and in-depth product information, which reduce the consumer price sensitivity and finally e-services support the capture of information relating to the search, evaluation and purchasing activities of consumers (Iqbal et al., 2003). Having discussed the concept of e-business, e-commerce and e-services, it can be said that the above three has a significant influence in today’s any e-business activity. Further, in order to understand the relationship between these three terms; the following section will provide the brief discussion on relationship and similarities between each other. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN E-BUSINESS, E-CCOMMERCE and E-SERVICE E-business is a broad term used to express the conduct of business such as buying and selling, servicing customers and collaborating with partners through the internet ( whatis.com, cited in Chen, 2001), under which e-service and e-commerce can be established as its two underlying dimensions (Surjadjaja et al., 2003). The scope of e-business is much broader than that of e-commerce. Extensive e-business embraces physical products and the distribution of the goods as an integral part of the overall transaction process (Greenstein and Feinman, 2000). Similarly, e-commerce mainly focus on the buying and selling of physical goods or products that results in monetary exchange whereas e-service refers to delivery of services through the internet either paid or free (Voss, 1999), For example, in the case of free e-mail subscription s and free online newspapers.These examples are actually part of e-business called e-service (Amor, 2000). However, (Voss, 1999) made the distinction between e-co mmerce and e-service, as being two ends of a continuum, pure e-commerce is the basic buying and selling of products, where as , at the other end pure e-service is offering service either unconditionally or with a service contract. E-business and e-commerce are two separate concepts such as e-commerce uses the web to connect customers with firms whereas e-business includes the web as well as other means necessary to interconnect information systems and data streams, both internal and external further e-commerce requires human interaction for form filling during purchasing process however, e-business allows many processes to be fully automated thus improving the efficiency of business processes and removing the error of human interfaces (Chou et al, 2002). There are some similarities between the two. As e-business and e-commerce solutions include newly developed web technology into organizational and business processes. The use of web technology results in improved efficiency. Moreover, e-commerce is generally less complex than any e-business solution as firm must start with e-commerce initiatives before creating e-business tasks. Once a firm has successfully implemented its e-commerce functions, then it may beg in to work on e-business with the e-commerce infrastructure, with out e-commerce infrastructure first, it will be difficult for firms to integrate all the e-business functions. (Rodgers et al, 2002). Moreover if a firm decide to skip the e-commerce part and jump directly to e-business, the project or work would be much more costly and time consuming. Therefore, it is necessary for a firm to create an e-commerce capability before it pursues e-business solutions. E-SERVICE EXPERIENCE The previous section sought to explore the inherent or pervasive characteristics of e-business, e-commerce and e-service. The following section explores the aspect of e-service experience that defined the elements, scope and context of e-service experience. As the nature of the service experience is likely to vary depending upon the activities or task being finished through the e-service engagement. Further users may be expected to take on different roles and exhibit different competences. The extent of customer customization or co-production varies between applications; this variation could have a significant effect on how customers engage with and evaluate the service interaction (Barnes and Vidgen, 2000). In addition to this a related approach is to regard the service experience as consisting of a number of different partial performances or service components each of which can be evaluated separately by the web site visitors (Santos, 2003; Zeithaml et al; 2002). Using this approach, Bauer et al. (2005) identifies three service categories that are core services, additional services and problem solving services. Further, Chen and Chang (2003) identify three components in the online shopping experience that are interactivity (connection quality, web site design), transaction (value, convenience, assurance, entertainment and evaluation) and fulfilment (order processing, delivery, post sales service. The need to identify the scope and elements in the service experience is also acknowledged by Parasuraman et al. (2005) in their work in E-S-QUAL in which they distinguish between core service and recovery service. On the contrary a number of authors discuss the web service experience in terms of its elements, but different authors have different notions of web elements and some elements are important of factors identified elsewhere as dimensions in e-service quality models. For example, Constantinides (2004) finds that the web experience and specifically the significance of the web experience elements depend on the buying situation, type of the customer and client’s intentions in visiting a site. He identifies the following web experience elements that influence consumer behaviour such as functionally factors (usability, interactivity), psychological factors (trust) and content factors (aesthetics and marketing mix). Later Zhang and Prybutok (2005) develop an e-service model in which web site service quality is one variable; the others are individual differences, e-service convenience, risk, e-satisfaction and intention. On the basis of above statements it can be argued that the modelling and evaluation of e-service experience can undertaken at three different levels such as web site experience, online service experience and total multi-channel experience. As important contributing factor to the e-service experience is the ability of the organization to organize its supply and value chain to support the delivery of good quality goods and services (Rowley, 2006). Further, Voss (2003) reports on a study across retail banking, retailing, travel, utilities, content providers and computer hardware sectors that suggest that performance on responsiveness was substantially below customer expectation. Problem occurring in the e-service system can result in a failure of service (Zhang and Prybutok, 2005) and this may lead to the loss valuable opportunities to build loyalty (Watcher, 2002). In order to have a holistic e-service experience one has to examine specific areas of service marketing, service design and service delivery. In the following section author will discuss these specific areas. SERVICE MARKETING Services marketing deals with expected quality of services and involves matching market needs with a firm’s resources (Meredith, 1992). Since services cannot be produced without interaction with the customer, marketing activities need to manage the timing of demand rather than just build demand. As most services are experiences delivered by human performers, anything that a service organization does in relation to the customer becomes a marketing activity, for example bank teller’s smile, the waitperson’s courtesy or the physician’s bed side manner are all marketing activities (Fisk et al., 2000). Furthermore, marketing focuses on determining the marketing mix of product and service features such as price, brand image and accessibility of service (Palmer, 2001). Service marketing concepts and strategies have developed in response to the tremendous growth of services industries, resulting in their increased importance to the world economy (Wilson et al., 20 08). Service marketing evolves on the front-end operation while service design focus on the back- end support of service operation (Surjadjaja et al, 2004). SERVICE DESIGN Service design refers to the design of facilities, servers, equipment and other resources needed to produce services which includes a blue print of the service system, specifications, procedures and policies (Meredith, 1992). The design of services with a view to creating memorable and satisfying customer experiences is not new. However, the deliberate design and execution of service experiences as a distinctive management discipline with its own principles, tools, and techniques can be said to be a new approach. In easy terms service design considers services as product that need to be systematically developed with a clear focus on the customer value (Zehrer, 2009).Service design considers services as products that need to be systematically developed with a clear focus on customer value. In more precise terms Gummesson (1994) described service design as service design covers the hand-on activities to describe and detail a service, the service system and the service delivery process. Further, A major task of service design is to create, in line with service strategy, material evidence of a sensually perceivable service reality for the customer, which materializes the non-material message sent by the service provider (Zehrer, 2009). However inadequate service design will cause continuous problems with service delivery. As to avoid such inadequacy, service design must be consistent with the service orientation and overall strategic orientation of the organization (Johnston, 1999; Doyle and Broadbridge, 1999). Similarly, service-design should be consistent with transparent service strategies, however, Mager (2004) has noted that many firms lack of such a defined service strategy. If one element of the service design is inconsistent with the overall strategy and service orientation of the provider therefore it is unlikely to be successful in providing satisfaction to the customer (Zehrer, 2009). As Doyle and Broadbridge (1999) noted that the importance of design as a composite in the strategic mix is often undervalued or ignored, the holistic nature of design and its informed status can achieve a more coherent offer to the customer. In recent years, technology has plays an increasingly major role in service design to ensure memorable service experiences. Many service offerings have evolved to become multi-interface systems that create several opportunities for developing new offerings. However to take full advantage of these capabilities, the technology must be fully integrated into service design and management with an overarching customer orientation (Curran et al., 2003). As PatrÄ ±Ã‚ ´cio et al. (2008, p.319) observed that In designing modern service offerings firms have to define their service interface mix, the technologies that support front-stage customer interactions and backstage support processes, and the service clues necessary to enable a satisfying customer experience. SERVICE DELIVERY Service delivery is concerned with delivery of the core products and services to the customers (Slack et al, 2001), including digital products. In addition, for e-service experience the introduction of e-service delivery has been associated with an increase in the number of channels through which businesses interact with their customer. Further, in such a multi channel contexts it is important not only to understand how consumers experience and evaluate the e-service delivery, but also how the delivery contributes to the total service experience and its evaluation (Rowley, 2006). Moreover, Muller-Lankenau and Wehmeyer (2005) indicate that self-service and e-service is often part of a wider service delivery. There is growing number of traditional companies use the Internet to enhance, support or by-pass their traditional marketing and sales channels and adopting multi-channel strategies. Thus it will be important to consider e-service alongside other channels through which service can be delivered, which includes the ground that has attracted most attention, face- to- face but also extends to telephone, postal and other remote services (Rowley,2006). Having discussed the overview of service marketing, service design and service delivery in the following section author will look into specific factors that will influence each of them. These factors are discussed in more detail below. Trusted Service Trusted service can be defined as exact delivery of promised service. In e-business operations trusted service is considered to very important (Baker et al., 2006). Online trust concerns are especially challenging to the companies wanting to move to e-business (Luo, 2002). Lack of trust is one of the most often reasons for the consumers’ unwillingness to make online purchases as a result it hinders the formation of an online exchange relationship for many businesses and organization (Baker et al., 2006). Further, Gefen and Straub (2004) assert that trust is more important to e-commerce than traditional service since online environment offers limited opportunities to regulate rules and customs. For example, online transactions do not usually afford the same kind of tangible assurances that are present in traditional commerce. Since consumer are concerned about the level of security when surrendering personal or sensitive information online, Warrington and Caldwell (2000) sugges t that e-business find a way to offer customers cues to encourage trust in their company. As trusted service can be designed and implemented within the service delivery process. Service providers therefore seek to achieve exact delivery of promised service and thus achieve customer satisfaction. Responsiveness Responsiveness could refer to the speed of the company’s response to the customers (Zehrer, 2009). Sending timely response to e-mail requests or complaint and confirmations of orders has been recognized as an important factor when online customers evaluate a Web site (Long and McMellon, 2004; Zeithml, Parsuraman and Malhotra, 2002). To improve responsiveness a web based customer support interface requires special attention as to whether the interface is prompt, always available and provides information regarding the timeliness of service. Further many companies request customers to direct their queries to a particular person who has the best competence in answering that particular query. Electronic forms are designed to direct queries to the appropriate department.The responsiveness dimension can be defined as the willingness or readiness of customer support to provide timely service to the customer in a Web context (Park et al., 2007). Personalization Personalization involves individualized attention, personal thank you from online stores and the availability of a message area for customer questions or comments (yang, 2001). Further personalization is refer as customer perception of the degree to which an online store provides differentiated service to satisfy specific individual needs (Lee, 2005). Most companies are building personalized web pages. Such web pages provide all the products and service, along with the navigation buttons for ease of access t

High School and School Counseling Interventions Essay

Instructions: 1. Using this template, complete your article critique and submit this document to Blackboard. 2. Summary must include all five criteria: a. Introduction and rationale for the research b. Major strengths/weaknesses in the article. c. Summary of research outcome. d. Two methods of applying this research to practice. e. Conclusion 3. To begin your summary on the next page of this template insert a page break. Use APA formatting. School Counseling Outcome: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Interventions. Introduction and rationale for the research In the fields of counseling, education, and psychology, there has been a strong emphasis placed on evidence-based practices to determine the effectiveness of school counseling interventions. In this article, two types of Meta-Analysis interventions were used during this study. Meta-Analysis 1 involved treatment-control comparisons and Meta-Analysis 2 involved pretest-posttest differences. The overall average weighted effect size for school counseling interventions was . 30. This study determined how effective moderator variables influenced effect size of, guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support. Analyses of moderator variables are designed to determine the effectiveness of school counseling program activities in this article. Major strengths/weaknesses in the article The overall school counseling interventions produced an average effect size of . 30 which is significant. However, in this article, the average effect size of Meta-Analysis 2 intervention was not significant, only . 07. Previously research has found that meta- analyses using pretest-posttest typically produces a higher effect size compared to the more traditional treatment-control group comparisons. It’s difficult to determine the non-significant mean effect size for pretest-posttest meta-analysis. Additional analyses in the pretest and posttest form will need to focus on specific interventions and additional information regarding the effectiveness of specific strategies in school counseling. One of the common criticism of meta-analytic approaches is that studies with weak methodological rigor may artificially inflate average effect sizes(M. W. Lipsey,2003). M. W. Lipsey (2003) also argued that methodological moderator variables that often are assumed to be independent are not necessarily independent and carefully conducted meta-analytic reviews should explore methodological relationship patterns. The effect size of . 30 was based on 117 experimental studies that involved 153 interventions, which is a significant increase from the six studies used by Sprinthall (1981). Many more studies were conducted with elementary school students; however, school counseling interventions included in this meta-analysis appeared to be slightly more effective with middle or junior high students followed by high school students. Thus, these studies show a significant effect on school counseling interventions for all levels of K-12 education. There are also some limitations when meta-analytic techniques are used. The validity of effect size largely depends on the quality of studies that were included in the review. Some major limitations in school counseling research could not be addressed statistically. Also there are few studies that address the issues of treatment integrity. Only a handful of studies used treatment manuals or well-developed curricula. It was difficult for researches to determine what was effective because researchers could not determine what interventions were implemented with students. Another limitation was the elimination of 111 studies that had insufficient data or missing information. Another limitation from this article concerns the dominance of non-standardized outcome assessments in school counseling research. Meta-analysis also lacked long-term follow-up data. The lack of longitudinal data allows for the measurement and analysis of only short-term effectiveness. Another issue with meta-analysis research is that interventions focused mostly on specific interventions rather than comprehensive school counseling programs. There has been very few research studies conducted on comprehensive school counseling programs. Summary of research outcome. There were 118 studies that used meta-analysis 1, involving treatment-control comparisons and 153 school interventions; however, two studies were considered one study because of the same simple. Out of the 117 studies, 81 were published in journals and 36 were theses or dissertations. This meta-analysis study had 16,296 participants and the sample ranged from 8 to 5, 618, with the average study involving 139. 28 participants. From these studies, 50. 4% were elementary school students, 17. 9% were middle or junior high school students, and 24. 8% were high school students, and 6% had a mixture of ages, and one study did not report the age of the student participants. There was an overall weighted effect size of 27% for students that received school counseling intervention compared to those students that did not receive school counseling intervention. The average effect size was significant. Also, there were a total of 33studies that used meta-analysis 2, involving pretest-posttest design; however, two effect sizes were eliminated from one study. Therefore, 31 studies that involved 51 school counseling interventions were used. The effect sizes calculated from these 31 studies involved 2,015 participants and the average study involving 62. 97 students and the sample ranged from 9 to 283. Out of the 31 studies, 17 were published in journals, 13 were theses or dissertations, and one study was an ERIC document. From these studies, 29% involved elementary school students, 12. 9% were middle or junior high school students, and 54. 8% were high school students, and 3. 2% had a mixture of ages and grade levels. There was only a . 07% weighted effect size on pretest and posttest meta-analysis which indicates the average effect size was not significant. Two methods of applying this research to practice Firstly, my goal as an aspiring school counselor is to implement a comprehensive school counseling program for all students. I would provide a variety of interventions and activities using the four components of the delivery system of a school counseling program, guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support. I would then, conduct studies in my school, collecting data, and determine which services students and the school will benefit from the most. This will help me determine what type of programs and activities are most effective for our students and school. Secondly, I would consider taking additional research courses to prepare me to contribute to the knowledge base of school counseling, while conducting research projects related to school counseling. Simply, there needs to be more and better research in the area of school counseling. â€Å"Without additional empirical support, some schools may eliminate professional school counseling programs†(Erford, p 68). Conclusion. From this research on meta-analyses not all school counseling interventions were equally effective. Additional research is needed to examine the impact these studies had on students from diverse backgrounds. Although more research is often a recommendation after completing a meta-analysis (e. g. , Ehri et al. , 2001; Swanson, 1999; Whiston, Brecheisen,& Stephens, 2003; Xin, Grasso, Dipipi-Hoy, & Jitendra, 2005), we contend that lack of methodological rigor and dearth of studies make the calls for additional sound research in school counseling particularly important. Also, the issues of treatment integrity and increasingly use standardized outcome assessments will enhance future school counseling interventions. From this study, one would learn that additional research is needed, however, from this research; data shows that school counseling interventions have a positive effect size on student outcomes. Furthermore, there were significant effect sizes for interventions at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. School counselors’ were able to increase students’ ability to solve problems while decreasing discipline problems. However, the researchers were unable to identify specific programs or approaches that produce positive outcomes. Additional research is needed to address what interventions for school counseling works, with what students, and under what circumstances. References Erford, B. T. (2011). Transforming the school counseling profession (3rd Ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Whiston, Tai, Rahardja, and Eder. (Winter 2011 Volume 89). School Counseling Outcome: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Interventions. Journal of Counseling & Development , 37-55.