Adolescents With Food Allergy Health And Social Care Essay

Aim: To develop and formalize the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Teenager Form ( FAQLQ-TF ) in the Dutch linguistic communication. Methods: Ten nutrient allergic striplings ( 13-17 old ages ) were interviewed and generated 166 HRQL points. The most of import points were identified by 51 nutrient allergic striplings utilizing the clinical impact method, ensuing in the FAQLQ-TF incorporating 28 points ( mark scope 1 ‘no damage ‘ to 7 ‘maximal damage ‘ ) . The FAQLQ-TF, the Food Allergy Independent Measure ( FAIM ) and a generic HRQL questionnaire ( CHQ-CF87 ) were sent to 98 nutrient allergic striplings for cross-sectional proof of the FAQLQ-TF. Consequences: Construct cogency was assessed by the correlativity between the FAQLQ-TF and the FAIM ( rho 0.57, P & A ; lt ; 0.001 ) . The FAQLQ-TF had first-class internal consistence ( Cronbach ? 0.92 ) and discriminated between striplings who differed in figure of nutrient allergic reactions ( 1 nutrient allergic reaction vs. & A ; gt ; 2 nutrient allergic reactions, entire FAQLQ-TF mark, 4.3 vs. 3.5 ; p=0.037 ) , but did non know apart between reported anaphylaxis or non. The FAQLQ-TF correlated decrepit with 6 of the 11 CHQ-CF87 graduated tables, showing convergent/discriminant cogency. Decision: The FAQLQ-TF is the first self-administered, disease-specific HRQL questionnaire for nutrient allergic striplings. It has good concept cogency and first-class internal consistence and discriminates between striplings who differ in figure of nutrient allergic reactions. The FAQLQ-TF is short and easy to utilize and may hence be a utile tool in clinical research.Clinical DeductionsThe Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Teenager Form ( FAQLQ-TF ) is dependable, valid, short and easy to utilize and therefore a utile tool in clinical research.Capsule sum-upThe FAQLQ-TF is the first self-administered, disease-specific HRQL questionnaire for nutrient allergic striplings. It is dependable and valid and hence a utile tool in clinical research in which HRQL is the result of involvement.Key wordsAdolescents EuroPrevall Food allergic reaction Health-related quality of life AdolescentsAbbreviationsHRQL Health-Related Quality of Life FAQLQ-TF Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire – Adolescent Form FAQLQ-CF Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire – Child Form FAQLQ-PF Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire – Parent Form MI Mean Importance OI Overall Importance FAIM Food Allergy Independent Measure EO Expectation of Outcome IM Independent Measure CHQ-CF87 Children ‘s Health Questionnaire – Child Form AADR Allergen Avoidance and Dietary Restrictions EI Emotional Impact RAE Risk of Accidental Exposure DBPCFC Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Food ChallengeIntroductionHaving a nutrient allergic reaction can be fatal and striplings are at the highest hazard of decease from nutrient allergic reaction ( 1-3 ) . It is estimated that 2.3 % of striplings are nutrient allergic ( 4 ) . The lone effectual signifier of intervention of nutrient allergic reaction is rigorous turning away of the implicated nutrient ( s ) and proviso of medicines for exigency intervention ( 5 ) . In malice of the high hazard of decease, nutrient allergic striplings really reported societal isolation as the most distressing facet of their disease ( 6 ) . In add-on, some striplings reported depression as a consequence of nutrient allergic reaction and this may take to troubles in school public presentation and leisure activities ( 7 ) . Therefore, nutrient allergic striplings need to be continuously watchful as to what they are eating in legion state of affairss and scenes and, along with the fright of allergic reac tions, this may hold a negative impact on quality of life. At present, no validated self-administered, food-allergy-specific health-related quality of life ( HRQL ) questionnaire exists for usage in striplings. A few surveies have reported that nutrient allergic reaction has a negative impact on HRQL in striplings. However, three restrictions arise when construing these surveies. First, no differentiation was made between striplings and younger kids ( 8-13 ) , whereas HRQL in striplings demands to be addressed individually, because HRQL may be influenced by the phase of neurocognitive and emotional development of an person ( 14 ; 15 ) . Second, HRQL questionnaires were administered to parents therefore mensurating parents ‘ perceptual experiences ( 8-13 ) . However, kids and parents differ in their positions and judgements about quality of life ( 16 ) . Finally, surveies used generic HRQL questionnaires ( 11-13 ; 17 ) or disease-specific questionnaires which have non been validated ( 8 ; 10 ) , whereas generic HRQL questionnaires are n on every bit sensitive as disease-specific HRQL questionnaires ( 18 ) and proof is highly of import in order to find whether the questionnaire is mensurating that portion of quality of life which is determined by the mark upset ( 19 ) . Therefore, we have developed and cross-sectionally validated the first self-administered, food-allergy-specific HRQL questionnaire for striplings, the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Teenager Form ( FAQLQ-TF ) . This questionnaire has been developed as portion of the EuroPrevall undertaking, a European multi-center research undertaking on nutrient allergic reaction. The FAQLQ-TF complements the late developed self-administered Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Child Form ( FAQLQ-CF ) for kids aged 8 to 12 old ages ( 20 ) and the parent-administered Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Parent Form ( FAQLQ-PF ) for parents of nutrient allergic kids aged 0 to 12 old ages ( 21 ) .MethodParticipants and processDuring point coevals, participants were recruited merely from our outpatient pediatric allergic reaction clinic. Two striplings were approached during a double-blind placebo-controlled nutrient challenge ( DBPCFC ) and, based on patient records, eight strip lings were approached by phone. All approached striplings ( niˆ?10 ) agreed to take part in an interview on the impact of nutrient allergic reaction on their day-to-day life. During point decrease and cross-sectional proof, participants were recruited from our outpatient pediatric allergic reaction clinic ( based on patient records or assignments for DBPCFC ) or were recruited by advertizement in local intelligence documents and through nutrient allergy support organisations ( the Dutch Foundation for Food Allergy and the Dutch Anaphylaxis Network ) . A missive of invitation, the questionnaire and a pre-paid return envelop was sent to suited striplings from our clinic and to striplings who responded to the advertizement. The missive of invitation stressed that engagement was wholly voluntary. When the questionnaire was non returned within a month, the stripling was contacted by phone as a reminder. Adolescents were non paid for their engagement in any phase of questionnaire development or proof. Before cross-sectional proof, the questionnaire was pre-tested in three striplings ( aged 13, 15 and 17 old ages ) . No major jobs emerged during this pre-test. Thereafter, the FAQLQ-TF, the Food Allergy Independent Measure ( FAIM ) and the CHQ-CF87, a generic quality of life questionnaire, were sent by mail to 98 nutrient allergic striplings. Some of them had participated in the point coevals ( 10 % ) or point decrease ( 49 % ) . Descriptive features were asked sing age, sex, type and figure of nutrient allergic reactions, type of symptoms and diagnosing. For the striplings recruited from our clinic, we checked patient records to find whether nutrient allergic reaction had been diagnosed by a DBPCFC. During all phases of questionnaire development and proof, all common nutrient allergic reactions and different types and badnesss of symptoms were represented. The survey was approved by the local medical moralss review committee ( METc 2005/051 ) who deemed that permission from the committee was non required.DevelopmentItem coevals For the development and proof of the FAQLQ-TF, the same methodological analysis was used as for the development and proof of the FAQLQ-CF, which is described in more item elsewhere ( 20 ) . Briefly, possible points for the new questionnaire were generated by questioning 10 nutrient allergic striplings ( aged 13-17 old ages ) . In add-on, literature reappraisal and adept sentiment were consulted. This resulted in an drawn-out point questionnaire of 166 points. Item decrease The drawn-out point questionnaire was sent to a different group of 51 nutrient allergic striplings to place the most of import points by utilizing the clinical impact method ( 22 ; 23 ) . The striplings were asked to bespeak the importance of applicable points utilizing a five-point graduated table. Frequency ( per centum ) was multiplied by average importance ( MI ) , ensuing in the overall importance ( OI ) of each point. The maximum possible OI was 5.0 ( 24 ; 25 ) . Items with the greatest OI were selected for the FAQLQ-TF, except one of any brace of points with an inter-item correlativity & A ; gt ; 0.85 and/or overlapping content ( face cogency ) . The selected points were worded as inquiries holding a seven-point response graduated table runing from ‘not troubled ‘ to ‘extremely troubled ‘ ( 23 ; 25 ) . A psychologist and a linguist reviewed the FAQLQ-TF for lucidity and easiness of usage.Cross-sectional proofConstruct cogency Construct cogency was investigated by computation of correlativity coefficients for the FAQLQ-TF with the Food Allergy Independent Measure ( FAIM ) . This attack has already been successfully implemented to formalize disease-specific HRQL questionnaires ( 9 ; 20 ; 21 ; 25 ) and it is particularly utile in anaphylactic upsets where no nonsubjective measuring of the extent or badness of disease exists ( 26 ) . The FAIM, which was besides used to formalize the FAQLQ-CF ( 20 ) , includes four Expectation of Outcome ( EO ) inquiries and two Independent Measure ( IM ) inquiries. The EO inquiries are based on the sensed outlook of patients of what will go on following exposure which is likely to be a impulsive force of quality of life ( 26 ) . The IM inquiries are based on the same rule and inquire about the sensed figure of nutrients one needs to avoid and sensed impact on societal life. We expected moderate correlativity coefficients ( 0.40-0.60 ) for the FAQLQ-TF with the FAIM. The proof of the FAQLQ-TF was carried out in the Dutch linguistic communication. The English version of the FAQLQ-TF and the FAIM are presented as Figure E1 and Figure E2 in the Online Repository. The Dutch FAQLQ-TF and the FAIM were translated into English by a native English talker and back translated by a native Dutch talker, harmonizing to the guidelines of the World Health Organization ( 27 ) . The original Dutch version was compared with the back translated Dutch version. No of import differences in content or significance of inquiries emerged. Discriminative ability To set up the discriminatory ability of the FAQLQ-TF, we compared the entire FAQLQ-TF mark for striplings who reported anaphylaxis ( i.e. striplings who reported two or more of the undermentioned cardiovascular symptoms ; giddiness, experiencing your bosom round fast, loss of vision, inability to stand, light headedness, prostration, loss of consciousness/passing out ) versus striplings who did non, for striplings who reported many nutrient allergic reactions versus striplings who reported few nutrient allergic reactions, for male childs versus misss ( 28 ) and for striplings who were recruited from our clinic versus striplings who were recruited by advertizement. Dependability The dependability of the FAQLQ-TF was assessed by administrating the questionnaire to 34 striplings on two occasions 10-14 yearss apart. Convergent and discriminant cogency To look into convergent and discriminant cogency, a generic HRQL questionnaire was administered: the Children ‘s Health Questionnaire-Child Form ( CHQ-CF87 ) ( 29 ; 30 ) . This questionnaire is self-administered by striplings and contains 87 points divided into 12 graduated tables. We expected weak correlativity coefficients ( 0.20-0.40 ) for the FAQLQ-TF with the CHQ-CF87.Statistical analysesThe natural FAQLQ-TF and FAIM scores 0 to 6 were recoded as 1 to 7. The entire FAQLQ-TF mark is the average mark of all points with a scope of 1 ‘no damage ‘ to 7 ‘maximal damage ‘ . To measure concept cogency, Spearman ‘s correlativity coefficients were calculated between the FAQLQ-TF and the FAIM. The allotment of the points of FAQLQ-TF into spheres was based on factor analysis ( chief constituent analysis with Varimax rotary motion ) ( 31 ) and face cogency determined by a clinical expert panel ( BMJFdB, JNGOE and AEJD ) ( 14 ; 32 ) . To look into the inter nal consistence of the FAQLQ-TF and the spheres, Cronbach ‘s ? were calculated. An ? greater than 0.70 indicates good internal consistence ( 33 ) . The Mann-Whitney trial was used for mensurating the discriminatory ability of the FAQLQ-TF. The dependability of the FAQLQ-TF was assessed by ciphering the intraclass correlativity coefficient of the repeated FAQLQ-TF measuring ( 34 ) . Finally, convergent and discriminant cogency were assessed by ciphering Spearman ‘s correlativity coefficients between the FAQLQ-TF and the CHQ-CF87 graduated tables. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS for Windows 14.0 ( SPSS Inc. , Chicago, IL, USA ) .ConsequenceDevelopmentDescriptive features of the striplings involved in the point coevals and point decrease are shown in Table 1. The drawn-out point questionnaire was returned by 46 striplings ( response rate 90 % ) . The OI tonss of all 166 points of the drawn-out point questionnaire ranged from 0.00 to 2.89. The point decrease re sulted in the choice of 28 points ( OI & A ; gt ; 1.37 ) for the FAQLQ-TF ( Table 2 ) .Cross-sectional proofParticipants The questionnaire bundle including the FAQLQ-TF, the FAIM and the CHQ-CF87 were returned by 75 striplings ( response rate 77 % ) . One stripling was excluded because the descriptive features were losing from the questionnaire, ensuing in 74 assessable questionnaires for the cross-sectional proof. Forty-three striplings ( 58 % ) were recruited from our clinic, of which 19 ( 26 % ) had a nutrient allergic reaction confirmed by a DBPCFC. The other striplings from our clinic had a physician-diagnosed nutrient allergic reaction ( skin asshole and/or blood trial ) and the bulk was expecting DBPCFC. All striplings recruited by advertizement ( 42 % ) reported physician-diagnosed nutrient allergic reactions. Descriptive features of the striplings involved in the cross-sectional proof are shown in Table 1. There were no important differences in descriptive features between male childs and misss, between striplings recruited from our clinic and striplings recruited by advertizement or between s triplings with a physician-diagnosed nutrient allergic reaction and striplings with a nutrient allergic reaction diagnosed by DBPCFC. Construct cogency Most points of the FAQLQ-TF correlated significantly with at least one of the FAIM inquiries and with the mean of the FAIM inquiries. Five points did non correlate with any of the FAIM inquiries and were hence excluded from the questionnaire. The validated FAQLQ-TF therefore consists of 23 inquiries. As expected, we found moderate correlativity coefficients between the FAQLQ-TF and the FAIM. The entire FAQLQ-TF mark correlated significantly with the average FAIM ( rho 0.57, P & A ; lt ; 0.001 ) and with the single FAIM inquiries ( Table 3 ) . This important correlativity coefficient was found for striplings with a nutrient allergic reaction diagnosed by DBPCFC and for striplings with a physician-diagnosed nutrient allergic reaction ( entire FAQLQ-TF mark with the average FAIM, rho 0.76, P & A ; lt ; 0.000 and rho 0.52, P & A ; lt ; 0.000, severally ) . These consequences support the concept cogency of the FAQLQ-TF. That is, the FAQLQ-TF steps that portion of quality of life that is a ffected by nutrient allergic reaction. Expectation of Outcome inquiry 3 ( EO3 ) did non correlate with any of the single HRQL points and is therefore improbable to be an appropriate independent step for nutrient allergic reaction in striplings. Therefore, we excluded this inquiry from farther analyses.Sphere construction and internal consistenceThe 23 points of the FAQLQ-TF were subjected to factor analysis ( chief constituent analysis ) , which revealed 5 factors with characteristic root of a square matrixs & A ; gt ; 1. To assistance in the reading of these factors, Varimax rotary motion was performed for 5, 4 and 3 factors. These groupings were reviewed by an adept panel, and based on face cogency the grouping of 3 factors made the most sense. This grouping revealed the undermentioned spheres: Allergen Avoidance and Dietary Restrictions ( AADR ) , Emotional Impact ( EI ) and Risk of Accidental Exposure ( RAE ) . These three factors showed a figure of strong burdens ; all exceed 0 .300, which is regarded as an acceptable standard ( 31 ) . The adept panel allocated 3 points to a more appropriate sphere based on face cogency. The FAQLQ-TF and the spheres had first-class internal consistence with Cronbach ‘s ? transcending 0.70 ( Table 3 ) .Discriminative abilityAdolescents who reported two or more nutrient allergic reactions reported a significantly more impaired HRQL than striplings who reported merely one nutrient allergic reaction ( entire FAQLQ-TF mark 4.3 vs. 3.5 ; p=0.037 ) . There was no important difference in entire FAQLQ-TF mark between striplings who reported anaphylaxis ( cardiovascular symptoms ) and striplings who did non describe anaphylaxis ( 4.5 vs. 4.0 ; p=0.184 ) or between male childs and misss ( 4.0 vs. 4.3 ; p=0.324 ) . Adolescents who were recruited by advertizement reported a significantly more impaired HRQL than striplings recruited from our clinic ( entire FAQLQ-TF mark 4.6 vs. 3.9 ; p=0.015 ) . Dependability The entire FAQLQ-TF mark intraclass correlativity coefficient was 0.98 ( 95 % assurance interval, 0.95-0.99 ) , bespeaking first-class test-retest dependability. Convergent and discriminant cogency The entire FAQLQ-TF mark correlated weakly with 6 of the 11 CHQ-CF87 graduated tables. In add-on, the spheres of the FAQLQ-TF correlated weakly with several CHQ-CF87 graduated tables ( Table 4 ) . This indicates that both questionnaires step constructs that are partially related ( i.e. convergent cogency ) . However, as expected the correlativities are weak and sometimes even absent because the CHQ-CF87 is a generic quality of life questionnaires and hence non every bit sensitive as the disease-specific FAQLQ-TF ( i.e. discriminant cogency ) .DiscussionWe have developed and validated the first health-related quality of life ( HRQL ) questionnaire particular for striplings with nutrient allergic reaction, the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Teenager Form ( FAQLQ-TF ) . We found that the FAQLQ-TF has good concept cogency and first-class internal consistence ( Table 3 ) . In add-on, the FAQLQ-TF discriminates between striplings who differ in figure of nutrient allergic reacti ons. Finally, the FAQLQ-TF showed convergent/discriminant cogency ( Table 4 ) , which supports the demand for a disease-specific quality of life questionnaire for nutrient allergic striplings. It is known that HRQL may be influenced by the current phase of cognitive, societal and emotional development of an person. Therefore, it has been argued that HRQL in striplings should be measured by agencies of a specific instrument ( 14 ; 15 ) . The FAQLQ-TF was specifically designed for nutrient allergic striplings aged 13 to 17 old ages. Age rightness was ensured by bring forthing and including merely points that were regarded as of import by nutrient allergic striplings ( clinical impact method ) . The FAQLQ-TF focal points on the perceptual experiences of the striplings themselves, because the questionnaire is self-administered. Many of the points in this instrument are specific to striplings. An illustration is ‘Carrying an Epipen ‘ . The Epipen issue in nutrient allergic striplings is in harmony with the literature. It has been reported that striplings raise concerns about its size and portability ( 35 ) and sometimes striplings do non transport it based on societal fortunes and sensed hazards ( 36 ) . Despite our age specific attack and the separate development of kid and adolescent questionnaires, it is striking that about two tierces of the adolescent inquiries in the FAQLQ-TF correspond to the kid inquiries in the FAQLQ-CF ( 20 ) . Therefore, although we generated many age specific points, there are seemingly ‘general ‘ nutrient allergic reaction points that are of import in kids and striplings. Furthermore, we found that the three most of import points that impair quality of life were the same in kids and adolescents ( ‘Always be alert as to what you are eating ‘ , ‘The ingredients of a merchandise alteration ‘ , ‘Able to eat fewer merchandises ‘ ) . An unexpected determination was that EO3 ( Chance of deceasing when by chance exposed ) was non correlated with any of the points of the FAQLQ-TF. This may bespeak that fright of deceasing of nutrient allergic reaction is non a driving force of quality of life in striplings, which may be characteristic and specific for striplings. It has been reported that striplings perceived their anaphylaxis as ‘no large trade ‘ ( 35 ) . In add-on, striplings are at the highest hazard of decease from nutrient allergic reaction ( 1-3 ) . This high hazard may be the consequence of underestimate of the badness of nutrient allergic reaction and the belief of striplings that they will non decease from any cause, including their nutrient allergic reaction. In fact, there were no striplings in this survey who reported ‘always ( 100 % opportunity ) ‘ of deceasing when by chance exposed, whereas this was reported by 5 % of kids and 4 % of grownups in other FAQLQ proof surveies ( non shown ) . Although non statistically important, this is a notable observation. The wrong belief of immortality of striplings may ensue in risk-taking behaviour that may increase the hazard of deceasing from a nutrient allergic reaction. Therefore, doctors and other health-care suppliers should be cognizant that underestimate of nutrient allergic symptoms may be of import when reding striplings with nutrient allergic reaction. When comparing the discriminatory consequences of the FAQLQ-TF with the FAQLQ-CF ( 20 ) , two interesting observations emerged. First, there was no important difference in entire FAQLQ-TF mark between striplings who reported anaphylaxis ( cardiovascular symptoms ) and striplings who did non. The same consequence was found in kids ( 20 ) . Second, striplings who were recruited by advertizement reported a significantly more impaired HRQL than striplings recruited from our clinic. This difference was non important in kids, although a tendency was seen ( 20 ) . It may be that striplings see safety and security by being looked after in the clinic, whereas striplings outside the clinic experience more uncertainness and insecurity about their nutrient allergic reaction ( 37 ) . Most striplings recruited from our clinic were known to us for many old ages ( average figure of old ages since first visit 12.5 ( SD 5.4 ) ) . In add-on, it has late been shown that parental trait anxiousness is hig her in parents of kids with a suspected nutrient allergic reaction who refused to take part in a DBPCFC than parents who did take part ( 38 ) . Since it is known that parental anxiousness is related to child anxiousness ( 39 ) , it may be that the striplings in our survey recruited by advertizement have higher degrees of trait anxiousness than striplings recruited from our clinic and may therefore hold more damage in quality of life. This survey may hold some restrictions. First, the proof of the FAQLQ-TF was carried out in the Dutch linguistic communication. The FAQLQ-TF was carefully translated into English utilizing the guidelines of the World Health Organization. The cogency of the English linguistic communication version of this questionnaire is presently being investigated every bit good as versions in several other European linguistic communications. Our experience with the Dutch Vespid Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire was that the English interlingual rendition validated good ( 25 ) . It is possible, nevertheless, that cultural differences may act upon the ability of our questionnaire to place the most of import points for nutrient allergic patients in different cultural or lingual scenes. Second, patients were recruited at our clinic and by advertizement. These patients may differ from each other, for illustration in footings of degree of information about their nutrient allergic reaction. However, we did non happen important differences in the descriptive features between these groups and other possible differences would non hold adversely influenced the proof process, where a spectrum of badness is good to obtain optimum correlativities. Third, some of the points in this questionnaire are likely to be clip sensitive in the long tally. For illustration, new labelling Torahs could do the labelling points included in this questionnaire obsolete. It is likely that in clip, this questionnaire will necessitate some updating and version. Finally, this study describes merely the cross-sectional proof of the FAQLQ-TF. Currently, the longitudinal proof of the questionnaire is being investigated ( i.e. the capacity of the FAQLQ-TF to mensurate differences in HRQL over clip ) . In drumhead, we have developed and validated the first HRQL questionnaire particular for nutrient allergic striplings, the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Teenager Form ( FAQLQ-TF ) . We found that this questionnaire is valid and dependable and it is short and easy to utilize. The FAQLQ-TF will be therefore a suited questionnaire for clinical research in nutrient allergic striplings in which HRQL is the result of involvement.RecognitionsThis work was funded by the EU through the EuroPrevall undertaking ( FOOD-CT-2005-514000 ) . We would wish to thank Dr. GFEC van Linden new wave lair Heuvell, medical psychologist, and Karel Verbeek, linguist, for reexamining the drawn-out point questionnaire and the FAQLQ-TF and Tina van der Velde for executing the test-retest of the FAQLQ-TF.

Inductively Coupled Plasma †Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Essay

The aim of this practical was to use an ICP-OES to perform a multi-elemental analysis of different types of tea. The elements that were analysed in the tea were copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. The sample is introduced into the plasma as an aerosol. Argon gas flows through three concentric quartz tubes in the plasma torch. This argon gas transports the sample from the nebulizer, acts as a cooling gas and is also a source of electrons and ions for the plasma [1]. A magnetic field is created around the plasma torch. The ionisation process is started by the ignition of the argon gas from a spark produced by a tesla coil [1]. During this process the plasma reaches a very high temperature and the sample is atomised. The atoms are then excited to a higher state. Since this is an emission analysis, the analysis is performed as the atoms emit energy and return to a lower energy state or their ground state. A spectrometer or monochromator is used to select the wavelength that is being analysed. The multi-element detector then gives us a readout that can be understand for each element that is analysed Explain the benefits and limitations of plasma over a conventional flame used for FES with photometry and AAS. The benefits of using plasma are that the chemical interferences are decreased due to the high temperatures that the plasma reaches and refractory elements can also undergo excitation. There are also many wavelength for different that can be chosen for analysis so you don’t have two elements that have wavelengths that are close to each other as this would interfere with the analysis. A limitation is that spectral overlap can occur and the preparation of the samples is a very long process compared to that of the flame spectrometry Data Show the calculations for you multi-element standard. Instrument: Perkin Elmer OES (optima 5300 DV) The preparation of multi-element standard 1000ppm solutions of (Cu), (Fe),(Mg) and (Mn ) were given. A working standard solution containing the entire four elements was prepared in the following way; 1 ml, 10 ml and 5 ml of Fe, Mg, and Mn were respectively added in one 100 ml volumetric flask. A solution of Cu was prepared separately (intermediate solution) by placing 1 ml of the 1000ppm Cu solution in a 100 ml volumetric flask and made up to the mark with distilled water, the resulting concentration was 10ppm. The formula that was used to calculate the volume of the 1000ppm Cu solution needed to prepare 10ppm solution in a 100 ml volumetric flask is; C1V1 = C2V2 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ equation 1 Where C1 is the initial concentration C2 is the final concentration V1 is the volume of the initial concentration V2 is the total volume of the initial concentration and the solvent The volume of the barium required was calculated as follows C1V1 = C2V2 1000ppm x V1 = 1ppm x 100ml V1 = 10 ppm x 100 ml 1000 ppm = 1 ml Then 1 ml of the 10 ppm Cu solution was placed in the 100 ml volumetric flask that contained the other three elements, and made up to the mark with distilled water, this was the working standard solution. Using equation 1 it is found that the concentrations of the elements in the working standard solution are as follows. Explain why the type of sample preparation carried out was necessary. The Acid digestion was suitable because a complete transfer of analyte into the solution in order for the determination step to be introduced in liquid form is highly desirable and this method completely transfers the analyte into solution. This thus means that the digested sample is a complete solution of the analyte and has a complete decomposition of the matrix however with minimal loss or contaminated of the analyte Explain what matrix matching is and what problems may arise if this is not carried out. Matrix matching involves preparing solutions in which the major chemical compositions of the standards, blanks and samples are made identical thereby cancelling out the effect of the sample matrix on the analysis results. While matrix matching involves matching the solvents, it also involves matching the concentrations of acids and other major solutes. In case where the standard and sample matrices are quite different or cannot be matched and interference occurs as a result, internal standards can be used. Comment on the correlation coefficient of your calibration graphs. The correlation coefficient measures the strength in the linear relationship between two variables. A correlation coefficient of 1 would mean a very strong linear relationship between two variables, which means the points form a perfect straight line. The correlation coefficients for the calibration graphs were very good. The calibration graphs for copper, iron, magnesium, and manganese gave correlation coefficients of 0.991539, 0.991005, 0.999874, and 0.999952 respectively. This shows that the samples were prepared very well and that there is a strong linear relationship between the emission and the concentrations of the elements. Compare the different elements in the different types of tea. Which tea would you recommend and why? The tea that seems to be most essential for human consumption is the green tea owing to the high content of each and every element present in it. It has high concentration of manganese which is a vital substance in the body as it is an enzyme activator; it keeps bones strong and healthy, and also maintains the health of our nerves. References 1. Dr L Pillay, Chem 340, Instrumental Analysis, ICP-OES notes 2. http:// www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrint& dbod=77(accessed 16/04/2013) 3. http://www.chemplex.com/petrochemical/multielementMetal.aspx(accessed 16/04/2013)

Report making a change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Report making a change - Essay Example The proposed change put forth by the researcher is to increase the number of the lectures related to oral health care and hygiene to 3 or 4 lectures per month, between June and August 2011. This can be made possible with the concurrence of the nursing educator and the various nursing unit representatives. The ultimate outcome will depend on in-patient satisfaction by addressing their oral care needs; this can be made possible through enhanced nurse education. Implementation of Proposed Change Below are the underlying principles which were observed in observed in carrying out the planned change. Gather Support from Top Management The first principle is to solicit support from top management. This can be explicitly done through the formation of a Team for Nurses’ Oral Health Education which should be comprised of the Nurse Educator, Nurse Managers, Education Team members and the nurses. Kotter (1996) stated that in managing change, mere control is not enough; rather, there is a need to effectively lead the change that needs to be brought about. A coalition of leaders and managers must be formed to manage change. By working as a team, the coalition helps to create more momentum and build the sense of urgency in relation to the need for change (Midttun and Martinussen 2005). The group must consist of proven leaders who can drive the change, tout the vision, and empower others, and good managers who can develop plans and control the processes (Schlussel 2009). Kotter (1996) also recognises the importance of the emotional dimension and the energy that is generated by a â€Å"mastermind† group all working together. Gather Support from Different Organizational Levels The second principle is the solicitation of support from other levels, by creating a common, compelling vision of what the enhancement could bring (Lansisalmi, KIvimaki, Aalto, and Ruoranen 2006). This includes the presentation of the proposal to all directors, staffs, and other personnel inv olved. Moreover, they should be convinced about the urgency of the change, with emphasis on the expected benefits. People who welcome change are not generally the best at being able to work reliably, dependably and follow processes Understanding people's needs is important to be able to manage change (Inkson 2007). Being mindful of people's strengths and weaknesses is also very crucial as not everyone welcomes change. It is fundamental to take the time to understand the people being dealt with, and how and why they feel like they do, before taking actions (Gutteridge, Leibowicz, & Shore 1993). The researcher also realised that change is not to be sold to people as a way of accelerating 'agreement' and implementation. 'Selling' change to people is not a sustainable strategy for long-term success, since doing so may just back fire in the future, when least expected. Instead, change needs to be understood and managed in a way that people can cope effectively with it. Change can be unse ttling, so the manager logically needs to be a settling influence (Bazzoli, Dynan. Burns, and Yap 2004). Establish and Communicate Urgency of Proposed Change According to Kotter (1996), an early task in effecting organizational change is establishing a sense of urgency. Change agents must help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately (Fox-Wolfgramm 2007). In planning for the oral health training program, 3 initial factors

Anish Kapoor Exhibition Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anish Kapoor Exhibition Review - Essay Example Anish Kapoor: Memory suggests the sequences in which human perception arises through the principle of memory. â€Å"Memory,† a site-specific installation which contrives to fill Guggenheim’s enormous gallery space, becomes an investigation of scale, volume, color and materiality and consequently experiments on the limitations or restrictions of space and place. The exterior shell of this massive egg-shaped sculpture secures itself tightly against the peripheries of the gallery walls and ceiling, and down again to the floor. The eight millimeter thick Cor-Ten steel material chosen by Kapoor allows the form to achieve an apparent weightlessness although in reality, the sculpture is sits heavily at twenty-four tons. The illusion of lightness is realized through the construction of complex structural engineering that is specifically designed to be experienced through a series of partial and spatially separated views. Hence, Memory’s charm lies in its inaccessibility, preventing itself from revealing its true form. Memory is conceived as a new kind of experience as something that cannot be experienced at once but is rather understood through a series of separate, meaningful fragments. No one sees the whole thing at once as a result of the use of gallery space. Each visible segment is only seen after the viewer has experienced other unrelated elements of the museum and we are reminded that our memory in part, works in a similar fashion. The exhibit’s presentation invites us to daydream and reconstruct a mental image through the process of gestalt. In that sense, Kapoor considers the ways in which people feel and think about space, how they form attachments to their environment, and how feelings about space and place are affected by the sense of time. Memory is a critical understanding of how we are rooted to place and space. He extends his observation regarding the directionality of the different viewpoints

Profitability Measures Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Profitability Measures - Case Study Example On the other hand, return on assets will show how efficiently and effectively the company’s assets have been used in increasing the company’s returns. From the analysis, it will therefore be feasible to rank the companies in terms of their performance. Q2. Return on equity is a better premise of evaluating the performance of firms than the return on sales. Shareholders who are the providers of capital will only get interested if they get value for their resources. Return on equity is therefore in line with the firm’s objective of wealth maximization. Return on sales shows the proportion of sales that constitutes the profits to the company. It can be subject to manipulation by the management and therefore not a reliable way of assessing management efficiency (Freberg & Boland, 2000). Managers can alter their revenue sources to include only profitable products and customers rather than all its activities. Margins also depend on the capital base. Q3. It is possible that firms, which are profitable, offer negative returns to their shareholders. To a nonprofessional this might look ridiculous though it is possible. Profitable firms may have high obligations on repaying their debts or the directors could enjoy high compensation at the expense of the shareholders. Moreover, the large profits could be retained hence making shareholders fail to feel the profitability of the company. All the criteria used in assessing company’s performance have limitations. The best way of ranking effectiveness should be based on the shareholders wealth

One nation under Wal-Mart Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

One nation under Wal-Mart - Case Study Example This research will begin with the statement that as a retailer, Wal-Mart can be characterized as quite successful. As noted in the case study, currently, the stores of Wal-Mart are estimated to, at least, 4,750, a figure that it is quite high if taking into consideration the level of growth of other retailers globally. The rapid and impressive expansion of Wal-Mart has resulted in strong conflicts, in regard to the role of the firm in the society. For many people, Wal-Mart has helped towards the increase of equality in society; people of different financial status have the potential to visit one of the firm’s stores and buy products of various prices. In other words, Wal-Mart eliminates barriers related to buying, as a critical human experience; such barriers are common in societies of non-developed countries which are characterized by extreme gaps between rich and poor. This means that Wal-Mart helps towards the reduction of social inequality, a fact that promotes peace at al l levels of social and private life. At the same time, the stores of Wal-Mart are structures in such way so that they can offer to customers the chance to make their choice among products of different quality/ characteristics. In this way, customers are given the freedom to develop their decision-making skills. The above positive influence of Wal-Mart in regard to a person’s social and private life is highly appreciated by consumers; as noted in the case study ‘about 138 million shoppers visit the firm’s stores every week’.... capitalism and globalization are promoted. Such view could not be accepted for the following reasons: a) Wal-Mart cannot be blamed for the changes in the life of style, including the development of new modes of retailing, similar to that promoting by Wal-Mart. Large retailers exist in all developed countries, being part of daily social life; b) Capitalism and globalization, as concepts, are not related solely to retail; they rather reflect a radical change on traditional views of life and priorities. In fact, retail is just an aspect of capitalism and globalization; existing political systems worldwide are the key supporters of these concepts. According to the above, it would be not fair to claim that Wal-Mart has promoted capitalism and globalization. Still, the success of Wal-Mart proves that people worldwide tend to support capitalism and globalization, at the level that products of well known brands, that are popular worldwide, are highly preferred by consumers. As a result, work ers have become willing to spend on products that meet the standards of fashion, even if these products are going to cover the workers’ primary needs. In any case, these trends cannot be considered as based on Wal-Mart’s strategies. Rather, Wal-Mart has aligned its objectives with the principles of capitalism and globalization which are, in any case, indispensable part of modern life. 2. Can a retailer ever become too large and too powerful? In the context of modern market, a firm can increase its size and its power by following specific rules. For the retail industry a similar rule exists. Primarily, emphasis needs to be given to consumers’ preferences, as influenced by local ethics and culture. At the next level, it is necessary for the firm to identify brands that

Automobile Industry and Information Technology Essay

Automobile Industry and Information Technology - Essay Example Technology has been a part of automobiles, in one form or another, for quite some time now. In the 1960s and 1970s the typical 'backyard mechanic' could invariably be found tinkering on his pride and joy - his car. Whether it has brand new, or a collector's item, the fact was that just about anyone with any mechanical aptitude at all and a set of wrenches could do any number of standard repair jobs on a vehicle back then. But, times have certainly changed - and it happened before we even knew it. Where once, you could open a car hood and identify just about everything under there, today, you might just as well be looking at components of the space shuttle. It started small enough - a computer brain to control some of the car's basic functions. However, to even attempt to perform any repairs on a modern vehicle, practically requires a degree from MIT. Of course, technology has surpassed merely the practical applications to improve performance. The sagging automobile industry has also been turning to the field of information technology to find ways to improve sales. ... With so much competition, foreign and domestic, the consumer has more choices today than ever before - and they know it. A customer will not simply purchase the first thing they see, but will compare and contrast makes and models - as well as features and accessories. Not only do consumers want options on their vehicle, they are also demanding options in ways to make the purchase. Enter information technology. 1.1.2 Entering the auto industry's second century, there are clearly powerful signs of change that could foretell the next dominant production standard. At the core of many of these changes is the Internet, which is already transforming how information is used and how coordination is managed in this most complex of industries. According to Holweg and Pil, in a book published by MIT Press in 2004, E-business offers tremendous potential for reducing waste and inefficiency, redistributing activities along the value chain, and providing new means for collaboration. These benefits will become evident in product development, procurement, manufacturing, and distribution separately, but the greatest impact will result from end-to-end integration of the value chain, from the final customer back to initial product planning. Consumer desires for customization will challenge the industry's long-established push approach to distribution and sales. As expectations are raised by information technol ogy experiences in other parts of their lives, e-powered consumers will be drawn towards build-to-order models where they play a co-design role and production is pulled by real-time information about their preferences (MIT Press 2004). 1.1.3 For both the manufacturer and the dealer, this opportunity is substantial. By better

Over the next 30 years, what are the risks to National Security posed Essay - 5

Over the next 30 years, what are the risks to National Security posed by increased competition for energy and food resources; and what initiatives might Qatar pursue to reduce these risks - Essay Example having numerous deposits of oil and natural gas, Qatar and other countries in the GCC face a lot of challenges that are likely to threaten theory national security in the future(Bailey, 2013). In the next thirty years for instance, the competition for energy resources in Qatar is likely to be challenging to the extent of threatening national security (UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, 2011). Current issues that Qatar faces are likely to sabotage progress of the energy sector thereby affecting national security. Among the issues Qatar faces include the inadequacy of energy production to meet the requirements of the population while consuming a lot of water resources are being use in the production process. A huge chunk of the countries food security is vested in international trade thus exposing the country to price risks. The political crisis in a few countries in the GCC and the Arab spring is also likely to affect competition for natural resources in Qatar thereby threatening national security for the next thirty years (Sharma, 2011). Qatar can however avoid this challenges that are likely to threaten the future of the state by diversifying its production process and the whole economy to incorporate different forms of commodities (Bailey,

The branches of philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The branches of philosophy - Essay Example The branches of philosophy This paper explores these ethical perspectives, reviews relevant perspectives on ethics as an academic discipline, reflects the relevance of ethics among individuals and society, and identifies the key ethical perspectives, values and principles that would most benefit individuals and society. The course content convinced me of the relationship between philosophy and ethics as well as their components. While philosophy deals with the analysis of fundamental ideas and logical examination of the basic concepts of life ethics deals with justification of morality in determining what is right and wrong. In fact, ethics is only one of the branches of philosophy while the other three branches are metaphysics (deals with the ultimate reality and structure of existence), epistemology (branch of philosophy that examines the nature, types, and limits of knowledge) and aesthetics (branch of philosophy that explores the nature of beauty). The course also showed me how metaphysics, epistemology, a nd aesthetics contribute towards the making of one’s ethical perspectives. The course has also thrown light on the major ethical perspectives such as deontological teleological, aretological. It is worthwhile to analyze and apply these ethical perspectives and their sub categories into ethical questions related to homosexuality, capital punishment, environmental ethics, euthanasia, and abortion. For instance, it is worthwhile to evaluate the ethics regarding the issue of homosexuality from utilitarian as well as egoist ethical perspectives. ... For instance, it is worthwhile to evaluate the ethics regarding the issue of homosexuality from utilitarian as well as egoist ethical perspectives. There are for and against utilitarian ethical arguments with regard to homosexuality. Utilitarian ethical theories ask what brings the greatest benefit or least harm for the greatest number, they look at how the effects of homosexuality either increase benefits or minimize harms for the greatest number of those affected. As such, utilitarians who argue for homosexuality regard it as an orientation rather than a choice. They also hold that once the society accepts homosexuals the homophobia of the society will diminish. On the other hand, utilitarians who are against homosexuality argue that it contributes to problems such as addiction and suicide and that greater societal acceptance of homosexuality will not bring about greater happiness to the homosexuals. Similarly, one can find considerable differences in the deontological perspectives towards ethical issues surrounding capital punishments while comparing the deontological perspectives with that of teleological, utilitarian, retributive, abolitionist and egoist approaches. In the same way, the content of the course has been instrumental in providing me insights into environmental ethics which very often go underreported and unnoticed. I came to understand that the conflict between anthropocentric concerns and bio-centric concerns are quite evident in environmental ethics. Similarly, the issues of euthanasia and abortion discussed in the module also raise many ethical questions based on ethical perspectives. While utilitarian ethics tend to recognize the patient’s autonomy in taking decisions as to what will benefit them most the deontological ethicists

Automobile Industry Essay Example for Free

Automobile Industry Essay Strong demand growth due to rising incomes, growing middle class, and a young population is likely to propel India among the world’s top five auto-producers by 2015 Growth in export demand is also set to accelerate. Tata Nano and the upcoming Pixel have opened up the potentially large ultra low cost car segment Innovation is likely to intensify among engine technology and alternative fuels. Advantage India Rising investments Policy support India has significant cost advantages; auto firms save 10-25 per cent on operations in India compared to Europe and Latin America A large pool of skilled manpower and a growing technology base will induce greater investments. The government aims to develop India as a global manufacturing as well as RD hub There has been a wide array of policy support in the form of sops, taxes and FDI encouragement. FY10 Market size: USD57.7 billion Notes: RD – Research and development, FDI – Foreign direct investment; FY – Indian financial year (April – March); FY16E – estimated figure for financial year 2016; estimates are from the government’s Automotive Mission Plan (2006 – 2016) ADVANTAGE INDIA. For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org. 3. Automotives AUGUST 2012 Contents ï  ¶ Advantage India ï  ¶ Market overview and trends ï  ¶ Growth drivers ï  ¶ Success stories: Maruti, Tata Motors ï  ¶ Opportunities ï  ¶ Useful information For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org 4 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Evolution of the Indian automotives sector 20.4 million units (2012) 11 million units (2007) 2008 onwards 0.6 million units (1992) 1983 1992 0.4 million units (1982) Before 1982 †¢ Closed market †¢ Only 5 players †¢ Joint venture (JV) Indian government and Suzuki to form Maruti Udyog; started production in 1983 †¢ Component manufacturers also entered via JV route †¢ Buyer’s market 1993 -2007 †¢ Sector de-licensed in 1993 †¢ Major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) started assembly in India †¢ Imports allowed from April 2001 †¢ Introduction of value added tax in 2005 †¢ More than 35 players in the market †¢ Removal of most import controls †¢ Indian companies gaining global identity †¢ Long waiting periods and outdated models †¢ Seller’s market Source: Tata Motors, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Aranca Research, Notes: JV – Joint Venture MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org 5 Automotives AUGUST 2012 The automotives market is split into four segments Automobiles Two-wheelers Passenger vehicles Commercial vehicles Three-wheelers Mopeds Passenger cars Light commercial vehicles Passenger carriers Scooters Utility vehicles Motorcycles Multi-purpose vehicles Medium and heavy commercial vehicles Goods carriers Electric twowheelers For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 6 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Revenues have been growing at a strong pace → Gross turnover of automobile manufacturers in India expanded at a CAGR of 17.7per cent over FY07-1 1 Excluding three wheelers, cars account for the largest share of revenues (66.2 percent in 2010) Revenue trends over the past few years in USD million 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.5 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 66.2% 36.6 33.3 21.5% Trucks Cars 58.6 CAGR: 17.7% 43.3 → Market* break-up by revenues (2010) 12.3% Two Wheelers Source: SIAM, Datamonitor, Aranca Research Note: *does not include three wheelers For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 7 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Sector’s growing strength evident from rise in total production figures Total production of automobiles in India (million units) 16.0 → → 12.0 7.6 8 8.4 10.0 8.0 6.0 1.3 0.4 0.4 1.2 0.4 0.4 1.6 0.6 0.5 1.3 0.5 0.6 1.8 2.4 4.0 6.5 8.5 Notes: CAGR – Compound annual growth rate 10.5 Passenger vehicles was the fastest growing segment during that period with a CAGR of 14.5 per cent 14.0 13.4 0.8 0.8 3.0 2.0 0.0 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 0.4 0.5 FY10 0.6 0.6 FY11 FY12 Passenger Vehicle Three Wheelers Commercial Vehicle Two Wheelers Source: SIAM, Aranca Research For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 0.8 0.8 3.1 15.5 Automobiles production increased at a CAGR of 13.2 per cent over FY05-12 18.0 8 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Market break-up by production volume → Two wheelers dominate production volumes; in FY12, the segment accounted for more than three quarters of total automotives production in the country Market share by volume (FY12) → In fact, India is the world’s second largest two wheeler producer; the country is also the fourth largest commercial vehicle producer 4% 4% 16% Two Wheelers Passenger Vehicle Commercial Vehicle Three Wheelers 76% Source: SIAM, Aranca Research For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 9 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Market break-up of individual segments by production volumes †¦ (1/2) Shares in production of passenger vehicles (FY11) Shares in production of commercial vehicles (FY11) 11.5% Passenger cars 8.1% 36.0% MCV HCV Passenger Carriers MCV HCV Goods Carriers LCV Passenger Carriers 49.7% 6.1% LCV Goods Carriers Utility vehicles/multipurpose vehicles 88.5% Source: SIAM, Aranca Research Notes: LCV – Light commercial vehicle; MCV – Medium commercial vehicle; HCV – Heavy commercial vehicle For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 10 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Market break-up of individual segments by production volumes †¦ (2/2) Shares in production of three wheelers (FY12) Shares in production of two wheelers (FY12) 15.8% Goods carriers 15.6% 5.3% Mopeds Motorcycles Passenger carriers Scooters 84.2% 79.1% Source: SIAM, Aranca Research For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 11 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Exports have also grown strongly †¦ (1/2) → Automobiles export volumes increased at a CAGR of 22.4 per cent over FY05–FY12 Over this period, the fastest growth was in the two wheeler segment (25.8 per cent) followed by three wheelers (21.9 per cent) Exports of automobiles from India (million units) 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 2 0.5 0.6 0.8 1 0.5 1.1 0.5 1.5 0.4 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.03 0.1 → 0.2 0.04 0.1 0.2 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.06 0.1 0.04 0.2 0.04 0.2 0.08 0.3 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 Passenger Vehicle Commercial Vehicle Three Wheelers Two Wheelers Source: SIAM, Aranca Research For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 0.1 0.4 12 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Exports have also grown strongly †¦ (2/2) → Two wheelers accounted for the largest share in exports (by volume) at 67 per cent in FY12 Passenger vehicles account for a sizeable 18 per cent of overall exports Exports shares by volume (FY12) → 18% Passenger Vehicle 3% 12% 67% Commercial Vehicle Three Wheelers Two Wheelers Source: SIAM, Aranca Research For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 13 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Presence of a clear leader in each segment of the market → The automotives industry is concentrated with market leaders in each segment commanding a share of over 40 per cent Market Leader Passenger Vehicles MCVs HCVs LCVs Three Wheelers 45% 16% Others 15% 7% 63% 23% 7% 59% 30% 4% 4% 41% 40% 10% Motorcycles Scooters 59% 24% 7% 6% 51% 21% 14% Source: SIAM, Aranca Research Notes: Data is for FY10 10% For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 14 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Notable trends in the Indian automotives sector †¢ Large number of products available to consumers across various segments; this New product launches has gathered pace with the entry of a number of foreign players †¢ Reduced overall product lifecycle have forced players to employ quick product launches Improving productdevelopment capabilities †¢ Increasing RD investments from both the government and the private sector †¢ Private sector innovation has been a key determinant of growth in the sector; two good examples are Tata Nano and Tata Pixel – while the former has been a success in India, the latter is intended for foreign markets †¢ In FY11, the CNG market was worth more than USD330 million and CNG cars Alternative fuels and taxis are expected to register a CAGR of 28 per cent over FY11-FY14 †¢ The CNG distribution network in India is expected to increase to 250 cities by 2018 from 30 cities in 2009 For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org MARKET OVERVIEW AND TRENDS 15 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Contents ï  ¶ Advantage India ï  ¶ Market overview and trends ï  ¶ Growth drivers ï  ¶ Success stories: Maruti, Tata Motors ï  ¶ Opportunities ï  ¶ Useful information For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org 16 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Sector has been benefitting from strong demand and product innovation Growing demand Growing demand Policy support Strong government support Increasing investments Rising incomes, young population Inviting Greater availability of credit and financing options Goal of establishing India as an automanufacturing hub RD focus; GOI has set up technology modernisation fund Large domestic market Policy sops, FDI encouragement Resulting in Rising investments from domestic and foreign players Greater innovation in products; market segmentation Strong growth in exports as well Strong projected demand making returns attractive Notes: GOI – Government of India; For updated information, please visit www.ibef.org GROWTH DRIVERS 17 Automotives AUGUST 2012 Rising incomes and a growing middle class driving domestic demand growth Rising incomes; growing middle class †¢ Changing income dynamics of India’s population 70 million households Aspirers: annual income INR90,000200,000 Seekers: annual income INR200,000500,000 Strivers: annual income INR500,0001,000,000 Globals: annual income INR1,000,000 Personal (nominal) disposable income is expected to rise annually at 8.5 per cent over FY11-15 Rising middle class – size of the middle class expected to touch 550 million by 2025 from 50 million in 2010 Favourable demographics – a young population is also driving up the demand for cars Demand for commercial vehicles have got a boost due to development of roadways and greater market access 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2005 Strivers 2010 Seekers 2015 Deprived Deprived annual income

IKEA SWOT and Competitive Analysis

IKEA SWOT and Competitive Analysis (S)trengths Strength includes characteristics within the organization that adds value to the business and resulting in the ultimate success of organization. These factors are usually cited as skilled management, manufacturing facilities available and good profit product line available in business. (Finlay, 2000) IKEA has strong internationally brand name recognition. IKEAs branding attracts the major demographic customers. Business model of IKEA is unique in its construction as it has no direct competitions on like for like basis. IKEAs products offer values to customer by delivering low price and innovative products. IKEA carries degree of specialist skills and knowledge within key production areas. (Edvardsson Enquist, 2009; Lewis, 2005; Torekull Kamprad, 1999) (W)eaknesses Weaknesses address the internal factors within the business. Those factors that prevent the achievement of successful projects are mainly barriers in communication channels, insufficient resources and conflicts between departments. (Finlay, 2000) IKEA promotes the low pricing model but services to customers are not satisfactory. Retention of customer focuses that customers should be happy fully with the business services. To repeat business with the same customer base IKEA has to work out on its services that are given to customers. Practices of ecommerce have become necessary for businesses to compete with modern technological world. IKEA needs to adopt such practices for the efficiency of its business. (Ikea, 1995; Levine, 2007) (O)pportunities Opportunity factor in SWOT analysis deals with the external elements that will help the business in the completion of successful projects. Strong network of vendors, healthy relationships with suppliers and prevailing good market conditions these all add values to the project. (Finlay, 2000) Opportunity available to IKEA is growing demand for green products and growing demand for low price products by the customers. Due to liquidity crunch and high inflation demand for low price products is increasing. IKEA is moving towards the global status because of the development of Eastern and European models. (Edvardsson Enquist, 2009; Lewis, 2005; Torekull Kamprad, 1999) (T)hreats Final factor of SWOT analysis is threat. Threat represents the external factors that can threaten the success of project. Threat is the negative public image towards business, week vendor relationship, inadequate resources and unavailability of market for the final product. (Finlay, 2000) Various competitors are entering in market and offering the low cost household and furniture products and causing the threat to IKEAs business. Due to recession in economy, trend of consumers spending and disposal of income has reduced. First time buying pattern by consumers is also threat as consumers spend less when they enter in the market. (Ikea, 1995; Levine, 2007) Context and Key issues Wal-Mart is indirect competitor of IKEA. Wal-Mart runs a chain of large stores whereas IKEA deals only with the home furnishing. Wal-Mart offers extensive products and home furnishing is from one of its product lines. Wal-Mart is biggest public company while IKEA is private company. Wal-Mart has world recognized retail brands as IKEAs. IKEA has no direct competitors but Wal-Mart has to compete with the direct competitors also. IKEA focuses on the low priced product strategy which will affect Wal-Mart as more customers are moving towards IKEA for home furnishing. Wal-Mart strategy is focused on human resource management and development and IKEA strategy gives emphasize to low price products to customer. Services given to customers by IKEA are not up to the mark. Wal-Mart can grab customers form IKEA by focusing on the services and by giving values to customer. Retention of customer is possible when their desires are fulfilled along with these desires customer demands good services from the company. Those companies that are providing good customer service are becoming successful. Wal-Mart by using the information technology to assist its logistic systems can precede the IKEA. Information technology can become the core competence of Wal-Mart and by using this core competency Wal-Mart can excel IKEA. (Lewis, 2005; Maon et al., 2007; Tong Tong, 2006) IKEA can compete vigorously with Wal-Mart by fulfilling the demand of customers. Demands for greener products, demands for low priced products and demand from low carbon footprints are increasingly. IKEA by serving these demands can gain the opportunity to become successful and strong competitor of Wal-Mart in home furnishing product line. IKEA by developing the Eastern and European models can increase its market shares and Wal-Mart profitability can decline. By providing customer with low priced products IKEA can attract the customer in this economic recession period where customers are not spending their income. By offering the low priced products to the customer Wal-Mart can do extremely well with IKEA. Due to inflation and down trend in the buying pattern of customers this strategy can gain success to the company. To overcome the threat of low buying pattern of consumer Wal-Mart can take better measures than IKEA as Wal-Mart is running huge retail business than IKEA. IKEA is providing only home furnishing products. It has more skills and knowledge as it is dealing only with this product line and also IKEA is providing innovative and less price products. IKEA strengths have increased from Wal-Mart in home furnishing products because it is focusing only on this product line. (Lewis, 2005; Maon et al., 2007; Tong Tong, 2006) Conclusion IKEA and Wal-Mart differ in number of ways. For the constructive comparison market segmentation and target market for both IKEA and Wal-Mart has to be considered. Target market of IKEA is only consumers of home furnishing while Wal-Mart deals with huge target market. Influence of IKEA on Wal-Mart is less because Wal-Mart is running huge industry. Market segmentation of Wal-Mart is different from IKEA like Wal-Mart focuses on different demographic segmentation, Psychographics and life style segmentation and behavioural segmentation. Target market of IKEA is different as it is only providing products to consumers who are keen in home furnishing whereas home furnishing is only the niche of Wal-Mart. Strategies of IKEA and Wal-Mart are also dissimilar. IKEA focuses on the low priced and innovative products to customer whereas Wal-Mart focuses on the human management and development of human skills. IKEA has no direct competitors so it does not directly influence other businesses through its strengths and weaknesses. Healthy competition is always done on one to one basis. Weakness of IKEA is also that it has no direct competitor. Presence of direct competitor boosts the company performance. References Edvardsson, B. Enquist, B. 2009, Values-based service for sustainable business : lessons from IKEA, Routledge, London; New York. Finlay, P. 2000, Strategic management : an introduction to business and corporate level strategy, Financial Times Prentice Hall, Harlow. Ikea, A. S. 1995, Democratic design : a book about form, function and pricethe 3 dimensions at IKEA, IKEA, Almhult, Sweden. Levine, J. 2007, Forbes Life Billionaires Ikea, Forbes., pp. 328-. Lewis, E. 2005, Great Ikea! : a brand for all the people, Great brand stories, Cyan, London. Maon, F., Swaen, V., Lindgreen, A. University of Hull. Business, S. 2007, Corporate social responsibility at IKEA : commitment and communication, Hull University Business School, [S.l.]. Tong, C. H. Tong, L. I. 2006, Exploring the Conerstones of Walmarts Succes and Competitiveness, Competitiveness review : CR., 16 (2), pp. 143-9. Torekull, B. Kamprad, I. 1999, Leading by design : the IKEA story, HarperBusiness, New York.

Anthropology and Social Work Essay -- Anthropology Humanity Essays

Anthropology and Social Work Anthropologists like myself try to figure out why present day humans are the way they are. Meredith F. Small Female Choices Who are we? How old is the human species? Where did we come from? What do we believe and why? Is our own culture the epitome of civilization? What is reality? How have we arrived at a position where destroying the earth doesn't bother us very much? These, and many, many more are the questions that drive anthropologists to study human beings and our interactions. In fact, the presence of a driving question is the seed that creates anthropologists, as we will soon see. Anthropology is the study of humanity. As one might suspect, given the scope of the questions in the previous paragraph, anthropology is a broad field with many subfields (or methods) of gathering information. Let's look at some of these areas of study, the methodology for each discipline, and a few of the specialists and their research. ETHNOLOGY/ETHNOGRAPHY According to James Spradley (1979) in The Ethnographic Interview, ethnology is "the study of culture" (pg. iii). On the surface, this would seem the simplest of tasks. However most of us are unaware that we are wearing Kant's irremovable glasses' when it comes to viewing other cultures­our own personal biases and beliefs are fully intact. This ethnocentric viewpoint (defined by John Bodley as "the tendency to evaluate other cultures in reference to one's own presumably superior culture"2) is the biggest stumbling block to understanding other cultures and recognizing their own inherent value. The aim of the good ethnographer is to take off the glasses of ethnocentrism as often as possible and learn from other people what their world is like. In order to ... ...1989). Yuqui: Forest nomads in a changing world. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Public Broadcasting Service (Producer). Millennium series: Inventing reality [Videotape]. Rosenthal,E. (1991, December). The forgotten female. Discover 22­27. RuppelShell,E. (1991, December). Flesh & bone. Discover 37­42. Small, M. F. (1993). Female choices: Sexual behavior of female primates. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Spradley, J.P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Orlando: Hartcourt Brace Jovanovich. Struever, S. & Holton, F. A. (1979). Koster: Americans in search of their prehistoric past. Garden City: Anchor Press/ Doubleday. Stuart, G. E. & McMananon, F. P. (1996). Archaeology & you. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society. Zastrow, C. (1996). Introduction to social work and social welfare (6th ed.). Pacific Grove: BrookslCole Publishing.

Single Parenting Essay -- Divorced Parents Children Health Essays

Single Parenting Single parents and their children constitute a rapidly increasing population. In the past single parenting was seen as a broken system, these units today provide a viable alternative to nuclear families (Kleist, 1999, p. 1). In looking at the characteristics of single parents raising healthy children, I will describe some of the challenges unique to single parenting, and review positive parenting techniques shown to be effective. Social Development has not prepared individuals to be single parents. Single mothers and single fathers need to establish strong support networks, personal friendships, and positive parenting skills. They need to learn how to synchronize the demands of work, home-care, and supervision of children (Benson, 1993). They need to enforce limits, rules, and boundaries consistently, and to transmit responsibility and values, in order to raise responsible, self-controlled, and healthy children (Cloud, and Townsend, 1998). They need to find ways to improve and maintain their self-esteem. Many single parents learn to live on reduced incomes, find acceptable ways to deal with non-custodial parent, and redefine their relationships with their children. These are but a few of the challenges facing single parents (Benson, 1993). Raising healthy children has more to do with the emotional well being of its members then on family composition (Heath, 1999). So then, how do single parents foster emotional well being amongst its members, while maintaining a full schedule of work, education, day care, deadlines, finances? It may be difficult and exhausting at times, but it is possible, and the rewards are many (Heath, 1999, p. 429). According to Heath, some of the areas affecting positive outcomes are family stability, self-esteem, and positive parenting (p 429). Our job as parents is to transmit values and the tools necessary for our children to be healthy adults being able to function in the world responsibly and with self-control (Cloud, and Townsend, 1998). Family Stability Children need to feel safe. They shouldn’t have to worry about their needs being met. They need structure and routine in order to feel safe and know what to expect. Family conflicts need to be resolved in productive ways. Home should be a balance of function, security, and serenity. Family stability is fostered through family values and family t... ...rk: It is obtainable though. Through special effort, the development of family systems were member feel a sense of well being and through positive parenting practices, single parent families can have strong families in which children can thrive. Works Cited: Bensen, P. L., & Roehlkepartain, E. (1993). Single Parent Families. MN: Search Institute. Cloud, H., & Townsend, J. (1998). Boundaries with kids. Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. Craig, C. J., & Baucum, D. (2002). Human development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. De’ath, E. (2000, Sept.). Parenting matters—what works in parent education. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 70(3), 462-463. DeFrancis, B. (1994). The Art of Discipline. Never hit a child. Retrieved June 9, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.neverhitachild.org/artodis1/ Heath, T. (1999, July). Single mothers, single fathers. Journal of Family Issues, 20(4), 429-430. Kleist, D. M. (1999, Oct.). Single-parent families: A difference that makes a difference? Family Journal, 7(4), 373-378. Parenting 101. (2002). Child Parenting. Retrieved June 7, 2002 from About.com on the World Wide Web: http://www.childparenting.about.com/

History of Management Thought †Elton Mayo Essay

This essay covers the life and key contributions of Elton Mayo, a renowned figure in management science, and how his theories have made a significant impact in management today. BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE ELTON MAYO George Elton Mayo was born in Adelaide, Australia on 26th December 1880. Under heavy family influence, Mayo embarked on a course in medicine. However, he failed an examination which ended his chances of having a medical career. He went on to study philosophy and psychology at The University of Adelaide and graduated in 1911. Following his graduation, he lectured at The University of Queensland from 1911 to 1923. In 1912, Mayo married Dorothea McConnel, a daughter of a respectable Australian family. They had two daughters, Patricia and Gael (Witzel 2005). During World War I, Mayo treated shell-shocked soldiers, families and acquaintances through which he gained invaluable insights. This became the foundation of his approach to the analysis of problems in modern industries (Smith 1974). In 1923, Mayo became a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Commerce and Finance where he examined the physical and psychological factors which caused high employee turnover at the Continental Mills (Merrill 1960). Mayo was also significantly involved in the research relating to The Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company from 1924 to 1932. This study formed the basis of Mayo’s views on industrial settings as a social system (Pugh & Hickson 2007). Mayo died in Guildford, Surrey on 1st September 1949. MAYO’S KEY WORKS AND THEORIES Mayo’s works and theories have made significant contributions to the evolution of management in organizations. One of Mayo’s key theories was derived from the research undertaken at the Continental Mills. He concluded that the central problem underlying the high turnover rate of employees in the spinning department was due to â€Å"pessimistic reveries†. According to Mayo, the term pessimistic reveries, is the state of mind in which negative thoughts and distractions dominate the minds of individuals, interfering with their work performance (Mayo 1947). It is caused by exhaustion and monotony in work routines. This led to Mayo’s theory of implementing rest periods to ease employees’ fatigue which would dismiss these pessimistic reveries (Mayo 1924). Another key point Mayo brought up from his studies at the Hawthorne plant was the significance of work groups in creating employees’ contentment (Smith 1974). According to Mayo, there is a tendency for groups to establish their own culture and build on their own ideologies, thereby influencing the way individuals behave at work (Tillett, Kempner & Wills 1970). An intimate environment created from these informal work groups provides a sense of belonging within individuals. This resulting recognition leads to higher productivity within organizations (Roethlisberger 1949). Mayo also emphasized on the need to work towards effective human collaboration to re-establish the diminishing social function within industries. Based on Emile Durkheim’s concept of anomie, he sees the term as the cause of social disorganization in society, raising a sense of inferiority and disenchantment within individuals (Wren & Bedeian 2009). To resolve this predicament, Mayo introduced the concept of managerial elites, who were trained to manage not only the technical aspects, but also the social aspects of industrial organizations (Smith 1998). Mayo’s key publications include, â€Å"The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization (1933)†, â€Å"The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization (1945)† and â€Å"The Political Problems of an Industrial Civilization (1947)†. These books detailed the rationale for contemporary human relations movement and served as influential publications in the history of management theory (Wood & Wood 2004). FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCED MAYO AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIS THEORIES The following factors will provide insights on how Mayo was influenced in the creation of his key works and theories. Political Factors During the First World War (1914 – 1918), Mayo gained invaluable experiences which assisted him to develop a basis towards his views on the complications in industrial society. These experiences arose from his psychotherapeutic treatment on the shell shocked soldiers, resulting in his assertion that rest periods given to the soldiers would significantly improve their mental state of health and performance. Drawing on this conclusion, Mayo believed that the introduction of rest periods to industrial employees could lead to higher productivity (Mahoney & Baker 2002). Furthermore, his experience in WWI paved the way to his illustrious career as a practitioner with patients for thirty years (Mayo 1947). In 1919, the rise in conflicts and fall of civilization was apparent in Australia. Government intervention was thought to be the cure to this predicament. However, Mayo disagreed with this belief and felt that political interference would only further aggravate class conflicts, and ultimately cause the fall of society. He claimed that the best way to restore the diminishing social code was through effective collaboration (Bendix & Fisher 1949). Economic Factor The economic depression in 1929 resulted in shortened working hours at the Hawthorne plant, as well as the termination of the relay assembly test room studies. Faced with a rapidly changing society, Mayo placed greater emphasis on the need for effective collaboration and the recovery of social solidarity. This change in perspective received greater support from the public, thereby giving Mayo further recognition for his ideologies (Wren & Bedeian 2009). Social Factor The Industrial Revolution brought about a change to the management of worker relations in organizations. Managers placed greater emphasis on productivity of employees and failed to recognize their social needs. This caused a disruption to the social organization within industries (Kennedy 1998). Mayo did not oppose to this change, he simply proposed the need for individuals to adapt accordingly. This could be accomplished through studying the industrial society first hand and attaining social skills so as to enhance effective collaboration in organizations (Robinson 1946). Intellectual Factors Mayo was primarily influenced in his approach to psychology by the French psychologist, Pierre Marie Fà ©lix Janet. He was intrigued by Janet’s works on Hysteria and Obsession and this interest led him to practice psychotherapeutic treatment on soldiers returning from the First World War (Mayo 1947). Frederick Winslow Taylor, widely regarded as the father of management science, had a very different approach towards scientific management as compared to Mayo. He had workers going through a series of incessant tasks and actions. This monotonous and demanding approach left workers with very little control, and contributed to extremely high rates of worker turnover within organizations (Mahoney & Baker 2002). Mayo believed that the â€Å"Taylorist Bossism† method of management would not be as productive as compared to his therapeutic methods (Hoopes 2003). Fritz Roethlisberger was acquainted with Mayo at the Harvard University and was introduced to Mayo’s ideas and theories. He went on to write a book based on Mayo’s beliefs and efforts entitled, Management and the Worker. Roethlisberger was a popular speaker and managed to carry on Mayo’s legacy as a spokesperson to the human relations movement (Mahoney & Baker 2002). RELEVANCE OF MAYO’S THEORIES TO MANAGERS TODAY Mayo’s theories still remain relevant to managers today in spite of the ever changing nature of today’s organizational environment. The following is a discussion of this relevance. Mayo’s theory of implementing rest periods, to counter fatigue and exhaustion contributing to pessimistic reveries, is illustrated in the leading Internet search engine company, Google. The headquarters of Google, The Googleplex, provides many recreational facilities such as volleyball courts, pool tables and gymnasiums to help employees unwind. This interrupts any form of pessimistic reveries that could be experienced by their employees. With a more positive state of mind while working, the level of productivity within the company ultimately increases. The success of Google has clearly shown that Mayo’s theory, based on the need to eliminate pessimistic reveries, is still relevant in today’s society (Google 2010). In addition, the relevance of Mayo’s key theory on the importance of work groups can be showcased in the global infrastructure, finance and media company, General Electric (GE). GE developed the Work-Out process which involves bringing staff together to identify areas in need of improvements. Within small groups, employees and managers discuss the issues and develop recommendations. This process helps create a vibrant working environment and has a positive influence on the way GE employees think and behave (Beam 2002). Based on the 1995 GE Annual Report, the annual dividends significantly increased to $1.4billion due to the incorporation of the Work-Out process (General Electric 1996). This example further highlights the relevance of Mayo’s theory in modern management. Finally, Mayo also believed that effective collaboration was an essential tool for building a functioning social system in a rapidly changing industry. Cisco Systems, an industry leader in networking solutions and information technology, is one such company that sees effective collaboration as a high priority business tool for attaining success. This is supported by a study, sponsored by Cisco Systems, highlighting the successful strategies to effective collaboration (Astle 2009). This view is in line with Mayo’s theory that a socially handicapped organization would bring about negative attitudes amongst workers and hence, restrict the maximum productivity that could be attained otherwise. The call for effective collaboration is apparent in Cisco Systems, thus, showing how Mayo’s theory is still widely practiced in contemporary management. CONCLUSION Mayo’s theories and views have made a significant impact in the study of management history. In an ever changing organizational setting, which inevitably disrupts the social code within industries, Mayo stressed the need to restore effective collaboration amongst the employees through managerial elites. He also emphasized on the importance of work groups within organizations. Mayo’s influence on management science was a vital part of his legacy and his theories are still widely practiced today as they were in the beginning.

Identification of the Impact of Cultural Diversity

CURTIN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF HUMANITIES (DEPARTMENT OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT) IDENTIFICATION OF THE IMPACT OF HOFSTEDE’S CROSS-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS ON THE DETERMINANTS OF PROJECT SUCCESS AMONG MANAGERS IN PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS IN MIRI, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA Uyi Rapheal Edomwandagbon 7e0b8198/14 Mitrabinda Singh Research thesis presented as a part of the requirements for the award of the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE (Project Management) June 2012 Acknowledgement My most sincere thanks and gratitude goes to my supervisor, Mrs.Mitrabinda Singh for her consistence patience, valuable advice and guidance throughout this final year project in every aspect. In addition, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to all the lecturers in Curtin University who at one time or the other have been there for me throughout the duration of this Master of Science in Project Management course. I would also like to say a Special thanks to all my course mates and seniors for their contributi ons and support in the writing of this research.Last but not least, I would like to thank all of my family both here and back home for giving me this opportunity, Ik and Mathilda for their unrelenting effort in supporting me and Manami for her encouragements and love. Abstract The research focuses on identifying the underlying impact of Hofstede’s cross-cultural dimensions on project success among private sector organisations in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. Cultural difference is predominantly existent in most of today’s private sector organisations but the effect has been greatly overlooked.Following the aim of the study a number of questions has been drawn which the research aims to answer and an in-depth analysis of past literatures and studies has been conducted and used for the purpose of the underlying research and a number of hypotheses have been drawn for testing this study. First, an identification of the factors necessary for project success was done, followed by an analysis of cultural dimensions developed by Geert Hofstede (1984).The effect of each of the dimensions in relation to organisations success factors was identified and these were applied to develop a correlation between the cultural dimensions and project success. The research study shall be conducted within selected strata of 20 private sector organisation in Miri with only the managers as participants, employing a quantitative approach using a set of questionnaire containing questions with 5-point likert scale and a demographic section of open and close-ended questions distributed among managers in Private sector organisations located in Miri, Sarawak.The resulting findings and conclusion shall help in establishing this relationship and provide substantial evidence on if cross-cultural differences in Private sector organisations contribute to the success of project in Private sector organisations located around Miri, Malaysia. The relationship as evaluated by Tukiainen et al. (2004) and (Matveev and Milter 2004) is that the heterogeneous group of managers coming from different nations have lower project success and according to Higgs(1996) the heterogeneous group get advantages to get higher project success than the homogeneous group.The homogenous group here is the group of managers who are Malaysians from Miri private sector organizations. To analyse the group differences an independent sample T-test is conducted. Multiple regressions have been conducted to test the hypotheses. Table of Contents Chapter 11 1. 1INTRODUCTION1 1. 2BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY2 1. 3PROBLEM STATEMENT3 1. 4RESEARCH OBJECTIVES5 1. 5OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS AND TERMS5 1. 6METHODOLOGY7 1. 7STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT8 Chapter 29 2. 1INTRODUCTION9 2. 2UNDERSTANDING PROJECT SUCCESS9 2. 2. 1Measuring project success10 2. 3CULTURAL DIFFERENCES13 . 3. 1Understanding Culture and Cultural Difference13 2. 3. 2Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions theory14 2. 3. 3The Effect of Cultural Difference on Project Success16 2. 4HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT19 2. 5CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS25 Chapter 326 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY26 3. 1INTRODUCTION26 3. 1. 1Application of study26 3. 1. 2Objectives of the research27 3. 1. 3Mode of enquiry27 3. 2FORMULATION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM28 3. 3CONCEPTUALIZATION OF A RESEARCH DESIGN28 3. 4CONSTRUCTING AN INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION29 3. 5SELECTING A SAMPLE31 3. 6WRITING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL33 3. 7DATA COLLECTION34 . 8PROCESSING AND DISPLAYING THE DATA34 3. 9WRITING A RESEARCH REPORT35 3. 10RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT36 Chapter 437 ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH37 4. 1INTRODUCTION37 4. 2DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS37 4. 2. 1Company Profile (Dem1)38 4. 2. 2Number of employees in organisations (Dem2)39 4. 2. 3Employee Nationality (Dem3)39 4. 2. 4Number of Diverse employees in participating Organisations (Dem11)40 4. 2. 5General Language of communication in Organisations (Dem12)41 4. 2. 6Employee perception of Cultural diversity issues (Dem13)42 4. 3PRO FILE OF RESPONDENTS44 4. 3. 1Age of the respondents (Dem5)45 4. 3. Gender (Dem4)45 4. 3. 3Education level of participants (Dem6)46 4. 3. 4Job Profile (Dem7-Dem10)47 4. 3. 5Years in current position (Dem10)48 4. 4SECTION 2: PROJECT SUCCESS FACTORS (Q1-33)49 4. 4. 1Perception of Time, Cost and Quality as measures of Project Success50 4. 4. 2Percentage of Effective team performance51 4. 4. 3Percentage project management process quality53 4. 4. 4Percentage satisfies organisational goal and purpose55 4. 4. 5Percentage perception on benefits to stakeholders, Users and clients56 4. 4. 6Percentage efficient conflict management57 4. 4. 7Percentage benefit to organisation59 4. SECTION C: PERCEPTION OF EMPLOYEES ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY DIMENSIONS (CulD 1-25)61 4. 5. 1I agree that power and authority is being distributed equally among employees in my organisation. 61 4. 5. 2I agree that a certain level of power must be exercised to ensure that team members or employees are dedicated to their work in my organisation (CulD2)62 4. 5. 3I allow my employees to question me or top management when in disagreement with project or work related issues in my org. (CulD3)62 4. 5. 4I agree with the statement that my employees must adhere to my organisations rules even if it jeopardizes our organisational goals. CulD4)63 4. 5. 5I agree with the statement that employee supervision in my organisation is strict (CulD5)64 4. 5. 6I feel I have sufficient time for my family and personal life outside my workplace CulD665 4. 5. 7I agree that my employee appraisal is deserved for doing a good job at my organisation. CulD765 4. 5. 8I agree that an employee with the strongest say wins in matters of conflicts or arguments in my organisation. CulD866 4. 5. 9I like to help others as much as I can. CulD967 4. 5. 10I agree to the statement that working is the only means of livelihood. (CulD10)67 4. . 11I sometimes receive complaints from my employees about being stressed by work load. CulD1168 4. 5. 12I agree that my organisations rules must be strictly obeyed by my employees at all times. CulD1269 4. 5. 13I agree that time is most valuable to my employees when handling tasks. CulD1369 4. 5. 14I agree with the statement that uncertainties and risks are normal features of life. CulD1470 4. 5. 15I believe that simple tasks should be handled first before others. CulD1571 4. 5. 16I allow the contribution of my employees in decision making in my organisations. CulD1671 4. 5. 7I agree that hiring and promotion decisions in my organisations in my organisations should be based on their performance and organisational rules only. CulD1772 4. 5. 18I have a sense of personal satisfaction when I accomplish challenging tasks at my organisation73 4. 5. 19I believe that my employees always follow group made decisions even if their personal convictions are against it. CulD1973 4. 5. 20I have employees who generally prefer to work on their own without their group cooperation (CulD20)74 4. 5. 21I bel ieve that my organisations goals is best measured by the future achievements than the present achievements (CulD21)75 . 5. 22I agree that employee rewards and appraisals should not be based only on their performance (CulD22)75 4. 5. 23I believe that rules should be broken in order to achieve innovation76 4. 5. 24I agree that commitment to my clients and stake holders is important in maintaining my relationship with them CulD2477 4. 5. 25I agree with the statement that my employees value their meal time and breaks even when pressed by challenging tasks (CulD25)77 4. 6FURTHER ANALYSIS78 4. 6. 1Reliability Test78 4. 6. 2Factor Analysis79 4. 6. 3Correlation Analysis81 4. 6. 3. 1Assumptions for correlationError! Bookmark not defined. 4. 6. Test of Hypothesis (H1a – H1e)82 4. 6. 4. 1Multiple Regression Analysis83 4. 6. 4. 2Assumptions checking for regression analysis84 4. 6. 4. 3H1: All the Hofstede’s Cultural dimensions relates to Project Success among managers of private s ector organizations in Miri90 4. 6. 4. 4H1a: There is a relationship between Power distance in managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. 91 4. 6. 4. 5H1b: There is a relationship between the Societal Collectivism (Individualistic/Collectivist) attribute of managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. 91 4. 6. 4. H1c: There is a relationship between gender differentiation of social values (Masculinity/Femininity) among managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. 91 4. 6. 4. 7H1d: There is a relationship between uncertainty avoidance or the fear of unknowns among managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. 92 4. 6. 4. 8H1e: There is a relationship between Long term orientation for goal accomplishment among managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. 92 4. 6. 5Test Of Hypothesis (H2): Independent Samples Test93Chapter 594 Recommendation and Conclusions94 5. 1Conclusion95 5. 1. 1Identification of the impact of Hofstede cultural dimension on determinants of project success among managers in private sector organizations in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. 95 5. 1. 2Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and project success96 5. 1. 3The Identification of whether heterogeneous group of managers coming from different nations get higher project success than the homogeneous groups. 97 5. 1. 4Conclusions relating to the main aim of the study97 5. 1. 5Value of the research98 5. 2Recommendations for future research98 References99 Appendix A104 Appendix C105 Appendix C110Appendix D111 Appendix E113 List of Figures Figure 2. 1:Research Model25 Figure 4. 1: Company profile38 Figure 4. 2: No of Employees in organisations39 Figure 4. 3: Nationality of Respondents40 Figure 4. 4: Number of Diverse employees in participating40 Figure 4. 5: Number of diverse staffs in organi sation41 Figure 4. 6: Respondent language of communication in organisation41 Figure 4. 7: Language of communication42 Figure 4. 8: Do you feel your organisation has no culture problems43 Figure 4. 9: Do you feel these issues do not affect your organisation43 Figure 4. 10: Does your organisation have plans to handle issues in their organisations43Figure 4. 11: Do you feel these issues do not affect organisational objectives44 Figure 4. 12: Participant Age45 Figure 4. 13: Participant Gender46 Figure 4. 14: Education level of respondents46 Figure 4. 15: Job position of Respondents47 Figure 4. 16: Participant work schedule47 Figure 4. 17: Number of years of Respondents have worked in their organisations48 Figure 4. 18: Number of years working in same position49 Figure 4. 19: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (Culd 1)61 Figure 4. 20: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 2)62 Figure 4. 1: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity ( CulD 3)63 Figure 4. 22: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 4)64 Figure 4. 23: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 5)64 Figure 4. 24: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 6)65 Figure 4. 25: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 7)66 Figure 4. 26: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 8)66 Figure 4. 27: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 9)67 Figure 4. 28: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 10)68 Figure 4. 9: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 11)68 Figure 4. 30: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 12)69 Figure 4. 31: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 13)70 Figure 4. 32: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 14)70 Figure 4. 33: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 15)71 Figure 4. 34: Bar char t of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 16)72 Figure 4. 35: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 17)72 Figure 4. 36: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 18)73Figure 4. 37: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 19)74 Figure 4. 38: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 20)74 Figure 4. 39: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 21)75 Figure 4. 40: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 22)76 Figure 4. 41: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 23)77 Figure 4. 42: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 24)77 Figure 4. 43: Bar chart of respondent response on Cultural Diversity (CulD 25)78 Figure 4. 44: Scatter plot for PS and HCD81 Figure 4. 5: Scatterplot85 Figure 4. 46: Histogram85 Figure 4. 47: scatterplot of standardised residual against power distance86 Figure 4. 48: Histogram for assumptio ns testing88 List of Tables Table 1. 1 Structure of the research8 Table 2. 1: Five cultural dimensions [as referred by Hofstede (2005)] and attributes drawn from the literature17 Table 3. 2: Coding/Item Generation From Literature To Measure Project Success (DV)30 Table 3. 3: Coding/item generation from literature to measure Cultural Diversity(IDV)30 Table 3. 4: Participating Organizations (Coded)33 Table 4. 1: Respondent perception of Time, Cost and Quality50Table 4. 2: Employee perception of effective team performance51 Table 4. 3: Respondent perception on project management process quality53 Table 4. 4: Respondent perception on satisfying organisational goal and purpose55 Table 4. 5: Employee perception on benefits to client, stakeholders and users56 Table 4. 6: Respondent perception on efficient conflict management58 Table 4. 7: Respondent percentage on benefit to organisational60 Table 4. 8: Cronbach Alpha for project success (PS)78 Table 4. 9: Cronbach Alpha for Cultural Divers ity (CulD)78 Table 4. 10: Factor analysis for project success80Table 4. 11: Factor analysis for Cultural diversity80 Table 4. 12: Pearson correlation of variables82 Table 4. 13: Correlation statistics82 Table 4. 14: Descriptive statistics of correlation81 Table 4. 15: ANOVA88 Table 4. 16: Model summary89 Table 4. 17: coefficients table89 Table 4. 19 : Independent Sample Test93 1. 0 INTRODUCTION A diverse workforce, built of so many people of different backgrounds has a high contribution to how organizational objectives and goals are achieved due to the availability of a mix of people with completely different understanding, emotions, thinking and attitudes.But does this affect the success of projects executed in these organizations? Thus, an understanding of the impact of different cultural dimensions is effective in identifying how organizations with cultural diverse employees attain successes in project undertaken in their organizations and knowledge of whether the differences in culture or nationality have a positive or negative effect on their organizational success is important.The increasing globalization trend today is coupled with surge for the need of skilled labor and has seen the global migration of people from every part of the world to different countries creating a web of organizations with so many cultural diverse employees working together in the same organizations. The impact of the cultural differences is fast becoming the focus of so many researches as it tends to have a relationship with how organizations employing cultural diverse staff function.This research explores the relationship between the well known cross cultural theory of Hofstede and the determinants of project success outcomes among Private sector organizations in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia with an emphasis on Private workplace employee relationship and interaction and how the differences of their culture helps or stands as a barrier in their actualization of their goals and objec tives.BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The differences that are inherent in people such as their dressing, religion, languages and behaviors in their society and organizations values and shows how this differences in people is related to the way they interact with their environment, environment in this context refers not only to their physical environment but also to the people they have to deal as they go along with their everyday life.Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia is located on the eastern part of Malaysia with a population of about 300,000 people of the 25,581 approximate Malaysia population (Salleh 2007), consisting of Iban, Chinese, Malays, Berawan, Lumbawang, Malanau, Indian, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Bidayuh, Penan and other non-indigenous groups such as Europeans, Arabs and Africans etc. f different diverse backgrounds and religions and this collection of people are the overall make up of most of the Private sector workforce located here. The impact of these diverse work forces of people is sometimes overlooked and ignored which tends to undeniably affect how managers and employees relate with their counterparts of different cultures. This has an effect on workplace relationship can be a limiting or contributing factor to how their organizational goals are achieved on the long run.However, there have been a lot of researches carried out on cultural diversity among manager and on organizational themes, but the true impact of its effects on these organizations performance is quite limited to a wider sphere of cross-country organizations and not attributed to places such as Miri. Just as a the combination of different sounds produce music(good) or noise(bad), so does a combination of people of different diverse background could also have results that could be positive or negative in organizations.PROBLEM STATEMENT During a formal peer coaching session with some colleagues of different cultures, it was easy to recognize the effect that working in Malaysia with others of di verse backgrounds had on diverse employees in carrying out their daily work, in other words, general job satisfaction and if this views could be shared by others of different cultures working in similar multi cultures environments.Were they generally satisfied with their jobs or are they just there â€Å"working to get their daily bread†. A study of the effects of cultural diversity on a joint Russian and British project showed that there is a relevance of cultural differences to project success and that it could affect the output of the project (Murray-Webster and Simon 2004).Their analysis of the project led to the discovery that although all factors that are necessary for the success of the project were in place, there was an underestimation of how diverse teams could guarantee the success of that project and that it is appropriate that organisations conducting projects should have relevant understanding of the differences in work behaviour and individual preferences of th e diverse project teams.Success of projects in organizations has been attributed to the existence of a comfortable work environment that encourages a workforce where employees feel empowered to exert maximum efforts that enable job satisfaction and comfort, with the ability to be able to deal with uncertainties that may arise. This also puts a stress on the organizations managers and insists that manager should be able to create an atmosphere were goals are clearly nderstood and employee participation is high (Belassi 2007). Kendra (2004) attributes that there is a high rate of failure in projects in organizations which was due to factors such as poor working relationships between employees, lack of trust among team members and proposes that the importance of organizations promotion of a shared cultural value could help in improving their project success rate.Kendra’s suggestions were based on organizational culture but on an individual level of analysis (were cultural divers ity is less observed from) could be related and the impact could be seen from a much expanded view as these refers to groups of people with different backgrounds and understanding based on their cultures.Following Geert Hofstede (2005) in showing the way countries react to different cultures, there are some outstanding views on the application and adaption of the 5 dimensions of Hofstede on the basis that, although, it was correct, it seemed to be based on just Hofstede assumptions using only country values and it has to be seen from other perspectives which they broke down to be individual, organizational and country (Kirkman, Lowe, and Gibson 2006).An analysis of the individual level of cultural diversity would help in justifying this statement and thus this research shall be aimed at the individual and organizational level of cultural diversity with managers as our focal point. The willingness of employees to accept and succumb to the issues from difference in culture has a high impact in organizational success. mployees in cultural diverse organizations should have an understanding of their culturally diverse counterparts as it helps to improve their team efficiency and communication which are essential to induce success in the organization, thus cultural differences should not be ignored but appreciated and welcomed in cultural diverse organizations, in other to attain their organizational goal and objectives (Frey-Ridgway 1997).In other to achieve favorable outcomes by organizations, it is necessary to assume differences in people in an individual sphere and not in the category of culture based differences that is accomplished with a comfortable work atmosphere portraying equality between people (Day 2007), with an understanding and respect for the individual differences that are inherent in people and embedded in the organizations everyday processes (Magdaleno and Kleiner 1993).In the Malaysian context, the Malaysian employee is said to be Collectivist by nature, and are more open to their local subordinates than an outsider or foreigner in their workplace, but does this have an impact on their culturally diverse counterparts in the same workplace. Nelson and Quick suggests, the Malaysian culture is collectivist in nature but only a section or department of these people (Nelson and Quick 1997). The question arises here is â€Å"are managers from Miri private organizations have the same value for Hofstede’s cultural dimensions? † RESEARCH OBJECTIVESThis research aims at identifying how Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in Private sectors of organizations in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia affects the determinants of project success and the main objectives of this research are as shown below * Identification of the Impact of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions on determinants of Project Success among Managers in Private Sector Organizations in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia * Whether heterogeneous group of managers coming from different nations get higher project success than the homogeneous group from Miri private sector organizations.The objectives will be achieved by doing a study on Managers from Miri private sector organization, which at least employ 2 managers from different nationalities. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS AND TERMS The following terms are associated with this research, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, project, project management process, project success, intercultural communication. A proper definition of these terms would provide a better understanding in the research. Hofstede’s Cultural DimensionsHofstede’s cultural dimensions developed (1980-2001) as a measure of culture is the dominant metric of culture as it closely relates to many cultural attributes from many different countries. This study also had used the largest sample for an empirical study on employees of IBM with employees belonging to 66 countries. This study helped to a large extent in bridging the gap between two different/dissimilar cultures (Yoo, Donthu, and Lenartowicz 2011). The five different dimensions are Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectivism, Long-Term Orientation, and Masculinity.The last dimension was taken from ‘Confucian work dynamism’ (Yoo, Donthu, and Lenartowicz 2011). Culture defines an individual in terms of distinction of people from another group (Kelley and Fitzsimons 1999). (Gomez-Mejia and Palich 1997) suggests that to measure differences in culture we need to calculate the cultural similarity indicators. The five dimensions of Hofstede in this study will be taken as the cultural similarity indicators. Cultural Difference The cultural differences refers to the individual differences in the cultures of people living together in a common society.By neglecting cultural differences and the refusal for its acceptance has been a problem and as Garcia (2011) suggests in her study of the long non-acceptance or recognition of cultu ral diversity in Europe and how it stands as a problem to the new Europe and the need for an understanding and education on the issues of cultural diversity for promotion to individuals of the future so as to cultivate an early awareness of it. The cultural difference in this study is identified from the nationality of the participants (managers from private sector organizations). Project SuccessProject success can be said to have been achieved when a project is completed with all objectives and goals being fulfilled. Defining project success can be in different ways, for software developers it could be on-time delivery, for designers it could be appreciation of a design, for a project manager it could be on-time, budget completion that meets the required quality of the output. Project success in this research is being defined by success factors which serve as characteristics by which the objectives of the project can be said to have been successful completed.These factors used in t his research as a defining measure of success for projects are, time, cost, budget, efficiency of the project teams, conflict management and project management process, ability to satisfy the organizations goals, finally, benefits to stakeholder, clients and users. Project A project can be defined as any endeavor that has been undertaken to achieve a goal (Project Management Institute 2004). Project Management process A process is a set of interrelated activities and actions performed to achieve a predefined result.Project management processes are activities that are taken to achieve a project objective. The project management process quality as used in this research refers to the effectiveness of the project management process in the execution of the project. METHODOLOGY The study was carried out following the approach as suggested by Kumar (Kumar 2005) listed below: * Formulate research problem * Compile literature review * Develop the project schedule * Establish a research desig n * Collect and Analyze and process the data Suggestions and improvements * Establish research conclusions * Finalize report STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT The report comprises of 5 chapters and is structured in table (Table 1. 1) below: Table [ 1 ]. 1 Structure of the research Chapters| Description| Chapter 1. 0 Introduction| This chapter gives us an overview of the report and introduces us to the background of the research, aims and objectives of study and operational definitions of the terms used in the research. | Chapter 2. Literature Review| This chapter consists of reviews of available literatures on project success and Hofstede cultural dimensions. | Chapter 3. 0 Research Methodology| This gives an idea of the overall research process while. It gives us a summary of how the research will be undertaken including the research design, literature review, population and sample, data collection instruments and process. | Chapter 4. 0 Analysis of Research| This chapter presents a detailed analysis of the study based on findings in addressing our aims and objectives and answering our research question| Chapter 5. Recommendations and Conclusions| This chapter gives a summary of the findings in the research study and addresses the value of the research with recommendations for future researches| 1. 0 INTRODUCTION This research shall be accomplished using management studies and articles from past researches by Authors with a focus on Cultural Diversity and Project Success, the identification of past findings in the study of cultural diversity and project success and an exploration of how these findings are related and contribute to this study.Subsequently a look into the main aims of project management in accomplishing project within the confines of time, costs and quality, management responsibilities as well as the contribution to achieving organizational project success. UNDERSTANDING PROJECT SUCCESS The Project Management Institute defines a project as a temporary en deavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result (Project Management Institute 2004). From this definition, it can be clearly seen that the word temporary means that it has an end time or duration and being unique means that it has an expected level of requirement or quality.The goal of every project is to be completed within the confines of time, cost and quality and a failure in any of these factors usually has a relational effect on the others and can undermine the overall goal of that project. For a project to be successful, an understanding of the project objectives and scope by the project team is essential. Recognising the actual needs of the client and satisfying those needs is what actually counts in saying the project was completed successfully, and these all depends on the three factors of the project completion in time, within the budget and with the required quality maintained.Although, it is inarguable about the Time, Cost and Quality factors for projec ts success, Dennis Lock suggests that the success of a project, though judged from these three objectives depends on some other factors and actions undertaken during the project and certain of these factors relate directly to employees in the organizations, such as; a strong support for the project and its manager from higher management, sound organizational quality culture, good project communication, well motivated staffs and a quick and fair resolution of conflict (Lock 2007).These views of other related factors that contribute to project success are instrumental to the measurement of project success and a project that is successful can be subsequently tagged as successful if these factors are met. Measuring project success In the determination of project success, it is essential to establish how we define it. The most common measurement of project success is by the measures of the success factors and the critical success criteria’s. From previous studies there is an unden iable difference between both terms. uccess factors are said to be measures that are put in place to ensure that the project becomes successful i. e. what must be done right to achieve the project success, while the success criteria are the indicators or benchmarks that are used to refer to a project as being successful (Cooke-Davies 2002), in other words, what has been achieved in the project that allows us to say that project has been successful. Basing the measurement of project success as used in this research is based on the simplicity in understanding it as they can easily be recognized and applied.There are so many factors that can be used to define project success (Prabhakar 2008) and these project success factors are industry dependent, thus there is a contrast in measuring the success of an IT project, a construction project or projects from other industries. A brief literature on the factors for measurement of projects from three industries will help to provide a connecti on between these factors or a general success factor for these project completions.For this purpose a look at the factors used in measuring project success from these industries, the construction industry, IT industry and a World Bank project. Chan (2001) developed a framework which he used for measuring construction projects, and he suggests that the success of a construction project can be measured by factors beyond the project management goals of time, cost and quality. Construction projects are different from other types of projects in the way they are taken and rely on different processes that might not be significant in other industries projects such as the IT or software development projects.Factors such as safety might not be important in describing a software development project success as it doesn’t have to deal with the use of equipments or machineries that are hazardous and although they could be considered but their impacts are too minimal to really have an impac t. Baccarini (2004) suggests that project success is dependent on criteria’s based on two components which he called product success and project management success. He discussed that project management success depended on the project processes and stresses the importance of stakeholders and a good managerial process being in place.Product success has to deal with the final product or output of the project and how it satisfies the purpose of execution. Both of the components identified by Baccarini consists of underlying criteria’s which he used for the measurement of project success which are quite similar to the same criteria’s used by other researchers and are listed below. Project management success component * Meeting time, cost and quality requirements Project management success component * Meeting time, cost and quality requirements * Project management process quality Satisfying stakeholder project management process expectations * Project management proc ess quality * Satisfying stakeholder project management process expectations Product success components * Meeting project owners strategic organizational objectives (client) * Satisfying user needs * Satisfying stakeholder where they relate to the product (users/customers) Wateridge (1998) suggests that in the IT industries, project success can be measured by some factors which he observed from studying other researchers work on project success measurements.His (Wateridge 1998) research led to his conclusion that IT projects success can be measured through the factors of; Meeting user requirements, achieving purpose, meeting timescale, meeting budget, user satisfaction and quality. An analysis of World bank projects (Ika, Diallo, and Thuillier 2012) suggests that the failure rate of these projects in Africa was at about 50% until 200 and also that these failures can be attributed to managerial and organizational factors, including poor project design, stakeholder management, delays, budget and in execution coordination.The findings from the study suggested that project success criteria’s that are effective in accomplishing success in these projects can be said to be in the measures of Time, cost, clear objectives, countries, benefits, impacts, sustainability. Atkinson’s studies (1999), on project success, have been widely used as a model by most researches in the measurement of project success. Atkinson’s model for measuring project success was derived from the primary project success measurement criteria of time, cost and quality and he accomplished his by dividing project into three stages, the delivery stage which was concerned with the efficiency of the project management process measured by Time, Cost, Quality and efficiency of the project management process; the post delivery stage which measured the product (resultant system), the product requirements and its benefits to stakeholders and another post delivery stage which measured th e benefit and impacts to users and customers (Atkinson 1999).Based on these arguments, a list of project success factors that can be used as effective measures of success in projects are listed below, * Time, cost and quality are essential for project success * Efficient team participation is necessary for project success * Efficient project management process helps in improving project success and establishing a clearer objective * Ability to satisfy the organisations goals and purpose * Benefits to the user * Benefits stakeholder * Good conflict management * benefits to the clientsCULTURAL DIFFERENCES Understanding Culture and Cultural Difference Edward Hall defines culture as â€Å"the way of life of a people, the sum of their learned patterns, attitudes and material things† (Hall 1980). Geert Hofstede (2005) defines culture as â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the member of one group or category of people from another†. Programming of the mind as proposed by Hofstede refers to the thinking patterns of every individual developed by their learning through their lifetime.Following Hofstede’s theories on cultural diversity, it can be inferred that there is an underlying impact on organizations and while some researchers argue that, cultural differences brings creativity and innovation into organizations, others seem to contend that it leads to complexities and indecisiveness. Explicably, these theories will be applied into this research to understand the role of cultural diversity in an organizational framework. The cultural differences refer to the individual differences in the cultures of people living together in a common society.By neglecting cultural differences and the refusal for its acceptance has been a problem and as Garcia (2011) suggests in her study of the long non-acceptance or recognition of cultural diversity in Europe and how it stands as a problem to the new Europe and the need for an unders tanding and education on the issues of cultural diversity for promotion to individuals of the future so as to cultivate an early awareness of it. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions theory Hofstede’ 5 Cultural DimensionsGeert Hofstede’s (2005) studies on cultural diversity helped in proposing a systematic framework for Identifying cultural diversity based of the different values of people which is known as the cultural dimension theories. His work on cultural diversity by breaking down the different values into 5 dimensions by studying different cultures has been accepted by so many researchers in the study of cultural diversity and has become one of the focal points in the study of cultural diversity.Hofstede’s cultural dimensions divided cultural diversity by comparing values between countries and he observed that different countries had different cultural values which he grouped into Power distance Index, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty avoidance an d later on, Confucian dynamism or Long-term orientation. EXHIBIT-1 ____________________________________________________________________ Power distanceHofstede’s (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005) power distance dimension explores the extent to which the less powerful members of an organization or institution within a country expect that power is distributed equally or unequally. This dimension stressed that individuals in a particular institution or organization in a country were not equal and points out the views of power holders in the country and the general acceptance by other less powerful members of the country. Individualism This dimension emphasizes the degree to which members of a society maintain interdependence among its members.Hofstede (2005) used the relationship of a society of being individualistic or collectivists by nature, individualistic cultures tend to have the attribute of being self committed and are more concerned with their self values and also their immed iate families only. Collectivists on the other hand are more group oriented and members of the collectivist society are expected to be loyal to their groups. Loyalty in a collectivist society was important and overrides societal rules and regulations. MasculinityThe masculine society is driven by competition, achievements and success with an emphasis on being on top, this dimension stresses the manliness of cultures and their zeal in trying to be the best. Collectivist societies on the other hand tend to demonstrate a leaning towards feminine values of caring for others and quality of life. This dimension clearly identifies societies and cultures with distinction between male and female roles in the society and stresses on sexual inequality between the male and female species of human beings (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005).Uncertainty Avoidance This dimension illustrates how a society accepts the unknown, Hofstede (2005) defines it as a the extent to which members of a culture feel thr eatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created institutions and beliefs that try to avoid these unknowns. Rules and norms are usually much emphasized in societies with high uncertainty avoidance rates and there is a fear for taking risks. Time Orientation This dimension was adapted from the teachings of confusions and was meant to illustrate the rapid economic development of some Asian countries.This dimension emphasizes on the societal values of having a long-term or short-term orientation, and this dimension stressed on how these orientation helps to achieve success using china and other Asian countries as a focus (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005). Organizations today usually promote a long term orientation or short term orientation, long term orientation tends to work with the idea of future success and goals. ____________________________________________________________________ The Effect of Cultural Difference on Project SuccessCultural differences amongst team has been attributed with some negative outcomes such as conflicts, misunderstanding and poor performance (Matveev and Milter 2004). The study suggests that cultural diversity created problems in communication, coordination and control, team dispersion within teams and further suggests that an intercultural competence model for use with multicultural teams depends on three components; cultural knowledge, skills, and personality orientation.Cultural knowledge relates to the understanding of cultural diversity amongst teams and a recognition of cultural differences in communication styles and interaction, fostered by being skillful in understanding and communicating among cultural diverse members and their personal orientation towards accepting what is represented as culturally diverse, in other words, their reaction towards diverse cultured members based on their emotions and behaviors. Previous studies tend to show an alignment to this understanding of the effect of the differences in cultura l dimensions on Project success.Tukiainen et al. (2004) also affirms that cultural differences in project organisations produces creativity in problem solving but it also leads to problems of higher ambiguity and suspicion among members of global project teams. They also argue that cultural differences, in global projects, leads to problems in the outcome formulation of projects, project execution and outcome assessments, suggesting also that the existent of locus of power also affects the interaction between project teams. Table [ 2 ]. : Five cultural dimensions [as referred by Hofstede (2005)] and attributes drawn from the literature Cultural Diversity| High Index| Low Index| Power Distance| * High discipline within employees. * Poor employee-top management relationship. * Poor group decision making. | * Greater awareness of their responsibilities. * Poor group supervision. | Individualism (Low Individualism is usually collectivist). | * Poor decision making based on individual ju dgment. * Low conflict identification. * Poor teams. * Good decision making due to greater creativity and innovation. * Emphasis on team work. * Better conflict resolution. * Good group relationship. * And interdependence. * Higher job commitment. | Uncertainty Avoidance| * Low acceptance of innovative ideas. * Low creativity. * High Risk avoidance. * Better product quality. * Less ambiguity| * Better precision in handling tasks. * Better job satisfaction. | Masculinity (Low Masculine Index are Feminist)| * Greater efficiency in handling task. Good productivity. | * Better work relationship between employees. * Better decision making. * Lower job stress. | Long Term Orientation (Low index are short term)| * Task executions are based on attainable ideas. * Adherence to tradition * Persistency in achieving goals. | Greater goal orientation. | The effect of cultural diversity in teams can be seen from Higgs’ (1996) study based on 4 of the cultural dimensions of Hofstede. He sugg ests that each of the dimensions have underlying advantages.It was easier to see the impact of cultural differences through the identification of patterns in management styles and motivations and effective cultural diversity management is related to certain positive factors of team performance which he stated as; a shared understanding and commitment to team goals and objectives, a clear understanding of team member roles and contribution, an understanding of the value of diversity and an effective pooling of knowledge and skills (Higgs 1996). The 5 Cultural dimensions and their nderlying characteristics are shown in table 2. 1. HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT H1: All the Hofstede’s Cultural dimensions relates to Project Success among managers of private sector organizations in Miri The above hypothesis is drawn based on the past findings of a relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and its influence on managers and project success. Based on this hypothesis a regres sion model has been generated to test the varying relationship between each of the 5 dimensions of Hofstede as shown below, Y= 0+1 X1t+2 X2t+†¦ p X5t+et Where p= no. of independent variables and t= no. of respondents. A hierarchical regression analysis will be conducted based on the model below with the 5 cultural dimensions of Hofstede as predictors. PSt = 0+1 PD1t+2 IND2t+3 MAS3t+4 UA4t+5 OAS5t+et (Where PSt = Project Success, 0 is a constant (the intercept) that describes the value of PSt when all Xs’ are 0, PD = Power Distance, IND= Individualistic, MAS = Masculinity, UA = Uncertainty Avoidance, LTO = Long Term Orientation, t= no. Of respondents, et = error term)H1a: There is a relationship between Power distance in managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. The above hypothesis is drawn from the following literature review; In a project organization context, Power distance can be a negating or contributing factor to how t heir project goals are accomplished that depends on how the relationship between subordinates of different organizational level such as managers and employees influence the achievement of their organizational goal.K’Obonyo and Dimba (2007) in his study of the impact of cultural diversity on human resource management in Kenya claimed that the impact of the Kenya high power distance index creates a barrier between managers and employees in which employees see themselves as different from managers, while the managers are reluctant to allow the employees to engage in such things such as decision making. High power distance relates to the difference in equality between employees and top management which in turn affects how decisions are made in such organisations, decision making is not collective and the top management makes all the decisions.This emphasizes that in countries with a high power distance index, decision making is not a collective process and most decisions are usua lly taken by top management alone without the employee involvement. Power distance is relational to poor employee-top management relationship, with decision making only done by top management. Uncertainty avoidance high dimension was attributed with the non acceptance of innovative ideas and behaviors and low job mobility, that is, employees were more satisfied with their current job situations (Kundu 2001).Another study on the effect of cultural diversity using Hofstede’s first 4 dimensions was done on construction industries in Singapore and china (Pheng and Yuquan 2002). They suggested that low power distance is prone with less supervision of employees and decentralisation of task. High Power Distance was relevant and would have a similar effect on quality effectiveness in both high and low power distance cultures. (Kull and Wacker 2010) Higgs (1996) suggests that each of the dimensions have underlying advantages.Low power distance index in organisations tends to create aw areness on employees responsibilities and a high power index creates discipline. H1b: There is a relationship between the Societal Collectivism (Individualistic/Collectivist) attribute of managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. The above hypothesis is drawn from the following literature review; Individualism and collectivism illustrates the nature of relationships between peers in different countries.Individualism relates to countries in which there was a low relationship between individuals and is more centered on self while collectivism were countries that are more group oriented (Brewer and Sunil 2011) . Thus, it can be inferred that collectivism contributes to better decision making based on the collection of minds and the interpersonal relationship that exists between them. Kundu (2001) suggests that high individualism contributes to individual decision- making, while collectivist nations had less individual decision making.Vosede k (2007) researched into the effect of cultural diversity on outcomes of work group tasks based on the individualistic and collectivist dimensions of Hofstede in relation to group and task conflicts. He (Vodosek 2007) suggests that when it comes to cultural diversity in organizations, three types of conflicts were present which he referred to as Relationship conflicts; characterized by incompatibilities between members of culturally diverse organizations and having the attributes such as tension and annoyance.Task conflicts were characterized by group member disagreements based on the non acceptance of decisions, ideas and opinions and lastly process conflict which was characterized by disagreement on how task should be done or handled. He also suggests that there was a general acceptance of opinions between people of the same group, than those of other outer groups and aligns that the organizational outcomes where harder to actualize in culturally diverse groups due to problems in their process, errors in communication and perceived prejudice that is associated with cultural diverse groups.Cultural diversity from his studies was related to group satisfaction and indicates the way the group performed in handling tasks. K’Obonyo and Dimba (2007) also suggests that employees in collectivist nations were more involved with group decision makings due to the good relationship and closeness between employees but were very poor at top management appraisal to employees.Subsequently, Kokt (2003) in his studies of the impact of cultural diversity on team performance in south Africa, suggests that team formation was more negatively realistic in cultural diverse groups than culturally homogeneous groups and that the problems in cultural diverse teams was more based on language, communication (Canen and Canen 1999) and the non recognition of the ability of cultural diverse individuals to be loyal to their groups but, that cultural diverse teams were also attributed with a better management of conflicts and engaged more diverse ways in problem solving and creativity which was positive to organizational success.His findings also suggests that assertiveness which is an individualistic nature had a negative impact on quality effectiveness as it was characterised low group decision making and poor conflict identification. (Kull and Wacker 2010). Collectivists are generally more committed to their jobs (Higgs 1996). H1c: There is a relationship between gender differentiation of social values (Masculinity/Femininity) among managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. The above hypothesis is drawn from the following literature review;Higgs (1996) suggested that while masculine dimension tends to promote efficiency and increased productivity, feminine dimension tends to personal service and custom building. The view of cultural diversity as an edge to gaining competitive advantage by organizations is important in achieving organizational goals. Feminine dimension tends to contribute to better job satisfaction with organizations of countries of high index as it stresses more on interdependence between employees and reduced stress (Brewer and Sunil 2011).Low masculinity dimension countries had a good decision making process and lower job stress, while High masculinity cultures had a higher work performance K’Obonyo and Dimba (2007). H1d: There is a relationship between uncertainty avoidance or the fear of unknowns among managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success. The above hypothesis is drawn from the following literature review; A low uncertainty index is associated with lesser ambiguity and lesser fear of tasking risks, with a staff who were less ambitious (Pheng and Yuquan 2002).Uncertainty avoidance dimension is effective in improving quality as cultures with high uncertainty avoidance index are more aware of their process controls and ensured the use of quality standards based on the international organisations for standardization (Kull and Wacker 2010). Higgs (1996) found out that high and low uncertainty avoidance creates lower innovation and precision respectively. H1e: There is a relationship between Long term orientation for goal accomplishment among managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success.The above hypothesis is drawn from the following literature review; An important factor associated with project success is Quality which depends on an effective quality management system. Study of (Kull and Wacker 2010) on quality management in Asia based on the Globe dimensions which are adapted from Hofstede’s dimensions suggests that future orientation (Hofstede Long term short term orientation) is not significant in improving quality, though, short term orientation are more goal oriented while long term orientation depended on past ideas which are more attainable.T he long term orientation is being used in this correlation but it was not used in Hofstede’s research on Malaysia and so there is no scoring available for the dimension in Malaysia, but can be significant if we derive any result for this particular cultural dimension.Hofstede (2005) in his study suggested that this dimension in workplaces had an emphasis on family values, in which these organizations where seen as closely knit families with attributes such as having a sense of thrift (saving for future), shame (fear of losing face which breeds commitments in Long term orientation), persistence in achieving goals and respect for tradition (sticking to traditional rules that could impede innovation). H2: There is a group difference between Malaysian and non-Malaysian managers (in private sector organizations) in Miri and determinants of project success.This hypothesis is developed to find out the inherent difference that exists between Malaysian Managers and Non-Malayasian mana gers in Miri in actualizing their project success based on this question, Do Malaysian managers get better project success than non-malaysian managers?. Appendix B shows an illustration of the past studies and the possible relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions at workplace and the project success. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS H1c Project success Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, (Power distance, societal collectivism, Gender Differentiation, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long term orientation)Power distance Individualism/Collectivism Masculinity/Feminism Uncertainty avoidance Independent Variables Dependent Variable Long term orientation H1a H1b H1d H1e H1 Nationality (Malaysian/Non-Malaysian) H2 Figure [ 2 ]. 1:Research Model Figure 2. 1 shows the conceptual framework above shows the relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables. The development of hypotheses is directed at answering the research questions and to investigate the relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and determinants of project success. * RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1. 0 INTRODUCTIONKumar (2005) suggests that a research project type is categorised based on three perspectives, which he listed as, * Application of the study * Objectives of the study * Mode of enquiry used in conducting the study This research type has been classified based on this three perspectives and this suggestion is being applied to how this research has being undertaken. Application of study In view of what this research seeks to find out, the research study is an applied research, applied research involves the use of traditional research methods in the collection of information in other to find out or enhance a phenomenon.Objectives of the research The research is a correlation research. Correlation research is done to discover a relationship between two or more aspects of a situation (Kumar 2005). Thus, this research is deemed to be correlation because i t seeks to explore the relationship which Hofstede’s cultural dimensions have on project success among managers in Miri. Stangor (2010) suggests that an advantage of a correlation research is that it can be used in assessing behavior as it occurs in peoples’ everyday life by measuring the research variables and trying to find the linking relationship between the variables. Mode of enquiryThis research employs a structured approach to how it is undertaken. A structured approach involves a research in which all the research process is predetermined. This research employs the use of quantitative research methods for data collection. A content analysis has been carried out to define the constructs and variables that will be used in creating the questionnaires for the quantitative analysis. (Hseih and Shannon) suggests 3 approaches of qualitative content analysis namely; conventional, directed, or summative. We have used directed approach which starts with a theory or relev ant research findings as guidance for initial codes.Due to time constraint the other two approaches cannot be taken which may have more error free coding. The justification for the use of quantitative method is based on the sample collection method, which involves the use of a set of self completion questionnaires aimed at measuring project success and identifying the different existing dimensions of cultural diversity. The research process used is based on research guidelines and operation steps as suggested by kumar (2005), as listed below * Formulate research problem * Conceptualization of a research design * Constructing an instrument for data collection * Selecting a sample Writing a research proposal * Collecting data * Processing data * Writing a research report FORMULATION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM The research was formulated based on the notion to identify an understanding on how cultural diversity can be used as a determinant of how success in projects is achieved in organisatio ns with cross-cultural employees of different diverse background. The cultural dimensions of Hofstede has been used in the identification of different cultural characteristics that are inherent in employees and these has been used as an underlying construct in investigating how it affects project success in these organisations.Kumar (2005) suggests that a main function of formulating a research problem is to decide what you want to find out in the research. CONCEPTUALIZATION OF A RESEARCH DESIGN A research design helps to provide a workable and doable detail on how a research question will be answered. It involves detailed information on the how, when and where a research is going to be carried out. An in-depth review of past literatures and studies concerned with a research is fundamental to creating a research design and a timeframe in which the research is going to be carried out is instrumental in establishing duration of the research.This research is carried out by identifying how managers in private sector organisations located in Miri view the impact of cultural diversity in their organisations on project success. The timeframe of this research is developed from the time-frame that was given by the department for the completion of this research and is shown in Appendix A. Kumar suggests that a thorough literature review helps to bring clarity and focus to the research problem, as well as improve the research methodology, broaden the researcher knowledge on the research area and conceptualize the research