Infection Control Essay free essay sample

This reflective essay is based upon my experience working alongside the Infection Prevention and Control Support Nurses at the general hospital. As part of my learning experience as a 2nd year student nurse is to accompany the infection control nurses when visiting the wards The role of the IPCSN involved teaching, educating and advising all disciplines across the Trust, monitoring outbreaks and daily surveillance. I will structure this essay using Gibbs Model of Reflection (Gibbs 1988). Reflective learning helps practitioners analyse their experiences and how they think and feel about them before deciding whether they would approach the situation in a different way next time. In order to maintain confidentiality at all times for the patient and of any staff members I will adhere to the NMC Code of Professional Conduct (NMC 2008). Therefore any names used in this essay are fictional. The Health Act states: ‘Effective prevention and control of Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs) have to be embedded into everyday practice and applied consistently by everyone’ (Department of Health [DH], 2006). We will write a custom essay sample on Infection Control Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Hospitals and other care providers are legally required to implement this code of practice within their organisations. Most common infections occur as a result of people taking various antibiotics and being in close contact with each other, such as hospitals and nursing homes (NHS 2010). Attention to good hand hygiene measures should be observed during outbreaks. It is very important that staff and patients wash their hands with soap and water Health Protection Agency (2010). Compliance with hand hygiene is only maintained by constantly reminding staff of it and monitoring their performance. The ayliffe technique is recommended for nursing staff especially after direct contact with patients who are ill (Ayliffe 2000) and the use of wearing protective clothing of disposable apron and gloves making sure they are changed and hands washed between patients. The infection prevention and control protocol’s include the use of protective clothing, environmental cleaning and decontamination and disposal guidelines for items that have been in contact with the patient. Risk assessment is also important (Coia et al 2006). The infection prevention and control team (IPCT) was informed by a medical ward that several patients had had episodes of diarrhoea and vomiting. Norovirus is a common form of viral gastroenteritis that occurs during winter month’s and is highly infectious (NHS 2010). The symptoms of norovirus include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and high fever (NHS 2010). This alerted the IPCT therefore there was a need to investigate and assess the situation fully and a ward visit was required. I went along to the affected ward to observe the assessment with my mentor Helen, where two patients there may have developed norovirus the symptoms they present with diarrhoea and vomiting which has escalated during the last six hours, the IPCSN asked the staff nurse if samples had been obtained for collection of the suspected patient’s faeces and vomit the nurse was not aware of the policy. Patients with norovirus are usually isolated in a single room as they are classed as contagious the incubation period is 24-48 hours. Patients need to remain isolated for 72 hours after symptoms have subsided. Hense, in this case there were no single rooms available therefore the suspected patient’s are nursed in the affected bay and a caution is put on that bay to any new admissions NHS (2010). Following the next episode of diarrhoea and/or vomiting samples are required to detect Norovirus and once collected they must immediately be sent to the virology laboratory for investigation. Helen gave the nurse a norovirus resource pack put together by the IPCT which contains an outbreak action plan and checklist to be implemented and for other staff to read which will advise staff of the isolation precaution and give guidance on managing the infection and the affected patients were given information leaflets about the illness. Staff were advised to encourage fluids especially with the patient’s suspected with nurovirus and commence them on a Bristol stool chart in order to monitor the diarrhoea a food chart and fluid balance chart to keep a record of the input and output. By documenting the information correctly enables nurses adhere to the NMC code for good record keeping (NMC 2009) who recommend that stating the date, time, signing and printing alongside is good practice. On reflection I have learned by being with the IPCT the importance of sending samples off when the first episode of diarrhoea and vomiting occurs leasing with team members. The IPCT emphasises prompt screening of suspecting patients for a norovirus as early detection of the signs can prevent an outbreak on the ward. I have become aware that the mode of transmission of norovirus means it is not always possible to avoid becoming infected (Nursing Times 2011). The trust provides mandatory training to inform nursing staff on the most recent infection control measures in practice. Hence, good hygiene and the isolation of infected individuals can limit the spread. Good communication is important with all visitors and staff, including cleaners. However, everybody who has contact with the patient or the environment is entitled to relevant information that will enable them to reduce the risks of transmission to themselves or others. I can now see that this situation could have been avoided if samples had been sent for screening earlier. However, the results of screening tests take some time becoming available on the database and failure in communication can prevent the results reaching the wards promptly. During my nurse training I have learned about the common hospital acquired infections (HCAI) meticillin-resistant staphylococcus aureaus (MRSA), clostridium ifficile  (c-diff) and norovirus, but now I know that there are many more micro-organisms that the IPCT have to record and monitor when arise at times the IPCT have to report the situation to the department of health. I have gained a lot of experience from this placement regarding Infection control and I now have a broad range of knowledge of which I will pass on to future colleagues and junior staff.

Civil Liberties and Civic Duties

Civil Liberties and Civic Duties Civil Liberties and Civic Duties Civil Liberties and Civic Duties By Maeve Maddox When I read the following sentence the other day, I had an immediate Oh No! reaction to the use of civil: At the end, I was feeling happy because I did my civil duty, Ive always believed that voting is a civic duty. Its what we do in order to live in a civil society. Of the two, civil came into the language at an earlier date: civil 1387, from L. civilis of or proper to a citizen, alternate adj. derivation of civis townsman civic 1542, from L. civicus of a citizen, adj. derivation of civis townsman I didnt expect any of my usual references to countenance the use of civil duty, but answers.com actually illustrates the definition of civil with the expression Im objecting to. Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, gives this as one definition of civic: of or relating to a citizen, a city, citizenship, or community affairs [for example] civic duty, civic pride A Google search turns up numerous examples of civil duty in the sense of civic duty. This use can be argued, but it still sounds odd to me. Civil already has such a variety of meanings that it seems unnecessary to use it as an adjective to describe the duty of a citizen when civic has served well enough up to now. Besides, the two words are not always interchangeable. Take, for example, civic discourse and civil discourse. In the first instance we mean conversation about matters of government and the workings of the community. In the second, we mean courteous conversation without angry outbursts or name-calling. It may be reaching, but perhapsas relates to governmentcivil can be seen as referring to the broader idea of civilization and the affairs of many people, while civic relates to the more personal needs and responsibilities of the individual citizen. Here are some examples of common usage: civil civil strife, civil war civil liberties, civil rights civil society civil defense civic civic duty civic center civic leaders civic literacy civic life civic-minded NOTE on The meanings of the suffixes -il and -ic: -il ability to, capable of, suitable for -ic of or pertaining to Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Masters Degree or Master's Degree?3 Types of HeadingsHow to Write a Proposal

Research design Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Design - Research Paper Example These factors, according to Hsieh (2011), have a profound impact on the actions, behaviors, and interests of a student in language classrooms, which either hinders or promotes their performances in learning foreign languages. In addition, gender has become increasingly important as a perspective in foreign language acquisition investigations, which have highlighted females as being more positive and interested in comparison to males. This gender perspective is especially salient because it has important pedagogical and theoretical implications in the learning of foreign languages, especially because females tend to use more learning strategies and do so more effectively (ONeill, 2008). However, there is a dearth of information about the very nature of these differences in nature and whether they are linked to attitudes, motivations, or both. Therefore, investigating affective aspects is increasingly crucial with the addition of the gender perspective to enhance the outcomes and inter ests of students in learning foreign language (Lee, 2005). This study will seek to contribute to current literature by providing more gender-sensitive insight for a Muslim country. The in-depth interview method will be used for this research study because it is considered as the best fit for collecting social and personal concerns, approach, motivations, beliefs, and attitudes (Babbie, 2010). In addition, it is possible to vary the scope of the interview method from investigations on a large scale to studies on a small scale that can be conducted by one researcher. This is especially because the rationale behind in-depth interviews involves attaining a snapshot of attitudes and conditions at a single moment or point (Fowler, 2013). For this research study, the interview questions will be adapted from the ATMB, or â€Å"Attitude Motivation Test Battery†, by Gardner. The selection of Gardner’s Attitude-Motivation Test

Critcally examine the success of operation management theories ,tools Essay

Critcally examine the success of operation management theories ,tools and techniques in the uk supermarket sector - Essay Example Operations management is a science that deals with coordination of all functions of an organization. The major departments within an organization include; accounting, marketing, human resources, information technology departments and purchasing have to be well controlled. The key factors that have led to the development of operations management include; globalization, total quality management, empowerment and techonology.With the world becoming a global village, supermarkets are striving to provide services more efficiently and effectively so as to stay at the top of competition by quickly delivering their services. Operations management is a transformation process that interacts with various departments in an organization. According to Slack â€Å"Operations management helps in developing and managing the value chain process and also in supporting it through using different tools, techniques and methods in order for an organization to be in a position to achieve its goals and objectives within a specified period of time. The Total Quality Management is a holistic approach that requires that all the managers and personnel working for supermarkets to be able to handle customers in an appropriate way. The major supermarkets in the United Kingdom also have got a major challenge in ensuring that they empower all their members of staff regardless of their hierarchy in the organization so that they can take part in achieving the company’s goals and objectives. It refers to the process of organizing and controlling the activities of a business so as provide goods and services to the customers at the appropriate time and place. The major functions of any business involve finance, marketing and operations management. Some of the processes involved in the process management theory include forecasting, capacity planning, and management of inventory, quality assurance, motivation and training of the employees. The traditional objective of

Individual Rationality and Collective Rationality Essay Example for Free

Individual Rationality and Collective Rationality Essay 1. Introduction of Double Auction As one of the most popular way to trade, auction has a long history. According to the different kinds of market structure, there are two kinds of auction, one-side auction and two-side auction (i.e. double auction). Compared with one-side auction, the market structure of the double auction is many-to-many, which means that there are more than one seller and more than one buyer, so both the buyers and sellers lose their own comparative advantage which exists in one-side auction. The relationship between them is a kind of equality between demand and supply. In recent years, with the development of the global economy, there are more challenges for new auction theory and its applications, which are shown in the following aspects. First, with the development of the Internet and communication technologies, e-commerce has become a new business method. At the same time, internet auction has been widely used in the field of e-commerce. Since auction is widely used in the field of trading non-scarcity goods, it changes structure of auction, which used to be based on the buyer’s market or the seller’s market. As double auction can solve the problem of collusion and malignant bid, it has become a widely used way in e-commerce. For example, both NYSE and Chicago Exchange have put different kinds of double auction into practice. With the growing of financial market and e-commerce, the need for better auction rules is surely increasing. Besides, as enterprise restructuring has become a hot topic, double auction is found to be a way to deal with property transactions, mergers and acquisitions. What’s more, with the upgrade of demand structure, the diversification strategy for enterprise business and influence of the supply chain management, there are diversified production, diversified manufacturing and diversified demand. Many famous car companies such as Ford are using combinatorial double auction to the sale and purchase of auto parts. When auction is used in the above fields with various needs, there is a great need for the development of new auction model. Compared with other auction mechanisms, double auction can not only solve the problem of monopoly, but also reduce the duration and costs of trade. However, there are still some problems about it, such as trading rules, the way to release information and the formation of transaction price. According to the above reasons, double auction has attracted much attention. And the core theories about it are Smith’s mystery and Hayek problem, which try to explain how the double auction can reach the equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity predicted by the demand-supply model, under the conditions that there is no complete information and few people in the auction. 2. Design of Experiment In order to do some further analysis, we conducted an experiment which simplified real double auction situations with the help of several undergraduate students under four assumptions: First, rational man assumption, which means everyone wants to maximize his/her profit. Second, the goods are homogeneous, so there is no monopoly. Third, there is no cost of sending or getting information, i.e. the transaction cost is zero. Fourth, the participants have no information about the experiment parameter (the value for buyer or cost for seller) before they join the experiment. (2) Trading rules a. When the trade begins, the buyers give their quotes first. Who raises his hand first will quote first. Then, the sellers offer the price they ask. b. Both the sellers and the buyers don’t know the information about the other side. c. When quoting, the seller must ask for a price that is lower than the former seller, and the buyer must ask for a price that is higher than the former buyer. When the price of the two sides is equal, a transaction is reached. d. The trade for each group is divided into three periods and each period lasts for 5 minutes. (3)Trading steps a. Divide all the participants into two groups, buyer and seller, and each group has 8 people. b. Zero phase trade. In order to make the participants familiar with the rules, there is a zero phase trading, the result of which is not included into the final result. c. Begin official trade. d. End trade and take down all the results, including every participant’s own profit in each period and their total profits. Double Auction Experiment 1. Concept Definition and Parameter Settings If we carefully consider each quoting process, we will find the game process in double auction. There are inside game and outside game in the experiment. Firstly, there is among-group game between buyer and seller and they want to drive down or push up prices to earn as much profit as possible. And based on the theoretical design, a buyer and a seller can be trading at least one unit of commodity in one trading period. Experiment shows that each buyer and seller generally trade exactly once each period. Secondly, there is within-group game both among buyers and among sellers. Taking buyer as an example, when the seller quotes a price, buyer X can choose to trade or wait. If choosing to trade, he will probably miss a next lower quoted price although obtaining a certain surplus. However, if he chooses to wait, then the other buyers may intervene in transaction, which constitute competition for buyer X. Each buyer and seller should consider the competition within group, acting as an individual in the game. Meanwhile, they should also consider the competition between groups, acting both as an individual and a group in the game. As can be seen, the core of the complex game process is the relationship of individual-collective interaction. By observing dynamic transaction and competitive process among individual, between the individual and the collective and between the collective, we try to find the interpretation of some problems. Therefore, constructing appropriate parameters, we proceed from rational assumption to define individual rationality and collective rationality respectively. (1) Constructing quoted price functions of the buyer and the seller Firstly, assuming the quoted price function of the buyer i is bidi = vi(1-Ï€i) where bidi denotes the quoted price of buyer i, vi denotes the willing-to-pay of buyer i, Ï€i denotes expected rate of return. Secondly, assuming the quoted price function of the seller is: askj = cj(1+Ï€j) where askj denotes the quoted price of seller j, cj denotes the cost of seller j, Ï€j denotes the expected rate of return of seller j. (2) According to the market parameters and theoretical equilibrium price(7.8) of buyer and seller, we can calculate the standard rate of return of every buyer and seller, Ï€i* and Ï€j*, respectively. (3) On this basis, we assume that individual rationality index is bri=Ï€i/Ï€i* of the buyer, srj= Ï€j/Ï€j* of the seller. The higher the index, the higher is the degree of the buyer or the sellers individual rationality, for it indicates more incentive to maximize their interests strongly. The standard individual rationality is 1, indicating that the expected rate of return and the actual rate of return of the buyer or the sellers are consistent. (4) Similarly, we can define the buyers collective rationality index as sbri=Ï€i/Ï€i*, where Ï€i is the average expected rate of return of all the buyers who participate in a transaction, Ï€i* is the standard average rate of return of the buyers. Whats more, we can define the sellers collective rationality index as ssrj=Ï€j/Ï€j*. The higher the index, the higher is the degree of collective rationality, because it indicates more strongly motivation to maximize their collective interests. The standard collective rationality is also 1, indicating that the expected collective rate of return and the actual collective rate of return of the buyer or the sellers are consistent. 2. Analysis of Parameters In order to study the market inefficiency of the second group, we selected two sets of data as a typical example. Group #1s transaction price is equal to the theoretical equilibrium price (7.8), while Group #2s transaction price is far from the theoretical equilibrium price, only 6.3. Lets observe the quoted price of the buyers and the sellers in the first group, We find that in the second offer, S2s quoted price fell directly from 10 to 7.5, its price is less than the theoretical equilibrium price 7.8, which makes the sellers quoted price become farther and farther away from the equilibrium price. Instead, the buyers offer is steadily rising with smaller fluctuation, which makes the buyers successfully lower price. Let’s move to the quotes of the buyers and sellers from Group #2. Obviously, the quote fluctuations of both sides are smaller and the final equilibrium price (Pe) is closer to the ideal value. Therefore, we may infer that in the double auctions where the number of quotations reaches a certain level, if we want the final transaction price to be close to the theoretical equilibrium price, fluctuations in both quotations cannot be too great, otherwise it will be very easy to deviate from Pe, consequently making either buyer side or seller side gains too much surplus. The reason why we emphasize a certain level of the number of quotations is that if either one side of the bidders or the askers offers a price that is quite close to the expected one, a deal is very likely to be made. Actually, we do see lots of quick transactions in the experiment, especially the 2nd round of Group #1, where there would be expected to exist fluctuation. But that quick deal is based on that either buyer or seller or both of them have an intuition about Pe or are simply informed of that price. If the information for both sides is so inadequate or even zero, then it will seem quite important to estimate Pe by price fluctuation during the first several quotes. On the other hand, however, substantial quote fluctuations will not only compress the quote space afterwards, but also impair one’s own market power, while increasing the other side’s market power and surplus. Let’s now look at the changes in individual rate of return and individual rationality index of Group #1 and #2. Group #1 A. Expected Rate of Return The fluctuation of expected rate of return is distinct around the seller S2, where the expected rate of return of buyers is far higher than that of the sellers. B. Individual Rationality As can be seen, buyers’ individual rationality fluctuates more than the sellers’, while the degree of buyers’ individual rationality (1, since round 2) is much higher than that of sellers’ (1, and decreasing since round 2). Thus, we can assume that there is a collective irrational phenomenon among the sellers. Usually, both buyer and seller will hope to receive higher surplus and try to make the price more beneficial to themselves. So it’s reasonable to see that individual rationality index fluctuates a bit around the standard line or even higher than it, just to make the final transaction price and surplus closer to the theoretical ones. But in this case, seller S2 suddenly lowers his expected rate of return (from the normal 2.22 to 0.86), probably because he underestimates Pe or just wants to quickly sell the product. It’s quite hard for the following sellers to reach the ideal level, but can only quote under 1, giving buyers more space for quote and more power to control the market. If the sellers following S2 used to have higher expectation than 1, then a phenomenon called inconsistency of collective rationality occurs by the influence of inconsistency of individual rationality. When it happens, the irrational collectivity’s power is impaired and Pe and surplus will end up more beneficial to the other collectivity. As can be seen from the experiment results, the collective rationality index of buyers is 2.793, which is much higher than that of sellers, 0.808. Group #2 A. Expected Rate of Return The expected rate of return fluctuates more, comparatively. What’s more important, the values of both sides are quite close. B. Individual Rationality This corresponds to our previous analysis. The individual rationality index of both buyers and sellers is always larger and very close to Group #1. The individual rationality equals to the standard individual rationality when the final deal is made. In this situation, the quote range and market power for both sides are similar without any doubt. The price at equilibrium and the surplus are close to the theoretical value. Therefore, we can think that there is no disturbance of individual rationality to collective rationality for both sides. From the perspective of collective rationality index, sbri=1.879ï ¼Å'ssrj=1.692ï ¼Å'the difference is relatively small and both values are larger than 1. From the analysis above, the following could be inferred. In certain times of quote, if the market’s transaction price and surplus diverge from the theoretical Pe and surplus, there must exist a negative disturbance of individual rationality to collective rationality for one side which enables the other side to have dominant power of quote. In another way, if the market’s transaction price and surplus are close to theoretical values, there is going to appear two cases. First, individual rationality and collective rationality are in accordance with each other for both sides and both have the similar market power which results in mutual antagonism; second, disturbances for both sides may be very large and the rationality values are not close at all, which does not show in all the experimental data while it could be thought to exist theoretically. The values are close only at the transaction price and it is based on an obvious premise that the values are larger than 1, since as long as one value is less than 1, it is very easy (not necessarily) to fall to a weak position (which usually happens in the first round of Group #2). The way to analyze these three situations is pretty similar to the one analyzing monopoly and competitive markets. The key element is the effect of the relation between individual rationality and collective rationality to market power. Conclusion From the analysis above, we can reach a primary conclusion that the quote from a single seller or buyer can affect the formation and the result of market equilibrium. We can use individual-collective rationality model to explain the process. Individual rationality can cause a destabilization to collective rationality (resulting in remarkable fluctuation), when the destabilization is small, which means that the individual rationality that causes it is not less than one, the collective rationality still tends to be consistent and this will not have a significant effect on the market power of both sides. But when the destabilization is large, which means that the individual rationality that causes it is less than one, there will be a significant effect on the consistency of the collective rationality, so there will be a change of the two sides’ market power. Then, the equilibrium price and the surplus of both sides also change. So, there is a kind of tension between individual desirability and collective desirability. There are some points that we need to pay attention to. First, this kind of relationship becomes more obvious with the increasing of quotation times during one period. The deeper reason for this is the lack of information and each side has to continuously probe and tries to release as much information, which can maximize his profit, as possible, no matter whether the information is true. If the deal can be reached within one or two times, there will be no such complex game about the info releasing and collecting. Second, in reality, the destabilization is always negative (i.e. a sudden decrease in bid or expected return), which indicates the bounded rationality. We don’t need to take positive destabilization into account. So, how can we use this model to explain the non efficiency phenomenon of market in double auction? There are two aspects that we need to pay attention to. First, the relationship of individual rationality and collective rationality has an effect on the market power, and then affects the equilibrium price and the ratio of the surplus of both sides; the price either has a bad effect on the sellers or the buyers (In our experiment, it is the sellers that lose). Thus, some buyers or sellers that could have entered the deal are kicked off now, which leads to some deadweight loss. Second, when the market power is out of balance, the number of games between buyers and sellers will increase. Let’s take the third group (whose transaction price is averagely 10% less than theoretical Pe) as an example. When the buyers realize their power and advantage, they will wait the sellers to decrease the price. At that time, from the perspective of buyers, the earnings of waiting is larger than the risk. The sellers are forced to decrease the price, but only for a little each time to avoid a worse price. As a result, during the limited trading times, the number of transactions decreases, which leads to further deadweight loss. References 1. JAVIER GIL-BAZO, DAVID MORENO, AND MIKEL TAPIA, â€Å"Price Dynamics, Informational Efficiency, And Wealth Distribution in Continuous Double-Auction Markets†, Computational Intelligence, Volume 23, Number 2, 2007 2. Charles A.Holt, Loren W.Langan, Anne P.Villamil, Market power in oral double auctions† Economic Inquiry, 24:1 (1986:Jan.) p.107 3. Juliette Rouchier, Stà ©phane Robin, â€Å"Simulation Gaming† 4. Darren Duxbury, â€Å"Experimental Evidence on Trading Behavior, Market Efficiency and Price Formation in Double Auctions with Unknown Trading Duration†

Comparing Bennetts Hamlet with Branaghs Hamlet Essay -- comparison c

Comparing Bennett's Hamlet with Branagh's Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many of Shakespeare's works have been transposed from stage to screen, none so more than Hamlet. Two of the most unique film appropriations of the play are to be found in Rodney Bennett's 1980 film and Kenneth Branagh's 1996 blockbuster. The two films share many parallels between them in both interpretation and method, however they also have marked differences in their respective approaches to the text.    Perhaps the most obvious difference between these two versions is that Branagh uses the full unabridged text whereas Bennett cuts the play down by an hour or so; Kenneth Branagh justifies his use of the full text on the BBC's website stating: "When you cut the play ... what often happens is that you compress a lot of very intense set pieces and it becomes unbearable to watch. You simply fail to take some things in because you need a breath."    Another marked difference in the two versions lies in the focus of the two films. Bennett's Hamlet focuses almost entirely on the character of Hamlet himself and the domestic tragedy that occurs around him. An example of this in the film how Derek Jacobi as Hamlet speaks directly to the camera while in soliloquy. This establishes a certain rapport between Hamlet and the viewer, as if he is speaking directly to them, this also makes the film seem more theatrical in a sense. Branagh de-centres the story from around Hamlet and focuses on the wider situation, particularly with regards to Denmark's political situation. In this appropriation Hamlet is merely one player among many. This interpretative decision is reflected in the casting of the film; Kenneth Branagh takes the title role among severa... ...rbook vol.8: Hamlet on Screen, Ed.H. Klein & D. Daphinoff, Edwin Mellen Press, 1997 Sauer, David Kennedy. `Suiting the Word to the Action: Kenneth Branagh's interpolations in Hamlet', Shakespeare Yearbook vol.8: Hamlet on Screen, Ed.H. Klein & D. Daphinoff, Edwin Mellen Press, 1997 Wilmeth, Thomas L. `Fortinbras on Film: Safe Passage for the Prince', Shakespeare Yearbook vol.8: Hamlet on Screen, Ed.H. Klein & D. Daphinoff, Edwin Mellen Press, 1997 Audio Visual Bennett, Rodney. Hamlet, Shakespeare W., BBC Education, 1980 Branagh, Kenneth. Hamlet, Shakespeare W., Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996 Internet Resources `The Filming of Hamlet - Text Interpretation'. BBC Education, 15/03/02 http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/hamlet.html `Cineaste Branagh Interview', Cineaste Film Review, 15/03/02 http://www.cineaste.com   

Hotel Case

The Royal Hotel Case Study describes a situation where a junior consultant has architected a hotel maintenance management and issue tracking solution for a boutique hotel client. Blake, the consultant, identified a hotel maintenance management package which included a Rapid Response issue logging module, Preventative Maintenance module and the Reporting Module. Blake left the engagement prior to the completion of the change and has been called back because the system has been month balled a few weeks after go live. The hotel GM and Blake’s boss are extremely unhappy. The Cast of charactersBlake Cantera > An MBA student with two weeks consulting training. The architect of the solution on his first engagement Royal Hotel GM > A no nonsense, old school hotelier, running a boutique business hotel in New York. The GM wants to eliminate situations where guests discover maintenance issues. Director of Housekeeping > Not a champion for the system and does not take ownership for the ma intenance issues at the hotel Director of Maintenance > Roll has a natural conflict with housekeeping – did housekeeping report the issues and maintenance lose it, or did housekeeping just not report it?Director IT Espresso Vendor > Potentially oversold the solution as a panacea Jack Scarso > A colleague of Blake’s with similar experience, who is held in low esteem. Jack was assigned to implement the solution when Blake was transferred off. Jack received virtually no handover. Fancy Consultants Boss > The kind of boss who provides little support and mountains of expectation and appears to take little or no responsibility for the issues. Issues with the solution and approachThe implementation of the Espresso system would classify as a second order change which impacts Technology, Process and People and requires careful planning on how to overcome the End Users resistance to change which could dramatically impact the adoption of the system. The GM is an â€Å"Old School † hotelier however the proposed solution is a very â€Å"New School† solution; relying on digital logging, reporting and electronic task tracking rather than relationships and hierarchy for effectiveness, this suggests some ultural challenges that would appear not to have been addressed. The staff who are required to interact with the system will undergo process and cultural changes The way that housekeeping report issues changes – instead of waiting until the end of the shift they now report issues using the phone as they come across them. Maintenance teams are now being tracked using the sidekick and bar code system, to ensure stations are visited. Additionally reporting has been implemented to identify top performers and motivate staff.As such attention to managing the people dimension to ensure that the change is adopted is critical to the success of the initiative In-experienced change implementor acting without supervision or guidance. Change in key resourc es during the implementation with little effective transition or handover. Limited or no executive or general management oversight or support of the implementation from FC, the Royal Hotel or the Vendor. What should Blake do? Firstly, Blake needs to ensure that the Espresso System has the comitment of the full management team.After all, these are the people who let the system get mothballed so quickly. This means assembling the stakeholders and seeking their commitment to the success of this initiative – this is not just Blakes’ problem and Blake can’t fix it by himself – the system needs to be owned. Next Blake needs to understand what the current situation is which will involve clarifying the following Why did the employees stop using the system Why did the Directors of Maintenance and Housekeeping let their employees stop using the system? What needs of the employees did the old system better suit?How was the bar coding of maintenance points deployed? Did the management team receive the new reports and were their requirements catered for with the reporting tools? How were job changes managed and assigned – for example monitoring the Command Centre? Infrastructure – did the solution integrate with existing infrastructure – were the reports accessible? Were the sidekick units adopted? Through this process of analysis Blake can produce a post implementation review and and action plan for system design modifications, change management, training and re-release.