Character Analysis Of Elizabeth Lavenza s Frankenstein

Shelby Guffey English 251 October 2, 2017 Character Analysis of Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein In Mary Shelley’s 1831 novel, Frankenstein, there are several smaller characters that help to move the plot forward. Perhaps the most influential character to Victor Frankenstein’s life is Elizabeth Lavenza, his doomed fiancà ©. By the end of the novel, her character serves as the final tool for Victor Frankenstein to be able to understand his creature. Parallel to the time-period, Elizabeth seems to exist by and through Victor’s perception of her. She is his property, and he takes her in as gift. He looked at Elizabeth as, â€Å"mine- mine to protect, love, and cherish,† (Shelley, 18). It is also interesting to note that her presence in the house†¦show more content†¦Elizabeth is consistently the glue that holds the Frankenstein family together in hard times, specifically after the death of Victor’s mother. When she passed, Elizabeth, â€Å"veiled her own grief, and†¦ forgot ev en her own regret in her endeavors to make us forget,† (Shelley, 24). What followed after Elizabeth taking over the household, was a life full of sacrifice for Victor that inevitably led her to becoming the sacrifice herself. Elizabeth frequently makes sacrifices for the Frankenstein family from early childhood all the way until her death. She assumes the role of womanhood at a young age after Caroline s death. Rather than living out her days of childhood, she comes almost a mother figure to Victor and his younger brothers. While Victor is allowed to seize opportunities to travel and further his education, Elizabeth instead stays in Geneva (Shelley, 23). During the family’s hardest times, Elizabeth tends to take the blame and then internalize her feelings so she won’t cause more stress to the family. When they first discover the death of William, she immediately exclaimed, â€Å"Oh, God! I have murdered my darling child!† (Shelley, 47). She blames herself although she never laid a hand on the toddler. Elizabeth thinks that the trinket she allowed William to play with was the motive for the murderer to kill William (Shelley, 47). Unknown to the family, it was actually Victor’s creature’s first play against his creator. The Creature then plants the trinket givenShow MoreRelatedReview Of Frankenstein By Mary Shelley2689 Words   |  11 PagesLiterature Preparing for the Test Name: Jerry Ennolikara Literature Template Title: Frankenstein Author: Mary Shelley Era (written and setting): Written in 1816, primarily in the North Pole, then the story itself goes from England to all over Europe to the Middle East, etc. Story takes place in early 1800s. 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Effect of Business Process Reengineering Factors on Organizational Performance - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 22 Words: 6452 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The increasing competitive pressure as a result of technological development, globalization, changing customer demand led to survival challenges of many banks in the developing countries and demanded for improvement in quality customer service and speed to enhance profitability performance and cost reduction. This study is aim at exploring possible relationships among the factors of business process reengineering, and test a model that show the effect of BPR factors on firm performance with the moderating effect of IT capability on the causal relationship between the BPR factors and organizational performance of banks in Nigeria. Field study survey would be conducted under natural research setting. The sample of the study consists of commercial banks, microfinance banks and primary mortgage financial institutions. Closed-ended multiple choice questionnaires would be administered to the banks and both descriptive and inferential statistics analysis would be used in data analysis. Key words: Business process reengineering, Factors of business process reengineering, Information technology capability, Organizational performance, Banks, Nigeria, INTRODUCTION Business process reengineering (BPR) is a popular management tool for dealing with rapid technological and business changes (Ranganathan Dhaliwal, 2001). It was first introduced by Hammer (1990), as a radical redesign of processes in order to gain significant improvements in cost, quality, and services (Ozcelik, 2010). BPR creates changes in people (behavior and culture), processes and technology (Al-Mashari Zairi, 2000). It does not seek to alter or fix existing processes; but, it forces companies to ask, whether or not a process is necessary, and then seeks to find a better way to do it (Siha Saad, 2008). BPR integrates all departments into a complete process which have been designed to fulfill a specific business goal (Cheng et al, 2006). Successful implementation of BPR enable s organizations to achieve dramatic gains in business performance (Shin Jemella, 2002). BPR helps banks to deal with new economic challenges and change the traditional processes to improve their customers satisfaction. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a management discipline of analyzing and then redesigning current business processes and their components in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and added value to the objectives of the business. The conduct of business process reengineering steps is planned to gather and process business requirements in support of a modernization effort for defined area. The BPR starts with planning activities that include the creation of BPR team, the development of a BPR scope document and an examination of existing proposal that relate to a given area, examines the existing and future business process and improve accordingly. Similar to any other management approaches, the successful implementation of BPR depend on how well it can be fitt ed to the bank/companies cultural norms, and information technology (IT) suggested by (Davenport Short, (1990); Hammer and Champy (1993); Murray and Lynn (1997); Al-Mashari and Zairi, (1999); Bhatt (2000); Khong and Richardson, (2003); Attaran (2004); Ahmad, Francis and Zairi, (2007). Reengineering in a bank should be undertaken as a project, the project management expertise of IT department become a key ingredient in the success of reengineering. The IT capability includes both the technical and managerial expertise required to provide reliable physical services and extensive electronic connectivity within and outside firm. Information technology (IT) increase the market share of the bank through offering of a product or service that is not offered by another bank (e.g. those customers that prefer private/personalized banking or use debit cards have become the focus of retail and investments in banking (Beyers and Lederer 2001; Peffers and Dos Santos 1996; Post et al., 1995). F or example, new innovative banking practice through merger and consolidation enabled Nigerian banks to bridge the service gap in the system (Sidikat and Ayanda 2008). Therefore, the application of IT capability would enhance service delivery process, produce new product, new processes, new strategy, make the productivity of work faster, eliminate all communication barriers in the organization and empower workers to link up with customers and suppliers to achieve competitive advantage (Davenport, 1990; Hammer, 1990; Teng, James, Grover Fiedler, 1994). The banking sector plays the role of a driver in Nigerian economy that contributed over 6.4% against a target of 10% of total GDP (CBN, 2008). The management of information is a key activity in banking, and the influence of process reengineering and innovations through IT is likely to be bigger in banking than in other industries (David-west, 2005). Banks importantly require IT to coordinate enormous volumes of information (David-we st, 2005). Information technology (IT) is perceived as a necessity to pursue the rationalization and cost management due to intensified competition and crisis in the financial sector (De Bandt Davis, 2000). Information technology has helped Nigerian banks to streamline the back office operations by improving both efficiency and cost reduction. Advances in technology also influence the way banks services are delivered with aimed of making it more convenient for customers. For example, many banks in Africa now have their branches connected on-line real time (24/7). This clearly reduces the danger of carrying cash. Some banks have ATM to make cash available to their customers 24/7. Some Nigerian banks practice e-banking, telephone, and mobile banking. Money transfers services through MoneyGramme and Western Union Money transfer have enable Nigerian in Diaspora to send money to their family (CBN, 2008). Information technology capability (IT operations and IT knowledge) moreover, makes Nigerian banks to participate more effectively in international banking arena. For instance, some technologically up to date banks enable them to access international banking networks in order to efficiently affect fund transfer, open, amend, and negotiate letter of credit, retrieve up to date status of customer transactions among the banks that joined the Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT The decline in operational performance efficiency of Nigerian banks in terms of return on assets, equity and operating cost requires urgent attention of the banks to re-strategies ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ for process performance improvement (CBN/BSD, 2008). Sanusi (2010) argued that poor operational performance indices of Nigerian financial institutions were due to inadequate and inflexible operational processes. This was part of the revelations of the special audit for all the Nigerian banks conducted jointly by Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria deposit insurance corporation (NDIC) in July 2009 for Commercial banks and in February 2010 for Microfinance banks. Vetiva Capital Management (2010), reported a quarterly performance of stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market for the quarters ended September 2010 that indicated the negative performance of (-2.49%) of banking industry stocks as compared to other industrial sectors of the economy. The weak operational processes of banking services are responsible for decimal performance of the sector in Nigeria (Ibenta, 2010) The consequences of merger and consolidation of operational process and an intensified foreign competition in financial service industry through liberalization and globalization faced by the organizations led to radical changes in operations, and services that result in conflicting performance (Wei Nair, 2006). The customer retention became a key factor in determining the success of bank. The bank that has the largest customer base and highest customer retention rate will be a market leader in the industry. Hence, the quality of customer service becomes a driving force in ascertaining business survival in the banking industry (Tang Zairi, 1998). Various authors such as Tas Sunder, (2004); Bhatt Trout, (2005); Tennat Wu, (2005) Terziovski, Fitzpatrick ONeill, (2003); Salimifard, Abbaszadeh Ghorbanpur (2010) argued that business process reengineering (BPR) in banking services have continued to increased organizational performance and identified the BPR factors that played a major role to successful outcomes for reengineering projects to includes: change management, management commitment, project management, customer focus, adequate financial resources, egalitarian culture, use of I.T, less bureaucratic structure, and quality management system. CSF is one of the most important areas that practitioner would have a greater opportunity to plan and manage successfully if identified in the research on BPR implement ation (Cheng Chiu, 2008). Therefore, given the popularity of BPR and high degree of failure rate linked with BPR project, the desire to identify the key success factors of BPR has gain importance as contemporary management approach for business success. In Nigerian banking industry, managers realized the effectiveness of BPR for gaining competitive advantage even though it is new, they do not fully understand what BPR is about and the CSFs that drive the successful implementation of the BPR project. Therefore, to fill this gap, an investigation into BPR factors would be worthwhile. When examining the relationship between the reengineering factors such as intangible resources and organizational performance, it has been posited that there may exist some key moderating variables that are important issues to research (Wade Hulland, 2004). A moderator variable is a qualitative/quantitative variable that affect the direction and/or strengthen of the relationship between an independent o r predictor variable and dependent or criterion variable (Baron Kenny 1986). The moderating variable of great interest is organization IT capability and its influence on the intangible resources (BPR factors) performance relationships (Liu, Liu, Hu, 2008). The growing of business dependence on information technology both operationally and strategically require the need to focus on value-creating intangible issues of IT capability, such as process effectiveness, IT experience and innovation. IT management experience and competence is expected to show stronger leadership skills and commitment in organizations (Ross Feeny 1999; Gottschalk 2002; Chun Mooney 2009). Building upon the knowledge-based theory, it is argued that the ability to blend business and IT knowledge, operational experience for innovation and competence through a variety of strong intra-organizational relationships lies at the heart of firms superior ability to understand the potential of information technology to enhance performance (Mata et al. 1995; Armstrong Sambamurthy 1999; Wu et al. 2008). To add up the contingency model in explaining the seemingly conflicting findings regarding the impact of aggregate IT capability. Tuominen et al. (2003) proposed the assessment of innovativeness through organizational adaptability as a pre-performance resource and an intermediate factor for financial performance. With the problem at stake, it has therefore become necessary to advance the understanding of the relationship between the factors in business process reengineering performance and IT capability in terms of IT knowledge and IT operations. Previous empirical studies that examined the BPR factors reengineering performance relationships (Cheng Chiu, 2008) have ignored the specific nature of IT capability and also, has not fully considered important environmental condition that influence the relationships. Drawing on the resource-based view, contingency perspective proposed that IT capab ility impact on firm resources was contingent on the fit between the IT capability/resource a firm possesses and the demands of the industry in which it competes. IT capability is expected to influence the BPR factors and reengineering performance relationships. To the researcher ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s knowledge, this moderating effect has never been investigated by prior studies. Although some firms in Asia, UK and US have examined the application of BPR in financial service industry, evidence revealed that much effort did not reach the original expectation (Hammer Champy, 1993). Therefore, the proposed study is different from the previous researches based on the additional three (3) BPR factors in terms of adequate financial resources; effective process redesign, and less bureaucratic flattered structure (Ahmad et al, 2007; Madubueze, 2007; Salimifard, et al, 2010) were introduced into the previous model used. Also, IT capability in terms of IT knowledge and IT operations was being v iewed as moderator (Tippins Sohi, 2003; Mistry, 2006; Yongmei, Hongjian Junhua, 2008). Huang et al, (2009) argued that the empirical evidence of Italian banks suggests that the development of IT capability, such as creating an Intranet to serve as a repository and communication tool, can support the redefinition of the overall strategy of the bank. Furthermore, cultural integration of the branch network and a life-long training process can be conducted to sustain the banks large scale network (Canato and Corrocher 2004). Despite the fact that the financial service industry is one of the early adopters of new information technologies, the effect of IT capability on firm performance is inconclusive in the service sector in general, which is contrary to its manufacturing counterpart (Brynjolfsson 1993). The comparison to be made between banks with BPR project Vs. banks without BPR project (Xin James He, 2005) as well as settings to identify the discrepancies as a result different cul tures, environment, economic activities and level of infrastructural development (Peppard and Fitzgerald, 1997). In view of the above mentioned gaps and the suggestion for further studies by scholars, this study is attempt to investigate and understand the effect of the I.T capability (in terms of I.T skill/knowledge and IT operations) on the performance of Nigerian banks and financial institutions, the possible relationships among the constructs of BPR factors and performance, and test a model that show the effect of BPR factors on organizational performance as well as the influence of IT capability that moderate the causal relationship between the BPR factors and performance of Nigerian banks (Commercial, Microfinance and Mortgage finance. Hence, this study is aimed to explore possible relationships among the constructs, and test a model that show the effect of BPR factors on firm performance and the moderating effect of IT capability on the causal relationship between the BPR factors and organizational performance of banks in Nigeria. LITERATURE REVIEW Organizational Performance The challenges for globalization of financial markets require major changes on the part of market participants to move beyond national-level competition and achieve international and global competitiveness. The entire banking industry is focusing on major process performance enhancements and gains in domestic market share as a catalyst for successful diversification. Banks are concentrating their efforts on market segments offering the potential for growth and enhancing performance, resulting in a re-direction within the overall financial services sector. Innovative banking services and processes were evolved as the market consolidates due to mergers and acquisitions. This dual trend toward specialization and consolidation is forging banks that will be able to compete in international and global markets. Performance enhancement efforts are aimed at a complete realignment of internal processes. In addition to cost containment strategies, focus is now on improving customer service delivery. Organization processes must be effective, efficient, and be more customer-friendly. Attempts are being made to transfer approaches like process reengineering initiatives that have proven effective in other industries, particularly manufacturing, to the financial sector. Organizational performance comprises the actual output or results of an organization as measured against its inputs. Organizational performance measures allow companies to focus attention on areas that need improvement by assessing how well work is done in terms of cost, quality, and time. Today ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s business environment is characterized by the increasing importance and strength of various stakeholder groups. It has become quite obvious that all stakeholders need to be taken into account when assessing modern company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s performance. This is the main idea of Freemanà ƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s Stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984, 1994). The stakeholder view maintains that firms have stakeholders rather than just shareholders to account for. The view that the corporation has obligations only to its stockholders is replaced by the notion that there are other groups to whom the firm is also responsible. Groups with a stake in the firm include shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, lenders, the government, and society (Berman et al., 1999; Harrison Freeman, 1999; Hillman Keim, 2001; Riahi-Belkaoui, 2003). One important notion revealed in many studies is that building better relations with primary stakeholders like employees, customers and suppliers could lead to increased shareholder ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s wealth. A sustainable organizational advantage may be built with tacit assets that derive from developing relationships with key stakeholders (Hillman Keim, 2001). When studying the relationship between stakeholder management and a firm ¿Ãƒ ‚ ½s financial performance, Berman et al. (1999) found that fostering positive connections with key stakeholders (customers and employees) can help a firm ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s profitability. Therefore due to the significance of various stakeholders, organizational performance should not be solely assessed by financial indicators. There are several approaches to organizational performance measurement that encompass different stakeholder ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s perspectives (Tangem, 2004). The balanced scorecard (BSC) (Kaplan Norton, 1992, 1993, 1996) is the most established and most commonly used (Neely, 2005), but by far not the only one. The multi-model performance framework (MMPF) model by Weerakoon (1996) is also very interesting and has four-dimensions including employee motivation, market performance, productivity performance, and societal impact, and covers the satisfaction of various stakeholders such as customers, investors, employees, suppliers, and society. A more recentl y developed conceptual framework is the performance prism, which suggests that a performance measurement system should be organized around five distinct but linked perspectives of performance (Tangem, 2004). Organizational performances in this study refer to the level of bank performance (increase/decrease) in terms of both financial and non financial performance indicators. Organizational effectiveness represents the outcome of organizational activities (Henri, 2004). Organizational effectiveness empirically is the ultimate dependent variable in research on organization (Cameron, 1986). The perception of organizational performance is linked to the continued success and achievement of an organization. There are wide ranging literatures on performance, but there is still no consensus definition of the term performance (Johannessen, Olaisen, Olsen, 1999). Murphy, Trailer Hill (1996), study found the use of term performance to include 71 different measures of performance categoriz ed into eight (8) dimensions of both financial and non financial measures. Majority of the previous studies used financial and non financial indicators to measure performance (Johannessen et al., 1999; Murphy et al., 1996). The debate on what performance measurement to use would continue as criteria could not apply to all settings (Cameron, 1986). A review of the literature on the evaluation of performance in organization context by Gomes, Yasin Lisboa (2004), reveals different emphasis on the performance measurement depending on the objective of the organization in that particular situation. There are many possible benefits from reengineering that translate into improved organizational performance. However, because of wide possibility of benefit from company innovativeness on performance a multiple dimensional scale of performance measurement offers more comprehensive operationalization of organizational performance than on uni- dimensional approach. Examples on some financial performance indicators employed in previous studies are: profitability, success rate of new service (product) introduction, after tax return on investment, sales growth, and after tax return on assets. Example of non financial performance indicators includes: customer satisfaction, customer focus, market research, and customer relationship management, quality and process improvement. Therefore based on the previous studies, this study would consider multiple measurement of performance (Financial performance and Customer service management performance). The financial and non financial performance indicators would consist of: profit, profit growth performance target, sales growth, overall response to competition, future outlook, and success rate in new product launch, overall business performance, customer service management, market research, customer relationship management, customer satisfaction, operational performance, speed, quality service and process improvement. In this stu dy, the perceived measures of financial and non financial performance of organization would be used because subjective measure was found to be correlated with objective measure of performance (Dess Robinson, 1984; Dawe, 1999). Also the previous studies Lyles Salk (1996); Hansen Wernerfelt (1989); Bart et al., (2001) confirmed the reliabilities and correlations between objective measures and perceived measures are strong. Similarly, previous studies conducted by Bontis (1998); and Bontis et al., (2000) revealed that subjective measure of performance (financial and non financial) are feasible. Therefore many organizations are convinced that the implementation of BPR could bring significant and measurable benefits (Vergidis et al 2008). In fact, the risky nature of BPR has motivated a detailed investigation of its critical success and failure factors (Abdolvand et al 2008) and many researchers (Ariyachandra Frolick 2008; Bandara, Gable, Rosemann 2005) have tried to identify BPR fa ctors. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Factors Business Process Reengineering is being used as a vehicle for re-aligning strategy, operations, and systems to deliver significantly increased financial results and customer satisfaction. It helps to find ways to do more with less, and provide a better product or service in a minimum amount of time, speed, quality, and cost. In one important way, though, reengineering differs from past incremental and analytic methods. BPR factors are the success factors that lead to successful outcomes for reengineering projects, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organization. BPR factors are strongly related to the mission and strategic goals of business or project. Whereas the mission and goals focus on the aims and what is to be achieved, BPR factors focus on the most important factors and get to the very heart of both what is to be achieved and how you will achieve it. The BPR factors are those important factors for success. It was originally developed to align planning with the strategic direction of an organization. It is only when most important factors have been identified that practitioners would have a chance of organizational success. Various BPR factors were developed and validated by authors from studies in organizations operating in different industry such as manufacturing, education, and services. The BPR factor is aptly chosen to represent the factors which are important to achievement of desired outcome of organization performance. BPR factors are of importance that these key areas of activity should receive constant and careful attention from management. BPR factor certainly differ from industry, environment as the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s position within industry changes. It is important to understand what factors would be important for BPR in both for understanding the implementation of business process reengineering and organizational performan ce improvement. Therefore, based on an extensive literature review and previous studies of BPR factors in banking process reengineering have been selected based on the scope of study and fit to the banking industry and environment of the proposed study Nigerian banks (Al-Mashari Zairi, 1999; Ahmad et al, 2007; Salimifard, et al. 2010). BPR factors are the independent variable which includes: 1) Change Management; 2) Management Commitment; 3) Less bureaucratic and flattered organizational structure; 4) Project Management; 5) Customer Focus; 6) Effective process redesign; 7) Adequate financial resources; 8) Information technology (I.T) infrastructure. These eight BPR factors are essential elements to the successful transformation process. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITY The concept of I.T capability was introduced by Ross, Beath Goodhue (1996), defined I.T capability as the firm ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s ability to assemble, integrate and deploy I.T based resources. Heijden (2000) pointed out that the measurement of I.T capability covers relationships in I.T department with the rest for the business. Bharadwaj (2000), broaden the explanation of accepted views of organisational I.T capabilities to an organisation ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s information technology function. Bharadwaj, (2000) defined I.T capability as the ability of firm to mobilise and deploy I.T based resources in combination with other resources and capabilities. Those I.T-based resources are I.T enabled resources (consist of technical and managerial I.T skills); intangible I.T- enabled resources (such as knowledge, assets, customer orientation and synergy- the sharing of resources and capabilities across organisational division. Therefore capabilities reflect the ability of the firms to combine resources to promote superior performance (Amit Schoemaker, 1993). Tippins Sohi (2003) define IT capabilities as the extent to which an organization is equipped with I.T infrastructure, IT skills knowledge a nd experience as well as effective I.T operations utilization. A high level of IT experience enables the smooth implementation of the organization ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s strategy, develops reliable and cost effective systems for the organization, and anticipates customer needs (Bhatt Grover, 2005). Clark (1997) noted that IT experience in combination with other I.T elements directly determines an organization ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s ability to rapidly develop and deploy more innovative techniques to enhance performance. The role of IT capabilities in enhancing organizational performance is well established in the literature. Various I.T studies suggests I.T capabilities provide a basis of gaining competitive advantage and enhancing organizational performance (e.g. Santhanam Hartono, 2003; Bhatt Grover, 2005) An extensive body of IT capabilities literature agrees that I.T capabilities are resource to facilitate an effective collection and utilization of information (e.g. Bharadwaj, 2000 ). Floyd et al (1990) contend that I.T capabilities enhance service reliability, reduce transaction errors and increase consistency in performance. Further contentions are that capabilities can contribute to enhancing service quality through better customized or individualized services, and in creating knowledge links for identifying and sharing organizational expertise (Quinn et al., 1994). Tippins Sohi (2003) argued that I.T capabilities which is also known as I.T competency enhance performance through an elimination of inefficiency, reduction of long term cost, improve service reliability and reduced transaction errors. While Bharadwaj (2000); Ross, Beath Goodhue (1996); Li, Chen Huang (2006) studies focuses on the importance of IT capability as well as relationship between I.T spending (IT investment) and productivity/performance with moderating effect of IT capability. In this study, the term IT capability is adapted from the study conducted by Tippins and Sohi (2003). The study used I.T knowledge, I.T infrastructure and I.T operations among the dimensions of measuring IT capability. The BPR factors encompass both tangible and intangible elements of resources. Therefore, this study would use I.T knowledge and I.T operation as the main components of measuring I.T capability. The third component i.e. I.T infrastructure would be part of BPR factors as intangible resource. These dimensions demonstrate co-specialized resources that firms cannot utilize the information technology architecture effectively without sufficient knowledge and operations. Therefore I.T capability can provide the ability to understand the existing operations. It is also one of the most considered in bring changes into the business process. Michael Hammer recommends companies to redefine their process first and then automate. I.T can play critical roles in the development of BPR efforts as follows: a. I.T makes it possible to use new ideas and higher standard technology i n order to develop a strategic vision and help to make the business process better before it is designed. b. The communication technology through I.T capabilities helps in breaking down geographical and organizational barriers that makes the acceptance of process change and useful understanding of company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s strength, weakness opportunities and threat. IT also helps to track information. c. For a firm to manage a process can be adapted from other companies practice outside its industry. The company should combine its team members experience to set a standard that other companies can be compared with. d. I.T staff needs to broaden their knowledge in non technical areas to achieve effective team work in an organisation. e. In order to have a flexible organisational design the firms existing difficult structures must be changed so as to ensure the operation of BPR cross functional teams against departmental activities. f. To gain market share and achieve competitive advantage, the agreement between companies and collaboration between suppliers and distributors takes place at the initial stage of BPR before process design. The Contradictory role of Information Technology as an enabler in Business process reengineering (BPR) One of the most straightforward assertions about BPR is that information technology is a key enabler of process redesign. It is information technology that permits companies to re-engineer business processes; a company that cannot change the way it thinks about information technology cannot re-engineer (Hammer Champy, 1993). Most other BPR proponents also adopt an essentially technical model of organizational change in which information technology basically drives the re-engineering effort (Grey Mitev, 1995; Jones, 1994). These arguments acknowledge the technological determinism inherent to BPR; technology determines not only work structure, but also organizational structure, culture, management styles, an d beliefs (Grey Mitev, 1995). Thus, out of fashioned organizational designs can be changed through the use of advanced, enabling technologies that support new business processes that respond to changing market needs. However reasonable and straightforward, this argument seems, it has also become the source of controversy. Rather than being a simple enabler of new organizational processes, information technology inconsistently can also disable an organization ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s ability to change. When an organization revises its basic business processes using information technology, it introduces a new structure that may become even more difficult to change in the future. Since the technical backbone of automated processes exists as software routines, a later change in process will require a reconstruction of the software application and its various links to other systems. While all changes require reprogramming of some sort, either to human or machine components, software progra ms are often virtually inaccessible to the persons nearest to the application. Given the inevitability of business change, hard-wired business processes that are built today may seriously constrain later efforts to redesign them. BPR may have already produced the organizational structures and processes that will be considered old-fashion tomorrow, and those processes may be more difficult to change because today ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s software conventions will probably also be considered out-fashion tomorrow. Lucas Olson (1994) provide a clear analysis of this in-consistency in their examination of information technology ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s effects on organizational flexibility. They argue that technology provides the capability for more flexible organizational structures by allowing greater variety in the time and place of work while increasing the speed of response. However, they note that information technology also constrains flexibility by embedding routines into software progra ms that are not easy to change. Resolving the contradiction of information technology as an enabler or not in BPR is not easy. Gill (1995) argued that managers should not over program their organizations in search of dramatic productivity gains but to ensure greater flexibility. Lucas (1996) recommends a commitment to continuous investment in new technologies, thereby keeping any programmed routines from becoming hardened in the organization The measurement of the I.T capability in this study is based on: IT knowledge (skills) and IT operations (Tippins Sohi, 2003). I.T Knowledge dimension is related to a manager ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s experiences for performing IT management activities. Knowledge of an IT is essential. Since IT consists of complex technologies, its implementation is always associated with high risks and uncertainty (Umble et al. 2003). A number of IT implementation failures can be attributed to inappropriate IT planning and management (Bergeron et al. 2003). Hence, IT manager has a larger role in controlling and managing the IT implementation process (Willcocks et al. 2000). If an IT manager is involved in a new project and possesses the corresponding IT management experiences, IT strategy can be in accordance with current business processes in order to realize the coordination between IT and business objective, thereby assisting the organization enhance business efficiency and firm performance with IT (Willcocks et al. 2000). The IT manager can supervise and control IT project costs, identify financial and human resources deviations, and adopt timely measures in order to avoid the potential risks incurred during the implementation process. This can foster the alignment of the newly developed IT and business processes (Soffer et al. 2005). Additionally, employees can be encouraged to rapidly adapt to the new IT, assimilate IT knowledge and apply it in their daily routines, which is beneficial for the improvement of organization performance (Shao et al. 2008). According to Knowledge based view (KBV) systems of knowing refers to structures of interaction among team members for sharing their perspectives, pooling of knowledge, and development of shared understanding. It is suggested that systems of knowing provides forums for top management team members that exchange their strategic IT and business knowledge, and blend them together to foster higher levels of IT diffusion within the organization. For managers, a frequent interaction between other top management team members enables them to achieve timely information with regards to organizational business, thus to plan and deployment IT to align with organizational business process, improve firm performance through the investments in IT. It is found that IT-related information could be disseminated more effectively between the manager and the top management (CEO) through richer channels of communications, and this greater interactions in different IT forums is proved to have favorable influence on firms IT success (Jarvenpaa Ives 1991) I.T Operations are the activities within the organization that are required to meet goals. These activities are underpinned by skills that encapsulate the knowledge within the firm. When IT operations are able to monitor and manage IT resources and services from a real-time business out-come perspective, it can align IT operations with business priorities. As a result, IT operations can streamline business processes and optimize resources to help manage costs, increase efficiency to manage productivity and increase revenue, and help ensure service availability to enhance customer satisfaction ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½rather than simply focus on technology. IT operations can translate raw IT monitoring data into a useful business impact analysis. IT operations should be able to: 1)Understand the configuration, dependencies and relationships of the components that make up the business service; 2) Establish goals and objec tives for service delivery documented in the service level agreement (SLAs); 3) Measure the effectiveness of its services (such as Web server availability and performance) and business ser-vices (such as payment processing response time); 4) Analyze and report on the actual services delivered for the IT group and the clients that use them; 5) Create usage and accounting reports that can be used for chargeback and billing Information Technology Service Capability Maturity Model According to Niessink, Clerc Vliet (2004) the IT Service capability maturity model consists of five (5) maturity levels, which contains key process areas. For an organization to reside on a certain maturity level, it needs to implement all of the key processes for that level and lower levels. The main focus is the maturity of the service organization, not the maturity of individual services, projects or organizational units. The model covers the service delivery process with primary objectives: 1. To enable IT service providers to assess their capabilities with respect to the delivery of IT services 2. To provide IT service providers with directions and steps and further improvement of their service delivery The IT Service CMM fulfils these above objectives by measuring the capability of the IT service processes of organizations on a five level ordinal scale. Each level prescribes certain key processes that have to be in place before an organization resides on that level. Key processes implement a set of related activities that, when performed collectively, achieve a set of goals considered important for enhancing service process capability. Hence, organizations can improve their service capability by implementing these key processes. More formally, we define IT service process capability as the range of expected results that can be achieved by following a service process. IT service process performance represents the actual results achieved by following an IT service pro cess. IT service process maturity is the extent to which a specific process is explicitly defined, managed, measured, controlled and effective. The IT Service CMM focuses on measuring and improving the IT service process maturity of IT service organizations. An organization that scores high IT Service CMM scale will be able to: * Deliver quality IT services, tailored to the need of its customers * Do so in a predictable, cost-effective way * Combine and integrate different services, possibly by different service providers, into a consistent service package * Continually and sustainably improve service quality in a customer-focused way In order to understand the ITS-CMM, it is necessary to see the definitions of the various levels and to understand the structured nature of these definitions. The five levels of the IT Service CMM are: initial level; repeatable level; defined level; managed level and optimizing level. For an organization to reside on a certain maturity l evel, it needs to implement all key processes for that maturity level  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ and those for lower levels. The term key process area merely means that these processes are seen as the key to reach a certain maturity level. There might be more  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ non-key  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ processes, but these are not strictly necessary to reach the next maturity level. The key process areas are grouped into three process categories: The first group is concerned with the management of services; the second category deals with enabling the delivery process by means of support processes and standardization of processes; the third category consists of the processes that result in the consistent, efficient delivery of services according to the appropriate quality levels. METHODOLOGY This study focus on descriptive and causal research (hypothesis testing), since the objective of the study is to examine the relationships between the BPR factors, I.T capability and organization performance. Descriptive research would be undertaken in this study to identify the characteristic of the population such as respondent (commercial bank, microfinance bank and mortgage finance) variability and organization characteristics. Causal research or hypothesis testing and correlation approach would be conducted in the study to explain the relationship between the variables and the variance of the dependent variables. This study would use non experimental design, where the researcher does not have a control over the independent variables that determine their effect on the dependent variable. The research can only control the measurement of the study but do not interfere with the research settings. The research is only interested in gathering the information about the banks and financial institutions performance outcome of implementation of the BPR factors and specifically to examine the relationship of BPR factors, I.T capability and organizational performance within the ba nking and financial service settings. Therefore, non-experimental design or survey using quantitative method of administering questionnaire would be employed for this research. The study would use organization as the unit of analysis. The population of the study is 1,023 financial organizations (consists of 24 commercial banks, 901 microfinance bank and 98 primary mortgage finance). A total of one thousand and twenty three (1,023) banks and financial institutions are registered with Central bank of Nigeria (CBN). The list can be access through the CBN internet website: https://www.cenbank.org/supervision/finstitutions.asp. The survey would be conducted through self administered questionnaires. Although this method would be expensive compared to mail survey, nevertheless the researcher still favour this method due to its advantages. The biggest advantage is that the researcher can collect all completed responses within a short period of time. The second advantage is that resear cher can explain on the spot the terms or part of the questions which the respondents could not understand. Thirdly, the researcher can motivate the respondents to take part in the survey and give their honest opinions (Sekaran, 2003). The survey method strategy would be to collect the data with regard to BPR factors, information technology (I.T) capability and manager ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s perception of the organizations performance. Babbie, (1990) highlighted the three (3) objectives linked with survey research: 1) Description; 2) Explanation; 3) Exploratory objectives. This study ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s objectives are descriptive and explanatory. It involves identifying the characteristics and attribute of the respondent as well as making explanation through the examination of the relationships of the variables of the study. Descriptive statistics according to Babbie (1973) provide a way to streamline the large data to a manageable size that allows easy interpretation and understanding. Statistical package of social science (SPSS) software will be used for the regression model and measuring the causal relationships among the variables. CONCLUSION This paper is based on an ongoing doctoral research and the following hypotheses are propositioned based on the current review of literature. H: 1.The BPR factors related to organizational performance of Nigerian banks H: 2.The I.T capability (IT knowledge and IT operations) attributes related to organizational performance of Nigerian banks H: 3.The Information Technology (I.T) capability (IT knowledge and IT operations) indicators play the role of moderator in the relationship between BPR factors and organizational performance of banks in Nigeria. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Effect of Business Process Reengineering Factors on Organizational Performance" essay for you Create order

Russias Population The Culture And Geography Of Russia

Being the world’s largest country by land area, nearly twice the size of Canada, Russia’s population ranks sixth in the world, and is spread across 5,000 miles from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. Russia borders 14 other countries, spans 11 time zones and has a wide range of environments that include deserts, deep forests, and an arctic tundra. Russia contains Europe’s longest river, the Volga River, as well as its largest lake, Lake Ladoga. Its climate can be described as highly continental, from extreme cold in its northern regions and Siberia to subtropical in areas along the Black Sea. Russia’s capital and largest city is Moscow, followed by St. Petersburg. These cities combined are Russia’s most prominent†¦show more content†¦By the 11th century, the Varangians had united all the eastern Slavs and were at the peak of their rule. Kievan Rus’ eventually began to decline in the late 11th century and int o the 12th century, separating into various regions that fought each other for power. After the fall of Constantinople, Rus’ commercial ties to the Byzantine Empire were severed, weakening the state’s economy and diminishing key trade routes. Kievan Rus’ finally fell to the Mongol conquest, marking the end of the city of Kiev as a center of power (Lagasse, 2017). Once Mongol power declined in the 14th and 15th centuries, Moscow surfaced as Russia’s new capital. The first Tsar (ruler) of the Russians, Grand Duke Ivan IV, was crowned in 1547. In 1618, Michael I, the first of the Romanovs, was crowned tsar. Russia continued to expand throughout Siberia in the 17th century to the Pacific Ocean. Under the rule of Peter the Great, from 1682-1725, Russia’s power was extended to the Baltic Sea, and its capital shifted to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg; a move that has been described as a window opened upon Europe† to replace its long-standing cultural and economic center, Moscow. By the turn of the 18th century, the Russians had expanded their empire further into Europe and Asia (Gall, 2012). In 1801, succeeding his father Paul I,Show MoreRelatedCultural Characteristics Of A Nation s Culture Essay1662 Words   |  7 PagesRussia has many cultural characteristics that have shaped the country we know today. A nation s culture can define its actions and make them more predictable as a state on the international level. Understanding a nation’s culture gives great insight into the motives and reasoning behind their aggression or acts of force. 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Reflection On Effective Teaching - 1498 Words

Introduction In this analysis, my objective is to reflect on effective teaching and learning strategies and methods, using my personal experience in the classroom, as well as wider reading/research and university lectures, including my contextual analysis on my placement school (see appendix one). However, since there are so many dynamics to effective teaching and learning, one cannot put a finger on a single aspect and use that as a solution. With this in mind, I have chosen to look at two foci in depth. These are ‘Classroom Management’ and ‘Questioning Techniques’ – but before we analyse these foci in depth, it is important to understand what ‘teaching’ and ‘learning’ are. Not only this, but it is also essential to note they are not†¦show more content†¦The first teacher, who also happens to be my Subject Mentor, is a very experienced staff member, he has known the students since they started the school in Year 7, and hence he has a personal relationship with them. 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Case Study C C Grocery store Free Essays

The first C C Grocery store was started in 1947 by Doug Cummins and his brother Bob. Both were veterans who wanted to run their own business, so they used their savings to start the small grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina. The store was immediately successful. We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study C C Grocery store or any similar topic only for you Order Now The location was good, and Doug Cummins had a winning personality. Store employees adopted Doug’s informal style and â€Å"serve the customer† attitude. C C’s increasing circle of customers enjoyed an abundance of good meats and produce. By 1997, C C had over 200 stores. A standard physical layout was used for new stores. Company head- quarters moved from Charlotte to Atlanta in 1985. The organization chart for C C is shown in Exhibit 3. 20. The central offices in Atlanta handled personnel, merchandising, financial, purchasing, real estate, and legal affairs for the entire chain. For management of individual stores, the organization was divided by regions. The southern, south- eastern, and northeastern regions each had about seventy stores. Each region was divided into five districts of ten to fifteen stores each. A district director was responsible for supervision and coordination of activities for the ten to fifteen district stores. Each district was divided into four lines of authority based on functional specialty. Three of these lines reached into the stores. The produce department manager within each store reported directly to the produce specialist for the division, and the same was true for the meat department manager, who reported directly to the district meat specialist. The meat and produce managers were responsible for all activities associated with the acquisition and sale of perishable products. The store manager’s responsibility included the grocery line, front-end departments, and store operations. The store manager was responsible for appearance of personnel, cleanliness, adequate checkout service, and price accuracy. A grocery manager reported to the store manager, maintained inventories, and restocked shelves for grocery items. The district merchandising office was responsible for promotional campaigns, advertising circulars, district advertising, and attracting customers into the stores. The grocery merchandisers were expected to coordinate their activities with each store in the district. Business for the C C chain has dropped off in all regions in recent years—partly because of a declining economy, but mostly because of increased competition from large discount retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco Wholesale. When these large discounters entered the grocery business, they brought a level of competition unlike any C C had seen before. C C had managed to hold its own against larger supermarket chains, but now even the big chains were threatened by Wal-Mart, which became no. 1 in grocery sales in 2001. C C managers knew they couldn’t compete on price, but they were considering ways they could use advanced information technology to improve service and customer satisfaction and distinguish the store from the large discounters. However, the most pressing problem was how to improve business with the resources and stores they now had. A consulting team from a major university was hired to investigate store structure and operations. The consultants visited several stores in each region, talking to about fifty managers and employees. The consultants wrote a report that pinpointed four problem areas to be addressed by store executives. 1. The chain was slow to adapt to change. Store layout and structure were the same as had been designed fifteen years ago. Each store did things the same way, even though some stores were in low- income areas and other stores in suburban areas. A new computerized supply chain management system for ordering and stocking had been developed, but after two years it was only partially implemented in the stores. Other proposed information technology (IT) initiatives were still â€Å"on the back burner,† not yet even in the development stage. . Roles of the district store supervisor and the store man- ager were causing dissatisfaction. The store managers wanted to learn general management skills for potential promotion into district or regional management positions. However, their jobs restricted them to operational activities and they learned little about merchandising, meat, and p roduce. Moreover, district store supervisors used store visits to inspect for cleanliness and adherence to operating standards rather than to train the store man- ager and help coordinate operations with perishable departments. Close supervision on the operational details had become the focus of operations management rather than development, training, and coordination. 3. Cooperation within stores was low and morale was poor. The informal, friendly atmosphere originally created by Doug Cummins was gone. One example of this problem occurred when the grocery merchandiser and store manager in a Louisiana store decided to pro- mote Coke and Diet Coke as a loss leader. Thousands of cartons of Coke were brought in for the sale, but the stockroom was not prepared and did not have room. The store manager wanted to use floor area in the meat and produce sections to display Coke cartons, but those managers refused. The produce department manager said that Diet Coke did not help his sales and it was okay with him if there was no promotion at all. 4. Long-term growth and development of the store chain would probably require reevaluation of long- term strategy. The percent of market share going to traditional grocery stores was declining nationwide due to competition from large superstores and discount retailers. In the near future, C C might need to introduce nonfood items into the stores for one-stop shopping, add specialty or gourmet sections within stores, and investigate how new technology could help distinguish the company, such as through targeted marketing and promotion, pro- viding superior service and convenience, and offering their customers the best product assortment and availability. To solve the first three problems, the consultants recommended reorganizing the district and the store structure as illustrated in Exhibit 3. 21. Under this reorganization, the meat, grocery, and produce department managers would all report to the store manager. The store manager would have complete store control and would be responsible for coordination of all store activities. The district supervisor’s role would be changed from supervision to training and development. The district supervisor would head a team that included himself and several meat, produce, and merchandise specialists who would visit area stores as a team to provide advice and help for the store managers and other employees. The team would act in a liaison capacity between district specialists and the stores. The consultants were enthusiastic about the proposed structure. With the removal of one level of district operational supervision, store managers would have more freedom and responsibility. The district liaison team would establish a cooperative team approach to management that could be adopted within stores. Focusing store responsibility on a single manager would encourage coordination within stores and adaptation to local conditions. It would also provide a focus of responsibility for storewide administrative changes. The consultants also believed that the proposed structure could be expanded to accommodate non grocery lines and gourmet units if these were included in C C’s future plans. Within each store, a new department manager could be added for pharmacy, gourmet/specialty items, or other major departments. The district team could be expanded to include specialists in these lines, as well as an information technology coordinator to act as liaison for stores in the district How to cite Case Study C C Grocery store, Free Case study samples

Paleontology (9th

Paleontology (9th-10th Grade Paper) Essay What Is Paleontology?Paleontology is he study of fossils, such as wood, bones, and shells. Those are the most common fossils, but there are also other types of things paleontologists search for. Such as soft tissues, tracks, and trails, and even coprolites which are fossil feces. Even though the fossils these people dig up are billions of years old, there is no minimum age for a structure to be a fossil. These paleontologists study the fossils they find to reconstruct the history of the Earth and the life on it. Like dinosaurs for example, if we did not know they were on the Earth before our time, what would we think? Would we think that there were aliens before us!?What Are the Practical Uses of Paleontology?Natural resources are very important to our economy. A number of the natural resources come from fossils. Some examples of these would be coal and oil, which comes from the fossils of plants. An example is the skeletons of algae. If we did not have these natural resources, what would we use for energy? That is why paleontology is so important. And if/when we run out of resources, will paleontology be able to help us again? Maybe they can find another natural resource that is abundant in our earth. What Training is Needed to Become A Paleontologist?Paleontology is one of the fields left in science in which you need no training to do. Amateurs can and frequently do make important contributions. You need a keen mind, curiosity and imagination, and lots of patience. That is why I could never be a paleontologist. How Can I Find Fossils In My Area?If you want to find fossils in your area, all you have to do is start looking! Quarries, road cuts, and cliffs are good places to start, but remember if it is needed, get permission before doing so. And play it safe!