The Beginning Of Time :: essays research papers fc

The Beginning Of Time There was a period in history when the beginning of the world in which we live in was a expressed through legends and myths, now, through the use of increasingly advanced scientific equipment we can see that the universe is more vast and complex than ever imaginable. The purpose of this paper is to bring light to some of the modern beliefs regarding the origin of the universe by answering a series of questions. What are the commonly excepted theories of the evolution of the universe? What is meant by the "Big Bang Theory" and how does it work? And how our planet and solar system developed from The Big Bang? This paper will use scientific data to base the evolution of our universe around The Big Bang. At the present time there are two theories which are used to explain the creation of the universe. The first theory is the infamous Big Bang Theory, which will be detailed later. The second is the Steady State Theory. (Weinberg, 1977) The later hypothesis was created to replace the common belief that the universe was completely static. The expansion of the universe was discovered in 1929 when Edwin Hubble discovered that every galaxy in the universe was moving away from each other, this meant that the universe was expanding. Hubble found the movement of the galaxies by using a phenomenon known as the Doppler effect. This effect caused bodies moving away from an observer to have a "red-shifted" spectrum (the light spectrum of the body had been shifted closer to red) and bodies moving towards an observer to be "blue-shifted" (Hawking, 1988) The expansion was traced backwards through time to discover that all the galaxies had originated from the same point. It was later believed that all matter spawn from that "center of the universe" discovered by Hubble, by means of some sort of enigmatic portal. Matter would collect outside this singularity and form every moon, planet, and star known today. The Steady State Theory was very attractive because it featured a universe with no beginning or end. The theory meant that scientist had to abandon the laws of conservations of mass and energy. It seemed plausible that the aforementioned laws of physics could breakdown at a certain point but more and more evidence gathered against the Steady State Theory, leading to unending modifications to it. Until finally the theory was dropped completely with the discovery of the smooth microwave background radiation (radiation so ancient it had shifted right out of the visible spectrum into microwave radiation). A smooth background to the universe suggested that it was hot and uniform - the

Shakespeare In Love :: essays research papers

Shakespeare in Love is a fictional story about the writing of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, played by Joseph Fiennes, is in the middle of what could be a disastrous writer's block. His idea for the play, which should be completed, is a pirate comedy entitled Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. But Will is stuck, his shrink asks him how long it has been since he has been with a woman and advises him that that is what he needs. Auditions are held since the players' troup is out on tour. All the not so actors are pitiful. Except for Thomas Kent, the alias given by Viola, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Women at this time are not allowed on stage in public. After Shakespeare shows interest, this character runs away to her estate where a party is being held. He follows Thomas into this party to later find love at first sight in Viola. Thomas once again shows up to receive her part in the play as Romeo. While Will and Thomas are talking, Shakespeare pours his heart out, telling about this wonderfully beautiful woman, Thomas's cousin. Somehow, they end up kissing. Now that Will has this woman, his writers block is cured, he goes on to write Romeo and Juliet through his true-life actions in his affair with Viola. At the end of the movie they put on the play through all the hardships, in the company of Queen Elizabeth. I greatly enjoyed this movie, even though it is not a typical movie of my preference. The truth is that I would have never gone to see this movie if extra credit was not given. I was delighted to see an extremely entertaining movie. I was also amazed at all the references that I would not have not caught if it weren't for English Literature and history covered this year and by reading Romeo and Juliet two years ago. Freshmen year, while reading the play, I repeatedly caught myself thinking, "I don't understand a thing they are saying.

Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Essay examples -- essays papers

What is the FTAA In 1994, the leaders of the thirty-four democratic countries of the Western Hemisphere launched the process of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The FTAA will be established by 2010 with the aim of gradually eradicating barriers to trade and investment in the region. The final characteristics of the FTAA will be determined through negotiations by government officials from the thirty-four participating countries. The trade issues that are presently under discussion are: market access; investment; services; government procurement; dispute settlement; agriculture; intellectual property; antidumping, subsidies and countervailing duties; and competition policy. Guiding principles for these negotiations are (1) the agreement will be consistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), (2) all countries will be participants in all parts of the agreement, and (3) the final agreement will build on the existing agreements in the region such as the Andean Commu nity and the Southern Cone Common Market (known by its Spanish acronym MERCOSUR). Guiding Principles of the Negotiations †¢ Decisions by consensus (one nation, one vote). †¢ Transparency. †¢ Consistent with rules and disciplines of the World Trade Organization. †¢ Commitment to improve on WTO rules and disciplines. †¢ Single undertaking with simultaneous negotiations in all issue areas. †¢ Co-existence with bilateral and sub-regional trade agreements. †¢ Countries negotiate and accept obligations individually or as members of sub-regional groups. †¢ Special attention to smaller economies and difference in levels of development. †¢ Rights and obligations shared by all countries. †¢ Countries to ensure that national laws and regulations conform to FTAA obligations. The central purpose of the FTAA is to promote economic growth and prosperity of the member countries by lowering barriers to trade and investment within the Western Hemisphere. According to the principles, it is a WTO plus agreement in the sense that the standards and disciplines of the WTO constitute the foundation on which the FTAA is to be constructed, but to be a success it must exceed these. In addition, the FTAA process co-exists with existing trade agreements and the sub-regional trade blocs can have a place at the negotiating table. As is also clear from the list of principles, th... ...p://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_maude.html) Cavanaugh, John. â€Å"Hemispheric Network for Just and Sustainable Trade and Development.† Inside NAFTA 6 (2000): 12-15. Foreign Trade Information System. 2001. Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Process. [Online]. Available on the World Wide Web: (http://www.sice.oas.org/ftaa_e.asp) Global Exchange. 2000. Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas [online]. Available on the World Wide Web: (http://www.globalexchange.org/ftaa/topten.html) Hansen-Kuhn, Karen. 1996. Free Trade Area of the Americas [online]. Available from the World Wide Web: (http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol1/ftaa.html) Nason, Jesse. 2000. FTAA Myths vs. Reality [online]. Available on the World Wide Web: (http://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_factmyth.html) Nason, Jesse. 2000. Straight from the Horse's Mouth: A critical look at what the FTAA says about itself. [Online]. Available from the World Wide Web: (http://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_quotes.html) Public Citizen: Global Trade Watch. 1999. Unveiling "NAFTA for the Americas" [online]. Available from World Wide Web: (http://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_publiccitizen.html) Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Essay examples -- essays papers What is the FTAA In 1994, the leaders of the thirty-four democratic countries of the Western Hemisphere launched the process of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The FTAA will be established by 2010 with the aim of gradually eradicating barriers to trade and investment in the region. The final characteristics of the FTAA will be determined through negotiations by government officials from the thirty-four participating countries. The trade issues that are presently under discussion are: market access; investment; services; government procurement; dispute settlement; agriculture; intellectual property; antidumping, subsidies and countervailing duties; and competition policy. Guiding principles for these negotiations are (1) the agreement will be consistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), (2) all countries will be participants in all parts of the agreement, and (3) the final agreement will build on the existing agreements in the region such as the Andean Commu nity and the Southern Cone Common Market (known by its Spanish acronym MERCOSUR). Guiding Principles of the Negotiations †¢ Decisions by consensus (one nation, one vote). †¢ Transparency. †¢ Consistent with rules and disciplines of the World Trade Organization. †¢ Commitment to improve on WTO rules and disciplines. †¢ Single undertaking with simultaneous negotiations in all issue areas. †¢ Co-existence with bilateral and sub-regional trade agreements. †¢ Countries negotiate and accept obligations individually or as members of sub-regional groups. †¢ Special attention to smaller economies and difference in levels of development. †¢ Rights and obligations shared by all countries. †¢ Countries to ensure that national laws and regulations conform to FTAA obligations. The central purpose of the FTAA is to promote economic growth and prosperity of the member countries by lowering barriers to trade and investment within the Western Hemisphere. According to the principles, it is a WTO plus agreement in the sense that the standards and disciplines of the WTO constitute the foundation on which the FTAA is to be constructed, but to be a success it must exceed these. In addition, the FTAA process co-exists with existing trade agreements and the sub-regional trade blocs can have a place at the negotiating table. As is also clear from the list of principles, th... ...p://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_maude.html) Cavanaugh, John. â€Å"Hemispheric Network for Just and Sustainable Trade and Development.† Inside NAFTA 6 (2000): 12-15. Foreign Trade Information System. 2001. Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Process. [Online]. Available on the World Wide Web: (http://www.sice.oas.org/ftaa_e.asp) Global Exchange. 2000. Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas [online]. Available on the World Wide Web: (http://www.globalexchange.org/ftaa/topten.html) Hansen-Kuhn, Karen. 1996. Free Trade Area of the Americas [online]. Available from the World Wide Web: (http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol1/ftaa.html) Nason, Jesse. 2000. FTAA Myths vs. Reality [online]. Available on the World Wide Web: (http://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_factmyth.html) Nason, Jesse. 2000. Straight from the Horse's Mouth: A critical look at what the FTAA says about itself. [Online]. Available from the World Wide Web: (http://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_quotes.html) Public Citizen: Global Trade Watch. 1999. Unveiling "NAFTA for the Americas" [online]. Available from World Wide Web: (http://www.stopftaa.org/info/info_publiccitizen.html)

Unit 20: Promoting Health Education- P1

Unit 20: Promoting Health Education- P1 In this unit I am going to explain three different approaches to promoting Health Education the three approaches I am going to explain are Mass Media, Community development and Two way Communication. The first approach to promoting Heath Education is Mass Media. -Mass media-any written, printed, visual, electronic, auto-visual media developed to reach mass audience and the public. -Audience segmentation-division of a population into a more homogenous groups based on similarities in attitudes, beliefs and knowledge. This allows greater impact of the message. It is used mainly in promoting Health Education to raise public awareness about a particular problem or issue, Stress the ill-effects of unhealthy behavior and the benefits of preventive behavior. Mass Media can be found anywhere and everywhere. Just a few of the many different types of Media are, Television, Radio, billboards, Posters. There have been many different effective National health campaigns such as: Physical activity, diet, smoking, heart disease, sexually transmitted infections and mental health. There are many different ways of approaching promoting health education such as, planned campaigns and advertising. This has the advantage of targeting a wide target audience and may be tailored to meet specific objectives. Unpaid publicity, this may be low cost campaigns that may seem to provide greater credibility to the target audience. Mass media can use many different approaches to promoting health education. Some of the ways you could promote health education is fear, some campaigns use fear to get the message across and for it to have effect such as, smoking and the effects such as cancer. An Example of a mass media campaign used to promote health education is the NHS Anti-smoking campaign that featured a number of media approaches such as very graphic posters and television advertisements such as The ‘I’d do anything’ advertisement. These types of advertisements are designed to motivate smokers to quit and by featuring the children of smokers singing â€Å"I’d do anything† from the musical Oliver with the endline: â€Å"Your kids would do anything for you. Why don’t you stop smoking for them? I think that this type of approach would have a very positive outcome with a number of people giving up smoking, The outcomes from this NHS campaign would be measured by Engagement and response, Daily/weekly call figures, Number of NHS Quit Kits ordered and Web stats – unique visits, time spent on site, number of page views Another mass media approach would involve health educators working to encourage healthy lifestyles and wellbe ing by educating individuals and communities. They create awareness on subjects that can prevent diseases, injuries, and other health problems. Health educators attempt to prevent illnesses by informing individuals and communities about health-related topics, such as proper nutrition, the importance of exercise, how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, and the habits and behaviours necessary to avoid illness. The advantages of using mass media to promote health education are that you can raise important issues and create awareness about them. Mass media is also a good way to get people thinking about and discussing the issues, it is also a good way of reaching a large audience and a scatter gun approach can be used. On the other hand there are a few disadvantages of using mass media to promote heath education, such as cost effectiveness. Mass media can be very cost effective and have high costs such as advertising. A Scatter gun approach and it may not be as effective as a direct approach. Sometimes you cannot tell who the message is coming from and it is only one way communication. You also can’t see the outcomes or tell if it has been effective for a very long time. Overall I believe that the use of mass media in health promotion is widely used. It can be used locally, regionally and internationally. But the outcomes of some mass media campaigns are yet to be realized and to be proven as successful or unsuccessful. Mass media is one of the main approaches used in health promotion and its lack of success may be due to its oversimplification or segmented view of health and well-being. The second approach to promoting Heath Education is Community development. -The process whereby people who are marginalized or living in poverty work together to identify their needs, create change, exert more influence in the decisions which affect their lives and work to improve the quality of their lives, the communities in which they live, and the society of which they are part. Community development involves changing the relationships between ordinary people and people in positions of power, so that everyone can take part in the issues that affect their lives. It starts from the principle that within any community there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channeled into collective action to achieve the communities' desired goals. Community development is used to promote health education because the problems can be directly targeted and hit. Community development is used to target issues such as environment issues, housing, crime, pollution, support and isolation. By improving these issues you can improve the health issues that have become a consequence, Such as smoking, alcohol, drugs, stress, exercise and crime. See diagram below: A further approach to community development could involve a multiagency approach. The multiagency approach could involve the Government, local authorities, health trusts, the police, schools and other agencies all co-operating to achieve one outcome within a community. You can promote heath education by targeting an individual group such as children, young people, families and the elderly. It would involve the entire agency’s working together effectively, putting children, young people and their families at the centre of decision making in order to meet their needs and improve their lives. An example of using community development to promote health education could involve starting a group meeting in a local community centre and doing sport activities. Or the local council providing free health facilities for the community such as Hall Classes that could vary from aerobic sessions or keep fit sessions that could involve using the wide range of equipment available at all the sports centers throughout the borough. The session aims could be to develop fitness, weight control, balance, and coordination, fun and group interaction. There are many advantages of using community development to promote health education such as working to improve people’s living environment. Providing a joint effort that brings the community together. It can also improve self esteem and make people have a â€Å"can do† attitude and empowers the community. It is also effective because it can be done on an effective small scale. I. e. 1-1 or 1-10 and you can be given the feedback automatically. Another benefit may be that it is not cost effective because you could use resources from the mass media such as: leaflets, posters or videos. On the other hand the disadvantages of using community development to promote health education are having to have a number of people that are committed for it to have an effect, and some people within the community may have a negative attitude and feel as if change is not possible. Others may depend on other people to fix the issues and you may not be able to evaluate the outcomes to see the effectiveness. Another problem may be that the message may not reach everybody within the community or people may hold back on their feelings or opinions. Overall I believe that Community development is an effective way of promoting health education because it can be used within a community to target a specific area or health problem that may need attention, such as poor housing. I believe that by addressing the main problems you can also target the health problems that have become a result of this. The final approach to promoting health education is two-way communication. -Two-way communication uses communication to negotiate with publics, resolve conflict, and promote mutual understanding. Two way communication is used to in promoting health education mainly to discuss health issues that may affect certain individuals. Two way communication involves one person having a thought then sending that message to the person who is concerned. The receiver then processes the message and gives the feedback. This cycle continues until a positive outcome has been achieved. Two way communication works by only addressing it to a certain individual whom it may concern such as a doctor to a patient. Its effectiveness depends on the way it is addressed to the receiver because people with different ages may need to be spoken to differently such as a young child would be spoken to in a different tone of voice or manner compared to an adult. Two way communication is used to promote health and social care in many different ways. It involves basic talking and listening, this can be a very effective simple way of making a positive change. Body language can also contribute to the outcomes of health promotion because if the health promoter shows open, positive body language and shows interest in the feedback they are receiving. This will show a positive attitude and may have a positive effect because the person who it concerns will feel supported. Two way communication could also be used in the form of leaflets, letters or posters detailing some basic information about the health promotion. Two way communication can also be used to promote health education presented as E-communication by using Email, Facebook and Video. An example of using two way communication to promote health education could involve Voluntary Organizations promoting a health message within a school such as an anti-drugs campaign. The Public Health Agency run an anti drugs campaign called ‘Your body, your life, your choice' this campaign was acknowledged that young people had to make up their own minds about drug use. The campaign works to provide young people with accurate information on the dangers of drugs, and to influence the attitudes of young people so that they are prepared and taught not to experiment with drugs. The target audiences for this campaign are 10-13 year olds and 14-17 year olds and parents. There are many advantages of using two way communication to promote health education. An advantage of using two way communication is that it can be used on a very cheap, small scale basis such as a 1-1 or a 1-10, you can also be given direct feedback. Sensitive issues can also be discussed between two people. I also think that it is an advantage that the target audience can be chosen to meet the specific health promotion needs, such as aiming an anti-cannabis campaign at 16-19 year olds. On the other hand I think that the disadvantages would be that it may not have the same effectiveness as the mass media approach because it is only being used on a small scale. I also feel that it is very limited at what health promotions can be used for what audience. Another disadvantage is that I feel that it would be hard to stress the delayed gratifications to the audience and I think that people would rather choose the instant gratifications. Overall I think that using two way communication to promote health education is a good idea because it can be used on a small scale and private, sensitive issues can be discussed. I also think that it is a good effective way of promoting health education because the issues can be targeted and hit where it will make the biggest impact such as in schools. On the other hand I think that this way of promoting health education may not be as effective as the mass media approach because the mass media approach can reach a wider audience. Health Promoters Health promoters work to promote a positive attitude about keeping healthy, living a healthy lifestyle, preventing illness, and preventing any existing illness from becoming worse. Health promotion covers many different health issues such as diet, obesity, smoking, exercise, alcohol, preventing heart disease, cervical screening, breast screening, sun and health ect. Health promoters can be found both local and nationally an example of a local health promotion is Refresh Free leisure, Anyone who lives, works, is in full time education or whose GP practice is in Blackburn with Darwen qualifies for free leisure. This campaign depends on the use of mass media, two way communication and community development. An example of a national health campaign is the NHS Anti smoking campaign, this is a national campaign because it was used across the country and across Ireland and Scotland. This campaign mostly depended on the use of mass media but also used two way communication and community development to create a more effective outcome. An example of a international Health promoter is, The World Health Organization (WHO) this health promoter is the coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, and monitoring and assessing health trends.

A Career in Social Work

The career that I want to pursue is social work. I enjoy talking to people, helping them with their problems, and try to make their bad days better; I already have some trained skills, which I have learned in places that I did some volunteer work in the past. I also worked babysitting children of different ages and tutored others in some basic subjects. My experience of having my own small business plus all the volunteer work in the places I mentioned above, gave me a head start by assisting individuals on a regular basis. Becoming social service worker has many responsibilities.Some of the responsibilities are getting information to provide quality services in an efficient and effective manner to people with complex needs. To be a good social service worker requires a solid foundation of training, values, knowledge, theory and skills. I was born and raised in a big city and lived n the same street with my family, until the age of twenty. My parents have been together for many years and I have 5 siblings. Growing up in the 1970's, having an abusive biological father was very difficult for my mother, my siblings and me.I felt that we were a comfortable family with all the things necessary to be happy. I was unaware that my biological father was abusive towards my mother, so was one of my brothers toward his wife. When I learned it, I was a teenager and it led for my siblings and I lean toward my grandmother and stepfather. Our families were divided by religion and the abuse. My stepfather was our pillar of support; he always encouraged all of us to get an education. I had to learn rapidly to adjust to different situations and saw that folks Just were not all bad, ecause they had faced problems in their lives.This permitted me to grow and absorb in ways other children may have never imagined, and I be certain of that because of my family, it has added a great deal of my individual strength and approval of others. I have also learned many useful skills and experie nces throughout my adult life. Having a difficult time as a child myself and then being married to an abusive husband for 15 years, has given me the power and aspiration to become a Social Service Worker. It will be fulfilling a lasting vision to help persons n need no matter the emergency they may be pursuing to remedy.When I was younger I always talked about being a teacher or a social worker. As I got older and started to build my life it changed. I went from being a simple receptionist to being an office clerk, where I have to not only answer phones, but learn many other skills at administrating an office. Although I went to school for to Office administration and didn't finished it, I always have the desire to serve and help others. With the determination and drive instilled in me there is no other ending but achievement and success.The one real mistake I believe we can make in life is to not learn from the errors and challenges that come our way. In fact, it is in these mistak es and trials where I have learned the most and grow into a healthier and stronger person. I still feel in my soul that my career path is in social work and now that I know what career path I will take it is up to me to make it happen. I believe that my life experiences and skills demonstrate why the field Social Service Work is best suitable for me as an education and career.Considering my strengths, I am cooperative, g natured, generous, nelptul, numble and modest and I trust others. As a professional, I am non-judgmental, not hold responsible the client for their predicaments. Even if someone hurts my feelings, I am quick to forgive and forget. These qualities are essential for me, because I am working and will work with a variety of people, healthcare professionals, clients, and others that may exhibit inflexible and difficult personalities that may be challenging to work with. Finding the right treatment or service for each client based on their needs requires a creative person .I am also particular, hard-working, organized, and, and take my responsibilities seriously. These qualities are appropriate for when I am working individually or with a team. My extroverted personality also suits my career objective as a social service worker as interaction with others is a significant portion of this kind of work. Regarding communication skills, I am talkative, assertive, sociable and active. One of my limitations is that, although I speak two languages fluently, my strong accent is not acceptable to some when it comes to interact with clients.I am vercoming this personal limitation by taking a pronunciation course over the summer as a starting point. Some of my personal talents include being interested and passionate in a selfless and courteous manner. I am capable to sustain a considerate and gentle manner, even in hectic circumstances. I have a high score for intellect, which shows that I strive to acquire and preserve my existing knowledge, which is crucial fo r a worthy and passionate social service worker. I am honestly concerned with other individuals and try to treat everyone with consideration and compassion.I have always had the desire to study and strive in my area of interest. When I had an opportunity in 2005 to go back to school, I was fully committed to excel in my studies. My goal is not Just to get good grades, but also to fully understand the concepts in my studies and be able to analyze them. There are many social issues in our society that I would like to personally contribute to for the improvement of society. Through learning, I was able to understand some of my own experiences from the past, and instead of taking them as a terrible lessons, I accepted them as a hallenging Journey.One of my academic goals is to keep up my above average grades. I put in enormous strength and hard effort into my studies. Upon arriving at this city, I was determined that I would spend my next two years in pursuit of new ideas and experience s. I come from a country with a rich social, cultural and ethnic variety; this helps me appreciate cultural sensitivity better as well as the clients' traditional beliefs, when working with the particular client populations. Beside English, I speak French and Spanish; knowledge of two extra languages, will become n extra asset as a social service worker.The population that I want to work the most is the elderly. Elderly clients are friendly and willingly wait for a social service worker to visit them. Most of them treat the worker as an acquaintance. Proficient detachment is required, so that I will not picture the client as a family, and to keep in mind that the objective is to help them improve their ability to do well without a lot of support. I am arranging my other areas of life around my studies, so I can entirely commit and keep up with decent grades. Success is all can see in my future.

Global Environmental Issues Essay

Global environmental issues, such as climatic change, global warming, pollution, species extinction and destruction of tropical rain forests hold unique place among other major international problems as it is one area that has transformative, comprehensive and long term impact on the future of entire world. For over a decade now the subject of these issues have become the common platform for intellectuals citizens, scientists, social organizations, and political and economic leaders from different parts of world to converge, assess and determine the possible ways to contain and mitigate its threat, that poses an unprecedented risk to the functioning and perhaps very survival of humanity. Climatic change, rain forest destruction and global warming are all interrelated issues, borne from same cause of increase in population and consumption. The empirical instances of these problems have been already factually corroborated in late in 1980s and early 1990s (Paterson, 1996). The years since 1987 started to show the veracity of these predictions as global average annual temperature soared higher every passing year and 1998 became the warmest year in the recorded years. More ominously, the second and third most warmest years in recorded history were 1995 and 1993, confirming to scientists, environmentalists and people that the rise in global temperature was not a sudden phenomena, or an aberration, but a systematic process that would compound in the absence of any effective policy and action (Johansen, 2002). Meanwhile, the destruction of Amazon and African rain forests have further compounded the problem, causing the environmental conditions to deteriorate more rapidly. Issues of climatic change and global warming have assumed international proportion as people have started to realized that the warming is a consequence of the largely unstructured paradigm of development, consumption, and growth followed over past 200 years, a problem that has been deeply embedded in the socio-cultural and economic system of the world (Uzawa, 2003). Despite the fact that there are many people over the world who would readily associate United States as the whole sole perpetrator of emission of greenhouse gases and global warming, United States has been among the leading campaigners to instituting policy change and corrective actions on the most comprehensive and global level to tackle the problem. The threats arising from global warming are bound to affect US’ economic and public interests with same intensity as they would affect that of any other country (Fleagle, 1994). Changing sea-level, intensification of storms, and climatic change have presented real threats for the United States and it is pressed for a domestic as well international solution (Uzawa, 2003). The problems with US are that its complex economic interests, industrial structure and societal framework doesn’t allow it to implement any drastic measures that may force a possible economic collapse (Victor, 2001). Under these strenuous complications, the US government is trying to come up with a policy for large scale institutional change and economic streamlining that aims to incorporate environmental costs as part of the economy and the society.

Information system capability and firm performance: contradictory findings and their possible causes Essay

Athal 1.0 Executive summary In broad spectrum, Athal is a service offering company that was established in 1980. Essentially, it offers inspection, testing, consulting as well quality control services. The company offers services to different companies in different industries through its 15 branches in Australia. The company used to offer these services in the past using manual quality assurance system but due to competition and emergence of new technologies in the industry, the company found it necessary to implement a new automated quality assurance system by integrating it with information systems. This would enable it to offer quality services that meet national and international standards in addition to ensuring that its clients operates within local and international standards (Ahuja &Khamba,2008, p. 720). The implementation of the new quality assurance system was faced with challenges from financial constraints to employees’ resistance. The company’s 110 employees were issued with questionnaires and five management staffs from the five departments were interviewed revealing the following: The employees were resistant on the new implementation was because of fear of losing their jobs and their relevance when the new quality assurance system would be adapted in the company. Hence, the implementation process heavily relied on the employees in the company. The company sensitization and trainings employees on the new quality assurance system saw the implementation process become smooth (Berry & Parasuraman, 2004, p.102) The company also faced challenge on the cost of the new quality assurance system in terms of infrastructures such as software, computers, and training employees and technical staff on running and marinating the process. However, the implementation of the new quality assurance system improved the services offered and increased its competitive advantage in the market. Through analysis, it was realise d that, the company use of new quality assurance system has limited clients’ bargaining power thus retraining and attracting more companies and businesses from unique quality services offered. The new quality assurance system cause increase in initial capital and profits margins for new companies that would like to venture to the industry and as a result few companies would invest in the industry. According to Ford & D’Amelio (2008), high initial cost of capital serves as a barrier for new entrants in the industry making the market less competitive. The new automated quality assurance system was found to be fast and giving effective services that attracted various client companies, which helped Athal Company to retain and attract new employees in the company thus helping it to regain its competitive position in the market (Chen, 2008, p. 53). Moreover, the ability of quality assurance that is integrated to information system to be monitored by different people results in services that are accurate and free from errors thus giving consumers’ confidence. The process is also cost effective in long term due to reduced time and human capital that can be utilized i n other constructive duties that would improve the productivity of the company. The system was recommended for both internal quality control for the company and external quality control for Athal company clients and other services offered. 2.0 Introduction Athal is a company was established in 1980 in Australia. Its main work is provision of services that vary from inspection, testing, consulting and quality control. They offer these services to different organizations (clients) to ensure that they offer quality services and that they are able to operate within local and international standards. The company offers these services in more than 15 branches in Australia. For the company to be efficient, it has linked all the 15 offices through information systems integrated quality assurance system. The company also manages to offer these services by employing 110 workers that are of various professional backgrounds.The workers are delegated duties based on five different departments that include public relations, finance department, technical, marketing and quality control. The finance department ensures that all the financial services are met for the company and that of the clients looking for consultancy services in the organization. 2.1 Research aim and objectives The overall aim of the study was to investigate the new quality assurance system that was implemented by Athal Company could be upgraded unlike the manual quality assurance system through update of information system software. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of transformation from using quality assurance on manual system to automated system; to find out the difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually; the effects of transformation from using quality assurance on manual system to automated system; the company need to implement the quality assurance system internally as well externally for their daily business work; the effect of automated system compared to the manual system; important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment. 2.2 Research questions ïÆ'Ëœ What is the difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually? ïÆ'Ëœ What is the difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually? ïÆ'Ëœ What are the effects of transformation from using quality assurance on manual system to automated system? ïÆ'Ëœ Why the company need to implement the quality assurance system internally as well externally for their daily business work? ïÆ'Ëœ What are the effects of automated system compared to the manual system? ïÆ'Ëœ What is important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment? 3.0 Literature review With the development and the industrialization of the world, quality assurance system has become inevitable to business industries (Lanz, 2013, p. 6). Many businesses industries adapt technologies to increase efficiency and quality of services they offer. The quality services and efficiency serves as a strategy to compete in the market. Information system is one of the technologies that have been adapted by many companies and bushiness to improve on their performance (Ho-Chang, Chang, & Prybutok, 2014, p. 316). The information systems have been used in various areas of specialization for company such as records department, financial, marketing and quality control. The technologies are linked to the business strategies such that they fit the competitive strategies making the company to fit in a dynamic market and environment (Wang et al, 2012, p. 346). The information systems help to integrate business entities making it more manageable and efficient in delivery of its services ( Drne vich, & Croson, 2013, p. 488-489). Hence, the quality system that would incorporate information system will enhance the integration of the five departments and the external environment making the company more manageable and improve service delivery. Consequently, the business would be able to compete and improve its performance. The implementation of the new quality assurance system in Athal Company involved an organization change. Hence the company needed to prepare the employees for a new change because people tend to resist to changes and particularly to those that tend to affect their freedom (Ford, Ford, & D’Amelio, 2008, p. 370). The managers have the responsibility to initiate new changes and influence employees to develop positive attitude on the technologies for smooth adoption of new quality assurance system (Lilly, & Durr, 2012, p. 199). To avoid resistance managers and executive must provide employees with trainings and other support skills that will help them to adapt to new technologies (KumpikaitÄâ€" ,& ÄÅ'iarnienÄâ€", 2008, p. 93-94.). The case study involved the transformation of Athal Company from the manual quality systems to new automated quality systems that would be implemented using information systems. To implement the new quality assurance system using information system, the company needed to purchase new computers, information systems software to link various departments and branches (Porter, 2008, p.359). For testing, inspecting, and quality control consultant companies, it takes a lot of time o collect data manually for various tests and inspections. This results in decreased performance from reduced numbers of clients that can be served in a given day. In order to increase speed, efficiency, accuracy, and simplify data collection, analysis and collation, information system is important as part of quality assurance. Information system helps to automate the quality assurance system. In automation process, a microprocessor can be adapted for data collection, analysis, and collation for small companies like Athal. The process is cost effective and is able to handle varied number of data sets. However, a real-time microcomputer is more relevant and reliable for the company since it handle a varied number of companies and collects a wide range of tests and inspection data. In addition, statistical quality assurance would ensure that a continuous improvement is carried out on the whole process. Larger companies with large numbers of employees may require a complex information system for quality assurance such as agile system that would be able to handle complex testing and inspection processes and delivering high quality results. However, the system is expensive, require highly trained manpower and thus unsuitable for small companies such as Athal. The microprocessor and real-time microcomputer are suitable for Athal Company due to its small size that is evidenced by few employees and services turnover. The program required skilled labour that was costly and extra training for the employees so that they could be able to adapt to the new quality assurance system freely. In addition, the new quality assurance system needed change of organization behaviour from a manual system to an automated system, which many of the employees were not conversant. Therefore, the company had to change the behaviour of employees from manual to automated systems, which risked objection and resistant. Hence, the management had to use their leadership skills and organization development to implement the new change successfully (Mullins, 2013 p. 8). The new quality assurance system meant that the employees freedom, poor performance and missing of duties would end. Consequently, their level of services would be monitored and thus giving quality services. The implementation process involved installation of inspection, testing, and quality control infrastructures that were linked using information system software and hardware that would be used to disseminate information. Quality assurance can be automated through integration with information systems such as microcomputer and microprocessors with simple software or complex software such as agile systems. Some of the examples of automated quality assurance that was a possible choice for Athal Company include lint, find bugs, check-styles, fx-Cop, and coverity (Sroufe & Curkovic, 2008, p. 357). These systems can be used for multiple projects and can even detect defects that technical team may not be skilled in the language of detection either through testing or inspection. These syst ems are programmed software and coded in reference to various local and international standards. These programs are installed in microprocessor, microcomputers or computers in order to enhance the quality assurance process. The processes become fast, accurate and less laborious (Sroufe, & Curkovic, 2008, p.519). . Programs such as lint are installed in order to help in detecting errors that may occur in the course of analysis test and inspection data that is collected from various client companies. The check style helps in writing the java code that is required during automation process. Due to a wide range of configurations of the tools, it can be configured to various standards thus becoming an important program in quality assurance companies as they deal with varied tests with different standards. This is done through coding different standards using various classes of checks such as JavaDoc, Coding, and whitespace (Wang et al, 2012, p. 330). The change to new quality assurance system for Athal Company meant that it would increase its market share due to improved quality of services that it would offer. Its clients would receive quality inspection and testing that would guarantee the quality control. The new information system would be able to monitor external companies that serve as its client at constant rates thus enhancing efficiency of Athal Company. Moreover, the automated system has low errors as compared to the manual system thus, the right services will be offered. This will guarantee the company efficient services that meet the national and international levels. The new changes to the automated quality assurance system will enable the management in the Athal Company to be able to define their objectives and delegate to specific employees, which could not be possible with the manual system. Defined objectives and delegation of duties in the company will mean that the tasks would be accomplished in time. Moreover, less time is wasted using the automated quality systems thus the employees become more productive in spite of quality services that they offer. The result is the overall productivity of the company and better services to their clients compared to when they were using the manual system. The company decision to implement the new quality assurance system was because of increased competition and the deteriorating performance on its inspection, testing, and quality control services. The few companies in the industry had improved their performance, they had started to command the market, and therefore, the company had to look for means by which it could be able to compete with the other companies. The adoption of the new automated quality assurance system was seen as the only way that the company would be able to compete successfully in the market and thus a decision was finally reached to implement the new system. However, the decision was subject to employees support as they would be the one s that would use the quality assurance system for the benefit of the company. The decision process involved all the employees in the company where opinions were included in the new projects. Due to fear of most of the employees on their relevance when the new quality assurance syst em would be implemented, training of existing and recruiting of new employees was included as part of the implementation of the new system. When all the employees were comfortable with the new quality assurance system and sensitized on the need to shift to the new quality assurance system, the management went ahead to implement the new automated quality system in the company. Since the employees are growth oriented, they were able to adapt to the new system. The finance department must ensure that financial services given to consulting clients are accurate and up-to-date. This will ensure that no overcharging or errors that may affect clients’ access to services from Athal Company. Therefore, internal quality assurance system will be important in the finance department vis-à  -vis other departments to ensure harmony and quality services. The public relation department ensures that interpersonal relationship for all the clients and workers is maintained at high level thereby improving the performance of the employees, retain, and attract more clients. This will result in productivity of the company due good customer relation and high quality services that the company offers. Technical department ensures all the other department and technical services management meet the goal and mission of the company to offer quality services (Chen, 2008, p. 242). The quality control department ensures that all the services that are offered by the company and its internal managements are in line with the international and local standards (Hoyle, 2009, p. 244). Athal company manual quality control system was tedious since employees had to carry out inspection and testing services physically resulting to delayed and poor services. In addition, physical method is prone to error from workers due to fatigue and this may affect the services delivered to the clients negatively. The qualities of services that companies give help them to retain and attract more customers, making it more competitive by commanding a wider share of the market (Berry, & Parasuraman, 2004 p. 134).Therefore, for the company to improve its services and improves its market share, a competitive and efficient quality control systems had to be put in place. Despite the high cost of implementation, the service would ensure that quality services are dispensed through efficient moni toring services and this. The company adopted and automated a quality control system developed through information system to link all the five departments and the employees. Consequently, the company linked all the 15 branches such that all the services offered meet the customers need. The interlinked company departments and branches would ensure that inspection and testing process were efficient. The information systems ensure that quality assurance system updated on regular intervals thus allowing continuous improvement of the process. The technical department monitored and maintained all the systems. The marketing department created awareness of the services offered by Athal Company and disseminated information about the quality and the quality assurance system that they employ to give the clients confidence and increase clients influx in the company. Consequently, public relation department would ensure that a good relationship among all the stakeholders of the company by disseminating relevant informatio n and keeping the customers updated throughout. The questions categorized for questionnaires and interviews. The employees’ questions related to the effectiveness of the new process, their attitude on the change, and the transformation to the new system. Moreover, it also focused on employees’ involvement in the new process, and how monitoring changed comparing the manual quality assurance system. Concerning this question, some employees said that the new quality assurance system was more effective while few of them did not distinguish between the performance of the manual quality assurance system and the new quality assurance system that is integrated with the information system, saying that they viewed both systems as the same. On the issue of cost and monitoring, most of them said that the new quality assurance system on quality assurance was more costly and offered close monitoring of employees and projects on the course thus maintain a high performance rate in the company. On the issue of the attitude of the emp loyees, some employees had a negative attitude on the new quality assurance system as they said that the new quality assurance system would limit their freedom and might result to losing their jobs. Those with positive attitude argued that the new automated system would make work easier and improve the performance of the company. Few were confused on the though seemed interested with the implementation of the new quality assurance system. The implementation process was expensive from the response of the majority of the participants while few did not care about the cost and they said that it was cheap for the company since it had enough resources to implement the new system. According to the participant in this case study that were working for Athal company for the time of the research, the transformation process was faced with resistant as some employees feared losing jobs due to inadequate skills. According to GE Inspection Technologies, new quality assurance system would result to working overtime because some machines would require monitoring and thus resisted the change and made the transformation process difficult for the management. A number of the employees said that transformation was smooth as they cited that the management was able to deal with employees and assured them that nothing would change on the management of employees and their jobs were safe (Ho-Chang et al., 2014, p. 35). They also indicated that the management assured them that the transformation to automate quality assurance system would include training of employees in order to adapt to the new quality assurance system. The employees argue that method would be applicable to both internal and external monitoring, as the company required the monitoring of the quality of other companies that it offered services. To them, this was the best means by which the company would improve its services to its clients (KumpikaitÄâ€" & ÄÅ'iarnienÄâ€", 2008, p.93). On the part of the management interview, it emphasized on the performance of the new quality assurance system, employees and clients response, and the cost of the implementation. The interview involved five management employees under the five departments. The management unanimously answered that the performance of the new quality assurance system showed improvement. They cited that the system could process large information fast, accurately, and effective as compared to the old system. The management argued that the employees had a mixed reaction on the implementation while the clients were happy and welcomed the new system, as they believed that it could improve their services ((Ho-Chang et al., 2014, p. 306). The implementation process was costly according to the management but they did it as a way of improving their qualities. The organization experienced problems and poor performance in the marketing department thus caused reduced customers in the company. Similarly, poor performance of public relations department resulted to conflicts and poor employees’ performance that affected the efficiency and productivity of the company in delivering its services. In every company or business, good employees’ relationship is important since it minimizes conflicts and improves their working conditions and as a result, employees become very productive, which is the aim of every business. Consequently, employees are able to offer quality services to their clients thus retaining more clients for Athal Company despite high prices that may be attributed by increased cost of automated quality assurance system. Similarly, the slow monitoring and poor services in the finance department caused company poor performances and financial mismanagements. All the problems happened to Athal Company despite it having a manual quality assurance system that was mandated monitoring and ensuring that the company was able to operate within the local and international business environment (KumpikaitÄâ€" & ÄÅ'iarnienÄâ€", 2008, p.93). The manual system required employees to record and enter data manually in addition to physical monitoring and auditing thus spending a lot time and resulting in slowed processes thus caused Athal Company to perform poorly. The problems reflected that the manual system was ineffective. Therefore, the company needed to change its method of quality assurance so that it could ensure that customers received quality services. Finance department also needed good management as it ensured that the company operated with the international and national standards. The approach would not only improve the company’s quality systems but also improve its productivity and its competitiveness due to high quality services and standards that it would uphold. The target market for Athal Company is organizations and businesses that are in need of consultancy, inspection and testing services. The companies or businesses may be diverse and offering various services in the market but for them to provide quality services to their customers, they strengthen their managements through Athal consultation services (Wigand, 2003, p. 33). Therefore, Athal Company needs to provide high quality services and set international standards to its clients. Hence, it was important for it to adapt new quality assurance system in quality assurance services that would allow it give quality inspection, testing, and quality control services. Thus, adapting an automated information system would ensure that it would be able to carry out internal and external quality control. Athal Company offered effective services in the industry, which has maintained its productivity in the market in spite of its manual system. The company has also high skilled employees although the achievement of the company’s goals has been achieved through extra management and monitoring. In addition, the company operates in an industry where competition is not very much stiff. However, the emergence of the new quality assurance system that few companies are adapting, competition is becoming a business issue that management has to deal with. Moreover, the companies marketing strategies and new quality assurance system adaptation has been poor until the recent past when the company adapted the new quality assurance system on quality assurance. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the implementation process of the new quality assurance system and how best is suited in the company’s strategies to improve its productivity and growth in the industry. 3.1 Advantage of Athal Company on implementation of the new quality assurance system The implementation of the new quality assurance system by Athal Company will accrue various advantages over the old manual system. The advantages will be in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, cost, involvement, and result oriented. The automated system will be advantageous in that inspection and tests will be run fast and effectively thus saving time that can be used to do other constructive duties in the company. Automated system will mean that the same type of the information will be fed to the system for various clients at a very short time and giving results instantly (Mak, &Peng, 2008, p. 366). One can only repeat similar information for the automated system. However, on the manual system one would be forced to record similar information for various entry and different clients thus taking a lot of time for a given task and giving out delayed results. This can be distractive to clients making them to shift their services to other companies that can offer fast and effective servi ces. Hence, the automated quality assurance system will not only give effective services at a very short time, but also retain the customer making the company more competitive in the market as opposed to the manual system (GE inspections, n.d p. 1). Although the automated system installation and training of employees on the new quality assurance system is costly in the short term, in long term, the system will be cheap as there will be saving of time and decreased human involvement thus saving the cost of labour for the company. The time saved could be used to do other constructive and productive services for the company, which would in turn give returns that subsidise the cost incurred by the company. Since the new quality assurance system utilises decreased human labour, the company can opt reducing its labour, which may as well reduce its cost of operation and thus increase its profits margin (GE inspections, n.d, p.18). However, the manual quality assurance system required a lot of time to fill out the forms and extra human labour to attend different labour thus the process becoming expensive in the long term and but cheap in the short term since there are is no cost of installation. Hence, the automated system is less expen sive in the long term and thus more advantageous to the company compared to the manual system. Another advantage is that the choice of quality assurance system depends on the financial and services offered by a company. Information system would allow integration of inspection and testing services making the process less involving and saving time for employees. The automated system is results oriented and the results can be assessed by different employees since they will be available from the system thus minimizing errors being transferred to clients. Moreover, different employees can monitor the results in their various destinations so that a perfect final product is achieved. Hence, the system forms the best collaborative monitoring system (Wang, 2012, p.325). This is in contrast to the manual where results are only processed by an individual subjecting them to errors that may be transferred to clients and may affect the customer relation with the company and affect its performance and provision of services. Therefore, Athal implementation of the new quality system through information system presents it with advantage on accurate and quality services for the customer thus maintain customer relations and maintaining its market performance at improved level. However, the new automated system will be a challenge to the company as the informa tion system tool is expensive on purchase and replacement in cases of breakdown. Moreover, the process of maintenance and training of employees can be very expensive for the company thus accruing unplanned cost, which may make its services more expensive thus making it less competitive in the market. Customers are attracted by low prices in the market. Although the automated system performs various tests for the information fed for the machine, the system has limitations and some of the tests such as images, and colour are only tested using manual system. Hence, the system cannot operate fully independently. Thus the cost of operation is increased by additional services for manual system. 3.2 Conceptual framework 4.0 Methodology 4.1 Research (Case study) philosophy The case study used questionnaires to obtain information from the employees about the manual quality system and the newly implemented quality systems in the company (Appendix 4). All the 110 employees were administered questionnaires to feel that contained both the questions about the old and the new information systems. In addition, interviews were conducted with five members from the top management team to understand the monitoring of the two systems (Wigand, 2003, p. 45) The questionnaires were preferred for the employees because they were a large group in the company and other methods would take a lot of time. Moreover, it was possible to administer all the questionnaires at the same time thus saving time and getting the required information. However, the tool is not appropriate for getting details if a good guidance is not accorded to participants. Respondents may answer questions shallowly and avoid some questions that may be sensitive to company operating policies. Interviews were preferred for the management team because they were few and it could be managed with a short time. Interview also helps in getting details about the implementation process. However, it is time consuming. The interview involved the seven questions attached in the appendix for the management. Athal Company was chosen in this case study since it was one of the companies that had implemented a new automated quality system using information system in the recent past. This meant that employees could be able to provide the required information as opposed to those that implemented it long time ago. In addition, there was high likely hood that most of the employees working in the company were present during the implementation process thus accurate information. Moreover, the implementation of the new quality assurance system was faced with many challenges from employees’ resistance to financial support. In addition, the company size was manageable for this study since it had few employees, few departments and only five departments. Hence, finding information from the company would be easier compared to large complicated company, as well this company at the time of the research study of this thesis it was the only company that allowed the researcher to do this case study on their company. The region of study was chosen to be Australia because the location has been advanced in automated quality assurance system and so there was high likelihood of finding a company that had implemented a quality system using information system as the study had targeted. The studies show that the Australia has a number of companies operating in quality assurance industry, which made the study more appropriate within the country (Sroufe, & Curkovic, 2008, p. 517). 4.2.1 Data Analysis Presentation and Interpretation of Findings The data was coded and analysed using the software package for social sciences {SPSS} and MS Excel package as well. The data was then scored by calculating the percentages and means. The information collected from the respondents was interpreted. Information was compiled once the questionnaires were completed and collected. The information was analysed and presented using statistical methods that is, pie charts and bar graphs.The data on the case study was obtained through questionnaires and interviews and 110 questionnaires were distributed to the different employees. The findings were as follows. From the 100 questionnaires that were complete, 90% discredited the manual system saying it was faulty as it offered minimum monitoring. As a matter of fact, 70% of the employees had a positive attitude about the manual system, as it was not effective when monitoring employees. 30% had negative attitude on the system as they felt the system caused personal conflicts between them and the people in charge of quality control. 100% of the participants agreed that the automated system was more effective compared to the manual system since all the employees had to log in to automated biometric system. In addition, 43% of the employees were resistant to the process and felt that the manual system would continue while 57% of the employees felt that transformation to the automated quality system was necessary. 95% of the employees felt that it was important to implement the quality system for both the external and internal environment of the business to ensure that the overall performance of the company was monitored. Inherently, 5% of the participants were not sure if the quality system was supposed to be installed both inter nally and externally. 4.2.2 The Distribution of position in company of Respondents According to table 4.4 and figure 4.4 Majority of the respondents were managers as shown by 25% of the respondents, 20% of them were line managers, 5% of them worked in the human resource department, 20% of the respondents indicated that they worked in the engineering department, another 10% of them came from the marketing department, 10% of them were finance managers while 10% of the respondents were managers from customer care department. Table 4.4 Position in company of Respondents Frequency Percentage IT Manager 5 25.0 Line manager 4 20.0 Human resource manager 1 5.0 Engineer 4 20.0 Marketing 2 10.0 Customer care dept. 2 10.0 Finance manager 2 10.0 Total 20 100.0 Figure 4.4 Positions in company of Respondents 4.2.3 To determine the application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems within the Athal In order for the study to achieve its main objective the first specific objective of the study was to determine the implementation application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems. In this regard the respondents were required to indicate the extent to which implement the application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems within the Athal). The respondents were also supposed to strongly negative, negative, positive or strongly positive on variables of quality assurance systems using Information Systems and their effect on manual system. 4.2.4 Extent effect of manual system From the study, 70% of the employees had a positive attitude about the manual system, as it was not effective when monitoring employees while 30% had negative attitude on the system as they felt the system caused personal conflicts between them and the people in charge of quality control largely as indicated by table 4.6 and figure 4.6 below. The findings indicate that manual system has a very great influence on monitoring employees. Table 4.6 positive attitude about the manual system Distribution Frequency Percentage Agree 90 70.0 Disagree 20 30.0 Total 110 100.0 Figure 4.6 positive attitude about the manual system 4.2.5 Effect of effect of manual system on employees monitoring According to table 4.7 and figure 4.7 below 90% discredited the manual system saying it was faulty as it offered minimum monitoring while 20% strongly agreed. From the study therefore it is clear that manual system offered minimum monitoring. Table 4.7 Effect of effect of manual system on employees monitoring Distribution Frequency Percentage Disagree 100 90.0 Agree 10 10.0 Total 110 100.0 Figure 4.7 effect of manual system on employees monitoring The effect of automated system compared to the manual system The findings on the effect of automated system compared to the manual system in table 4.8 and figure 4.8 below reveal that 70% of the employees had a positive attitude about the manual system, as it was not effective when monitoring employees while 30% had negative attitude on the system as they felt the system caused personal conflicts between them and the people in charge of quality control. Table 4.8 effect of automated system compared to the manual system Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Disagree 20 30.0 30.0 30.0 Agree 90 70.0 70.0 80.0 Total 110 110.0 100.0 Figure 4.8 effect of automated system compared to the manual system Effect of automated system compared to the manual system According to table 4.9 and figure 4.9 below 100% of the participants agreed that the automated system was more effective compared to the manual system since all the employees had to log in to automated biometric system.. From the study therefore it is clear that effective compared to the manual system. Table 4.9 effect of automated system compared to the manual system Frequency Percentage Agree 110 100.0 Total 110 100.0 Figure 4.9 effect of automated system compared to the manual system 4.2.6 The difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually According to table 4.10 and figure 4.10 below 43% of the employees were resistant to the process and felt that the manual system would continue while 57% of the employees felt that transformation to the automated quality system was necessary. From the study therefore it is clear that employees felt that transformation to the automated quality system was necessary. Table 4.10 difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually Total no Percentage Disagree 40 36.0 Agree 70 64.0 Total 110 100.0 Figure 4.10 difficulty of implementing quality assurance (QA) manually 4.2.7 Important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment The findings according to table 4.11 and figure 4.11 below indicate that 95% of the employees felt that it was important to implement the quality system for both the external and internal environment of the business to ensure that the overall performance of the company was monitored. 5% of the participants were not sure if the quality system was supposed to be installed both internally and externally. From the study therefore it is clear that quality system was supposed to be installed both internally and externally. Table 4.11 important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment Frequency Percentage Disagree 10 5.0 Agree 100 95.0 Total 110 100.0 Figure 4.11 Important of implementing quality system for both the external and internal environment 5.0 Research (Case study) findings and conclusion From the data obtained and the results from the questionnaire, the company wanted to implement new quality assurance system as a sign of its improvement from the manual to the automated system. The automated system would allow the company to improve its services and the ability to upgrade and update the systems software will give the company ability to adapt to continued improvement of its services. Therefore, the new quality assurance system will be advantageous to the manual quality system that limited continued improvement throughout the operations. The case study can be analyzed using various porters’ five forces to determine its applicability of the new quality assurance system in Athal Company and the external business environment. The porters’ five forces help to analyze the business in terms of competition, threat of new entry, power of clients seeking inspection, suppliers of quality assurance software and other employees qualified to work on the new quality assurance system, and substitute’s services offered by other companies using manual system. Consulting industry in Australia is very competitive and thus companies in the industry must devise strategies that will make them more competitive and make them the leading companies in the market. Therefore, for Athal Company to remain relevant in the market, it must adopt the best technologies that will enable it to provide the best quality assurance services in the industry. In the industry, company adapt to manual systems due to their low operation cost (Ahuja, & Khamba, 2008, p. 745). Hence, Athal company shift to new quality assurance system gives it competitive advantages over the other companies in the industry. According to the research carried out on the company, 90% of the employees credited the automated system saying that it was effective compared to the manual system. Thus, the system would be able to deliver quality effective services to its target market. Quality services help a company to retain its customers and place it in a more competitive position in the market as customer or buyers tend to be attracted by quality and not the prices (Porter, 2008 p. 33). Therefore, the company’s choice on the automated system would be advantageous in the market despite the cost that is associated with it. The implementation of the new automated quality assurance system led to the improvement of the company’s performance and increase in customers seeking services from the company and thus improved incomes as shown in figure 1 below (Appendix 1). According to the interview carried out on the company’s income performance, the income is expected to rise to $ 900 million with the new automated system. The industry suffers from the presence of companies that are still using manual systems as a means of quality assurance system. The manual system forms the substitute services offered in the industry. These companies charge their inspection services at lower prices that threaten Athal automated services. Hence, Athal Company must offer good services beyond their clients’ expectations so that they will be able to shift from the manual to the automated. The company also needs to put in place marketing strategies that will advertise the new quality assurance system emphasizing on the quality of services that it will offer as opposed to their previous method of quality assurance. Moreover, the company needs to offer quality services that will meet the needs of the clients. Hence, the company needs to improve its management and staff training so that it will be able to cope up with the substitute services from the company. Quality assurance ensures that quality services that meet t he need of the consumers and international standards are offered (Wigand, 2003, p. 115). For this reason, employees are required to be trained in accordance with the quality assurance system in order to deliver the required services. For smooth learning of quality assurance in the Athal Company, the management should be conversant with the complete quality assurance system. Therefore, individuals, organizations, and groups are part of quality assurance system. In every market, companies maintain the large share of the market through limiting the bargaining power of the consumers. Initially, the company was offering manual services that were offered by other companies in the market. This gave consumers more bargaining power as they had a wide choice of obtaining services from various companies. However, the shift of Athal company from manual system to the new system that was adapted by few companies make consumers to have limited choices of seeking services from the automated companies. The presence of few companies with the automated quality control system makes it possible for Athal Company to limit the bargaining power of consumers. When the bargaining power of consumers in the market is limited, they will tend to buy or obtain services from a single business (Chen, 2008, p. 241). Therefore, Athal Company will limit the customers and thus they will tend to seek the new services from the company thus improving its productivity and making it more competitive in the market. Athal Company shifting to the new system meant that it would also shift its suppliers from those that provided the manual facilities to those that would suppliers it with facilities and infrastructures for the new system . Since many companies in the industry have not adapted the new quality assurance system, it means that the suppliers are few in the industry. Few suppliers mean that the suppliers provide their services with strict conditions and high prices due to lack of competition. Moreover, the suppliers have high bargaining power in the market. This led to high installation cost for the automated quality system and the maintenance cost. The high prices offered by suppliers in the market reduce the profits margins for the companies operating in the industry (Chen, 2008, p. 241). Therefore, the new quality assurance system was costly to the company and the consecutive maintenance costs remain high thus reducing the profits margin for the company. Hence, limited suppliers in the industry threaten Athal Company adaptation to the new quality assurance system for quality system. The decreased number of suppliers and the reduced profits margin in the industry discourage new entrants in the industry. The decreased new entrants in the industry result in decreased competition in the market and threats for the existing companies. Therefore, Athal Company is free from threats of new entry due to high cost of adapting new quality assurance system. The reduced competition creates favourable environment for the existing company to operate and improve their services in order to achieve their desired profit margin and growth in the market. According to the management, the initial cost of the new automated quality assurance system 40% more than the previous manual system. Hence, few companies in the industry can adapt it and especially those that are profit oriented making the industry less competitive. However, it requires low maintenance cost that can be compensated by the anticipated increase in clients’ influx due to high quality services and additional benef its of continuous quality assurance that will be offered by the quality assurance system implemented externally. According to Berry & Parasuraman, (2004), customers are attracted by quality services than low prices of the offered services. Thus, market share for Athal Company will tend to increase despite the increase in price of their services. The purpose of this research was to investigate the implementing application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems with a special focus on Athal Limited. Having identified the problem of study reviewed existing literature and shown gaps of knowledge in and explained the methods that the study used to collect data. This section presents analysis and findings of the study as set out in the research methodology. The results are presented on the implementing application of quality assurance systems using Information Systems and Athal Limited in particular. The data was gathered exclusively from questionnaire as the research instrument. The questionnaire was designed in line with the objectives of the study. 6.0 SUMMARY This study was descriptive in nature meaning it employed a descriptive survey design and was carried out at Athal Company. Stratified random sampling was used to ensure equitable distribution of managers and employees in the departments within the organization, from which 110 were selected for the study and all of them filled the questionnaires The data that was obtained from the management was as follows. According to the management, the automated quality system was more effective and efficient in monitoring and delivery of information across the company departments and branches. Moreover, the system was fast as compared to the manual systems. The management agreed that the automated quality system improved the performance of the employees and that of the company thus increasing attracting more customers. According to the company, quality assurance has ensured that all the testing and inspection services meet the requirements of the clients and international standards. In addition, the quality assurance has been ensuring that there is continuous collection of data that can be used in assessing the quality of services. The data collected compared to international standards allow the Athal Company to carry out improvements of the system in order to improve the services they offer. To facilitate this, an action plan that is d eveloped through policies monitoring and evaluation process allow the management and the technical team to carry out continuous improvement of the quality assurance. According to the management of Athal Company, customers had increased from 300 to 550 per month when the new quality assurance system was implemented as shown in figure 3 below (appendix 3). Similarly, it is expected that the income would increase from $ 450 to $ 900 million by the end of the first year the figure 2 below in appendix 3 analysis the change. The management said that the employees had mixed reactions on the new quality systems, with almost half number of the employees arguing against it. However, concerted trainings and sensitizations led to smooth implementation of the new systems. From the questionnaires, it was found that managers appreciated the new systems and saw it a good system for medium companies. The implementation process was expensive and the maintenance cost is high. The installation and maintenance cost is 60% more for the new quality assurance system than the manual system as shown in the figure below. 7.0 Conclusion The objectives of this case study were achieved in that the new quality assurance system that was implemented by Athal Company could be upgraded unlike the manual quality assurance system through update of information system software. The process of full implementation, handling, monitoring, operating the system for the Athal Company involved the employees and organization management. Therefore, the process of quality assurance is effective when coupled to individuals, groups and organisations. According to the management, the type of the information system adapted to be used by quality assurance system depend on the size of the organization, services offered, financial ability and availability of resources. Athal Company being a medium company chose the relevant information system that meets their size of the company, financial ability and ability for continuous improvement. The process of quality assurance automation involves installation of testing, inspection and quality control equipment’s that are interlinked with information system software and hand wares such as computers to record information and deliver results. Athal Company followed the protocol and successfully implemented a new quality assurance system using information system. 8.0 Recommendations The following recommendations would be most appropriate for the company and other that would take the initiative to implement the automated quality assurance system in their premises. The company should prepare its employees in advance through hiring the right employees who have the skills to prevent unnecessary cost from extra trainings. If there has to be a training, only few employees should be trained and not the entire workforce. This would prevent resistant to new quality assurance system and save the company unplanned costs. The company should asses the availability of suppliers of automated quality assurance system that is planning to adopt to prevent exploitation by suppliers as evidenced in this case study. Few suppliers in the market resulted to increased cost, which in turn led to reduced profits from high cost of initial installations. 9.0 Suggestion for Further Research The study was carried out on Athal organization only; therefore a similar study could be carried out in other firms to ascertain whether similar results are obtainable. References Ahuja, I. P. S., &Khamba, J. S. (2008). Total productive maintenance: literature review and directions. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 25(7), 709-756. Berry, L. L., &Parasuraman, A. (2004). 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