Business Decision Making Assiment Essay Example for Free

Business Decision Making Assiment Essay You should sign this sheet to show that you comply with these regulations. Student’s Signature Date Acknowledgement I take this chance to thank Miss. M. PriyanthimalaWho helped me to improve and developed this particular project. She explained well about the project and sacrificed her most of the time to explain and also made sure that all the students understood. She was ready to help out in any time and gave her full support for this particular project. I finally would like to thank my parents, friends and others for helping to do this project. Thank you TASKS| PAGE NO| Task 01| 04| Task 02| 09| Task 03| 14| Task 04| 16| Task 05| 24| Task 06| 27| Task 07| 31| Task 08| 32| Task 09| 34| Task 10| 35| Task 11| 38| Task 12| 43| Task 13| 44| Task 14| 47| Task 15| 49| Reference | 51| Task 1 T 1. 1 Difference between a sample and a population Population| Sample| * Population is the area in which you are trying to get information from. * This meaning of population is also used in survey research, but this is only one of many possible definitions of population. Examples: Cedar Crest students; trees in North America; automobiles with four wheels; people who consume olive oil. | * Sample is a section of your population that you are actually going to survey. It is important to have a sample that will represent your entire population in order to minimize biases. Survey research is based on sampling, which involves getting information from only some members of the population. * Samples can be drawn in several different ways, such as probability samples, quota samples, purposive samples, and volunteer samples. Examples assuming the populations stated above: 47 Cedar Crest students chosen randomly; 8463 trees randomly selected in North America; 20 sample autos from each make (e. g. , GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc. ); 1% of the oil consuming population per country| T 1. 2 Describe the advantages of sampling * Sampling  saves money  as it is much cheaper to  collect  the desired information from a small  sample  than from the whole population. * Sampling  saves a lot of time and energy as the needed data are collected and processed much faster than census information. And this is a very important consideration in all types of investigations or surveys. * Sampling  provides information that is almost as accurate as that obtained from a complete census; rather a properly designed and carefully executed  sample  survey will provide more accurate results. Moreover, owing to the reduced volume of work, persons of higher caliber and properly trained can be employed to analyze the data. * Sampling  makes it possible to obtain more detailed information from each unit of the  sample  as collecting data from a few units of the population (i. e. ample) can be more complete and thorough. * Sampling  is essential to obtaining the data when the measurement process  physically  damages or destroys the  sampling  unit under  investigation. For example, in order to measure the average lifetime of  light bulbs, the measurement process destroys the  sampling  units, i. e. the bulbs, as they are used until they burn out. A manufacturer will therefore use only a  sample  of  light bulbs  for this purpose and will not burn out all the bulbs produced. Similarly, the whole pot of soup cannot be tasted to determine if it has an acceptable flavor. Sampling  may be the only means available for obtaining the needed information when the population appears to be infinite or is inaccessible such as the population of mountainous or thickly forested areas. In such cases, taking $ complete census to  collect  data would neither be  physically  possible nor practically feasible. * Sampling  has much smaller â€Å"non-response†, following up of which is much easier. The term non-response means the no availability of information from some  sampling  units included in the  sample  for any reason such as failure to locate or measure some of the units, refusals, not-at-home, etc. Sampling  is extensively used to obtain some of the census information. * The most important advantage of   sampling  is that it provides a valid measure of reliability for the  sample  estimates  and this is one of the two basic purposes of  sampling. * Reliability: If we collect the information about all the units of population, the collected information may be true. But we are never sure about it. We do not know whether the information is true or is completely false. Thus we cannot say anything with confidence about the quality of information. We say that the reliability is not possible. This is a very important advantage of sampling. The inference about the population parameters is possible only when the sample data is collected from the selected sample. * Sometimes the experiments are done on sample basis. The fertilizers, the seeds and the medicines are initially tested on samples and if found useful, then they are applied on large scale. Most of the research work is done on the samples. * Sample data is also used to check the accuracy of the census data. T 1. 3 Difference between primary data and secondary data T1. 4 Difference between a statistic and a parameter Parameter is any characteristic of the population. Statistic on the other hand is a characteristic of the sample. Statistic is used to estimate the value of the parameter. Note that the value of statistic changes from one sample to the next which leads to a study of the sampling distribution of statistic. When we draw a sample from a population, it is just one of many samples that might have been drawn and, therefore, observations made on any one sample are likely to be different from the ‘true value’ in the population (although some will be the same). Imagine we were to draw an infinite (or very large) number of samples of individuals and calculate a statistic, say the arithmetic mean, on each one of these samples and that we then plotted the mean value obtained from each sample on a histogram (a chart using bars to represent the number of times a particular value occurred). This would represent the sampling distribution of the arithmetic mean. T1. 5 Define sampling errors with example? Sampling error is an error that occurs when using samples to make inferences about the populations from which they are drawn. There are two kinds of sampling error: random error and bias. Random error is a pattern of errors that tend to cancel one another out so that the overall result still accurately reflects the true value. Every sample design will generate a certain amount of random error. Bias, on the other hand, is more serious because the pattern of errors is loaded in one direction or another and therefore do not balance each other out, producing a true distortion. These are the errors which occur due to the nature of  sampling. The  sample  selected from the population is one of all possible samples. Any value calculated from the  sample  is based on the sample  data and is called  sample  statistic. Task 2 T2. 1 Advantages and disadvantages of arithmetic mean. Advantages * Fast and easy to calculate- As the most basic measure in statistics,  arithmetic average is very easy to calculate. For a small data set, you can calculate the arithmetic mean quickly in your head or on a piece of paper. In  computer programs  like Excel, the arithmetic average is always one of the most basic and best known functions. Here you can see the  basics of arithmetic average calculation. * Easy to work with and use in further analysis- Because its calculation is straightforward and its meaning known to everybody,  arithmetic average  is also more comfortable to  use as input to further analyses and calculations. When you work in a team of more people, the others will much more likely be familiar with  arithmetic average  than  geometric average  or  mode. Disadvantages * Sensitive to extreme values- Arithmetic average is extremely sensitive to extreme values. Therefore,  arithmetic average  is not the best measure to use with data sets containing a few extreme values  or with more  dispersed (volatile) data sets  in general. Median  can be a better alternative in such cases. * Not suitable for time series type of data- Arithmetic average  is perfect for measuring central tendency when you’re working with data sets of independent values taken at one point of time. There was an example of this in one of the previous articles, when we were  year. However, in finance you often work with percentage returns over a series of multiple time periods. For  calculating average percentage return over multiple periods of time,  arithmetic average is useless; as it fails to take the different basis in every year into consideration (100% equals a different price or portfolio value at the beginning of each year). The more volatile the returns are, the more significant this weakness of arithmetic average is. Here you can see the example and reason why  arithmetic average fails when measuring average percentage returns over time. * Works only when all values are equally important- Arithmetic average treats all the individual observations equally. In finance and investing, you often need to work with unequal weights. For example, you have a portfolio of stocks and it is highly unlikely that all stocks will have the same weight and therefore the same impact on the total performance of the portfolio. Calculating the average performance of the total portfolio or a basket of stocks is a typical case when  arithmetic average is not suitable  and it is better to use weighted average instead. You can find more details and an example here:  Why you need weighted average for calculating total portfolio return. T2. 2 Comparative picture of median, mode, mean The Median The Median is the middle value in your list. When the totals of the list are odd, the median is the middle entry in the list after sorting the list into increasing order. When the totals of the list are even, the median is equal to the sum of the two middle (after sorting the list into increasing order) numbers divided by two. Thus, remember to line up your values, the middle number is the median! Be sure to remember the odd and even rule. That is, if the data is in meters, the standard deviation is in meters as well. The variance is in meters2, which is more difficult to interpret. Neither the standard deviation nor the variance is robust to outliers. A data value that is separate from the body of the data can increase the value of the statistics by an arbitrarily large amount. The mean  absolute deviation (MAD) is also sensitive to outliers. But the MAD does not move quite as much as the standard deviation or variance in response to bad data. The  interquartile range (IQR) is the difference between the 75th and 25th percentile of the data. Since only the middle 50% of the data affects this measure, it is robust to outliers. T3. 2 What are the different characteristics of the following measures of dispersion. The  range  is the simplest measure of  dispersion. The range can be thought of in two ways. 1. As a quantity: the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution. 2. As an interval; the lowest and highest scores may be reported as the range. By far the most commonly used measures of dispersion in the social sciences are  variance  and  standard deviation. Variance  is the average squared difference of scores from the mean score of a distribution.

Dickens Era--Child Labor :: History

Dickens Era--Child Labor Even though many of you parents out there are in fact opposed to sending your children to work in these textile factories, there are, in fact, many parents who do feel differently. However, there aren’t enough of these kinds of parents to satisfy factory owners, so they went as far as to purchase innocent children from orphanages and workhouses. These poor children are now called pauper apprentices. They are forced into signing contracts that pronounced them the property of the factory. Because these Pauper apprentices are quite a bit cheaper to house and pay than adult workers these types of children labor workers have become extremely popular. These children work and live under terrible conditions. There are even children as young as three years old put into work in these factories. Normally, however they began work at age 5, and generally die before they reach age 25. This leaves them about four years away from working. Many of them are released at age 21. Punishment is a common activity in these factories. Because maintaining the speed the over lookers of these laborers can get very difficult after a while, the over lookers, with their hearts of stone, have no sympathy and punish the children for slowing down. They are either hit with a strap to make them work faster or sometimes get their heads dipped into the water boiler. If late to work or caught talking to their peers, they are punished as well. Runaways are immediately sent to jail as well as suspected runaways. The owners are supposed to supply their workers with meals. The quality of the food isn’t good and the quantity is meager. Often, these children have to eat while working causing dust and other particles to smother the food. I was given the opportunity to briefly interview one little boy from a factory. However, our interview was cut off because he had to return to his duties. He is an eight year old named Jeremy who works at the Quarry Bank Mill. It broke my heart listening to him: How old are you Jeremy? I’m eight How long have you been working here? Since I was 4 years old Jeremy, I noticed that your leg is injured, how long has your leg been this way? It’s been this way for a few years—I think it’s because I never get a chance to really rest it.

How Does Steinbeck Present the Character of Curley’s Wife? Essay

Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as dangerous as she has the power as she is married to the owner’s son and she is not afraid to exercise that power. But also she is a victim of loneliness as Curley is not that interested in her and she has to stay on the ranch doing nothing but wondering around looking for company. This makes Curley’s wife both guilty and innocent. Steinbeck uses candy to forewarn the reader about Curley’s wife in their first meeting, this is significant as it shows that Curley’s wife is interpreted as ‘jail bait’ as George says. The fact that George is pre-warned about this potential danger is ironic as despite the warning she is the problem that ends up getting Lennie killed. Steinbeck describes her physical appearance first, she is described as very sexually attractive and uses this to bait guys in. she uses her physical appearance as her main weapon, and in the end of the book Lennie gets in trouble because she tem pts him to stroke her soft hair. Steinbeck shows moments of her being overly cruel. She gets lonely and looks around for people to talk to but when she realises that the guys don’t want to talk to her she turns on crooks telling him that she can get him hanged because she would accuse him of rape. Steinbeck uses her talk with Lennie to make you sympathise with her. She talks about how she could have been in the pictures but she thought her mum threw away the letters about it and that how she is now stuck on a ranch were everyone ignores her and she is lonely. Steinbeck finishes by saying that she is a nice, good person but the only way she could get noticed was if she expressed her sexuality to the guys on the ranch, that’s the only way they would pay attention to her.

The Start of the Contamination in Man’s Environment

In the late 1960s to 1970s, Americans realized that industry was doing serious damage to air, water, and the earth itself, the most essential natural resources. The whole awareness of the damage being done to the environment stemmed out from the energy crisis of the 1970s. The energy crisis was a ‘slap-in-the-face' for America. They needed to realize the harm that was being done to the natural resources and their decreasing availability as a result. With the decreasing availability and increasing prices of oil, new energy sources had to be discovered. Although scientists found nuclear power to be a clean, cheap, and unlimited source of power at first, the environmentalists fought to minimize its usage for fear of nuclear meltdowns, which could spread nuclear waste. Alternative energy sources were possible, and what appeared to be the most effective were tidal energy and solar energy. These environmentally safe methods of harnessing energy were just what the environmentalists had aimed for, and a new movement had been started – environmentalism. If you read this circle it. The environmentalists also tried to advocate the conservation of energy, so that the cleaner but less effective ways could be manipulated to produce more energy. Despite many efforts to keep the environment clean, some 200 million tons of pollutants were filling the air each year, and clean air in many cities had been replaced by smog. The earth, air, and water were deteriorating as construction of highways, malls, and housing developments caused the destruction of fertile, irreplaceable farmland. Disposal of wastes was another dilemma to be dealt with. Burning could release poisonous gases into the air, and burial could cause harmful decay. By the mid-1960s, people began to really realize the need to conserve the nation's resources. Much credit for arousing public concern belonged to Rachel Carson for her book Silent Spring. This book warned of the central problem of our age being the contamination of man's environment. During the next few years, growing numbers of ecologists, biologists, and other scientists showed their concern about the reckless abuse of the environment. In 1970, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which helped set laws regulating use of pesticides, insecticides, and other potentially dangerous sprays. They protected endangered wildlife, and ordered that car manufacturers had to provide pollution control devices on exhausts of their vehicles. New waste disposal and sewage treatment plants were being built to prevent further pollution of the land and water and to clean up the rivers and lakes. Government also regulated unsightly junkyards and dumps to restore the natural beauty of the countryside. Federal government set aside more areas as national parks, not to be tampered with, and considerable progress had been made in the management and conservation of America's forests, soil, and water. However, many people felt that it was not necessary for the government to take all this action. President Reagan gave in and allowed the search for minerals on federal lands and oil exploration off the coast of California, which some felt was very risky, because of the chance of an oil spill, which would devastate all ocean life in the area. Environmental decisions were important in the sixties era, as many other nations followed them with concern. With the world's population increasing so rapidly, the earth's natural resources will be heavily taxed, and many people, the environmentalists, believed that resource conservation was extremely important in maintaining the living conditions of the world population.

Free Essays on Jacksons Indian Wars

â€Å"The result reminds us that the grand events of history often involve considerable suffering. Romanticizing them risks forgetting the ugly lessons that need to be learned. Demonizing them can have the same result.† ~Robert V. Remini Considering Jackson’s support for Indian Removal and his refusal to follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Worcester v. Georgia, Jackson’s goals, motives, and intentions are clear, especially when paired with the political ideals of his contemporaries. It is easy, today in 2004, to claim that Andrew Jackson’s motives and intentions behind Indian Removal were nothing more than racist narcissism inherent of radical expansionist politics. However, it is also difficult for contemporary students to place ourselves in the mindset of the antebellum South. Jackson had several reasons for going forth with the Indian Removal Act; perhaps reasons deemed indecent in the eyes of those studying his actions as history, but reasons not illogical when taken in context. Jackson, as president of a new and expanding nation, had to make the decision of removing Indians in order to benefit his own people; Indian Removal was a matter of opening up millions of acres of land to settlement and slavery, thus promoting the essential strengthening of the economy of a new nation. During the time of President Jackson most of the people of the United States did not entertain the notion that the United States would ever expand west of the Mississippi River, therefore, forcing the native Indians further west would allow space for both the Indians and the white settlers. However, one idea gathered from the documents of Jackson’s era needs no clarification: Jackson’s personal perspective on Indian Removal was simply that it was not considered feasible for the Indians to live among white Americans. Perhaps indeed a racist, Andrew Jackson did not make his decisions... Free Essays on Jackson's Indian Wars Free Essays on Jackson's Indian Wars â€Å"The result reminds us that the grand events of history often involve considerable suffering. Romanticizing them risks forgetting the ugly lessons that need to be learned. Demonizing them can have the same result.† ~Robert V. Remini Considering Jackson’s support for Indian Removal and his refusal to follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Worcester v. Georgia, Jackson’s goals, motives, and intentions are clear, especially when paired with the political ideals of his contemporaries. It is easy, today in 2004, to claim that Andrew Jackson’s motives and intentions behind Indian Removal were nothing more than racist narcissism inherent of radical expansionist politics. However, it is also difficult for contemporary students to place ourselves in the mindset of the antebellum South. Jackson had several reasons for going forth with the Indian Removal Act; perhaps reasons deemed indecent in the eyes of those studying his actions as history, but reasons not illogical when taken in context. Jackson, as president of a new and expanding nation, had to make the decision of removing Indians in order to benefit his own people; Indian Removal was a matter of opening up millions of acres of land to settlement and slavery, thus promoting the essential strengthening of the economy of a new nation. During the time of President Jackson most of the people of the United States did not entertain the notion that the United States would ever expand west of the Mississippi River, therefore, forcing the native Indians further west would allow space for both the Indians and the white settlers. However, one idea gathered from the documents of Jackson’s era needs no clarification: Jackson’s personal perspective on Indian Removal was simply that it was not considered feasible for the Indians to live among white Americans. Perhaps indeed a racist, Andrew Jackson did not make his decisions...

Building Trust

You want results! Group Work (optional): Assume it is the ? rst day on the job as the new manager of this team. Discuss what you should do. Writing Exercises (optional): Write a message to the managers of your new organization, setting expectations about the team and goals they will be working towards moving forward. Describe your leadership style and approach to the challenge. Make your message motivational. Discussion Questions: †¢ Have you ever had to build trust with a large number of people who are fundamentally different than you? What did you do? What are the advantages of disadvantages of being the boss who is feared? †¢ Do you agree with all the things Jim does to earn the trust of his team? Why or why not? †¢ Do you think Jim will still have the respect of his team if he is so focused on serving them and their needs? Why or why not? Oral Presentations (optional): As the new manager, give an introductory speech to the managers in your organization about you an d the goals you hope to achieve. Clearly state the messages you want to convey to your direct reports. Role Play (optional): Discussion between Manager (Jim) and his Supervisor (Sam) whose leadership philosophy is very different and thinks a manager should be feared by his people. Explain yourself and try to gain your supervisor’s trust. †¢ Background for Manager (Jim): You believe you should think of your team as your customers and make every effort to make their job easier. You do not want to be feared by your people and think you will be even more productive thanks to your leadership style. †¢ Background for Supervisor (Sam): You think the new manager needs to come in strong and put fear in his employees to achieve. Discuss how they will be distributed. Will you incentivize the high performers by awarding them with new headsets ? rst? Discussion Questions: †¢ Do you agree with all the things Jim does to earn the trust of his team? Why or why not? †¢ Do you think Jim will still have the respect of his team if he is so focused on serving them and their needs? Why or why not? †¢ Is there anything Jim should do differently and how successful do you think he will be with his approach? †¢ As a manager, what are the advantages and disadvantages of seeing your team as your customers? Role Play (optional): Discussion between Manager (Jim) and direct report (Fred) who believes everybody needs new headsets and new chairs. †¢ Background for Manager (Jim): You believe you should make your people more comfortable, but you are limited in budget and must make your people and Fred understand there are limits to what you can do for them. †¢ Background for Direct Report (Fred): You think everybody needs new headsets and chairs. You know the new manager is anxious to make a positive impression and you think this purchase could help. Group Work (optional): What does Jim mean by having an â€Å"early victories† when he talks about getting new headsets? What kind of a precedent does this set and how should he manage expectations for the future? 3 Building Trust | Jim Roth Copyright  © 2007 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All Rights Reserved. Teaching Notes Building Trust (DVD Title: Building Trust in a Large Organization) Center for Leadership Development and Research Leadership in Focus Video Segment 3 and 4: (Run Time: 2 minutes 10 seconds) Writing Exercises (optional): As the Manager, write an email to your team telling them how you want them to come to you when they have problems. You want them to understand you are there to help them, but also don’t want them to abuse this privilege. Make the message motivational. Result and Lessons Learned: Manager receives feedback from his people and sees this as a victory that he has earned their trust. To earn trust and improve performance, it is important to learn the details about your people to determine why they come to work everyday.

Promise and peril Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Promise and peril - Essay Example Though many studies have been conducted on pay-for-performance, not much has been investigated on managers’ pay-for-performance implementation strategies. Managers usually face potential problems in their attempt to implement pay-for-performance programmes. Under pay-for-performance plans, significant effort of the management is focused on motivating employees at the expenses of other tasks relevant for organisational growth. However, the proponents of pay-for-performance argue that intelligent design of the plans remains crucial for evading implementation challenges for pay-for-performance programmes. There is need for training on how to effectively implement pay-for-performance programs. According to the authors, it is essential to gain adequate knowledge of the scenario under which pay-for-performance implementation is taking place in order to develop an unbiased understanding of the topic. Using HP case studies, Beer and Cannon discovered that the management used pay-for-performance as extra inducement to achieve higher employee performance. While creating a line between individual employees or teams in terms of performance so as to maintain fairness, the challenge of attaining desirable results becomes evident, especially when it is essential for teams or individuals to work together. In their article, the authors argue that managers abandoned their pay-for-performance plans because they perceived the programmes to bear more costs than benefits to the