Defend your point of view by raising specific issues or aspects of the argument. Offer your own opinion. Explain what you think about the argument. Describe several points with which you agree or disagree.

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Instructions (Article Attached)

Use the CSU Online Library to locate and review a scholarly article found in a peer-reviewed journal related to HR recruiting, unions, labor relations, or international human resources management. In peer-reviewed journals, the articles were reviewed by other professionals in the field to ensure the accuracy and quality of the articles, which is ideal when writing an article critique.

Research tip: When researching using the databases, you can limit your search to only peer-reviewed articles. To do this, look for the phrase “limit results,” and select “peer-reviewed articles.”

There is a minimum requirement of 500 words for the article critique.

  • Format your critique in APA style.
  • Begin with an introduction that defines the subject of your critique and your point of view. You will first need to identify and explain the author’s ideas. Include specific passages that support your description of the author’s point of view.
  • Take into consideration how you would approach a recruiting program for your company based on the author’s ideas on the subject matter.
  • What challenges would you face if your company were a global conglomerate?
  • Defend your point of view by raising specific issues or aspects of the argument. Offer your own opinion. Explain what you think about the argument. Describe several points with which you agree or disagree.
  • Explain how the passages support your opinion.
  • Conclude your critique by summarizing your argument and re-emphasizing your opinion.
  • For each of the points you mention, include specific passages from the text (you may summarize, quote, or paraphrase, being sure to include proper in-text citations) that provide evidence for your point of view.

. Create a sexual harassment policy for your selected company to address a sexual harassment complaint. Cover both quid pro quo and hostile work environment types of harassment in your policy.

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Due Week 5 and worth 200 points

As you are reviewing the growth of your selected company, you are noticing how diversity and sexual harassment issues are impacting the overall company culture. You want to make sure that your friend is not vulnerable to any legal issues that could jeopardize the survivability of the company. You realize that you may need to start implementing a few policies now instead of waiting until the HR department has been fully materialized. You will also need to communicate the policies to the managers, staff and employees of your selected company.

Write a five to six (5-6) page paper in which you:

1. Create a diversity policy for your selected company to mitigate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, etc. and to promote a diverse workplace. Note: Use the following samples as guidance.

Hint: Review the sample diversity policy

Hint: Review the Sample Human Resources Policies, Checklists, Forms, and Procedures, or use a sample policy from a company you are familiar with as guidance.

2. Create a sexual harassment policy for your selected company to address a sexual harassment complaint. Cover both quid pro quo and hostile work environment types of harassment in your policy.

Hint:  Review “Sample Policy 1: Sexual Harassment”

Hint: Review the Sample Human Resources Policies, Checklists, Forms, and Procedures, located at , or use a sample policy from a company you are familiar with as guidance.

Hint: Review the article titled “How to address an employee sexual harassment complaint”

3. Use the Diversity or Sexual Harassment Training Plan template to develop a training plan to communicate one (1) of the policies you created (the diversity policy or the sexual harassment policy) to the company’s managers, staff and employees.

Note: The completed Training Plan should be incorporated into the paper and is counted towards the total page length requirement for this assignment.

Hint: Review the article titled “How Do I Plan a Human Resource Training Program in an Organization Setting”

4. Use at least four (4) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource.

5. Format your assignment according to these formatting requirements:

  • Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
  • Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
  • Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

  • Develop human resource policies and practices that foster an appreciation for multiple cultures, ethnicities, and other diverse populations.
  • Describe key laws governing employment and the required compliance for organizations.
  • Use communication skills to effectively convey human resource policies and practices throughout the organization.
  • Demonstrate an ability to motivate individuals and teams toward organizational goals through the application of human resource initiatives and policies.
  • Review the human resource management function of training and development and the function’s importance to business strategy.
  • Use technology and information resources to research issues in human resource management.
  • Write clearly and concisely about human resource management using proper writing mechanic

Question: Evaluate Long Beach Plastics’ current strategies. Given Judy Howe’s sales objective, what should Long Beach Plastics Mfg. do? Explain.

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Simon Howe, the marketing manager of Long Beach Plastics, wants to increase sales by adding sales reps rather than “playing with price.” That’s how Simon describes what Judy Howe, his mother and Long Beach Plastics’ president, is suggesting. Judy is not sure what to do, either. But she does want to increase sales, so something new is needed. Long Beach Plastics—of Long Beach, California—is a leading producer in the plastic forming machinery industry. It has patents covering over 200 variations, but Long Beach Plastics’ customers seldom buy more than 30 different types in a year. The machines are sold to plastic forming manufacturers to increase production capacity or replace old equipment. Established in 1970, the company has enjoyed a steady growth to its present position with annual sales of $50 million. Judy took over as president 15 years ago, after her husband Charles, the founder of the company, died of a sudden heart attack. The first few years were tough, but Judy emerged as a strong executive who has steered the company well. She is well respected in the industry. Twelve U.S. firms compete in the U.S. plastic forming machinery market. Several Japanese, German, and Swedish firms compete in the global market, but the Howes have not seen much of them on the West Coast. Apparently the foreign firms rely on manufacturers’ agents who have not provided an ongoing presence. They are not good about following up on inquiries, and their record for service on the few sales they have made on the East Coast is not satisfactory. So the Howes are not worried about them right now. Each of the 12 U.S. competitors is about the same size and manufactures basically similar machinery. Each has tended to specialize in its own geographic region. Six of the competitors are located in the East, four in the Midwest, and two—including Long Beach Plastics—on the West Coast. The other West Coast firm is in Tacoma, Washington. All of the competitors offer similar prices and sell F.O.B. from their factories. Demand has been fairly strong in recent years. As a result, all of the competitors have been satisfied to sell in their geographic areas and avoid price-cutting. In fact, price-cutting is not a popular idea in this industry. About 15 years ago, one firm tried to win more business and found that others immediately met the price cut—but industry sales (in units) did not increase at all. Within a few years, prices returned to their earlier level, and since then competition has tended to focus on promotion and avoid price. Long Beach Plastics’ promotion depends mainly on six company sales reps, who cover the West Coast. In total, these reps cost about $880,000 per year including salary, bonuses, supervision, travel, and entertaining. When the sales reps are close to making a sale, they are supported by two sales engineers—at a cost of about $130,000 per year per engineer. Long Beach Plastics does some advertising in trade journals—less than $100,000—and occasionally uses direct mailings and trade show exhibits. It also has a simple website on the Internet—the main Page 632content on the site consists of PDF files of all the company’s sales brochures. But the main promotion emphasis is on personal selling. Any personal contact outside the West Coast market is handled by manufacturers’ agents who are paid 4 percent on sales—but sales are very infrequent. Judy is not satisfied with the present situation. Industry sales have leveled off and so have Long Beach Plastics’ sales—although the firm continues to hold its share of the market. Judy would like to find a way to compete more effectively in the other regions because she sees great potential outside the West Coast. Competitors and buyers agree that Long Beach Plastics is the top-quality producer in the industry. Its machines have generally been somewhat superior to others in terms of reliability, durability, and production capacity. The difference, however, usually has not been great enough to justify a higher price—because the others are able to do the necessary job—unless a Long Beach Plastics sales rep convinces the customer that the extra quality will improve the customer’s product and lead to fewer production line breakdowns. The sales rep also tries to sell the advantages of Long Beach Plastics’ better sales engineers and technical service people—and sometimes is successful. But if a buyer is mainly interested in comparing delivered prices for basic machines—the usual case—Long Beach Plastics’ price must be competitive to get the business. In short, if such a buyer has a choice between Long Beach Plastics’ and another machine at the same price, Long Beach Plastics will usually win the business in its part of the West Coast market. But it’s clear that Long Beach Plastics’ price has to be at least competitive in such cases. The average plastic forming machine sells for about $220,000, F.O.B. shipping point. Shipping costs within any of the three major regions average about $4,000—but another $3,000 must be added on shipments between the West Coast and the Midwest (either way) and another $3,000 between the Midwest and the East. Judy is thinking about expanding sales by absorbing the extra $3,000 to $6,000 in freight cost that occurs if a Midwestern or eastern customer buys from her West Coast location. By doing this, she would not actually be cutting price in those markets but rather reducing her net return. She thinks that her competitors would not see this as price competition and therefore would not resort to cutting prices themselves. Simon disagrees. Simon thinks that the proposed freight absorption plan would stimulate price competition in the Midwest and East and perhaps on the West Coast. He proposes instead that Long Beach Plastics hire some sales reps to work the Midwest and Eastern regions—selling quality—rather than relying on the manufacturers’ agents. He argues that two additional sales reps in each of these regions would not increase costs too much and might greatly increase the sales from these markets over that brought in by the agents. With this plan, there would be no need to absorb the freight and risk disrupting the status quo. Adding more of Long Beach Plastics’ own sales reps is especially important, he argues, because competition in the Midwest and East is somewhat hotter than on the West Coast—due to the number of competitors (including foreign competitors) in those regions. A lot of expensive entertaining, for example, seems to be required just to be considered as a potential supplier. In contrast, the situation has been rather quiet in the West—because only two firms are sharing this market and each is working harder near its home base. The eastern and Midwestern competitors don’t send any sales reps to the West Coast—and if they have any manufacturers’ agents, they haven’t gotten any business in recent years. Judy agrees that her son has a point, but industry sales are leveling off and Judy wants to increase sales. Further, she thinks the competitive situation may change drastically in the near future anyway, as global competitors get more aggressive and some possible new production methods and machines become more competitive with existing ones. She would rather be a leader in anything that is likely to happen rather than a follower. But she is impressed with Simon’s comments about the greater competitiveness in the other markets and therefore is unsure about what to do.

Question: Evaluate Long Beach Plastics’ current strategies. Given Judy Howe’s sales objective, what should Long Beach Plastics Mfg. do? Explain.

Research information about current considerations and challenges related to the financial and budgetary systems in health care organizations.

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Assignment Details

 Assignment Description

Research information about current considerations and challenges related to the financial and budgetary systems in health care organizations. Consider the use of data analytics and tools in the monitoring, assessing, and evaluating of the performance of health care organizations. Include a discussion of the importance and efficacy of financial statements used in the decision-making process of health care organizations.

Support your work with at least 4 academic or professional peer-reviewed sources published within the past 5 years.

Please submit your assignment.

Your assignment will be graded in accordance with the following criteria. Click here to view the grading rubric.

http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2014/07/14/lessons-learned-bringing-big-data-analytics-to-health-care/

following the acaassociated topics: health it

Lessons Learned: Bringing Big Data Analytics To Health Care

Steven Escaravage and Joachim Roski

July 14, 2014

Big data offers breakthrough possibilities for new research and discoveries, better patient care, and greater efficiency in health and health care, as detailed in the July issue of Health Affairs. As with any new tool or technique, there is a learning curve.

Over the last few years, we, along with our colleagues at Booz Allen, have worked on over 30 big data projects with federal health agencies and other departments, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Federal Drug Administration (FDA), and the Veterans Administration (VA), along with private sector health organizations such as hospitals and delivery systems and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

While many of the lessons learned from these projects may be obvious, such as the need for disciplined project management, we also have seen organizations struggle with pitfalls and roadblocks that were unexpected in taking full advantage of big data’s potential.

Based on these experiences, here are some guidelines:

Acquire The “Right” Data For The Project, Even If It Might Be Difficult To Obtain.

We’ve found that many organizations, eager to get started on a big data project, often quickly gather and use the data that is the easiest to obtain, without considering whether it really goes to the heart of the specific health care problem they’re investigating. While this can speed up a project, the analytic results are likely to have only limited value.

For example, we worked with a federal agency experimenting with big data analytics to identify cases of perceived fraud, waste, or abuse. The program’s analysts focused on data they already had on hand and currently used to direct audit and investigation activity. We encouraged project staff to identify alternative data sources that might reveal important information about compliance history or “hotspots” for illegitimate activity.

We learned that historical case reports and online provider marketing materials were available and were a potentially valuable source for information to aid in fraud detection. However, the project analysts had decided it would take too long to incorporate that information and so had excluded it.

Many organizations – both inside and outside of health care – tend to stick with the data that’s easily accessible and that they’re comfortable with, even if it provides only a partial picture and doesn’t successfully unlock the value big data analytics may offer. But we have found that when organizations develop a “weighted data wish list” and allocate their resources towards acquiring high-impact data sources as well as easy-to-acquire sources, they discover greater returns on their big data investment.

Ensure That Initial Pilots Have Wide Applicability.

Health organizations will get the most from big data when everyone sees the value and participates. Too often, though, initial analytics projects may be so self-contained that it is hard to see how any of the results might apply elsewhere in the organization.

We ran into this challenge when we helped a federal health agency experiment with big data analytics. The agency’s initial set of pilots focused on specific, computationally complex and storage-intensive challenges, such as reconfiguring a bioinformatics algorithm to run across a large cluster of processors and developing a data-capture approach to access and store data in real time from a laboratory instrument.

While each pilot solved a big data analytics challenge, the resulting capabilities did not provide examples that would be powerful enough to push transformational change across the organization, as the organizational leaders had hoped.

In subsequent pilots, we advised the agency to focus on less rigorous but more far-reaching pilots. In one project, the agency piloted an unstructured natural language processing and text search utility across a number of disparate data archives. In another project, we deployed a data platform that could rapidly generate millions of records of synthetic data for algorithm testing.

In each case, organizational decision-makers could more easily see the applicability and potential of big data analytics and more clearly understand the potential of big data to transform their organization.

Before Using New Data, Make Sure You Know Its Provenance (Where It Came From) And Its Lineage (What’s Been Done To It).

Often in the excitement of big data, decision-makers and project staff forget this basic advice. They are often in a hurry to immediately start data mining efforts to search for unknown patterns and anomalies. We’ve seen many cases where such new data wasn’t properly scrutinized – and where supposed patterns and anomalies later turned out to be irrelevant or grossly misleading.

In one such case at a federal health agency, information contained in a data source suggested that there was a significant uptick in the number of less-experienced clinical investigators associated with a set of therapeutic areas. Project staff identified this as an important trend to aid in risk analysis for the agency and prepared to brief senior decision-makers.

However, when the findings were presented first to the administrator for the data source, he suspected that the trends might coincide with the roll-out of new address fields.

As a result of a data-field change, when new address information was added for an investigator, it didn’t append to the original file, but created an entirely new file – making it appear that there were many new investigators, when in fact the number of investigators had slightly decreased over time.

This scenario could have been avoided through an investigation and annotation of candidate data sources with provenance and lineage information prior to operational use. With big data analytic techniques, such details can be prospectively or retrospectively annotated to data records, indicating the prevailing process and data standard at the time of collection.

Then, data miners can leverage this factor in data mining efforts and predictive models to test whether the data-collection process is causing a significant effect in the outcome variable of interest.

Don’t Start With A Solution; Introduce A Problem And Consult With A Data Scientist.

Unlike conventional analytics platforms, big data platforms can easily allow subject-matter experts direct access to the data, without the need for database administrators or others to serve as intermediaries in making queries. This provides health researchers with an unprecedented ability to explore the data – to pursue promising leads, search for patterns and follow hunches, all in real time. We have found, however, that many organizations don’t take advantage of this capability.

One federal health agency we worked with, for example, invested in big data analytics to enable network analysis of nodes in a supply chain. Instead of giving its subject-matter experts free rein to look for new and unexpected patterns, the agency stayed with the conventional approach, and simply provided canned business-intelligence reports and visualizations to the end-users.

Not surprisingly, the outputs of this approach disappointed organizational decision-makers in terms of generating new insights and value. We strongly encouraged the agency to make sure subject matter experts could have direct access to the data to develop their own queries and analytics.

Once this was provided, the user community rapidly grew, and there was an associated increase in new capability, training requests, and overall value for the organization.

Conclusions

Health organizations often build a big data platform, but fail to take full advantage of it. They continue to use the small-data approaches they’re accustomed to, or they rush headlong into big data, forgetting best practices in analytics.

It’s important to aim for initial pilots with wide applicability, a clear understanding of where one’s data comes from, and an approach that starts with a problem, not a solution. Perhaps the hardest task is finding the right balance.

tags: big data, comparative effectiveness, health it, health reform, policy, research, technology