Saturday, January 25, 2020

Why Mrp Is Needed For A Organisation Information Technology Essay

Why Mrp Is Needed For A Organisation Information Technology Essay MRP is the acronym for Material Requirements Planning .It means planning or estimating the materials that are required to produce or devlope the end product based on the demand.It involves in production planning and inventory control system. MRP II is defined as Manufacturing Resouces Planning. Man Machinary Material are the three main resources which diminishes with the time and that are to be planned very effectively and efficently for productive outputs by any organisation or enterprise. This MRP II is the extension for MRP. To study in detail what is MRP and MRP II in Manufacturing industries and protrait its scope, advantages and its process in the industries. To identify the differences between MRP and MRP II and advantages of each modules. To identify companies that have implemeted MRP and MRP II sucessfully. How these businesses application had helped them in automating their business what are the issues that occur while implementing the MRP and MRP II To identify what type of companies and how many companies are sucessfully using these business appilcations. To identify the critical factors in the successful implementation of MRP, MRPII and ERP systems in manufacturing industries. Objectives: The objectives of the project are: To carry out a critical review of MRP, MRPII and ERP literature with a particular emphasis on the implementation of these systems. To know what are the ideal methodologies that should be followed to implement these MRP and MRP II at different enterprises. To gain the knowledge of different modules in MRP and MRP II. To study and understand how these submodules interact with each other during the business process. To gain knowledge about the other business appilications which are more in use and advantageous when compared to MRP and MRP II. Choose a suitable methodology for consulting businesses on their implementation of MRP, MRPII or ERP Obtain the views of business / company leaders on the factors influencing the successful implementation of MRP, MRPII or ERP. Consolidate practice based experience with literature based advice to create a lessons learnt list or top tips for the implementation of MRP, MRPII or ERP and the differences between these three systems. Write up dissertation. Research questions : Selecting and sucessfully Implementing a new manufacturing planning system is very important a management task in an enterprise for productive outputs and for for reaching objectives and targets of the entrprise.Some of the check list questionire that needed to be dicussed while going for implementing MRP and MRP II. What kind of Enterprise is it what are its products and Business Process. What are the reasons for selecting MRP and MRP II as a solution for their business. What are its requirements? What they are expecting form MRP and MRP II ? What level of automating they need through MRP and MRP II? What are the problems at their facility? What level of integration they are looking at ? They need lisenced Application or Free ware Application(Based on this the cost and time are estimated.) Had they ever implmented an Business Appliaction before ? What are the problems they are facing with the existing business application? How is the data and orders,information regarding different things to be maintained in the appliaction? What kind of reports and how many reports that are needed to be generated ? List Of Companies Using MRP and MRP II : Software Arts Inc. PEDYN Wrigley TOYOTA ABB IOR Shell St.Jude Medical Pall Fujji filim Wesco distribution Raymedica Global Helicopter Technology Inc. MOTOROLA Simmens HP Compaq ALTA Manufacturing EMS Symyx Material Requirements Planning -(MRP): MRP is the acronym for Material Requirements Planning .It means planning or estimating the materials that are required to produce or devlope the end product based on the demand.It involves in production planning and inventory control system. The main Idea or focus of the MRP system is to integrate all the business information systems of a ogrganization so that it would help in increase in productivity. This plays a very important role in managing manufaturing process.Joseph Orlicky made a detail study about the TOYOTA Manufacturing Program and designed Material Requirements Planning (MRP).It was sucessfully implemented intially in 150 companies, Later this number had raised to about 8,000 by 1988[2].Even very small manufacturing companies can implement this MRP Very sucessfully. MRP can be veiwed as a planning tool designed specifically to assembly operations. The main aim of MRP is to allow each manufacturing unit to forecast its supplier what parts it requires and when it requires them. The material supplier may be within the Organisation or an outside supplier. When combined with MRP II it is probably the most popularly used planning and scheduling tool.MRP was created to handle effeciently the issue dependent demand'[2]; Undersatnding or calculating how many of a particular component is required to produce the products or end goods.Advances in Information Technology and computer hardware made the calculation possible.An MRP system is designed or expected to meet three objectives: To Esitimate correctly the materials needed to produce the finished products and are delivered to the customer at right time. Maintain the lowest possible level of inventory. Plan manufacturing activities according to the demand or orders raised, delivery issues and schedules, procurement activities. The primary function of MRP system is inventory control, bill of material-B.O.M processing and elementary scheduling. MRP is mainly used to maintain low inventory level in an organisation. It is used to schedule and organize manufacturing, procurement and delivering activities.The MRP System is used beacause to maintain order entry in to a organization.Once a Order Entry is made then all other departments which are related to that order and manufacturing departments are activated and are put in to action like Inventory control,Bill of Materials(BOM),purchasing department,Manufacturing department,invoicing and shipping department etc. Functionalities of MRP Include: Demand Forecasting[4] Order Planning ,Controlling[4] BOM-Bill of Materials[4] Inventory Controlling[4] Priority Planning and Control[4] Planning Capacity Requirement and Development of Broad Business Plans[4] Fig1: Various Functions that MRP deals [4] Why MRP is needed for a Organisation: Companies need to utilize their resources and plan their resources very well in very efficnetly sothat they always meet the demand of the customers with out fail because loosing a customer for a company is permanent loss so they have to be well organized to avoid failures in planning the manufacturing of the products according to the demand.and also the organisations have a very big issue in order to produce the finished goods like procuring the suitable raw materilas from correct and reliable vendors.Organisations or Entereprises have to plan which products are to be produced and in what quantities and they should be in a position to forecast that they are able to meet current and future demand of the customerand that too it should manufacture the goods at lowestr possible cost. If any organisation is making any bad decision at any level then they would lose moneyreulting a failure in strategic business planning. Some of the examples are quoted below: If a company procures wrong materials and quantities from a wrong vendor then they would fail to meet the client requirements and eventually fail to deliver the products or goods at the agreed date. If a company fails to predict or plan correctly like quantities required to be purchased like purchasing more or execessive quanties where a less qunatity is required for production then its a waste and remains as stock in warehouses and may never even be used at alland its a waste of money as a unecassary procurement is done. However, some purchased items will be of minimum quantity than the required quantity therefore, procurement of excess quantity is necessary. Starting the production of an order with out proper planning and intergation and coordiantion with other departments in a organisations could end up in not meeting the customers deadlines or demand. So for this reason a organisation or a enterprise requires a well tightly intergated tool that could interact with all departments to carry out the business in a profit making way. MRP is a tool which primarily focuses to provide answers for several questions and also to deal with problems like:[1] What items are required?[1] How many are required?[1] When are they required?[1] Issues with MRP systems : Data Integrity: Data integrity is the major Issue faced by the MRP Systems and MRP Customers. If any mistake or errors done while configuring the master data like inventory data or BOM(Bill of materials) data then the expected output data will also be incorrect.Most number of customers who are implemeting these system are expecting data interigty for more better results. Time Prediction: This Time Prediction is also a major issue faced by the MRP System or the Mrp customers because here the user have to specify the time needed to manufacture a end product or finished good from the procured induvidual parts .But Unfortunatley the sytem everytime assumes this Lead time is same for every product or good that are manufatured in that orgaisation or manufacturing unit irespective of the Quantiy of finished good that is to be manufactured and avilabiltiy of machines and manpower etc. available. InterCommunication Issue: This is also an another issue faced by the faced by the MRP System or the Mrp customers.If the customers organizations or factories or warehouses are located at located at different geographical locations and intercommunication is not posible between them .An Ideal ERP or MRP application should overcome this issue by able to communicate between differnet warehouses factories for distributing goods,products based on the demand of the customer for the goods. Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II) : MRP can be expanded as Manufactuing Resource planning which means planning the resources of a manufacturing company in a effective way and efficient way in persepective of time for getting maxium profits.This can overcome the or it can be veiwed as a extension of MRP. This is software application which is developed by many skilled people and integrated with a dedicated data base accuracy. This is an application which is used by the prganisations for productive and well utilization of human resources.MRP II is not a free software system or a open source software system.Thus this MRP II application appears in different formats or structures depending on the clients business requirements .Genrally these MRP II applications are purchased form other MRP devloping companies in the form of licenses or it can be a in-house software devlopment. Every MRP II system is devloped with different modules because as it is known differnet business s have different kinds of requirement and solutions, so the modules in MRP II system will be different. MRP II system have the following basic modules: Master Production Schedule (MPS)[3] Item Master Data (Technical Data) [3] Bill Of Materials (BOM) (Technical Data)[3] Production Resources Data (Manufacturing Technical Data) [3] Inventories and Orders (Inventory Control) [3] Purchasing Management[3] Material Requirements Planning (MRP)[3] Shop Floor Control (SFC) [3] Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP)[3] Standard Costing (Cost Control) [3] Cost Reporting / Management (Cost Control)[3] All the above listed modules and with few other auxilary modules are tightly integarted together so that they can intercommunicate very well and work on same data and exchange information,and that would be a ideal model for any MRP II application and this kind of ideal ,good MRP II application enables the manufacturing enterprise to operate in a objective way. This MRP II application is completely different from Point-of solution approach which is operated through induvidual systems and this MRP II application is fully integrated and fully interfaced application. Which enables the user to interact with application more friendly.Many manufacturing industries have implemented MRP II systems sucessfully. Different Industries have different requirements like few of them need specific functions like lot traceability,Man Power Management etc. Fig: Different modules in MRP II System[4]. Advantages of using MRP II systems : Inventory Control. [3] Scheduling [3] Productive relationships with suppliers[3] Improved design control[3] Quality control [3] Reduced capital for inventory [3] Improved cash flow through quicker deliveries [3] MRP II Issues Ideally MRP II should have overcome the MRP problems or drawbacks. Unfortunately in MRP II most of software implementers or consultants failed to understand master scheduling.So they failed in implementing modules like master scheduling and capacity planning correctly making the new MRP II application also look like old MRP application. Inaccurate data: To Control the business or to run the business in a successful profitable way the data that is entered or the records that are present in the inventory module or BOM-Bill of materilas etc.,should be very accurate. But these MRP II software packages failed to understand the needs and business requirements which became a challenge to MRP II implementors to properly map the packages to the business.so this made the data or records entering in to the modules inaccurate. Time Facctor: MRP II implemetation takes long time to implment on a average a MRP II implementation takes 18-24 months of time for implmentation. Requiremnet for technical man power and machinary: This MRP II needed huge number of technical consultants and business people and machinary for its implementation[4]. Helped only manufactring companies: It confiend its benifts or results only to manufacturing process organisations and failed to extend its benefits to other modules or other sectors.[4] It Could not effect other modules like quality management and other management issues[4] Comparission between MRP and MRPII Systems: Both MRP and MRPII systems are business applications which is used to integrate the different functionalites in a business process and provide business information when required from a central and dedicatd database. MRP is deals with manufacturing materials while MRPII deals with the coordination of the entire manufacturing production and it also includes materials, finance, and human relations[3]. The goal of MRPII is to provide accurate data [3]. MRP takes the input from sales and marketing and then it forecast and determine the raw materials demand and required for manufactuirng. Both MRP and MRPII systems depends on a Master Production Schedule. MRP deals with the coordination of raw materials procurement while MRPII involoves in the development of a detailed production schedule taking in to account machine and labor capacity, scheduling the production or manufacturing according to the arrival of materials in the inventory. An MRPII provide Data about the cost of production, including machine time, labor time and materials used, as well as final production numbers[3]. Allocating resources is the major advantage or devlopement of MRP II system from MRP system. Enterprise Resources Planning :(ERP) Enterprise Resource Planning can be defined as or it can be understood as well planning of all the tangible resources or preishable assests of a company in a effective and efficient way with respect to time .Here the the resources are mainly 1.Man 2.Machinary 3.Money 4.Material These are well planned and well utilized in a enterprise .An ERPs true ambition is to integrate all the modules across the compnay on to a single unit that can serve all the those deparment needs. It is a business appliction which should facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders[5]. This ERP application has a centralized database with a platfrom independence or sometimes platfrom dependent and some programming language. ERP systems consolidate all business operations into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment[5].These ERP systems used to come on sigle server environment which used to be a limitation but now a days all ERP sytems are opting for client-server architechture.There are 2-tier architechtures, 3-tier architechtures among these 3 tier architechture is the best suitable for ERP Systems. Every Compnay or organisation look for ERP because it increases profits,reduces human work and provides secured and accurate data helps in expanding their business in different countires as these ERP applications deals with multi currency also and helps so work becomes simple and easy and business will improve and can make profits if they are sucessful in implementing ERP application to their business process. Every company grows in to big organisation or enterprise and departments, functionalities also increses or grows depending on their requirment so ultimatley data and paper work in each department increases considerably.So the organisations started looking for a software application that could automate all the business process and tightly integrate all the functionalites in that particular organisationand have a smooth flow of data, so thus came the need of ERP. Ideally an ERP application should have the charecteristics like : 1.All the data and application should reside on a single database. 2.Entire application when accesed by different users at at different geographical locations should same look and feel. 3.It should work like a real time application. 4.A user should be capable of accessing anyh information or data at any time from any location. 5.It should be accurate and capable of generating reports for a business application. Enterprise resource planning came as a extension of MRP and MRP II .The MRP II drawbacks were completely fullfilled by ERP applications .ERP was dominently sucessful in capacity planning The term Enterprise resource planning originally derived from manufacturing resource planning and breeching its effect in to other modules like quality control,inventory control , warehouse management ,logistics,finance and control,sales,distribution,human resource and payroll management.Thus ERP is very sucessful in processing or automating a business applicatoins.ERP sytems became more demanding when they became capable of dealing with customers directly through a functionality called CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and by entering in to e-business.now a days these ERP applicatins are both desktop application and web based application.Every ERP application is cutomized based on the cutomer requirements so that the ERP application look as though it is the software devloped only for that business requiremnet. fig:Different funtionalites of a MRP application [5] the above shown are the different funtionalites and module that are ideally coverd in a ERP application. Generally when organisations think of implemeting the ERP application for their business application they can either go for a in house production or buy from other vendors who implement ERP application for their business process or they even can opt for third party vendors who study their businees process and implement the customized ERP application for their organization.There are many ERP vendors in the market and to name a few these are the dominant ERP Implementing players SAP Oracle Peoplesoft IBM JDEdwards Ramco Bann CA Wings SSA GEAC JBA Among the above listed ERP companies SAP AGs ERP called SAP is the well known ERP. Many third party vendors are there in the market who are implemeting SAP to the enterprises or organisations who need a ERP applicaton.SAP is so famous because it is easy to implement and all the modules are tightly integrated and their success rate is also considerably good when compared to other ERPs.Recent studies show that markert share of each ERP application ,SAP at 51%, People soft 12%, J.D. Edwards 8% and BAAN 5%. So by these statistics we can confirm that SAPERP is well used and opted ERP in the current business world.SAP ERP is so famous when compared to ther Companies ERP because all other ERP applications provide only single functionality but SAP Provides all functionalites like sales and distibution ,Customer relationship management,Supply chain mangment,Business inteligence,Fianace and control ,Material management,human Capital management etc.ERP application main intention is to increase profits ,improve business ,expand business, to easily access the information of one department by other department ,help to reduce operating cost,make day to day managmet more easy,easy decision making,increase in productivity . So every organisation should have its own ERP application implemented in its organisation to compete in the current business world.it make them to easily with other MNCs present at different geographical locations. fig:Market shares of each ERP application[8] Advantages of ERP application: Integrate all the functional areas together[5] The capability to streamline different organizational processes and workflows[5] The ease of communication of information across various departments[5] Improved efficiency, performance and productivity levels[5] Enhanced tracking and forecasting [5] Improved customer service and satisfaction[5] some ERPs are open source so reduce cost. Disadvantage of ERP Application: Level of customization is limited. Highly expensive systems to implement Limited technical support long time taking process to implment. Effective Methods Of Implmetation Learnt through case studies: These ERP applications should be implemented by following some ideal methodologies for implementation other wise the implementation could fail there are many cases for ERP Implentation failure.All the companies who are implemnting the ERP applicatin to automate their business process were sucessful there are many failures.As implementing a ERP application for a company is a very complex process and it involved huge budget and long time as the specifications and requirements used to change. ERP implementation gets failed due to the follwing reasons: Failing to analyze the business process correctly. Improper collection of clients or customer requiremnts. Lack of technical consultants. Failure in the data migration Wrong configuration of master data. Lack of knowledge of the newly implemented system in the organisation among employees. Failure in gerating required reports. Failure in analyzing time and money required. Successful If a ERP implementation is sucessfully implmented in a company mot only helps theorganisation by reducing waste costs but also it helps its customers as they can purchase the products of the company at a low price eventually rising sales and making good profits.They also because they share the data of the production line in real time[10]. So for a sucessful implementation the following methodologies should be followed.These are ideal methodologies one should follow when they are implmenting ERP orMRP or MPR II application for any kind of compnay. An Effective Implementation have the follwing modules: Project preparation[11] Solution definition[11] Devlopment Business Process Analysis Realization Testing QA Production Final preparation[11] Project preparation: Project goals and objectives[11]: Undestanding goals and objectives of the project and getting a clear picture about the project. Roles and key focus[11] : Identifying the roles and reponsibilites for the project and assainging the tasks according to the roles.Identifying core team members,repoerting authority and documentation team it also includes identifying Steering Committee, Project Management team, Consultants team, Technical and Security management teams. Determining the implementation strategy[11] : Plannig the implemneting strategy like how to implement the project and how to run the project according to the dead lines and defining the deliverables for each team,preparing road maps for the project and preparing blue print for the implemetation.Determinig how many locations are present for the compnay and what level of the automation required for which departments and what software and hardware required. Developing a project budget[11]: This is the main and very important stage for any ERP or MRP or MRPII implmentation because any mistake or worng assement could utterly result in failure of implmentation.so planning for the project and determing the correct budget required to implement the application sucessfully budgeting involves like cost required to procure resources that are useful for the accomplihmnet of the project and cost of the human resources getting involved in the project. Planning the budget required for implementation includes the cost of Labor , Training, Facilities ,Project support costs Determining the technical requirements[11]: Making a study on technical requirements required for implmeting the application sucessfully.Performaning the GAP Analysis and matching it with the application to checek how far the customization required and how well the application suits the business process.Identify and prepare infrastructure facilites selecting a pool of technically dominant consultants as a team and making them to study the pros and cons of the project. 4.3 Solution development and realization[11] Project team training[11]: This involves the training for all employess and for getting good knowledge about the on going implmetation and it helps the team members and any new members in the project which helps to implement the project at right time with out any dealy. This is very important because it helps to implement the application as according to the blue print defined. Conversion and interfaces[11] : Conversion and interfaces are very important for every project. But generally these Conversion and interfaces are not given importance and attention from the project management, because of lack of necessary IT knowledge.conversion and interface of a project is necessary and it should it be in line with the main project and it should be controlled by the project manager[11]. Final configuration[11]: This is very important phase the final configuration represent a repetetive process that coordinates the configuration with your business processes and business requirements[11]. Testing QA Unit Test[11] : This testing is done by the programmer or devloper itself to evaluate the programs or transaction for errors. This test is done intially at configuration level it is mainly tested for program and module functionality.Whether the business requirements are fulfilled or not whether they are working in the expected way. Final integration test[11] This test is done when all the modules are integarted and tests are done whether these are working in the expected manner fullfilling the business requirments.This test is done by the expert testing team while integration and even after integration like verifying workflows , business logics and other functinlities. Prototyping and Production[11]: In this phase a test system with fully intergated and devloped appliaction is made ready for working .Ideally at this stage all the funtionlaites and modules should work correctly as per the business requirments and it should be demonstrated to the users with data flows across each module.Once the protype of the business application is sucessful and if the customer is satisfied then the final phase of the implmentation takes place in which cutover plans take place and go-live date is planned and fixed. Final preparation[11] User manual and support[11] Preparing user mannuals powerpoint presentations about each modules and funtionalites for the customers or users to get good knowledge of the implmented ERP or MRP or MRPII application. End user training[11] Providing training for the user in the organisation or company for effective using of the application because if the end user fail to gain knowledge about how to use and how to work with the application it results in failure of the implmnetataion. System management and system test[11] In this the application is tested for smmoth running of the appliaction with extra loading of data and extra stress on the database and application like simultainous logging of many user at a time etc. it also includes failure scenarios test,application admistration tests,backup and restore procedure test [11] etc. Cut-over plan[11] In this the all final approval and validations should be comleted and all the manual work and transcations of the company have to stopped as after the apporval of cutover plan they start configuring the appliation to automate the business process. Going live check[11] In this the manual data entries should be completed before cutover. and going live date is decided based on the following factors : proper end user traning is done and completed. R/3 system administration is ready[11]. Stress test on application and database and desaster recovery tests are sucessfully completed . Conversions and business processed in the production system have been checked [11]. quality check and testing is completed. Data transfer[11] Data transfer is a very important phase in the total implmetation because man times there arise a issue of wrong configration that is configuring one module data to the other module. This is a time consuming process so a due consideration is given and a good amount of time is t

Friday, January 17, 2020

Health and Social Care Management Essay

This assignment discusses communication skills, and the various factors that influence the communication process. It looks at learning theories, strategies to improve interpersonal behaviour, charters and codes of practice, the usage of information technology, and the effectiveness of such systems, together with legislation, across the health and social care environment. Communication is a process of passing information from one person to the other and between employees, agencies, service users and their relatives in health and social care through verbal and non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is a form of communication (e.g. body language, signs and symbols). Verbal communication is communicating with words (e.g. conversation). In order to improve relationships with service users, their families, colleagues, managers and others who worked within health and social care environment, care workers need to have good communication skills. Good, supportive relationships are built on effective communication (Michie, 2006). Communicating effectively performs a significant role in health and social care workplace, therefore understanding learning theories can improve the quality of communication process. In health and social care, learning theories have been effectively applied. For example, social learning theory, is learning by imitating the behaviour of others – either consciously or unconsciously. It is applied in health and social care by offering the positive things learnt from others into health and social care workplace to improve staff-patients interpersonal relationships. The woman who decided to stop drinking after being aware of the risk of having liver disease or  felt proud after she quit drinking completely is an example of social learning theory (Bandura, 1977). The importance of communicating effectively is shown in the hospital appointment scenario where the doctor was devoid of good communication skills. He is an example of a poor communicator who appears to have used his position of power in his ‘closed’ questioning style. Shukla et al. (2010) that ‘good doctor-patient communication has a positive impact’ on patients reactions to consultations. For example, it improves patient satisfaction, physician satisfaction. In fact, doctors who are patient-focused have a been reported by patients to have a good quality of care (op.cit). The present scenario shows that interpersonal skills are lacking resulting in the patient’s apparent dissatisfaction with treatment. In the scenario the doctor did not recap to the patient, and there was no active listening and relationship between them (Moss, 2012). Classical conditioning theory is also used to change and improve peoples’ behaviour. This can be used in setting with the mentor and mentee. It is learning by association. For example learning to feel upset at the sight of flashing police lights in your rearview mirror. It is applied in health and social care, by making sure service users, their relatives, visitors etc. receive quality care and services so that they can respond positively regarding the kind of care and services that was render to them by health and social care workers. Classical conditioning process remains significant today for various applications, including transformation and mental health treatment. Classical conditioning is often used to treat anxiety, panic disorder and phobias (Pavlov, 1927). Skinner’s (1938) model of operant conditioning often is a effective way of changing behaviour by reinforcement. For example when a child is rewarded for achieving a higher grade at school or when a baby is crying and chocolate is given to the baby and the baby stop crying. And any time the baby cries and chocolate is given to the baby, the baby will d stop crying. It is applied in health and social care workplace, whereby a mentor will give a mentee a constructive and encouraging feedback and advice e.g. a  general practitioner (GP) giving a patient a constructive feedback and advice from the patient medical condition enquiries (Nevid, 2008). Michie (2006) stated that different skills can be used to promote effective communication in health and social care. Therefore, health and social care workers must be able to communicate effectively with patients, there is need for them to understand how patients feel and the things they want and need. They need to be able to respond to patients concerns and questions in ways that can be understood and they need to be able to communicate effectively with their managers, colleagues, visitor and other professionals. For example, they need to be able to pass on information which others can understood and to understand instructions by communicating clearly, slowly, concisely and avoid using jargons when giving instructions of medication intake to service users. For example, in the hospital scenario when there was no personal relationship between the doctor and the patient (Bastable, 2008). According Moonie (2005) health and social care workers must understand the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication in order to communicate with service users. Non-verbal communication comprises the use of signs and pictures, body language such as facial expressions, posture, eye contact, and gestures. Health and social care workers need to be an active listeners, and let service users have their right to communicate their needs and preference and to make decisions and choices to improve the quality of their life. There may be obstacles to effective doctor-patient relationship, when a doctor does not aid open communication with a patient. For example, when a patient does not understand medical terminology, or believe the doctor has not really listened and therefore, does not have the information to make good treatment decisions. The doctor should sit down, maintain eye contact, listen without interrupting and explain and restore confidence during test (Hill, 2011). Another area to be examined in health and social care is interpersonal communication, which is the process by which people exchange information, feelings, and meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages; it is  face-to-face communication. Interpersonal communication is not what is actually said or the language used, but how it is convey and the non-verbal messages pass through tone of facial expressions, body language, gestures and voice. Discrimination can cause inappropriate interpersonal communication in health and social care environment, because people often feel that they belong to certain types of group whom they share same view, look similar and who m they think alike. Health and social care workers must have to be interested in learning about other people, they should not divide service users into group, and must not exclude them from receiving quality care services because they belong to a different ethnic group, religion, culture, gender or age group or because of the ir sexuality. Stereotype is another factor that can cause inappropriate interpersonal communication. carers may make assumptions about their patients based on stereotyped thinking, this may be barriers to effective communication in health and social care workplace. For example, health and social care worker, working with elderly people, may decided to wash and dress an older service user without asking her what she want or need because the carer feel she is old and she can remember anything â€Å"old people do not remember† (Downs and Adrian, 2004). In health and social care sector, there are different strategies healthcare professionals can use to support service users with particular communication needs (e.g. SOLER technique, and Braille) have been put in place to help those with mental and physical disabilities to overcome communication barriers. Braille is a system of communication based on raised marks that can be read by the visual impair people. SOLER is a non-verbal listening technique used in communication; face the other squarely, adopt an open posture, lean towards other, maintain eye contact and relax. Health and social professionals may come across a number of patients at workplace who speak different language rather than English, have disabilities which may affect their speech. These service users may need respective approach and specific needs, service users can be complemented by communication skills and technological aids. For example, when a carer is communicating with a patient with visual impairment, closed personal space is required so that health care professionals and service users, can develop closer  relationships in order to convey accurate message. Health care professionals have to use technological support (e.g. screen enlarger and text-to-speech devices). And also pictures, diagrams, written information printed in big characters with illustrations can be use to assist service users with communication difficulties (Weiten et al., 2011). It is imperative for health and social care workers to have a knowledge base of cultural diversity. Differences can occur in attitudes, norms of behaviour; high (Chinese, Thai and Japanese), medium (English, French, Italian, Spanish) and low (North Americans, Germans, Swiss) context cultures can influence how health and social care professionals interact with service users to achieve good communication relations and quality care services. High context cultures convey a limited portion of the meaning of words, which must be interpreted in terms of how it is being said, where it is being said, and the body language of the speaker. Medium context cultures convey a fair portion of the meaning of words. It depends the context in which the message is delivered. Low context cultures convey most of the meaning of words in the communication. Understanding differences and similarities within and between cultures can also improve staff relationship in health and social care sector. People learn the values, customs and norms of their culture through communication, the cultural values are impacted in the way that people speak, perceive and interpret the words. In order to prevent misunderstanding in health and social care sector, cultural diversity must be understood and accepted (Rasheed et al., 2010). Culture has specific symbols consisting of verbal symbols, non-verbal symbols, language, symbols and signs. We know that we are product of many cultures and traditions, that mutual respect allows us to learn from other cultures, culture can become clearest in well-meaning clashes e.g. interacting with people from different backgrounds. Each may behave ‘normally’ as far as their own culture is concerned, but not as judged by the other culture (Bastable, 2008). Working in the health care sector, it is fundamental that facets of confidentiality are understood and applied by employers and employees. By understanding legislation and Code of Practice averts misuse of confidential  objects by professionals working in the health care sector. Therefore it is the duty of employees to stick to these rules in order to encourage good practice. Not abiding to these principles can lead to patient disappointment and lack of trust in health care services. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 (DH, 2012) outlines the changes of NHS system which is the replacement of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and the responsibilities of the clinical commissioning groups, who are GPs and other clinicians, to allow greater liability for using local resources economically under the support of NHS Commissioning Board. This Act aims at incorporated and more available service provision placing the need of local people and patient in the middle, which would reduce pointless costs and time devoted during the administration work. Equality Act 2010 protects people who have different characteristic on the ground of disability, race, marriage status, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation from being discriminated in the case of employment, perception, association, payment, access to health care and social services and so on (Walsh et at. 2011). This legislation and code of practice are implemented as guidelines for the professionals to produce effective work-relationship. Also, health and social care provider should respect religious and cultural diversity of the service users and implement an equal advance towards the disabled people as a good organisational practice. The Charter for Communication place the right of people with a communication impairment in terms of information, support and training, time to speak, right of entry to services, addition in social networks, and services from employers. Due to this Charter, health and social care service providers and general public have been able to adopt and develop suitable method of communication, such as providing choices of booking a GP visits, allocating experienced staff with balancing communication tools in reception area, or offering additional time to value the needs of people with communication complexities (Walsh et al., 2011). It is the responsibility of employers and staffs working in the health care sector to be familiar with policies and procedures. It is also important that they know who to report to in situations of improbability. Health and social care workers must be able to direct those in their care to  professional organisations who can offer advice and support to people experiencing various difficulties. When employees adhere to the policy and system of an organisation, this will enhance the safety of employees and service users within the health care organisation. For example, the confidentiality policy which stated that people personal information should be protected and process fairly at all time, service users personal details must be protected by health and social care workers (Moss, 2012). The Care Quality Commission (CQC) controls all health and adult social care services in England including those provided by the NHS, local authorities, private companies or voluntary organisation. The CQC makes sure that necessary standards of quality of care and safety are being met where care is provided, from hospitals to private care homes. The CQC make sure better care is provided for everyone in the hospital, care homes, own homes or elsewhere. When communication is supported through organisational policies and staff training, this will create a safe working environment for service provider and service users, and it will also improve the communication skills of health care professionals and service users fulfilment (Hill, 2011). In health and social care sector, there are different techniques that have been put in place to develop the communication process in the health and social care sector. Communication can be blocked if people differences are not understood. For example when people don’t get the message, include visual disabilities, hearing disabilities, environments, and speaking from too far away and when people cannot make sense of their messages e.g. the use of different languages, the use of different terms, such as jargons (technical language) and slang (using different terms) in health and social care workplace. Health and social care workers need to be trained in the areas of identifying barriers and how to improve the communication processes in health and social care in order to be able to provide quality care service for the service users. For example, health and social care workers should avoid using jargons and slang to communicate in health and social care organisation in order to avoid communication barriers (Moonie, 2005). Since I started health and social care management course, I have developed new uses for information communication technology (ICT) and the benefits are worth the effort and has resulted in major improvement in my area of work, not just for providing quality service for the service users, but also for the benefit of me and my work team. With the use of information communication technology (ICT), I can now check information about patient care by assessing the modern email system which is the fastest and secured way of exchanging information, and to support a patient-centred care approach for older people and people with long term condition by electronically enabling single assessment process (e-SAP). I also use information communication technology (ICT) to improve, more consistent monitor and record service users conditions. For example, by using electronic mat to monitor the movement of a confuse patient, that will immediately alert me when the patient stood on. The electronic mat is always spread by the side of the patient bed, and the buzzer will sound when the patient stood on it. I use information communication technology (ICT) to get better information to support and improved my performances (Moonie, 2010). Over the last three decades in health and social care settings, huge benefits has been achieved by the use of information communication technology (ICT) by users of services care workers and care organisations. Service users can benefit from information communication technology (ICT) by the use of Electronic Health Record that will give them information about their health record held by their General Practitioner (GP) or their health care professionals, in order for them to be able to take control and participate in their care, so that they can receive treatment at the right time. Service users can also benefit from the use of information communication technology (ICT) by using e-prescribing that will help service users to collect their medication straight from the pharmacy without waste of time, errors in dispensing (such as wrong drug or contraindicated drug) and it eliminate hard-to-read handwritten prescriptions. Care workers and care organisations can benefit from the enhance performance of quality services delivered by the use of information communication technology (ICT). For example, the breakdown to barriers to communication and information exchange between health care workers and the organisation through electronic systems, and the use of Clinical Decision Support System also help  clinicians to support the decisions of other professionals (Rafferty and Steyaet, 2007). However, there are legal consideration in the use of information communication technology (ICT) in relating to Data Protection Act 1998, which stated that service users information must be confidential and should not be disclosed, and can only be disclose to certain people e.g. Social worker, General Practitioner (GP), Police etc. The employers have a legal duty under Health and Safety at work Act etc 1974 to safeguard, so far as is ‘reasonably practicable’, the health, safety and welfare of their employees and others who may be affected by the work activity, and provide and maintain safe equipment and safe systems of work. Employers must also carry out risk assessment and have a written health and safety policy ( if there are five or more staff), display health and safety poster etc. The employees must take care of themselves and other and follow safety advice and instructions. Workers who use computers for long periods of time are prone to health problems, this is why it is important to understand health and safety at work because it can lead to mental disorder, nausea, fatigue etc (Lash, 2002). This assignment explored communication skills and how different factors influence the communication process, and theories of communication have been applied to health and social care together with the use of information technology in health and social care. References Bandura, A. (1977) Social learning theory. New York: Prentice Hall. Bastable, S. B. (2008) Nurse as educator: Principles of teaching and learning for nursing practice. 3rd ed. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Downs, C. W. and Adrian, A. D. (2004) Assessing organisational communication: Strategic communication audits. New York: The Guilford Press. Hill, S. (2011) The knowledgeable patient: Communication and participation in health. Oxford: Wiley-Backwell. Lash, S. (2002) Critique of Information. London: Sage. Michie, V. (2006) BTEC first Health and Social Care. United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes. Moonie, N. (2010) Developing effective communication. In: B. Stretch and M. Whitehouse (eds.). BTEC national level 3: Health and social care book 1. London: Pearson Education. Moonie, N. (2005) Health and social care: AS Level for Edexcel. Oxford: Heinemann Education Publishers. Moss, B. (2012) Communication Skills in Health and Social Care. Second Edition. London: Sage. Nevid, J. S. (2008) Psychology: Concepts and applications. 3rd ed. Boston: Cengage Learning. Pavlov, I. P. (1927) Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral cortex. Translated and Edited by G.V. Anrep. London: Oxford University Press. Rasheed, E., Hetherington, A. and Irvine, J. (2010) BTEC Level 3: Health and social care endorsed by edexcel. London: Hodder Education & Dynamic Learning. Rafferty, J. and Steyaet, J. (2007) Social work in Digital Society. London: Sage. Shukla, A., Tiwari, R., a nd Kala, R. (2010) Studies in computational intelligence. Berlin: Springer publications. Skinner, B. f. (1938) The Behaviour of Organism: An experiment analysis. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Weiten, W., Dunn, D. S. and Hammer, E. Y. (2011) Psychology applied to modern life: Adjustment in the 21st century. 10th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Walsh, M., Mitchell, A., Millar, E., Rowe, J., Greenhalgh, L., Langride, E. and Chaloner, R. (2011) Health and social care: Level3 Diploma candidate handbook. London: Collins Education.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Heating Properties of Firewood by Tree Species

Firewood performance can differ from species to species. The type of tree you use for burning can vary widely in heat content, burning characteristics, and overall quality. I have created a table that presents several important burning characteristics for many species used in North America. The chart ranks each tree species by its density which is a good indicator of overall heating effectiveness. Wood Characteristics Influencing Quality Heating and Ignition Density of Wood - density is the amount of space a volume or mass of firewood occupies. The denser the wood, the less space its given mass takes up and the greater a particular volume of firewood weighs.  For an example,  hickory is about twice as dense as aspen, so a cubic foot of hickory weighs approximately 50 pounds while a cubic foot of aspen weighs only about 25 pounds.   Green Vs. Dry Wood - Firewood should be dried (seasoned) to 10% to 20% moisture content for best burning performance. Much of the energy generated from burning green firewood actually goes toward evaporating the water held in the wood. Green firewood only gives off about 40% of the energy of dry firewood. To get the most heat production out of your firewood, you should season it by first cutting into short log bolts. Split these bolts and stack in a dry,  well-ventilated  area for at least six months before burning. Available Heat by Wood Species  - Available heat is a measure of the heat given off when wood is burnt and measured in million British Thermal Units. Hardwood trees give  off more energy in BTUs than a comparable volume of softwood because it is denser. It should be noted that  the volatile oils in some softwoods can increase the heat output of some species but only for a short time. Ease of Splitting - Wood with a straight grain is easier to split than wood with a tighter more complex grain. Knots, branches, and other defects can also increase the difficulty of splitting firewood. Remember that dry wood is generally easier to split than green wood. Ease of Igniting Firewood - Ignition ability is an important factor wood factor. Low-density wood is easier to light than denser wood. Woods with higher levels of volatile chemicals in their structure, such as conifers, will ignite  and burn more readily than those with less volatile chemicals. These woods should be used to start fires where dry  high-density woods will provide the heat. Definitions of Chart Terms Density - woods dry weight per unit volume. Denser or heavier wood contains more heat per volume. Note that hickory ranks at the top of the list.Green Weight - the weight in pounds of a cord of freshly cut wood before drying.mmBTUs - million British Thermal Units. The woods actual available heat measured in BTUs.Coaling - wood that forms long-lasting coals are good to use in wood stoves because they allow a fire to be carried over a longer period effectively. Wood Heating Values Chart Common Name Density-lbs/cu.ft. Pounds/cd. (green) Million BTUs/cd. Coaling Hickory 50 4,327 27.7 good Osage-orange 50 5,120 32.9 excellent Black locust 44 4,616 27.9 excellent White oak 44 5,573 29.1 excellent Red oak 41 4,888 24.6 excellent White ash 40 3,952 24.2 good Sugar maple 42 4,685 25.5 excellent Elm 35 4,456 20.0 excellent Beech 41 NA 27.5 excellent Yellow birch 42 4,312 20.8 good Black walnut 35 4,584 22.2 good Sycamore 34 5,096 19.5 good Silver maple 32 3,904 19.0 excellent Hemlock 27 NA 19.3 poor Cherry 33 3,696 20.4 excellent Cottonwood 27 4,640 15.8 good Willow 35 4,320 17.6 poor Aspen 25 NA 18.2 good Basswood 25 4,404 13.8 poor White pine 23 NA 15.9 poor Ponderosa Pine 3,600 16.2 fair Eastern Red Cedar 31 2,950 18.2 poor

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Trumans Domestic And Foreign Policies - 1094 Words

President Harry S. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri on May 8, 1884. â€Å"The son of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen (Young) Truman.† Truman’s father worked as mule trader and a farmer while Martha was a musician and homemaker. Young Truman had three siblings growing up and eventually married his childhood love Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919, (Truman Biography†, n.d.). President Harry S. Truman assumed the responsibilities and duties of an American President after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. Upon his initiation as president Truman was tasked with what he referred to as â€Å"the year of decisions,† in which he analyzed the war and formulated logical and cost efficient solutions to end WWII, (Truman Biography†, n.d.). Truman’s domestic and foreign policies were created to successfully transition the United States into a post-war or â€Å"peace-time† economy while avoiding a nationwide economic depression. Truman was successful in his goal to transition the nation’s economy, but only a select few of his policies were passed by congress, such as Truman’s 21-point program, â€Å"Fair Deal† and â€Å"Brannan Program,† as well as the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan, (â€Å"Harry S. Truman,† n.d.). The Truman Doctrine was a foreign policy by President Harry S. Truman in response to the British having removed their aid to parts of Greece and Turkey that were the opposition in a war against communism influenced by the Soviet Union. Truman’s Marshall Plan named after hisShow MoreRelatedHarry S. Truman: A Tremendously Influential President Essay1696 Words   |  7 Pageswith dreams in the music field and interests in reading and history. His mother greatly supported his ideas and desires and wished him the best. Truman worked a series of clerical jobs and worked on the Santa Fe Railroad as well (â€Å"Harry S. Truman†). Truman’s first encounter with politics was when he served in WWI and was a captain in the Field Artillery in France. When he returned from France he married Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919. Later Truman became active in the Democratic Party and was electedRead MoreDifficulties of Trumans Taking the Presidency from Roosevelt1626 Words   |  7 Pagesbecame Truman’s to resolve as the new president. When he came into office on April 2nd, 1945, World War II was nearing its end, leaving Europe in absolute chaos. Truman had to search for ways to aid the country in picking up the pieces from war. Thus, in a foreign and domestic sense, he inherited a country in total turmoil and disorientation. Americans at home still could not feel the devastation caused by the war, which ultimately contributed to the failure of Truman’s domestic policies. AdditionallyRead MorePresident Truman On Domestic Policy845 Words   |  4 Pageswith the Soviet Union and a post war American Economy. 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Truman’s approaches toward the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and overseas became a major way of leading foreign policy in America for generations. At home, Truman protected and reinforced the New Deal reforms of his predecessor, guided the American economyRead MoreThe Achievements Of Truman s Presidency1560 Words   |  7 PagesThe Noteworthy Period of Truman’s Presidency The period of time that covered Harry S. Truman’s term of presidency, spanning from the year 1945 to 1953, were comprised of a multitude of various historical recollections. With a focus on both national policies and rulings that were aimed towards a nationalist improvement, Truman’s term as president also encompassed a series of foreign incidents and consequential outcomes. Of the two – domestically and abroad - it is doubtless for modern scholars toRead MoreThe Containment Of The Cold War845 Words   |  4 Pageswere made to U.S. policy abroad, while McCarthyism targeted the Department of State at home. 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