Home Depot Service

Home Depot Service Introduction and service Background of Home Depot Home Depot Inc has grown immensely since its commencement back in the 1970’s when it was a small organization founded by three business executives who had left Handy Dan Stores to start their own home appliance service delivery company. Back then the company had only one store and annual earnings of $ 23M.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Home Depot Service specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More But through good management and efficiency, the company has grown into one of the largest vendor and installer of home improvement appliances serving individuals and professional customers. The company’s founders retired back in the year 2000 after opening the 1000th store and Bob Nardelli was appointed C.E.O. This move has contributed a lot to the success of the company because since then the company has even performed better. The new C.E.O has overseen the openin g of over 900 stores and currently the organization has over 2200 stores across the United States of America. The home improvement retailer is now among the top 3 retailers in the world following Wal-Mart, but it is the America’s largest Home Improvement appliance and service selling company in the United States of America, the company is now a home appliance service company helping build beautiful homes across America, Canada and Mexico. The company has experienced profit growth every year since 2000-2005; the profits have grown from $45.7B in 2000 to over $81B. Despite the value of its shares doing poorly in the NYSE, the company has improved its earnings per share from $1.10 to $2.75 therefore pleasing shareholders and currently the company has paid out close to $ 13B in cumulative earnings back to its shareholders. Besides this, the company’s operating margin has also grown from 9.2 % to 11.5% thereby indicating that the company is quite healthy and is performing w ell. The company has over 300,000 employees on its payroll to ensure that the company is able to cater for its customers especially when it comes to superior service delivery.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The efforts of former C.E.O, Bob Nardelli, have to be appreciated since he has used all his experience and skills in his position to ensure that the company continues to operate on a path which allows it to grow in both size and revenue by catering for the needs of their customer base and offering a lot of competition to rivals such as Wal-Mart by building stores and Home depot centers that are spacious and well designed. The decision to open the Home depot online business has also played a big role in ensuring dominance of the retailer. Strategic Posture Mission Home Depot Inc is a well established company that aims to provide its customers with the highe st quality home improvement products and high quality service (Home Depot Inc). The slogan, â€Å"improve everything we touch,† is a clear indication of the customer experience that is part of the service delivery strategy that Home Depot wants its entire customers to experience as soon as they enter in the premises of the organization to purchase products from their retail centers all over America (Kotler, 167). The company takes its customers seriously and hopes to offer solutions to their daily needs by providing services that will improve the homes and lives of their customers. This mission has been relevant to the current performance and the vision of the company is to become the best retail company of this millennium with superior service delivery. Objectives Home Depot has most of its services rooted in the service industry; the organization desires to be one of the biggest participants in the retail industry in this millennium and also aims to realize a rise in its ma rket share by acquiring other companies using an aggressive business strategy. The company has ambitions to maintain an annual growth in sales of between 9-12% by the year 2012. Additionally, the company aims to increase its earnings per share for its equity owners to between 10-14% by the year 2012 by growing its service delivery to its target audience.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Home Depot Service specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The company believes that its survival is not the only objective but it is important for the company to grow and acquire other new companies such as Hughes Supplies to increase its dominance in the retail industry. Furthermore, the company intends to pen close to 400-500 stores in various regions of the world by the end of 2012 despite the indication that the market is saturating. Other objectives of the company include increasing cumulative operating cash flow to $50b, cumulati ve capital expenditure to $17-20b and grow their supply sales to $23-27b (Home Depot Inc).The stores believe that their targets can be met if employees spend approximately 70% of their working hours on the selling floor and expanding their markets. Strategy Home Depot uses an aggressive strategy which aims at sustaining the company’s growth. The strategy is known as the 3E’s strategy which involves extending business, expanding the market and enhancing the core. This strategy is effective as besides guaranteeing its growth it also ensures that the quality of service and value delivered to customers increase as the company expands (Home Depot Inc). Policies The company’s policy revolves around its clientele and the need to enhance the customer experience is fundamental to success and for that reason the company has a policy that instructs its staff to spend close to 70% of total work time on the selling floor and performing customer service activities because thi s way the needs of the current consumers and targeted consumers can be catered for and the customers are most likely to have the complete customer experience (Kotler, 239; Home Depot Inc). Figure 1 A diagrammatic representation of the full elements included in a product Services delivered by Home Depot are valuable to their clientele and this is why the organization has been able to get a lot of positive reviews from numerous quarters and their customers have grown in number (Home Depot Inc).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The wide variety of the services is offered by the organization and these include mostly services which complement their product offering. Customers usually desire not only to purchase the core product but services accompanying the product is very important especially because home appliances require some level of expertise especially when it comes to installation. When customers purchase home appliances such as tools, hardware, lumber, building materials, paint, plumbing, flooring and garden supplies, they may require expertise services from the staff before they gain the skills to use the appliances. This is why home depot offers â€Å" installation services, advice, clinics, contractor services, credit center, delivery services, design services, home services, import/export services, moving services, tool rental, and truck rental this way a holistic customer satisfaction dimension is achieved† (Kotler, 110). Service process structure, structural alternatives, technology, st andardization, co-production, High vs. Low contact The corporate structure and the customer service process structure cannot be separated unlike long ago where the customer service delivery process structure of the Home Depot was reportedly chaotic before the arrival of Bob Nardelli, the former C.E.O who retired in 2007. The current structure is managed according to regions such as south, south east, west, east, north and Midwest, whereby each store has its own overall manager and functional level managers. The regional managers serve as head of strategy and are responsible for customer service despite that fact that they have other customer service department managers and departments within their branches. This structure has ensured efficiency unlike beforehand where management was fragmented and decentralized hence the current management system allows its managers to communicate directly with the top management team thus enabling the organization respond appropriately to the needs of the customers (Kotler, 229). The former C.E.O, Bob Nardelli, did set expectations that up to date play a major role in encouraging every manager to achieve the optimal output and deliver results furthermore all employees are required to spend some time on the selling floor in order to ensure that the needs of customers are catered for in order to ensure that customer satisfaction ratings go up. This policy put into in place by the C.E.O has fostered the culture of collective responsibility as far as issues of customer service are concerned it is not only the duty of regional managers, general managers and functional area managers within the stores but also a responsibility of the lowest level of staff within the organization. Table1.The Service Process Structure of Home Depot This referral system of customer service can take a long time and at times can consume a lot of time especially when low staff employees lack the capacity to solve problems and hence send customers to the next level of the hierarchy. This can thereby be replaced by specialized customer care departments or booths that have fully trained customer care experts to respond to specific product needs of the customers (Kotler, 179; Porter, 17). Illustration: Home depots superior customer service techniques are part of the key competencies that have contributed to the organization’s success Home depot’s customer service policy aims to ensure that the needs and queries of customers are resolved in the shortest time frame possible. Service process structure of Home Depot aims to provide the maximum customer experience by providing services that are considered of high quality and at the same time affordable. The entire sales service engineering process of Home Depot aims to respond to the needs of their customers by enabling them get high quality assistance as far as pre-purchase and post-purchase queries such as planning, installation, training, trouble shooting, repairs, product upgrading and discarding of products are concerned. The management of Home Depot centre believes that their customer care policy offers them an opportunity to form relationships with their clients and therefore even improve thus empowering them. Empowered customers are more likely to engage themselves in the process of co-production of services and this reduces the workload that the staffs of Home Depot are most likely to face if they were dealing with underpowered clients (Worthington Britton 45). The top management regularly organizes seminars, workshops and training opportunities which are very crucial to empowering employees and standardizing the delivery of service (Kourdi, 43). The failure of offering standardized service delivery can at times be very costly and this is why employees of Home Depot care are given strict guidelines under which they can use to deal with both easy and hard clients. The entire sales engineering process of Home Depot has enabled different employee s to operate with a standardized approach which enables them to treat the needs and demands of all their clients within a reasonable time frame using high degrees of etiquette and friendliness (Kotler, 334). This fact has contributed to the high rate of customer retention and repeated purchases due to the fact that some sort of intimacy has arisen between the customers of the organization and the organization itself (Worthington Britton 57). Illustration: A model representing careful planning that has been used to develop the Customer service policies at the Home Depot Marketing Guru, Kotler, (44) insists that high quality customer care is never accidental but rather a product of vigorous and continuous planning programs that are initiated by top management and customer care staff within the organization. The Home Depot has put in place the necessary Information Communication Technology (ICT) structure that has assisted the organization towards ensuring that they can gather all th e necessary information which can be used to cater for their information needs. Model customer care departments and procedures are a result of goods planning and good planning cannot occur if an organization does not have the necessary information. The use of Information technology in this case has played a big role in the process by assisting customers become better co producers (Kotler, 269; Worthington Britton 164). This is because the use of Email, websites and customer care call centers has made it possible for the organization to interact with its clients at arm’s length. The technological environment in North America is becoming more advanced daily and Home Depot Inc has not been left behind. The organization has installed various technologies to cater for their business needs. The corporation has installed the most modern bar-coding technologies and UNIX servers and in this way, the organization is able to take care of inventory, financial accounting and also record customer needs accurately. Previously, when technology was an obstacle to corporations poor inventory management increased companies costs by interfering especially with customer care processes within the organization. The Home Depot management has put in place an additional I.T department in Texas to guarantee that the corporation runs efficiently and avoid extra costs due to poor business practices. This center has played a big role towards ensuring that their client’s needs are recorded and appropriate strategic responses are formulated hence improving customer care within the organization. Moreover, the corporation has installed back end scanning technology and upgraded call centre technology in order to support various processes within the organization (Worthington Britton 143). These actions have made sure that all transactions are recorded and that customer queries are recorded and queued so that customer care personnel can respond to them in the shortest time frame p ossible (Campbell et al 142). Unlike long ago where all service delivery programs were characterized by high levels of contact this has drastically changed and now when customers have queries it is not a must for them to be physically present at the premises of the Home Depot to raise their queries or even conduct business but they can do this at the comfort of their homes by ordering online and asking for more specified customized services. This way if there are more low contact services transactions then queuing and overcrowding at the stores are consequentially reduced saving costs in the long run for the organization (Porter, 88). Service blueprint, lines of visibility, interaction, on-stage and back-stage interaction failure points and poka-yokes Home Depot understands that it deals with heterogeneous clientele and every client has his/her own needs, wants and desires but the overall aim of their customer service charter is to offer lasting solutions to their clientele in the s hortest time frame possible (Kotler, 156). The customer service strategy of the Home Depot aims to foster loyalty and repeated purchase through ensuring high levels of satisfaction within customers. The staff are rigorously trained and given operational policies to deal with both simple and difficult clientele with the aim of enhancing customer satisfaction. The customer service department has adopted a flat structure and incorporated the use of information communication technology in order to ensure that the organization is able to communicate efficiently and effectively at high speeds to resolve customer needs as soon as they arise (Worthington Britton 77). The organization has made it mandatory for every individual within the organization to spend some time on the retail floor and interact with customers and hence this has contributed a lot towards developing an organization that is holistic when it comes to customer service matters. The main pillars of the strategy that is used by the Home depot include staying in touch with the needs and demands of customers and this is achieved by strategic gathering of data which is stored in data warehouses. This data is used by strategy formulation experts who are specialists in customer service to understand and predict customer behavior. Consumer behavior is a discipline anchored in understanding the needs, perceptions, tastes, preferences, attitudes and other forms of consumer behavior (Wheelen Hunger, 411). The output of this process is used to develop the most appropriate training programs of the employees which in turn empower employees once they interact with customers during the moment of truth. Home depots customer service policy is hence developed from predictions that emanate from their information communication technology department and therefore the staff have undergone various simulations that enable them enter into most probable question and answer scenario sessions that may involve potential customer s (Home Depot Inc). The customer service strategy blue print demands that all organizational employees aim to create great service delivery priorities. Therefore, the staff is required to be smart, smiling and polite when dealing with clients. Dealing with clients with the highest level of etiquette enables staff to avoid confrontational instances that may pose a bad image on the organization. Moreover, when customer service and clientele argue or conflict negatively then a lot of time is more likely to be lost. Illustration: The customer relationship management process that is part of the customer service blue print Home Depot Inc values all of its customers and it uses a sales engineering process to develop the most appropriate customer relationship management program that allows the organization to get closer and more personal with some of its most important clients. Customer relationship management is the backbone of The Home Depot center’s customer service strategy beca use it aims to reduce order processing/transaction time, this way the problem of long queue that arises in the process of service delivery can be reduced easily hence improving the customer experience. In order to shorten the time frame of the customer and organization interaction the Home depot center has automated some processes by encouraging customers to carry out their orders online and hence reduce instances of long queues thereby hastening the process of service delivery. The customer care call centre belonging to the Home depot center allows the organization to be able to interact with its clients in real time (on stage) or take down their details search for their solutions and contact them at later times in order to offer them solutions. The web angle and internet of customer care also offers a venue under which the organization can offer long lasting solutions to complex customer problems. The current problem with the customer service department is the problem of queuing. The Home Depot has a large number of customers who have problems ranging from simple to very complex problems and this therefore increases the processing time of the customer service department (Wheelen Hunger, 304). The high level of queuing especially during peak season ends up annoying some customers who assume that the organization is ignoring their needs/queries and complaints. Therefore the Home Dept should aim to open a more efficient and effective customer care centre that can dedicate all its efforts exclusively towards responding to the needs of clients. The customer care complex can be seasonal but it will serve as a failsafe method for which the organization can be able to ensure that incase of overloading customer service tasks run smoothly. The strategy taken by Home Depot to manage their, delivery systems, facility design, location selection, capacity planning, service encounter, quality management, information management The Home Depot centre occupies over 105,000 f t ² (9,755 m ²) in warehouse floor space with its megastores operating in larger facilities with its largest store in New Jersey occupying over 200,000 square feet (Home Depot Inc). Every store/warehouse chosen by the company is not accidentally chosen but careful planning is usually common in all location decisions. Key location decisions are made by marketers and population statistics experts who chose areas which are most likely to choose locations that are considered highly attractive in terms of security, consumer traffic and economic parameters. This technique of choosing locations has enabled the organization open stores at very strategic locations within the United States, Mexico and Canada and this has assisted the organization maximize revenues and grow their business portfolio and expand their business (Home Depot Inc). Basically, the location decision has enable Home Depot move closer to their prospective clients and address their needs adequately. Using particular t raffic forecasts that are linked to their location decisions has enabled the organization to perform adequate capacity planning. This has enabled the organization match consumer needs with their provisions through this has not been easy due to higher levels of customers which has increased their demand and led to long queues often. But in order to deliver services the organization in conjunction with their information technology department has been able to adequately develop delivery systems that enable service delivery be queued appropriately in order to deliver services in good time and condition. The organization has over time increased the number of suppliers that it has and this has enabled the organization to be able to be able to maintain high levels of quality supplies at relatively lower pricing. The high variety of brands in the shelves of Home Depot enables customers to choose products from wide variety of product and suppliers are hence forced to produce products that ar e considered of high quality this way the suppliers are forced to produce highly attractive products that are of high quality. Moreover the Home Depot use a last in first out inventory system which ensures that products that are on the shelves follow a queue that is directly related to the time which they arrived at their stores. When dealing with obsolescence and redundancy of stock the organization has a quality control department that is charged with the responsibility inspecting and verifying the quality of goods right before they reach the shelves for customers to purchase (Wheelen Hunger, 338). Every piece of inventory is bar-coded and stored at the organization n data base this way the organization is able to account for all items which are defective or considered as unsuitable following customer complaints. By keeping accurate records and supplying information to all employees within the organization a total quality management system is used to ensure that employees communi cate the message of quality management especially when interacting with customers on the floor of the retail centers (Wheelen Hunger 122). Suggestions for improving and redesigning the services/ interface Home Depot is a home appliance retail and interacts with customers to ensure that they are able to understand their products and if necessary install or even know how to use them. Home Depot Inc serves millions of customers across the Americas. The organization serves the do-it-yourself market, do-it-for-me market and the professional customers (Kotler 244). All this clients have different needs and are considered important to the organization and thus the organization has customized service delivery in order to fit the needs and desires of each customer segment. The organization should therefore aim to expand their existing customer services department by dedicating more resources to this business department this way the organization will be able to deliver services efficiently a nd effectively without delay or compromise in quality (Wheelen Hunger 78). The service delivery process should be upgraded to encourage customers to carry out business transactions over the net and having their goods delivered to their door steps upon agreement. Additionally the organization should improve their capacity planning in order to ensure that the retail center can be able to respond to the needs of their customers as soon as they arise. Conclusion The customer service practices of Home Depot Inc are good but a lot can be done in order to ensure that the organization is able get closer and to respond to the needs of their clients as soon as they occur. Delivery of high quality services is very important and Home Depot has ensured that it makes good lasting impressions on their customers by enhancing good customer experiences. The company should initiate programs that will incorporate the opinions of the lowest level of employees, customers and aim to improve service deliv ery within the organization. Good customer service is an ingredient of creating intimacy with customers and thereby cultivating customer loyalty which is very important to organizations. Campbell, David, Stonehouse, George Houston, Bill. Business Strategy an Introduction, 2nd edition. Banbury Rd: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002. Print. Home Depot Inc. â€Å"Home.† Home Depot Inc. 2011. Web. Kotler, Phillip. 2008. Principles of marketing, 13th edn. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Kourdi, Jeremy. Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision Making, 2nd edition. New York: Economist books, 2009. Print. Porter, Michael. Competitive advantage, illustrated edition. Northampton MA: Free press, 2004. Print. Wheelen, Thomas Hunger, David. Strategic management and business policy. New Jersey: Prentice hall, 2002. Print. Worthington, Ian Britton, Chris. Business environment, 6th edition. Canada: Pearson Education, 2009. Print.

Case Study Of Alpaca Clothing Private Limited †Free Samples

The most important factor that decides the fate of the international expansion is the cross cultural communication. Intercultural communication can be defined as the concept of communication styles and approaches that enhances the connection among people across different culture and societal groups. It can be considered as a construct that explores and analyses the effect of culture on communication and interaction. Common variables of intercultural communication includes social attributes, thought patterns, traditional values, principles, and cultural norms associated with different groups of people belonging to different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. It includes interconnected school of thoughts and theories that define intercultural communication and along with different attributes of communication (Chaney and Martin 2013). The concept of intercultural communication also explores the communication barriers that exist between two or more cultural backgrounds and how to overcome t hem. This assignment will utilize multiple domains of intercultural communication in order to explore, analyze, and overcome the communication barrier that exist in between two cultural backgrounds when it comes to a business scenario taking the help of a case study. The case study represents the scenario where clothing company by the name alpaca clothing Private Limited that has entertained a satisfactory sales in retail outlets in Australia This small scale company had had the first opportunity to expand to the Asian territory by the virtue of signing a contract for fibre processing service in China. However the company representative in the Chinese location chosen by the company is an Australian born marketing professional by the name of Jonathan Jones. However despite the expertise and professional competence of Jonathan, he had no basic idea of Chinese culture and has never lived abroad, hence his intercultural understanding was very limited. It has been already mentioned above that in case of cross-cultural business dealings the role of optimal intercultural communication is profound. It has to be mentioned in this context that Jonathan had no better understanding of the Chinese culture and had failed to facilitate effective and successful intercultural communication between the Chinese company site and his Australian counterpart and as a result, a few misunderstanding and negotiation flaws have had already occurred. For reviving the situation well planned and strategic intercultural communication and intervention is required taking help from cultural analysis and intercultural communication theories and core competencies. There are many theories that can be associated with the concept of intercultural communication. And each of the theories has a profound impact on the development of the intercultural communication competencies which are extremely required for any crosscultural representative to do his work properly. In the case study the most important flaw in Jonathan had been the fact that he had never lived outside his own country and had no understanding of how to blend in different cultural backgrounds (Jandt 2017). In order for him to succeed in his position and the present it is very important for him to understand different intercultural theories and develop the core competencies of intercultural communication. According to the theory of intercultural adaptation, the most effective method of intercultural communication is through learned communicative competencies. This theory directs the individual towards understanding the foreign culture and then adapting the communication pattern to blend in.   The next theory is co cultural theory, which defines communication with our interactions among underrepresented individuals (Samovar et al. 2014). This theory directs individuals to be accepting and open minded about the differences between two cultures and exercise equal position between the groups to facilitate optimal and culturally competent interaction. The theory of communication acculturation represents the cross cultural adaptation to be a task that can be accomplished with only collaborative effort between the parties involved. And on the other hand the communication accommodation theory relies on different linguistic strategies to decrease the communicative distance between two cultural backgrounds. Linking the main Idea behind the theories it can be mentioned that intercultural communication competencies can be developed with better understanding of the cultural differences, compassionate acceptance of the cultural differences, honest and strategic adaptation tec hniques, and most importantly collaborative effort between the parties involved (Carbaugh 2013). Now coming to the modern core competencies of intercultural communication the most important factors has to be proficient knowledge about the host cultural background and linguistic characteristics. Along with that communication can never be effective without emphasis on the nonverbal characteristics of the communication. For example traits like tone of voice, posture, communication approach, eye contact, time and space, and gestures account for the most important influencing factors of effective communication (Neuliep 2013).   Core competencies of intercultural communication can never be complete without mentioning key personality traits like flexibility, open-mindedness, empathy, equality, and adaptability in the individual. Hence, Jonathan as a company representative has to develop all these competencies in order to facilitate effective interaction between the both of the countries. In order to entertain effective intercultural interaction between both the countries, Jonathan will also need to have a thorough analysis of the cultural differences between the two countries.   Australia can be considered a very open minded, westernized, and modern society with an individualistic and progressive take to the lifestyle. China on the other hand is very traditional Confucian cultural societies where traditional values and principles are given the most importance over any modernized are progressive change. In order to better understand the cultural dimension differences between both the countries the help of hofstede cultural dimensions analysis can be taken.   Each of the cultural dimension looks at different aspect of culture and its importance effect on the society. On elaboration of the very first dimension, power distance in which Australia scores much lower than China at 36 indicating that the business culture of Australia is not dependent on unequal distributi on of power. Accessible, collaborative, and shared decision making is the main structural components of industrial culture of Australia and communication is informal direct and participative. China on the other hand is a Confucian society is a very high at the score of 80. It's very clearly indicates that the clear stratification of power among the organizational hierarchy and a very formal and respectful. The next dimension is individualism in which China ranks very low at score of 20 indicating a very collectivist culture in the society showcasing a Cooperative and collaborative lifestyle. Whereas Australia at the score of 90 shows a very individualistic and person based society. In the component of uncertainty avoidance Australia has a very intermediate score with no clear indication on whether the societal culture is appreciative of uncertainty or not, and on the other hand China had a much lower score of 30 indicating no acceptance towards uncertainty of change. In case of long term orientation, China has a score of 87 showcasing a very responsible and pragmatic social culture, and in contrast, Australia at 21 shows a normative culture. Indulgence is the next dimension where China scores very low at 21 showing a very restrained and disciplined society and Australia at 71 is an indulgent country with least importance to discipline and restrain (Hofstede Insights 2018). Hence it is clear that there are vast cultural differences between the both countries and inevitably in there are profound impact of the cultural difference on the business dealings and etiquettes of both the countries. For instance China is a Confucian society and the business etiquettes of this country is based on a strong power distance, discipline, and punctuality. Here the business dealings are very formal and everyone is expected to maintain a certain composure during the business interactions (Kleinman and Lin 2012). Formal courtesy and justice is also very important to the business etiquette of China and maintaining the respectful relationship is very important to the business etiquettes of the country. Communication is very formal, pleasantries and greetings are exchanged in a formal yet warm manner and conflict is avoided at all costs. Coming to nonverbal communication, in China, body language and posture is always expected to be formal and attentive that exhibit self contr ol and respectfulness that the country thrives on (Law 2012). Australia on the other hand is a much more organized and open minded country with a straight forward and innovative business mentality. The business hierarchy is open, accessible, and decision making is shared among the different organizational sectors with a warm participative communication statistics. There are not traditional restrictions to nonverbal communication, body language and appearance and the business etiquette is very similar to European cultural characteristics. Organizational hierarchy interacts warmly and regularly with the lower employees and their significant power distance in the Australian business etiquette and is very appreciative of change and innovation (Lantis and Charlton 2011). With such a vast difference between the business culture and societal norm among the both of the countries, defective communication is inevitable. However in order for the company representative to effectively counteract the barriers, identification and analysis of the barriers is very important. The very first barrier among the both of the countries and effective communication among them is the linguistic barrier. Australia is a mainly English language operated country and in China English is not the dominating operational language. Along with that another very common barrier to intercultural communication is the non verbal communication components. It has to be mentioned that China is a very formal and traditional country and Australia is a loud and open country (Casmir 2013). Hence factors that tone of voice, gesture, eye contact, body language, and vocal characteristics have a huge impact on the communication between both countries. Another key issue can be the stereotypic prejud ices among both of the cultures. Cultural competence and knowledge is acquired which is only developed through direct experience which Jonathan lacked terribly. Hence the differences between both cultures might have acted as prejudice refraining him from blending in with the cultural norms of China (Mindess 2014). Informal understanding and personality traits can also serve as communication barriers and cross cultural settings. It has to be understood that Jonathan had a very European and open minded are bringing and while, understanding of societal pleasantries might be very different from what is appreciated and accepted in China. Hence the lack of adaptivity to Chinese culture and basic knowledge about their lifestyle is a great hurdle that affected the communication significantly (Neuliep 2013). According to most of the authors, cultural competence is an acquired quality, and it can only be enhanced through effort and experience. The communication on misconduct among Australia and China in this case study has been facilitated by the lack of knowledge and intercultural competence in the chosen representative. However the culture intercultural communication analysis and cultural difference analysis done about can provide useful Framework based on which recommendation strategies can be devised for Jonathan to follow in order to improve his intercultural communication capabilities and aid to this position better. On a concluding note, it has to be mentioned that International expansion can only be effective when the cross-cultural factors are respected and addressed in an efficient and strategic manner. This case study is a excellent example of the impact lack of strategic planning and actions towards better intercultural interaction between two internationally cooperating business entities can have on the overall productivity and profitability of the business operation. Hence, for any international business dealings a thorough cultural analysis and comparison adjustment is needed before attempting the cross cultural business. Jonathan in this case had been chosen to represent the company in the Chinese society where has he had no idea about the cultural norms of the country or any core competencies of intercultural interaction. However with cultural comparison analysis and strategic action to improve the cultural competence and understanding of foreign culture corporate companies can easily succeed in international expansions. Asante, M.K., Miike, Y. and Yin, J. eds., 2013.  The global intercultural communication reader. Routledge. 2, pp123-150 Carbaugh, D. ed., 2013.  Cultural communication and intercultural contact. Routledge. Pp 185-193 Casmir, F.L. ed., 2013.  Ethics in intercultural and international communication. Routledge. Pp 150-165 Chaney, L. and Martin, J., 2013.  Intercultural business communication. Pearson Higher Ed. Hofstede Insights. (2018).  Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights. [online] Available at: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,china [Accessed 14 Feb. 2018]. Jandt, F.E., 2017.  An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global community. Sage Publications. Pp250-280 Kleinman, A. and Lin, T.Y. eds., 2013.  Normal and abnormal behavior in Chinese culture  (Vol. 2). Springer Science & Business Media.pp123-135 Lantis, J.S. and Charlton, A.A., 2011. Continuity or change? The strategic culture of Australia.  Comparative strategy,  30(4), pp.291-315. Law, W.W., 2012. Educational leadership and culture in China: Dichotomies between Chinese and Anglo-American leadership traditions?.  International Journal of Educational Development,  32(2), pp.273-282. Martin, J.N., 2015. Revisiting intercultural communication competence: Where to go from here.  International Journal of Intercultural Relations,  48, pp.6-8. Mindess, A., 2014.  Reading between the signs: Intercultural communication for sign language interpreters. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. 3, pp. 125-145 Neuliep, J.W., 2017.  Intercultural communication: A contextual approach. Sage Publications. 7. Pp 46-55 Ren, H., 2010.  Neoliberalism and culture in China and Hong Kong: The countdown of time. Routledge. , 3, pp 120-130 Renzaho, A., Green, J., Mellor, D. and Swinburn, B., 2011. Parenting, family functioning and lifestyle in a new culture: the case of African migrants in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  Child & family social work,  16(2), pp.228-240. Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E., McDaniel, E.R. and Roy, C.S., 2014.  Intercultural communication: A reader. Cengage Learning.1, Pp 141-153 vom Brocke, J. and Sinnl, T., 2011. Culture in business process management : a literature review.   Business Process Management Journal,  17(2), pp.357-378.

Long term care Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Long care - Term Paper Example sadena nursing home is one of the largest private nursing homes in Texas, offering excellent long term care services including medications and meals to both patients and their families. Located in Pasadena, within the greater Huston area, Texas, the long term care facility provides 24 hour nursing care services to a wide range of patients including seniors with disabilities and serious illnesses. The environment at the Houston based facility is particularly designed to provide the residents with a comfortable life and make them feel part of the community. Although many patients attending the facility are those requiring long term nursing and medical supervision, Courtyards at Pasadena also offers specialized long term care programs for a wide range of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease. According to Courtyards at Pasadena’s official website (2014), the facility is managed by a for-profit corporation and is part of a multiple nursing home chain and not located in a particular hospital. With 196 beds and close to 125 residents, the registered nurse occupancy rate at Courtyards at Pasadena is above average. The nurses form part of the highly trained team of professionals at the facility who are always ready to provide all sorts of assistance towards developing individualized care plans for the patients in order to achieve the desired care goals. All the professional staff as well as the independent staff and consultants at the organization are highly committed to working with the residents and patients as partners in order to effectively meet their diverse individualized health care, coordination and rehabilitation needs. In addition, as part of its financial considerations, the organization allows its clients to explore available financial options including Medicaid, Medicare, private funding and insurance managed funding among others. However, what make Courtyards at Pasadena nursing home particularly special with regard to the provision of excellent care

Analysing Amazon Website From The Usability Point Of View Dissertation

Analysing Amazon Website From The Usability Point Of View - Dissertation Example Literature Review 3. Research Methodology and Design 3.1 Tools Employed in Evidence Gathering 3.2 Questionnaires 3.3 Interviews 3.4 Observations 4. Implementation 4.1 Visual Appeal of Amazon 4.2 Homepage of Amazon.com 4.3 Log-in Screen 4.4 Shipping to Multiple Addresses 4.5 Learn Availability of Products 4.6 Product Search and Satisfaction 4.7 Reliability and Uptime 4.8 Product Pages 4.9 Integration with International Websites 4.9.1 Co-Branding with Multiple Retailers 4.9.2 The Help Centre 4.9.3 Usability Support for People with Disabilities 5. Evaluation 5.1 The Suggested Solutions 5.2 Limitations of Suggested Solutions 5.3 Works Comparison 6. Conclusion 6.1 Thesis Overview 6.2 Future Works References Appendices 1. Introduction 1.1 Project Overview As the internet has evolved and more industries saw the potential money that could be earned from this platform, shopping and retail companies were not as well left out. An industry that allows internet users to sit in the comfort of thei r own home and use their personal computers to buy goods was created. Throughout the years, there have been various challenges and opportunities that have confronted this industry that ultimately led to the demise of most of them. One company has stood the test of time throughout the various technological and market changes that have confronted e-commerce. That company is amazon.com. From a modest start as an online retailer, it is now a market leader in online retailing. In this project, attention is being paid to the in-depth analysis of amazon.com as an online retail giant, with the primary focus being on the usability of the website from the perspective of the user. This is achieved by analysing existing literature on amazon.com and the conducting of surveys on sample users of the...Limiting factors that affect the usability of amazon.com will be discussed and recommendations made according to the opinions generated from cross-section of the website’s users. As the intern et has evolved and more industries saw the potential money that could be earned from this platform, shopping and retail companies were not as well left out. An industry that allows internet users to sit in the comfort of their own home and use their personal computers to buy goods was created. Throughout the years, there have been various challenges and opportunities that have confronted this industry that ultimately led to the demise of most of them. One company has stood the test of time throughout the various technological and market changes that have confronted e-commerce. That company is amazon.com. From a modest start as an online retailer, it is now a market leader in online retailing. In this project, attention is being paid to the in-depth analysis of amazon.com as an online retail giant, with the primary focus being on the usability of the website from the perspective of the user. This is achieved by analysing existing literature on amazon.com and the conducting of surveys on sample users of the website. Upon these conclusions will be drawn the site’s usability, the challenges that face it and recommendations made on the way forward.

Essay --

It is noticed that science develops in splashes, each significantly advancing our understanding of the nature. The 19th century was the time of rapid development of microbiology. In the search for secrets of nature science has reached extremely high and low energies as well as large and small length scales. Still until recently we knew very little about one of the most complex aspects of life – microbes and infection. Now we are at the dawn of efflorescence in molecular biology, which provides an excellent basis for application into several areas of biology like cancer and virology . Revelations of molecular biology become extremely crucial, as they provide insights into the way molecules work. Having completed an inspiring five-year course in veterinary sciences,1993-1999 from college of veterinary and animal sciences ,and completing DVM, I would like to continue my pursuit of knowledge and do a dissertation in Virology. This would give me build the strong knowledge base that I desire and a strong expertise in field that I wish to specialize. The past few decades have witnessed rapid advance in the area of virology and molecular biology. The objective of virology is to make life meaningful and to alleviate human and animal ailments caused by these dreadful pathogens . I am keen to be an integral part of this effort. For this, along with an in-depth knowledge of the subject, experience in cutting edge research and hands on experience in real time applications would be of prime importance . In today’s world, microbial sciences has attained such high status due its impact in the day to day life of humanity as a whole.. My interest in the role of microbes and viruses began from UG classes (1993-1999) wherein professors taught us... ...ape me to be a thinker and a learner. The world is literally becoming a global village where opportunities for learning are transcending physical boundaries. In a connected world, Indian knowledge workers are increasingly contributing to the global work force. International education will give me the training and the competence to meet global clients. I look forward to being an active contributing member of the student community at your University. After basic education, I have developed a strong urge to attain academic excellence and to engage in research in the field of virology. I strongly feel that an MS from a reputed university will help me achieve my goal. United States will offer me a very conducive atmosphere for research and development.t I am eagerly awaiting for admission from your esteemed university and embark for my future journey in this field. Essay -- It is noticed that science develops in splashes, each significantly advancing our understanding of the nature. The 19th century was the time of rapid development of microbiology. In the search for secrets of nature science has reached extremely high and low energies as well as large and small length scales. Still until recently we knew very little about one of the most complex aspects of life – microbes and infection. Now we are at the dawn of efflorescence in molecular biology, which provides an excellent basis for application into several areas of biology like cancer and virology . Revelations of molecular biology become extremely crucial, as they provide insights into the way molecules work. Having completed an inspiring five-year course in veterinary sciences,1993-1999 from college of veterinary and animal sciences ,and completing DVM, I would like to continue my pursuit of knowledge and do a dissertation in Virology. This would give me build the strong knowledge base that I desire and a strong expertise in field that I wish to specialize. The past few decades have witnessed rapid advance in the area of virology and molecular biology. The objective of virology is to make life meaningful and to alleviate human and animal ailments caused by these dreadful pathogens . I am keen to be an integral part of this effort. For this, along with an in-depth knowledge of the subject, experience in cutting edge research and hands on experience in real time applications would be of prime importance . In today’s world, microbial sciences has attained such high status due its impact in the day to day life of humanity as a whole.. My interest in the role of microbes and viruses began from UG classes (1993-1999) wherein professors taught us... ...ape me to be a thinker and a learner. The world is literally becoming a global village where opportunities for learning are transcending physical boundaries. In a connected world, Indian knowledge workers are increasingly contributing to the global work force. International education will give me the training and the competence to meet global clients. I look forward to being an active contributing member of the student community at your University. After basic education, I have developed a strong urge to attain academic excellence and to engage in research in the field of virology. I strongly feel that an MS from a reputed university will help me achieve my goal. United States will offer me a very conducive atmosphere for research and development.t I am eagerly awaiting for admission from your esteemed university and embark for my future journey in this field.

Hoebel, The Cheyennes: Indians Of The Great Plains Essay

E. Adamson Hoebel’s The Cheyennes: Indians of the Great Plains is a detailed, comprehensive ethnographic study of the tribe’s beliefs, practices, and adaptation to their harsh environment. Though not the strongest Plains people, the Cheyenne used their strengths to overcome their obstacles and maintain a cohesive, stable culture. A sedentary village culture of the Algonquian language family, the Cheyenne moved from the upper Mississippi valley to the high plains of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming around 1800 to escape the hostilities of the neighboring Lakota (5). Their settled ways were disrupted and they became horse-riding and nomadic, leaving behind their village ways. Hoebel depicts their culture as structured yet flexible, â€Å"rational and skilled in cultural adaptation† (103), and geared toward internal harmony as a means of maintaining cohesion. The harsh plains environment, with extreme weather and little water or wood, â€Å"is the essential ecological fact controlling the Cheyenne† (63). They adapted to this by becoming mobile, moving according to where resources could be easily obtained, mastering their gathering, hunting, and trading skills over a wide area, and relying heavily on horses. Their religion is hierarchical, with being at all levels endowed with spiritual powers. Spirits can manifest in human form and their attributes lie in their knowledge of how to operate within the universe. Hoebel writes that the Cheyenne believe â€Å"the universe if essentially a mechanical system which is good in essence, but which must be properly understood and used to keep it producing what humans need† (89). They see the universe mechanically, with spirits responding somewhat predictably according to human acts. To survive in their dry grassland environment, the Cheyenne divided their labor rigidly along gender lines. The women gathered roots, berries, and seeds while also foraging for wood, raising and mending tipis, while the men hunted big game (mainly bison, antelope, and elk) for meat and smaller animals (wolves and fox) for fur. Gender roles govern not only labor, but also most areas of Cheyenne social life. Males and females generally stop mixed-sex socializing at adolescence, and males join any of five military clubs once they reach fighting age, while women have only the Robe Quillers (an outgrowth of their role as makers of clothing). However, some deviation exists – â€Å"Contraries† become transvestites while overdoing the warrior role, while â€Å"halfmen-halfwomen† are homosexual. (Both are isolated yet tolerated. ) The Cheyenne economic system relied heavily on trade, though because of their location on the high plains they had limited access to many traders. They often served as intermediaries between poorer and richer tribes, traveled great distances to trade their meat and vegetable goods (as well as robes and leather goods) for more food, as well as ornamental items like beads and silver jewelry. Their most important commodity was the horse, often acquired in trade or stolen from enemies in raids. Cheyenne politics were organized by family, kindred, and band, and governed by the tribal council, where power lay â€Å"not in the hands of aggressive war leaders but under the control of even-tempered peace chiefs† (43). Composed mainly of older men elected for ten-year terms, the council worked to resolve internal conflicts, which were considered more threatening than war, and had a nearly supernatural authority. A head priest-chief (the Sweet Medicine Chief) and five medicine chiefs presided and had control over most rituals. Hoebel’s study examines most major areas of the Cheyennes’ lives and depicts them as a tribe that survived not by overwhelming power, but by adapting well to a demanding environment, trading as well as possible, and maintaining internal harmony and stability. Hoebel, E. Adamson. The Cheyennes: Indians of the Great Plains. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978.

Negative Impacts Of Nationalism - 1408 Words

The Nationalist movement began during French Revolution when country men rallied together to go to war against Communism. Nationalism was invented in Europe by intellectuals who were inspired by Napoleons conquest. This ideology to changed people’s perspective about what their country meant to them. Unified States such as Italy, Germany were created during a great migration that formed unified states. Instead of the smaller societies people once lived in became a nation of individuals in certain countries that they could call their own. Nationalism has also helped in the improvement of incomes and education by helping those citizens to come together for a common good. The negative impacts of nationalism is the imposing of views on other†¦show more content†¦These countries sought the right to have their own established entity and through this imperialism spread. Europeans felt a sense of entitlement over other nations. They chose to impose their views whenever they co nquered other societies. The 19th century Europe sent missionaries to use Christianity as means to conquer African people. Missionaries used a conversion process to build schools, hospitals, and teach english to the native people. Christianity was used to gain trust of the people in order to impose Europe ideologies on local customs. Even today you can still see the influences of western culture in many parts of the world. The most significant part of globalization is the ability to introduce new cultural ideas into others. Portugal was the first in its efforts to impose imperialism in modern day Brazil. It was used as a port to Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe. The discovery of sugar lands and gold was given to the Portugal King by his nobles. They enslaved not only the indigenous people of the land but eventually imported Africans because the demand for sugar cane was so great. Once sugar became too competitive of a market, they reverted to gold that was found in Menius Gerias, Brazil. This created the first gold rush. Portugal and Britain soon found an uneven alliance in which Britain was entitled to the same right as Portugal. Portugal imposed imperialism on Brazil by gaining useful resources to advance their own society. The relationship ofShow MoreRelatedNationalism And Democracy Are Intertwined Within The State1491 Words   |  6 PagesNationalism and democracy often are co-existent with each other at any time within the state. These interactions that they have with each other culminate in both benefits and problems for society, or sometimes produce a neutral reaction. This essay will explore these interactions that could either be beneficial, detrimental, or neutral in the ways that nationalism and democracy are intertwined within the state. The important notion that nationalism brings to democracy is the concept of conflictRead MoreThe Quiet Revolution and its Negative Impact on Quebec1598 Words   |  7 PagesIn Canadian history, nationalism and sovereignty tend to be common themes prevalent since Confederation. A well-known example of this in Quebec was during the Quiet Revolution which strengthened the need for change through Premier Lesage’s reforms and in turn, developed a strong sense of nationalism in Quebec. In contrast to beliefs that the rapid modernization of the Quiet Revolution had a positive impact on Quebec, it rather had a negative impact on Quebec and its citizens and identity. 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Treitschke argued that if Germany was going to thrive among other countries, the people of Germany had to accept the fact that not all races are created equal. These ideologies proved to have a significant impact in the twentieth century due to the fact that HitlerRead MorePolitics And State : Government And Politics1239 Words   |  5 Pagesinternational sphere. Often used interchangeably these words are not the same. Nation and state are two distinct words, but state is the only word that does not have a definite origin. However, both words have been given power through the toxic idea of nationalism. Nation and state are two critical terms in the study of politics and it is vital that people are well informed about them. 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