Learning Styles and Strategies Essay

* Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it–discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first. * â€Å"Let’s try it out and see how it works† is an active learner’s phrase; â€Å"Let’s think it through first† is the reflective learner’s response. * Active learners tend to like group work more than reflective learners, who prefer working alone. * Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is hard for both learning types, but particularly hard for active learners. Everybody is active sometimes and reflective sometimes. Your preference for one category or the other may be strong, moderate, or mild. A balance of the two is desirable. If you always act before reflecting you can jump into things prematurely and get into trouble, while if you spend too much time reflecting you may never get anything done. How can active learners help themselves? If you are an active learner in a class that allows little or no class time for discussion or problem-solving activities, you should try to compensate for these lacks when you study. Study in a group in which the members take turns explaining different topics to each other. Work with others to guess what you will be asked on the next test and figure out how you will answer. You will always retain information better if you find ways to do something with it. How can reflective learners help themselves? If you are a reflective learner in a class that allows little or no class time for thinking about new information, you should try to compensate for this lack when you study. Don’t simply read or memorize the material; stop periodically to review what you have read and to think of possible questions or applications. You might find it helpful to write short summaries of readings or class notes in your own words. Doing so may take extra time but will enable you to retain the material more effectively. SENSING AND INTUITIVE LEARNERS * Sensing learners tend to like learning facts; intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and relationships. * Sensors often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications and surprises; intuitors like innovation and dislike repetition. Sensors are more likely than intuitors to resent being tested on material that has not been explicitly covered in class. * Sensors tend to be patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on (laboratory) work; intuitors may be better at grasping new concepts and are often more comfortable than sensors with abstractions and mathematical formulations. * Sensors tend to be more practical and careful than intuitors; intuitors tend to work faster and to be more innovative than sensors. * Sensors don’t like courses that have no apparent connection to the real world; intuitors don’t like â€Å"plug-and-chug† courses that involve a lot of memorization and routine calculations. Everybody is sensing sometimes and intuitive sometimes. Your preference for one or the other may be strong, moderate, or mild. To be effective as a learner and problem solver, you need to be able to function both ways. If you overemphasize intuition, you may miss important details or make careless mistakes in calculations or hands-on work; if you overemphasize sensing, you may rely too much on memorization and familiar methods and not concentrate enough on understanding and innovative thinking. How can sensing learners help themselves? Sensors remember and understand information best if they can see how it connects to the real world. If you are in a class where most of the material is abstract and theoretical, you may have difficulty. Ask your instructor for specific examples of concepts and procedures, and find out how the concepts apply in practice. If the teacher does not provide enough specifics, try to find some in your course text or other references or by brainstorming with friends or classmates. How can intuitive learners help themselves? Many college lecture classes are aimed at intuitors. However, if you are an intuitor and you happen to be in a class that deals primarily with memorization and rote substitution in formulas, you may have trouble with boredom. Ask your instructor for interpretations or theories that link the facts, or try to find the connections yourself. You may also be prone to careless mistakes on test because you are impatient with details and don’t like repetition (as in checking your completed solutions). Take time to read the entire question before you start answering and be sure to check your results VISUAL AND VERBAL LEARNERS Visual learners remember best what they see–pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations. Verbal learners get more out of words–written and spoken explanations. Everyone learns more when information is presented both visually and verbally. In most college classes very little visual information is presented: students mainly listen to lectures and read material written on chalkboards and in textbooks and handouts. Unfortunately, most people are visual learners; this means that most students do not get nearly as much as they would if more visual presentation were used in class. Good learners are capable of processing information presented either visually or verbally. How can visual learners help themselves? If you are a visual learner, try to find diagrams, sketches, schematics, photographs, flow charts, or any other visual representation of course material that is predominantly verbal. Ask your instructor, consult reference books, and see if any videotapes or CD-ROM displays of the course material are available. Prepare a concept map by listing key points, enclosing them in boxes or circles, and drawing lines with arrows between concepts to show connections. Color-code your notes with a highlighter so that everything relating to one topic is the same color. How can verbal learners help themselves? Write summaries or outlines of course material in your own words. Working in groups can be particularly effective: you gain understanding of material by hearing classmates’ explanations and you learn even more when you do the explaining. SEQUENTIAL AND GLOBAL LEARNERS * Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step following logically from the previous one. Global learners tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing material almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly â€Å"getting it.† * Sequential learners tend to follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions; global learners may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once they have grasped the big picture, but they may have difficulty explaining how they did it. Many people who read this description may conclude incorrectly that they are global, since everyone has experienced bewilderment followed by a sudden flash of understanding. What makes you global or not is what happens before the light bulb goes on. Sequential learners may not fully understand the material but they can nevertheless do something with it (like solve the homework problems or pass the test) since the pieces they have absorbed are logically connected. Strongly global learners who lack good sequential thinking abilities, on the other hand, may have serious difficulties until they have the big picture. Even after they have it, they may be fuzzy about the details of the subject, while sequential learners may know a lot about specific aspects of a subject but may have trouble relating them to different aspects of the same subject or to different subjects. How can sequential learners help themselves? Most college courses are taught in a sequential manner. However, if you are a sequential learner and you have an instructor who jumps around from topic to topic or skips steps, you may have difficulty following and remembering. Ask the instructor to fill in the skipped steps, or fill them in yourself by consulting references. When you are studying, take the time to outline the lecture material for yourself in logical order. In the long run doing so will save you time. You might also try to strengthen your global thinking skills by relating each new topic you study to things you already know. The more you can do so, the deeper your understanding of the topic is likely to be. How can global learners help themselves? If you are a global learner, it can be helpful for you to realize that you need the big picture of a subject before you can master details. If your instructor plunges directly into new topics without bothering to explain how they relate to what you already know, it can cause problems for you. Fortunately, there are steps you can take that may help you get the big picture more rapidly. Before you begin to study the first section of a chapter in a text, skim through the entire chapter to get an overview. Doing so may be time-consuming initially but it may save you from going over and over individual parts later. Instead of spending a short time on every subject every night, you might find it more productive to immerse yourself in individual subjects for large blocks. Try to relate the subject to things you already know, either by asking the instructor to help you see connections or by consulting references. Above all, don’t lose faith in yourself; you will eventually understand the new material, and once you do your understanding of how it connects to other topics and disciplines may enable you to apply it in ways that most sequential thinkers would never dream of.

Shadow of a Doubt

Plot consists of â€Å"everything visibly and audibly present† shown on the screen which Is also known as mils-en-scene (Borrowed & Thompson, 2010, p. 80). This includes Endicott materials, such as a series of shots that are presented outside the narration (e. G a flashback) and also music, that does not affect the characters in the film as they cannot hear or see them. What is the benefit of making a distinction between story and plot? The distinction between story and plot occurs because the plot consists only of explicitly presented events.Off-screen activity Is not a part of the film's plot – this content belongs to the story alone. From this we can see hat explicitly presented events are common to both the story and the plot. However, plot can present Endicott material such as images and sound, can further assist the viewer in developing an understanding of the plot and therefore the story. For example, in Shadow of a Doubt the repeated images of a dance scene set to the Merry Widows Waltz, is neither heard nor seen by the characters in the film.It is intellect. This distinction gives us the tools to analysis what the narrative is doing with time, specifically order (chronology, flashbacks, flash forwards), duration (length f time) and the frequency (how often event Is revisited In the plot). What Is the relationship between the story and the plot in this film? What does the difference between them tell us? How are order, duration and frequency used in the narrative to manipulate time? In Shadow off Doubt the events are organized in chronological order.The story begins in Philadelphia and then travels to Santa Rosa where it remains for the duration of the film. The opening scene puts the viewer In the middle of the action but deliberately keeps them In the dark about the Vat' and Why of the scene. Information presented in the plot is deliberate to give the audience enough information to guess the beginning of the story. Only the Endicott mate rial, the images of the dancers are presented to us out of sequence. These images may be a flashback to uncle Charlie's life or they may be purely Endicott.The viewer is never told If there is any physical connection with these and Uncle Charlie, however the viewer can conclude that from the evidence presented that this Is where the most recent murder took place. The duration of the film Is separated Into three segments; the story duration, the plot duration and the screen duration. The duration for the story and the plot in Shadow of a Doubt are quite different. The story takes place over several months or possibly several years. There are a range of inferred events which the viewer never witnesses.The murders of the wealthy widows occur earlier in the story, before we first meet uncle Charlie; however they incrimination of Uncle Charlie by his niece. Out of this week, only portions are shown to make up the total screen duration which lasts 108 minutes. 2. Opening and Closing Scene s What expectations are set up in the opening scene of this film? How is character established? Shadow of a doubt opens with the credits rolling over a ballroom scene which will play an important role throughout the film.The audience is brought into the story Just as a series of events is initiated, to create interest. The audience expectations are set from the opening scenes. Whilst relaxing, Uncle Charlie is informed that two men are looking for him. Proving to be quick witted he gives them the slip, before arranging to leave town. At this point the audience expects that Uncle Charlie might have been wrongly accused of a crime and is being chased by police. Uncle Charlie, as a character, creates a rather smooth enigma to which the audience is drawn, making them hesitant to incriminate him.So far his main goal appears to be escaping the two men. The reaction from young Charlie and her family to her uncle coming to visit is very positive, setting the expectation that this visit is g oing to be a wonderful break from the humdrum everyday life. How are characters established in the opening scene? This opening scene establishes Uncle Charlie as an inscrutable character. He first appears lying in a rather Drachma like position on his bed in what can be described as lower-class surroundings. The appearance and bearing rather out of place with his working-class setting.The miss-en-scene adds to his mysterious enigma, particularly the lighting, with the shadows from the windows resembling prison bars. The discarded notes scattered on the floor and nightstand carries certain contempt for money whilst his violent reaction to the news that he is being followed, raises the question that he may belong to the criminal underworld. Young Charlie is introduced lying on her bed in the same manner; however her settings could not be more different. The camera shots of her house and suburb, place her in an upper middle class setting.The lighting is brighter and the quaint girlishn ess of the room's dcord implies a young innocent girl, lost in the world of wishful thinking. Her posture is more open and thoughtful, with her mind being rather taken with the idea of idealistic world that Uncle Charlie would help create. Her thoughts seem to mirror Uncle Charlie's when she shows contempt for money. Looking at the closing scene, how have the elements established in the opening scene been transformed into a new or different situation?The development of the characters from the opening scene is cleverly played with Uncle Charlie's figure developing from mysterious business man into a full blown murdering sociopath. This darker side of him is triggered through the actions of Young Charlie who, through a series of events, finds out the truth about her beloved uncle. Throughout the movie we see less and less from Uncle Charlie's point of view, narrowing his knowledge of occurring events. His dangerous side edges closer to the surface as he loses control over his persona. As Young Charlie dissolves the enigma around her uncle she realizes that her idealistic roll does not exist, as everyone has a dark side including her. This said it is easy to see that young Charlie and Uncle Charlie are portrayed as total opposites. The closing scene is an expansion on this with Uncle Charlie and Young Charlie ironically transformation is exceptionally clear in young Charlie from a naive, idealistic girl to a more sensible intelligent woman. 3. Range and Depth of Information How does narration function in terms of range and depth of information in your film?The narration of this film is arranged so that the plot implies the events that occurred t the beginning of the story. The range of knowledge given is mainly restricted to young Charlie and what she sees, hears and feels. This is done to engage the audience and to ensure they care about her, so a bigger impact is created when something happens to her. Some times the audience knows something before young Charlie, for example when Uncle Charlie gives her an engraved ring, the dance scene follows, leading the viewer to infer that it belonged to one of the dancing ladies, possibly murdered by Uncle Charlie.The film also goes into the depths of the characters psychological states. We learn that young Charlie does not want the truth about her uncle to come out because of the effect it might have on her mother. Also Uncle Charlie's mental state is linked back to a childhood accident, and leaves that audience wondering if it was the reason that he is a sociopath. In general do you consider the plot to be withholding information for the sake of curiosity or surprise, or supplying information in such a way as to increase suspense (or, perhaps, both)?In Shadow of a Doubt the plot both withholds information for the sake of curiosity and supplies certain information to increase suspense. For example, when Uncle Charlie rips out a newspaper article we do not see what it is that he is trying to hide. It is not until Charlie goes to the library that it is revealed to be about the Merry Widow Murderer's latest victim. This drawn-out event maintains the curiosity of the viewer by withholding information. The plot also supplies information to create suspense. The audience sees Uncle Charlie turning on the motor and taking the key of the car.Then when he sends Young Charlie to the garage and locks her in, we see her struggle to turn of the motor before succumbing to the fumes, whilst in the souse Uncle Charlie is delaying the departure of the family. To increase suspense, we do not see what is happening to young Charlie until she is rescued. Where does the film sit in terms of the continuum between unrestricted and restricted narration? The style of the film leans more towards restricted narration. Before Uncle Charlie arrives in Santa Rosa we get a few shots into his previous activity but the scenes concentrate particularly on the family and in particular young Charlie.At this point th e audience knows a bit more about her uncle than she does. For example, we suspect that he possibly being chased by the police but we do not know what they are investigating. Later Uncle Charlie hides a newspaper story but we do not see what it was about until young Charlie, curious about his odd behavior, finds it. Thereafter, the narration is restricted to young Charlie, limiting the audience to what she finds out. An exception to this is the garage scene where we see Uncle Charlie starting the car and taking the key, making the audience aware of the trap to create suspense.Where does the depth of story information sit in terms of the continuum teen objectivity and subjectivity? Shadow of a Doubt uses subjectivity with great affect concerning the depth of story information supplied. One particular scene is where the camera slowly zooms in on Uncle Charlie's face during his rant about greedy widows. The camera is positioned from young Charlie's point of view so we point Young Charl ie interjects off screen, at which Uncle Charlie turns and speaks straight into the camera. Hitchcock purpose here was to engage the audience's minds and emotions to further draw them to the story.Uncle Charlie is treated with objectivity to create a more intense enigma. We do not find out why he feels hatred towards rich widows, nor do we experience anything from his point of view. This objectivity is to encourage the viewers to side with young Charlie. 4. Causality How does causality (cause and effect) operate in two or three other scenes (besides the Opening and Closing scenes discussed earlier) in your film? The transformation of Charlie as she realizes her uncle is a sociopath, is initiated from the moment the detective tells her that Uncle Charlie may be a murderer. One of young Charlie's raids is noticing things no one else does.She notes Uncle Charlie's hiding of the news story and also the engagement inside the ring. Seemingly insignificant at the time, the ring links throu gh a series of scenes to determine the finale out come of the movie. Young Charlie's transformation from naive child in to knowledgeable women directly affects the motive of the narrative. This change begins and ends with the detective, Jack, who first plants the seeds of suspicion in her mind. Thinking through earlier events young Charlie concludes that all is not right with her uncle, therefore tenting a chain of events in motion.She finds the newspaper article and links it to the engagement on her ring convincing her that Uncle Charlie is the murderer. This leads to her outburst at her uncle, who, realizing he has been discovered, takes back the ring. He then threatens and attempts to kill his niece to hide his secret. After his second failed attempt at killing young Charlie, she retrieves the ring. In a clever shot by Hitchcock, young Charlie enters down a staircase as her uncle is making a toast. He stops, taken aback and the camera tracks in on the ring on young Charlie's fing er. Shadow of a Doubt Plot consists of â€Å"everything visibly and audibly present† shown on the screen which Is also known as mils-en-scene (Borrowed & Thompson, 2010, p. 80). This includes Endicott materials, such as a series of shots that are presented outside the narration (e. G a flashback) and also music, that does not affect the characters in the film as they cannot hear or see them. What is the benefit of making a distinction between story and plot? The distinction between story and plot occurs because the plot consists only of explicitly presented events.Off-screen activity Is not a part of the film's plot – this content belongs to the story alone. From this we can see hat explicitly presented events are common to both the story and the plot. However, plot can present Endicott material such as images and sound, can further assist the viewer in developing an understanding of the plot and therefore the story. For example, in Shadow of a Doubt the repeated images of a dance scene set to the Merry Widows Waltz, is neither heard nor seen by the characters in the film.It is intellect. This distinction gives us the tools to analysis what the narrative is doing with time, specifically order (chronology, flashbacks, flash forwards), duration (length f time) and the frequency (how often event Is revisited In the plot). What Is the relationship between the story and the plot in this film? What does the difference between them tell us? How are order, duration and frequency used in the narrative to manipulate time? In Shadow off Doubt the events are organized in chronological order.The story begins in Philadelphia and then travels to Santa Rosa where it remains for the duration of the film. The opening scene puts the viewer In the middle of the action but deliberately keeps them In the dark about the Vat' and Why of the scene. Information presented in the plot is deliberate to give the audience enough information to guess the beginning of the story. Only the Endicott mate rial, the images of the dancers are presented to us out of sequence. These images may be a flashback to uncle Charlie's life or they may be purely Endicott.The viewer is never told If there is any physical connection with these and Uncle Charlie, however the viewer can conclude that from the evidence presented that this Is where the most recent murder took place. The duration of the film Is separated Into three segments; the story duration, the plot duration and the screen duration. The duration for the story and the plot in Shadow of a Doubt are quite different. The story takes place over several months or possibly several years. There are a range of inferred events which the viewer never witnesses.The murders of the wealthy widows occur earlier in the story, before we first meet uncle Charlie; however they incrimination of Uncle Charlie by his niece. Out of this week, only portions are shown to make up the total screen duration which lasts 108 minutes. 2. Opening and Closing Scene s What expectations are set up in the opening scene of this film? How is character established? Shadow of a doubt opens with the credits rolling over a ballroom scene which will play an important role throughout the film.The audience is brought into the story Just as a series of events is initiated, to create interest. The audience expectations are set from the opening scenes. Whilst relaxing, Uncle Charlie is informed that two men are looking for him. Proving to be quick witted he gives them the slip, before arranging to leave town. At this point the audience expects that Uncle Charlie might have been wrongly accused of a crime and is being chased by police. Uncle Charlie, as a character, creates a rather smooth enigma to which the audience is drawn, making them hesitant to incriminate him.So far his main goal appears to be escaping the two men. The reaction from young Charlie and her family to her uncle coming to visit is very positive, setting the expectation that this visit is g oing to be a wonderful break from the humdrum everyday life. How are characters established in the opening scene? This opening scene establishes Uncle Charlie as an inscrutable character. He first appears lying in a rather Drachma like position on his bed in what can be described as lower-class surroundings. The appearance and bearing rather out of place with his working-class setting.The miss-en-scene adds to his mysterious enigma, particularly the lighting, with the shadows from the windows resembling prison bars. The discarded notes scattered on the floor and nightstand carries certain contempt for money whilst his violent reaction to the news that he is being followed, raises the question that he may belong to the criminal underworld. Young Charlie is introduced lying on her bed in the same manner; however her settings could not be more different. The camera shots of her house and suburb, place her in an upper middle class setting.The lighting is brighter and the quaint girlishn ess of the room's dcord implies a young innocent girl, lost in the world of wishful thinking. Her posture is more open and thoughtful, with her mind being rather taken with the idea of idealistic world that Uncle Charlie would help create. Her thoughts seem to mirror Uncle Charlie's when she shows contempt for money. Looking at the closing scene, how have the elements established in the opening scene been transformed into a new or different situation?The development of the characters from the opening scene is cleverly played with Uncle Charlie's figure developing from mysterious business man into a full blown murdering sociopath. This darker side of him is triggered through the actions of Young Charlie who, through a series of events, finds out the truth about her beloved uncle. Throughout the movie we see less and less from Uncle Charlie's point of view, narrowing his knowledge of occurring events. His dangerous side edges closer to the surface as he loses control over his persona. As Young Charlie dissolves the enigma around her uncle she realizes that her idealistic roll does not exist, as everyone has a dark side including her. This said it is easy to see that young Charlie and Uncle Charlie are portrayed as total opposites. The closing scene is an expansion on this with Uncle Charlie and Young Charlie ironically transformation is exceptionally clear in young Charlie from a naive, idealistic girl to a more sensible intelligent woman. 3. Range and Depth of Information How does narration function in terms of range and depth of information in your film?The narration of this film is arranged so that the plot implies the events that occurred t the beginning of the story. The range of knowledge given is mainly restricted to young Charlie and what she sees, hears and feels. This is done to engage the audience and to ensure they care about her, so a bigger impact is created when something happens to her. Some times the audience knows something before young Charlie, for example when Uncle Charlie gives her an engraved ring, the dance scene follows, leading the viewer to infer that it belonged to one of the dancing ladies, possibly murdered by Uncle Charlie.The film also goes into the depths of the characters psychological states. We learn that young Charlie does not want the truth about her uncle to come out because of the effect it might have on her mother. Also Uncle Charlie's mental state is linked back to a childhood accident, and leaves that audience wondering if it was the reason that he is a sociopath. In general do you consider the plot to be withholding information for the sake of curiosity or surprise, or supplying information in such a way as to increase suspense (or, perhaps, both)?In Shadow of a Doubt the plot both withholds information for the sake of curiosity and supplies certain information to increase suspense. For example, when Uncle Charlie rips out a newspaper article we do not see what it is that he is trying to hide. It is not until Charlie goes to the library that it is revealed to be about the Merry Widow Murderer's latest victim. This drawn-out event maintains the curiosity of the viewer by withholding information. The plot also supplies information to create suspense. The audience sees Uncle Charlie turning on the motor and taking the key of the car.Then when he sends Young Charlie to the garage and locks her in, we see her struggle to turn of the motor before succumbing to the fumes, whilst in the souse Uncle Charlie is delaying the departure of the family. To increase suspense, we do not see what is happening to young Charlie until she is rescued. Where does the film sit in terms of the continuum between unrestricted and restricted narration? The style of the film leans more towards restricted narration. Before Uncle Charlie arrives in Santa Rosa we get a few shots into his previous activity but the scenes concentrate particularly on the family and in particular young Charlie.At this point th e audience knows a bit more about her uncle than she does. For example, we suspect that he possibly being chased by the police but we do not know what they are investigating. Later Uncle Charlie hides a newspaper story but we do not see what it was about until young Charlie, curious about his odd behavior, finds it. Thereafter, the narration is restricted to young Charlie, limiting the audience to what she finds out. An exception to this is the garage scene where we see Uncle Charlie starting the car and taking the key, making the audience aware of the trap to create suspense.Where does the depth of story information sit in terms of the continuum teen objectivity and subjectivity? Shadow of a Doubt uses subjectivity with great affect concerning the depth of story information supplied. One particular scene is where the camera slowly zooms in on Uncle Charlie's face during his rant about greedy widows. The camera is positioned from young Charlie's point of view so we point Young Charl ie interjects off screen, at which Uncle Charlie turns and speaks straight into the camera. Hitchcock purpose here was to engage the audience's minds and emotions to further draw them to the story.Uncle Charlie is treated with objectivity to create a more intense enigma. We do not find out why he feels hatred towards rich widows, nor do we experience anything from his point of view. This objectivity is to encourage the viewers to side with young Charlie. 4. Causality How does causality (cause and effect) operate in two or three other scenes (besides the Opening and Closing scenes discussed earlier) in your film? The transformation of Charlie as she realizes her uncle is a sociopath, is initiated from the moment the detective tells her that Uncle Charlie may be a murderer. One of young Charlie's raids is noticing things no one else does.She notes Uncle Charlie's hiding of the news story and also the engagement inside the ring. Seemingly insignificant at the time, the ring links throu gh a series of scenes to determine the finale out come of the movie. Young Charlie's transformation from naive child in to knowledgeable women directly affects the motive of the narrative. This change begins and ends with the detective, Jack, who first plants the seeds of suspicion in her mind. Thinking through earlier events young Charlie concludes that all is not right with her uncle, therefore tenting a chain of events in motion.She finds the newspaper article and links it to the engagement on her ring convincing her that Uncle Charlie is the murderer. This leads to her outburst at her uncle, who, realizing he has been discovered, takes back the ring. He then threatens and attempts to kill his niece to hide his secret. After his second failed attempt at killing young Charlie, she retrieves the ring. In a clever shot by Hitchcock, young Charlie enters down a staircase as her uncle is making a toast. He stops, taken aback and the camera tracks in on the ring on young Charlie's fing er.

Basic Ecological Concept

Basic Ecological Concept Levels of Organization Cells- are composed of Cell Membrane, Nucleus and Protoplasm. Tissue-is an aggregation of cells performing a common function or functions. Organs- is the aggregation of tissues usually forming a definite shapes, and performing a definite function within an organ system. Organ System-is a group of organs that perform coordinated functions together to keep the organism alive and functioning well. The scope of the biology includes the study of all these and may extend to the level of the organism such as behavior, and the organism mechanism for interacting with its environment.Ecology started from the study of the organism-a group of organisms that is similar in appearance, behavior and genetic make up belong to the same species. The biological species concept state that members of a species are those individual that are genetically related enough to be able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Population The group of the individua ls belonging to one species and is found together in a define area at a certain time.A population possesses characteristics that more empirically describe the group such as: population Density, Dispersion, Natality, Mortality, Growth, Age Distribution, and Reproductive potential. Population Density Describe the degree of crowdedness of a population in a given area. Crude Density may be computed from the number of individuals or the total population biomass per unit space. Ecological or specific Density describes the number or biomass per unit of space that is actually available to the population. Dispersion The distribution of organisms over the space where they are found.Three pattern have been observed: clumped, random, and uniform. The clumped Distribution is the most common type of pattern since the soil or medium on which organisms are found in nature are not uniform. Random Distribution is rare in nature, occurring only where the soil is generally rich so that the plants can g row and thrive anywhere. Uniform Distribution is found in artificial cultivated areas. Natality/Morality Natality corresponds to what is termed in humans as birth rate or the number of new individuals produced in the pupolation for a period of time.Morality is known as death rate in human demographics, or the number of deaths in a given time period. Growth Is an important feature of a population since the increases or decreases of population size determines its interaction with other populations in the community and its impact on the environment. Age Distribution Is classifies the population according to age brackets or to general age groups such as prereproductive, reproductive and postreproductive. Reproductive PotentialThe Reproductive potential of a population is its theoretical capacity to produce the maximum number of offspring in ideal conditions. Community The community has properties that may be used to further clarify its composition and its interaction with the environmen t. Like species dominance, diversity, relative abundance, species richness and evenness. Dominance Is attained by a species in a community by virtue of a greater number of individuals, or by size such as the overwhelming sizes of sequoia trees, or any other attribute that enables the species to control the community. DiversityDiversity is the opposite of dominance, a case where no single species has greater number or biomass or other relative importance than other species in the community. Ecosystem The basic unit of ecology because it includes the living and nonliving components. The setting includes necessary nonliving components such as soil, water, air, and the cycles that keep and renew them, which are collectively called the biogeochemical cycles. Bioenergetics Energy is necessary for maintaining the life processes of organisms. The sun is the source of all the energy that goes into the ecosystem. The solar ystem is radiated on to the earth where a tiny fraction of it is tappe d by plants and used in photosynthesis. Solar energy released in the form of light waves called photons. Herbivores are organism that feed on plants. Carnivores are organism that feed on other organism. Omnivores are organism that consume both plants and animals. Food Chain The sequence of eating and being eaten may be described by food chain. It also indicates the role, the feeding mode and rank of each organism. Food Web A food web shows the various possibilities of the sequence of eating and being eaten in the ecosystem.There are two major types of food webs in the ecosystem: the grazing food web is the more conspicuous type because it is usually composed of large plants and animals that are familiar. Law of Energy First law of thermodynamics stated that energy is never created nor destroyed but is transformed from one form to another. Second law of thermodynamics states that as energy is transformed it degrades or diminishes. Biogeochemical Cycles Substances that organisms need to survive are called nutrients such as water, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur.Nutrients move through the ecosystem in cycles called biogeochemical cycles where bio refers to the living organism, geo refers to the inorganic molecules such as those found in rocks, air, and water, and chemical refers to the interactions of the elements between them. Water cycle Evaporation-the heat of the sun, or solar energy makes water vapor, which is water in gaseous form, continually rising from water bodies and from the land. Condensation-it brings water into the atmosphere where the water molecules clump together. Precipitation-the clumps get too big and too heavy, they fall back down to the earth.In the form of rain, snow, hail or sleet. Water cycle is the movements of several chemical substances through the ecosystem. Carbon cycle-During photosynthesis plants use up carbon dioxide, combining it with water to form sugars particularly glucose. Consumption of these sugars breaks them down re leasing CO2. Nitrogen Cycle-Nitrogen is an important component of proteins, the building block of all living matter. Fixation- the process of converting nitrogen from the gaseous state, N2 to the usable ammonia, NH3, and nitrate NO3.Mineralization or ammonification-involve the breakdown of dead organisms and their proteins and nucleic acids are further broken down into amino acids. Nitrification-where the bacteria such as the nitosomonas use ammonia to produce their energy needs by converting it. Denitrification- is the process by which nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere. Phosphorus cycle-the sedimentary rocks which contain phosphorus in the form of the mineral apatite comprise a pool phosphorus. Phosphorus is released when these rocks weather naturally, which takes along time, or when human mines these rocks to release phosphorus which is used to fertilizers soap.Sulfur cycle- a basically sedimentary nutrients cycles through air, soil and water. The sulfur cycle involves the th ree spheres as it cycle through the soil, waterway, and atmosphere. It originates from the crust and mantle of the earth and is spewed out during volcanic eruptions. It is found in the volcanic rocks and many minerals. Limiting Factors and the Law of Tolerance Law of the Minimum- states that when there is not enough of a certain nutrient in the environment, the growth of organism that needs that nutrient will be severely limited.Studies also show that too much of any nutrient will likewise limit growth, giving rise to the Law of limiting Factors. Sunlight and Temperature are two important physical factors that limit the distribution and abundance of organism. Species Interactions The population of two species may positively or negatively affect the existence of one another in the community. Mutualism- refers to the interaction between two species where both are benefited. Competition- is an example of a positive negative interaction when two species of the same species strive to obt ain the same limited resource.Predation- is an example of a positive negative interaction wherein the predator eats the prey. Parasitism- is another type of positive negative interaction wherein the hosts provide nourishment to the parasite. Commensalism- is a form of positive zero interaction wherein in the commensal also referred to as hitchhiker attaches itself to the host while the host is neither help nor harmed by the interaction. Amensalism- is an example of a negative zero interaction wherein one organism is inhibited while the other is not affected.

Hostel Life Essay

After completing Class 10 or 12, it may be time for you to move out of the comfortable confines of home into a hostel, if you are attending a college located far away from your hometown. Hostel life is almost a parallel culture, an experience that takes you out of your comfort zone and exposes you to several experiences. Living by some stringent rules is one of them. Getting to know a host of students from diverse backgrounds at very close quarters, is another. Read on for an insight into this parallel life. Hostel life is a very memorable period in one’s life, but due to lack of knowledge or a casual attitude or irresponsible behaviour, you may have problems of adjustment to the hostel environment, which can affect your studies and career. This is the stage where you have to take care of yourself. From childhood, parents take care of children in every possible way, but while staying away from home and parents, you have to own up for your actions and their consequences, and become responsible for making the most of the opportunity available to enhance your knowledge as well as take the initiative for your personality development. At Management Development Institute (MDI), these are the two crucial years of student life before entering the workforce and one needs to consider it as an investment in one’s future. So, acquaint yourself with the rules, regulations and norms of the institute and seek guidance from the faculty. The 3 Ds of hostel life †¢ Discipline †¢ Duty †¢ Devotion Your hostel is a place where you can learn a lot of things including how to conduct yourself. Students are expected to follow these rules when they join the hostel: 1. First and foremost, all students are expected to acquaint themselves with the hostel rules and regulations. Lack of awareness about the rules will not be seen as a reason for not following them. 2. You will need to share your room with another student and you have to adjust with each other. 3. Following hostel rules and timings is a must. Any violation can result in strict action being taken by the wardens. 4. Students are not allowed to leave the hostel after a certain time, and this is to be followed very strictly. 5. Keeping in touch with your parents will ensure that you don’t feel homesick. 6. Give the phone numbers of your roommates and some other friends to your parents along with the hostel contact number, so that your parents can get information about you in case your number is not reachable. 7. If your roommates intentionally disturb you while studying, try and make them understand this. If this does not work, bring it to the notice of the hostel warden at the earliest. 8. Be friendly and helpful to other hostel members. 9. Participate in functions or programmes organised in the hostel. You will develop your friend circle and extra-curricular activities. 10. If your seniors ask you to introduce yourself to them, cooperate if it is in the spirit of fun and not harassment. If they try to trouble you physically or mentally, immediately speak to the warden. 11. Give priority to your studies. Remember your parents have let you to study outside because they trust you. 12. Try to maintain a healthy relationship with other students. Never interfere in others’ personal matters. 13. Bring along these things: mattress, towels, soap and shampoo. They are usually not offered by the hostels. 14. Learning cultures: One feature of hostel life is you must learn to share your room with a person from another state or region. This can be a real learning experience. There may be initial adjustment problems, but gradually you learn about other cultures. 15. Last but not the least — avoid carrying valuable things as you alone will be responsible for their safety.

Employee Retention

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. RAMZAN SUBMITTED BY: FAHAD KHALID (MSBA) MUHAMMA ASAD KHAN (MSBA) ADEEL JAVED (MBA) ZAIN SOHAIL (MBA) SUPERIOR UNIVERSITY LAHORE How the employee retention in educational institutions affects Organizational effectiveness Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to put forward a framework of employee retention in the educational institutions which enables them to work for longer time periods and less chance of leaving the place.It also discusses the factors that how the retention of employee affects the organizational effectiveness. Three different levels of schools have been chosen to collect the information from the employees to analyze the organizational effectiveness. The close-ended questionnaire has been established for this purpose. The sample size of 214 will be taken. The SPSS is used to analyze the data and findings of that are given in the context. The limitation of the study is time constraint. The data collection procedure becomes very muc h difficult.This study is only for the education sector in developing countries like Pakistan. Key words: Leadership style, Recognition, Motivation, educational institutions. Introduction This study is about producing and retaining human resource. Hence the research is about the study for the retention of employees in the educational sector. The educational sector is the source of producing human capital for the country which leads to economic development. The employees in that sector should be retained so that the organizational effectiveness is increased.The problem of academic staff retention is a global one which affects both developing and industrialized countries (wisdom 2006 p-11). The most critical for all; is the human resource factor. Without strengthening human resources and retaining critical skills and competencies with in any organization, other components stand to suffer. In academic institutions, the critical human capital includes academic, administrative and techni cal staff resources. The institutional governance, management and financial reforms undertaken as seen above will be more sustainable if there is stability in the area of human resource. Paschal B. Mihyo 2008 p-10) The issue of academic staff attrition and retention in developing countries has been less well documented in the literature. This is because the issue tends to be subsumed under the general category of ‘brain drain’, without particular attention being devoted to it. This subsumption reflects the close relationship between the brain drain and staff retention in many countries. (wisdom 2006 p-12). The employees who are not satisfied with the organizational retention policy they tend to leave the organization.Many research shows that the employees with the higher age are less tends to leave but the lower rank employees are more tends to leave the organization. There is always a certain amount of employee turnover due retirements, promotions and career developmen t; however specific industries and occupations experience attrition rates far greater than others. One business expert author identified ten primary reasons of the employee resigns (MacCann). * Basic financial needs not met. * Lack of competitive salary * Poor benefits * Poor communication * Negative work environment Lack of recognition * Unfair treatment * Lack of challenge in job * Lack of job security * Life conflicts (Gary S. Trulson p-12) There is a vast literature on the causes of voluntary employee turnover dating back to the 1950s. By developing multivariate models that combine a number of factors contributing to turnover and empirically testing the models researchers have sought to predict why individuals leave organizations. Many studies are based on only a small number of variables which often only explain a small amount of variability in turnover.Another criticism of turnover studies is that they do not adequately capture the complex psychological processes involved in i ndividual turnover decisions. Literature Review â€Å"An effective Employee Retention Program is a systematic effort to create and foster an environment that encourages employees to remain employed by having policies and practices in place that address their diverse needs. † (George C. Sinnott, Commissioner & George H. Madison, Director September 2002 p-2) Employee retention is perhaps the most frequently studied phenomenon in the organizational effectiveness.Most organizations find it difficult to measure and improve employee attitudes related to work. Most of the organizations are working on their retention plans for improving employee`s performance and employee`s satisfaction which leads to organizational effectiveness. Increasing employee satisfaction and thereby reducing employee turnover is critical. Long-tenured employees develop personal associations with customers. These relationships are the Groundwork for a reinforcing cycle of positive links between employees and customers. Employees who recognize relationships with customers provide better service.Customers who receive better service express fewer complaints and thereby create fewer problems for employees. Employees in turn react more constructively to tackle with customers. These reactions result in better service which again leads to privileged organizational revenues. Ultimately it is of importance in the educational institutions where teachers have develop direct relation with the students, if turnover of the teachers increases it will also decrease the satisfaction level of the students as well. So the organizations with the long term teachers have ultimately gain the good success in the market.Teaching staff: In the academia the teaching staff is main factor for improving the organizations effectiveness. The institutions with the satisfied and retained staff work more effectively than other. If teaching staff works for the longer period of time then it will be able to produce the desi red results for the students, if students are satisfied who are the customers and it will increase the reputation of organization in the market. â€Å"Teaching bright students and seeing their students develop are the positive aspects of teaching.The negative aspects relate to assessment, both of the amounts required of the students and that of the staff themselves. Administrative tasks and organizational change tend to be viewed as negative aspects of the job by most academics. Hours of work spent on administration have a negative effect on satisfaction with almost all dimensions of academics’ job satisfaction. † (Hilary Metcalf et al. Research Report RR658 p-xvi). Retention: Employee retention refers to the various policies and practices which let the employees stick to an organization for a longer period of time.The organization is completely at loss when the employees leave their job once they are fully trained. Employee retention takes into account the various mea sures taken so that an individual stays in an organization for the maximum period of time. The completely trained employees should be given more time to stay by contracting them for longer period. As the research shows, â€Å"About two-thirds of academics expected to remain in UK academia until retirement. This was higher in new universities. We would estimate that between three and six per cent would leave the sector in the year following interview.This comprised two to three per cent of those on permanent contracts and five to 11 per cent of those on fixed-term contracts. Forty-three per cent of those who thought they might leave the sector in the following year expected to move to another job; this was most commonly to a UK job outside research and teaching, to an academic job abroad or for fixed-term contracts staff, to a UK research job. Contract staff could be seen as being driven out of the sector due to insecurity: they tended to leave due to their contract ending, the desi re for a permanent job or pessimism about job opportunities in UK academia. (Hilary Metcalf et al. Research Report RR658 p- vii). Employee benefits: In the educational institutions employees are looking forward for monetary as well as non-monetary rewards. The organizations which develop the reward system for the employees are better able to reduce the employee turnover. These monetary and non-monetary rewards may include followings: according to (paschal B. Mihyo 2008 p-xiii) * Free or subsidized education facility provided to staff children. * Private pension fund and health insurance schemes should be developed. Reward and recognition system should be decentralized. * Loan guarantee schemes that can enable staff acquire respectable shelter and means of transport need to be developed. â€Å"Institutions should work towards a reasonable improvement in the working conditions (salary and non-salary) of staff, because this is likely to result in more than proportionate levels of job satisfaction. It is necessary to implement some system of differential rewards. This is inevitable, if certain academic fields are to attract and retain staff.Universities should maintain, or institute, non-salary benefits such as tuition waivers/remissions, preferential admission for staff and their families, and access to childcare and primary school facilities provided by their institutions. †(Wisdom J. Tettey 2006 p-4) Motivation of the staff: Employees who stay with a firm because of motivational reasons derive their satisfaction primarily from the work itself. An average of 75 percent of the respondents identified internal/motivational factors such as achievement, recognition, challenging work, and advancement prospects as the main reasons for staying. Matthew H. Sauber , Andrew G. Snyir & Mohsen Sharifi p-36). Motivation can increase the employee satisfaction and also its efficiency at work place. There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot f orce it to drink; it will drink only if it's thirsty – so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. The motivation can also have an impact on the job performance of employees. The job performance depends upon the ability and ability in turn depends on experience, education and ; training. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly.There are many options and an uninitiated manager may not even know where to start. As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation. The Present Study The aim of this study to investigate some factors that have an influence on employee retention. Based on the previous research and literature, both employee retention and organizational factors are taken into account. On the organization side it has to focus on the leadership style, motivation and reward system. On the employee side the age, experience and level of job had not given a clear conclusion. So there is no source of expectation from these variables.But other variables are leadership style, motivation and recognition are considered. It has been shown that the employees with higher age are less satisfied with the leadership role of their boss in the educational institutions. It has also shown that the employees with more experience got more recognition in the organization. But due to ineffective reward system they are less satisfied. Following research questions are established. RQ1. To what extent can retention be predicted by the variable â€Å"organization effectiveness†? RQ2 What is the relationship between selected employee variables (age, experience and level of job) with retention?RQ3 Is there a difference between different groups of employees (groups differing n seniority, level of education and whether or not being seen as High Potential) regarding their retention? MODEL RETENTION OF EMPLOYEE LEADERSHIP STYLE MOTIVATION AT WORK PLACE RECOGNITION ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVENESS Methodology Data col lection Data were collected by means of a questionnaire that was distributed on a voluntary basis in educational institutions and among employees, in hard-copy, in the year 2011. The study sample consists of 214 employees which will be in the categories of high level, middle level and low level employees.The high level employees consist of directors, principal and vice-principal of the institutions. The middle level employees include teachers and instructors. The low level employees will be as clerks, cashier, and front desk representatives. The data collected from the secondary schools and higher secondary schools. The participant’s 87. 4% is male and 12. 6 % is female. The majority of the employees (81%) worked full time and other worked part time (19%). gender | Frequency| Percent| Valid Percent| Cumulative Percent| Valid| male| 187| 87. 4| 87. 4| 87. 4| | female| 27| 12. | 12. 6| 100. 0| | Total| 214| 100. 0| 100. 0| | Instruments The questionnaire used for the study to c ollect data is designed with the help of expert researcher. The questionnaire consists of 13 items which would be categorized into three different variables used for analysis. Results and Analysis The first issue for data analysis was the presence of missing figures in the form of NR answers. The most frequent case of missing data was the use of N/A for items related to ‘‘leaders in this organization are role models†7 respondents choose N/R for one or the other.The responses are categorized as it is â€Å"strongly agree† =1 , â€Å"Agree†=†2† , â€Å"Neutral†=3, â€Å"Disagree†=4, â€Å"Strongly Disagree†=5. The value of Cronbach’s alpha is . 724 (72. 4%) which shows reliability of data. The correlation which shows that participation will have negative weak relation with the experience of employees with r=0. 01;0. 05 (5%) and value of correlation is (-. 255). The results also shows that as the age of employee in creases the less satisfied with the leadership style and the value of correlation is -. 285 with significance level 0. 01;0. 05(5%). The reward system of the organization has also n impact on employees and result shows that as the age of employee’s increases they are more satisfied with the reward system. Is reward system of the organization is adequate? age| Strongly agree=1| Agree=2| Neutral=3| Disagree=4| Strongly Disagree=5| 20-2526-3031-3536-40| 863017| 442111076| 00000| 55204887| 2070027| Does your employer make effort for employee's awareness about their work? Cross tabulation | | Does your employer make effort for employee's awareness about their work? | Total| | Strongly agree=1| Agree=2| Neutral=3| Disagree=4| Strongly disagree=5| Strongly agree| age| 20-25| 32| 63| | 30| 6| 131| 26-30| 13| 30| | 11| 0| 54| | 31-35| 7| 11| | 0| 0| 18| | 36-40| 4| 4| | 0| 0| 8| Total| 56| 108| | 41| 6| 211| This result also shows that if employer make awareness for the employees abou t their tasks and assignments at work place. The organizations with who gives the employees clear vision about their job description, the employees in that organizations work with greater efficiency. The educational institutions are more concerned about retaining their employee’s b providing them with clear idea about their vision. Conclusion and FindingsThe study shows that retention of employee in the educational sector has an impact on the organizational effectiveness. The retention depends on the reward system of the organization, motivation and recognition of employee at work place. Another useful focus for further work is a comparison of conditions of services between academic staff and their counterparts, with similar qualifications and experience, who are employed outside of universities. This will help determine, with substantive evidence, whether the views expressed by respondents in this study are indeed supported by the facts.It has been shown that higher potentia l employees are less satisfied with the leadership style and they get less recognition in organization. The educational institutions are the source of developing human resource for the economic development of a country. So importance has been given to that sector for improving and retaining employees in that sector. The age has also has an impact on the retention the employees with higher age are not willing to leave organization because they are now being able to get retirement benefits.The employees with lower age try to get the more and more and they are always trying to get good jobs, and are less dependent. The retention of employee has an impact on the organizational effectiveness. If the employees retained in the organization than the organization effectiveness increases by increase in revenues, increase in competency. It can also get a competitive edge in the market. So the organizations with better motivated employee are able to work better in this competitive world. Refere nces * http://www. managementstudyguide. com/employee-retention. tm * http://www. accel-team. com/motivation/index. html * (George C. Sinnott, Commissioner ; George H. Madison, Director September 2002 p-2) * Employee retention in the Joplin,Missouri public safety communication center (Gary S . Trulson) * NYS Department of Civil ServiceGeorge C. Sinnott, Commissioner * NYS Governor’s Office of Employee RelationsGeorge H. Madison, Director * George E. Pataki, GovernorSeptember(2002) * Leadership style, organizational culture and performance: empirical evidencefrom UK companies Emmanuel Ogbonna and Lloyd C. Harris Int. J. f Human Resource Management 11:4 August 2000 766–788 * The International Journal of Human Resource Management * ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online  © 2000 Taylor ; Francis Ltd * http://www. tandf. co. uk/journals * Roland T. Rust and Greg L. Stewart Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, Heather Mi ller M/A/R/C Group, USA, and Debbie Pielack MBA Enterprise Corps, Lithuan * Natalie Govaerts and Eva Kyndt(Influence of learning and working Climate on the retention of alented employees) (-39_p-42) * www. emeraldinsight. com/1366-5626. htm

Management matters in retail Essay

Management matters in retail Management matters in retail Working paper 13, APRIL 2010 The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity is an independent not-for-profit organization established in 2001 to serve as the research arm of Ontario’s Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress. The mandate of the Task Force, announced in the April 2001 Speech from the Throne, is to measure and monitor Ontario’s competitiveness, productivity, and economic progress compared to other provinces and US states and to report to the public on a regular basis. In the 2004 Budget, the Government asked the Task Force to incorporate innovation and commercialization issues in its mandate. Working papers published by the Institute are intended to inform the work of the Task Force and to raise public awareness and stimulate debate on a range of issues related to competitiveness and prosperity. The Task Force publishes annual reports to the people of Ontario each November. How to contact us Executive Director To learn more about the Institute and the Task Force please visit us at: www. ompeteprosper. ca James Milway 416 920 1921 x222 j. milway@competeprosper. ca Should you have any questions or comments, you may reach us through the web site or at the following address: The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity 180 Bloor Street West, Suite 1000 Toronto, Ontario M5S 2V6 Telephone 416. 920. 1921 Fax 416. 920. 1922 It is the aspiration of the Task Force and the Institute to have a significant influence in increasing Ontario’s competitive ness, productivity, and capacity for innovation. We believe this will help ensure continued success in creating good jobs, increasing prosperity, and building a higher quality of life for all Ontarians. We seek breakthrough findings from our research and propose significant innovations in public policy to stimulate businesses, governments, and educational institutions to take action. Researchers Tamer Azer 416 920 1921 x228 t. azer@competeprosper. ca Katherine Chan 416 920 1921 x231 k. chan@competeprosper. ca Anam Kidwai 416 920 1921 x238 a. kidwai@competeprosper. ca Lloyd Martin 416 920 1921 x223 l. martin@competeprosper. ca Aaron Meyer 416 920 1921 x224 a. meyer@competeprosper. ca Comments on this working paper are welcome and should be directed to the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity is funded by the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Adrienne Ross 416 920 1921 x230 a. ross@competeprosper. ca Ying (Sunny) Sun 416 920 1921 x227 s. sun@competeprosper. ca Copyright  © April 2010 The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity ISBN 978-0-9809783-6-0 Project Team Design Hambly & Woolley Inc. www. hamblywoolley. om Illustration Blair Kelly Daniela Scur Project Manager Jack Bolland Supervisor Sean Brandreth Supervisor Blaise Bolland Joshua Booth Vadim Dorfman Raswinder Gill Alison McMeekin Nikolina Miljevik Alam Aguilar-Platas Scott Sameroff Management matters in retail Working paper 13, APRIL 2010 Exhibits Exhibit 1Pressure and support drive all three elements of the Innovation System13 Exhibit 2 Managers pl ay an important part in creating Pressure and Support in all elements of the Innovation System14 Exhibit 3 Canadian managers are less well educated than their US counterparts5 Exhibit 4New management techniques are associated with increases in productivity and prosperity16 Exhibit 5 Canada’s retail management matches US performance25 Exhibit 6 Most of Canada’s best managed retail operations are US-owned multinationals26 Exhibit 7 Canada trails the US in adoption and implementation of best practice operations processes26 Exhibit 8 Canada lags world’s best performers in most operations management questions27 Exhibit A Manufacturers are better managed than retailers in the three countries surveyed28 Exhibit B Manufacturers out perform retailers29 Exhibit 9 Canada is among the leaders in best practice for setting and managing goals30 Exhibit 10In performance management, Canada scores very well, but still has improvement opportunity30 Exhibit 11In people management, Canada is not statistically different from the US31 Exhibit 12In people management, Canada performs well32 Exhibit 13 Better managed firms have more educated managers32 Exhibit 14 Multinationals out perform non-multinationals in all countries33 Exhibit 15 Larger firms tend to be better managed4 Exhibit 16Publicly held firms are significantly better managed than privately held or family-owned firms everywhere35 Exhibit 17Ontario retailers trail US peer states, and match Western and Atlantic Canada38 Exhibit 18Ontario under performs counterparts in US peer states, particularly in operations management38 Exhibit 19In operations management, Ontario retailers lag peer state counterparts39 Exhibit 20In most areas of performa nce management, Ontario retailers are not statistically different from counterparts in peer states40 Exhibit 21In people management, Ontario retailers lead in retaining high performers41 Contents Foreword and acknowledgements4 Executive summary6 Strong management delivers prosperityManagement talent is important in the Innovation SystemCanada lacks sufficient sophisticated management capabilitiesManagement innovation delivers higher productivityManagement practices can be measured11 12 14 15 Lean Retailing is best practice operating strategy17 17 19 Canada’s retailers score well but have opportunities to improveWhere can Canadian retailers improve? Public policy and business strategies lead to strong management24 26 31 Ontario trails US peers and matches most other Canadian regions37 Opportunities to strengthen managementEnsure businesses aspire to excellence in management42 43 44 44 References46 Previous publications48 International research evaluates management practicesBroaden innovation policy to include management skillsEmbrace international competition in our economy policy4 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Foreword and acknowledgements I am pleased to present Working Paper 13 of the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. In this Working Paper, we extend our study of the impact of management talent on our economic prosperity. Last year, we presented the results of the first-ever research on the quality of Canada’s and Ontario’s management in the manufacturing sector. This Working Paper focuses on management capabilities in the retail sector. Strong management is a critical element in the innovativeness of our economy, and hence its productivity and prosperity. Strong management drives the demand for innovation through well developed and ably executed business trategies; it affects the ongoing supply of high quality innovation by setting research priorities and orchestrating technical resources; and it is key to the financing of innovation by assembling resources and allocating them wisely to promising investments. Research in the United Kingdom indicates that better management leads to higher sales per employee. â€Å" Strong management is a critical element in the innovativeness of our economy, and hence its productivity and prosperity. † But government innovation strategies in Canada do not take adequate account of the importance of management. They still focus on increasing scientific and technical resources that drive new-to-the-world inventions; but they do not adequately consider innovations that create economic value in meeting societal needs by drawing on existing technologies and knowledge. Both are important for our prosperity, and we need public policies that attend to each. Our findings for the retail sector are consistent with the research on manufacturing management. Better educated managers produce better performance. For manufacturers and retailers, in Canada and internationally, the link between managers’ education and business performance is powerful. We also find that large-scale, multinational retailers are better managed than those focused only on their home market. This holds true in Canada and other countries. Firms that expand globally have dramatically better management, though identifying cause and effect is difficult. More than likely, there is a virtuous circle at work. Firms with global aspirations need effective management to expand, and expanding firms attract better managers.5 The research indicates that Canadian retail managers are as effective as their US counterparts whether they are working for a multinational or a domestic-only company. Yet, our overall retail productivity, as measured by sales per employee and our retail wages, trails the US retail sector significantly. So we have to acknowledge that the management of store level operations may not be the major challenge we face in improving our retail productivity. However, the quality of corporate management is an important factor; our Canadian retail sector has generated only one global leader – Couche-Tard – while we have twenty-three global leaders in our manufacturing sector. Other factors, such as population size and density as well as competitive intensity, are also likely at play. In public policy, we continue to recommend that our innovation strategies become more sophisticated and balanced. We need to recognize that supporting science for new inventions is not enough; we need to create an environment where business people draw on new science and many other disciplines to innovate products, services, and processes. We need to ensure that our markets are as open as they can be to foreign competition and foreign investment, because they improve the level of management and innovation in Canada. And we need to be investing adequately in post secondary education to develop world-class management talent. We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing funding support from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. We look forward to sharing and discussing our work and our findings. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Roger L. Martin, Chairman Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto 6 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Executive summary C ompetitive and prosperous countries in the world, as defined by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Ontario, in turn, is also one of the most prosperous jurisdictions in the world. Still, we are not realizing our full prosperity potential. For eight years, the Institute has been reporting on a persistent and growing prosperity gap with the United States, which stands at $8,700 for Canada and the United States, and $7,000 for Ontario and our US peer stat es. anada is one of the most Our major challenge is to raise our productivity and innovation performance. The two sources of higher prosperity are working more hours and producing more output per hour of work. On the former measure, hours worked per capita, we are near the top of developed economies – through a combination of high rates of participation in the labour force, low unemployment rates, and high hours worked per worker. But on the latter measure – that is, the value we add per hour worked – we trail many developed economies. management matters in retail 7 We have already identified some of the factors behind this poor productivity and innovation performance. While Ontario has a mix of industries that are by their nature productive and innovative, these industries do not operate as effectively as their counterparts in the US economy. Some of these factors relate to broad economic factors – we tend less to live in metropolitan areas, and we are less well educated than our counterparts in the United States. But some other factors relate to how our businesses compete. For example, compared with their US counterparts across the economy, Canadian managers invest less in productivity enhancing machinery nd equipment, particularly information and communication technology (ICT), and they produce fewer patents. Our past research and the work of others indicate that our senior and middle managers do not have fundamentally different attitudes from their US counterparts toward competition, risk taking, and innovation. But our innovation and productivity performance is inhibited by limited management capabilities – such as lower educatio nal attainment and less diffusion of best management practices – and by context – such as lower competitive intensity in the markets and fewer sophisticated customers. Effective management leads business innovation. Innovation is the result of the ongoing interaction of three elements – the supply of innovation, the demand for innovation, and the financing of innovation – in an Innovation System. These elements are driven by competitive pressure and broad support that activate the Innovation System. Effective management provides pressure and support across the Innovation System in strengthening demand for innovation, providing supply of innovation, and driving the quantity and quality of financing for innovation. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that management is an important factor in the prosperity of a jurisdiction. But hard evidence to support this conclusion has been limited. In one research initiative, University of Toronto professor Michelle Alexopoulos has developed a methodology for measuring the diffusion of innovative management techniques, going as far back as Taylor’s scientific management in 1911. Her measures track Library of Congress management book publication records, supplemented with counts of relevant academic journal articles, to determine the adoption of management techniques. Her research indicates that increased diffusion of new management techniques is correlated with growth in productivity, measured by Total Factor Productivity (TFP), and prosperity, measured through GDP. She concludes that economic growth results not only from increases in â€Å"tangible technology† (R&D, machinery & equipment) as most economists agree; but it also is the result of advances in â€Å"intangible technologies,† like management techniques and new processes disseminated in part through publications. 8 nstitute for competitiveness & prosperity In another initiative, in 2008, the Institute partnered with Stanford professor Nick Bloom to extend his pioneering global research in measuring management practices to Canada. His research started as a detailed approach to evaluating how well manufacturing operations have implemented advanced management techniques. It encompassed the level of managers’ knowledge of these techniques, the company-wide commitment to setting targets, measuring and monitoring results, and managing people well. In the manufacturing sector, the research had already been conducted in advanced economies, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, and developing economies like China, India, and Brazil. The quality of management, as captured by this study, correlates well with firm and industry productivity. The results of our research were published in the Institute’s Working Paper 12, Management Matters. We found that the Canadian manufacturing sector is among the best managed in the world. Our production management teams are leaders in implementing specific techniques in the area of Lean Manufacturing. They are solid performers in effecting good performance management, though with room for improvement. But, while they match management teams in other leading economies in people management, Canadian firms trail US practices significantly. Our results also indicated that some of the key variables that drive – or at least are correlated with – better management are education, ownership, and winning global strategies. In Ontario, our results indicated that the quality of manufacturing management is higher here than in the other regions of Canada, and that the province’s results are within statistical range of US results overall. Nevertheless, against the fourteen US peer states we have identified, Ontario under performs, especially in the area of people management – the willingness of managers to keep and promote high performers and to deal promptly with poor performers. In this Working Paper, we further extend this management research into another important industry in our economy: our retail businesses. In the summer of 2009, a team of analysts at the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity interviewed senior managers at 661 retail outlets in total – 409 in Canada, 152 in the United States, and 100 in the United Kingdom. The research was slightly adapted to fit the retail sector, but still remains largely comparable to that in manufacturing in approaches to measuring and monitoring operations performance, setting and achieving performance targets, and managing people. management matters in retail The results for Canada are encouraging. The overall results indicate that we are among the leaders in retail management, scoring statistically no differently than the United States. Results vary across the three sub-indexes that make up the overall measure. In operations management, we stand statistically behind the United States, but ahead of the United Kingdom. In performance management, we tie with the United States for the top spot and stay statistically ahead of the United Kingdom. In people management, though our score is lower than the US result, it is not statistically different, and we stand statistically ahead of the UK score here as well. Some of the key variables that are correlated with better management in manufacturing are also important in retail, such as education and global reach. More highly educated management teams out perform other retail managers. Retailers who have successfully expanded beyond their borders are much better managed than those who are still domestic competitors only. We also found that firm size and scale are important in explaining better management – larger retail firms are better managed. Our results indicate that quality of retail management in Ontario is not statistically different from that in the rest of Canada. Ontario scores statistically worse than our fourteen peer states group; however, unlike our manufacturers, the retailers’ disadvantage is strongest in store operations and not statistically significant in performance and people management. In summary, this Working Paper reinforces our conclusion that management capabilities are important contributors to provincial and national prosperity. And our Canadian retail management is among the best. Ontario, however, while being no different than the rest of Canada, trails the US peers significantly. Overall, our retail businesses have significant opportunities to improve. 9 10 institute for competitiveness & prosperity The implications for Ontario and Canada are clear: If we want an economy built on innovation, we have to include managerial education in our policy development. Developing our cientific and technical skills is important to our prosperity – but not building the capabilities of our managers is an oversight that holds back our prosperity.  ¦ Consistent with the recommendations of the Competition Policy Review Panel, chaired by Red Wilson in 2008, and our own research, we need to encourage an openness to foreign investment in our industries. This Working P aper shows how such investments attract best management practices and performance in our economy.  ¦ At the same time, we need to encourage the global aspirations of our successful companies. In turn, global expansion will drive he development of stronger management in Ontario and Canadian firms.  ¦ management matters in retail 11 Strong management delivers prosperity C its full prosperity potential. Relative to the United States, the economy most similar to ours and our largest trading partner, we have a growing prosperity gap. Canada’s lag in GDP per capita grew from $2,600 in 1981 to $8,700 in 2008. 1 This growing gap reflects a failure to reach our full economic potential. It means that our generation has not created as much economic value as possible from the human, natural, and physical resources endowed to us. nada is not achieving A key component of closing our prosperity gap is for Canada to broaden its approach to innovation. Strong management practices are a cr itical contributor to more innovation. So we need stronger commitment to strengthening the capabilities of our business managers to implement best practices. Following on our work in manufacturing, in this Working Paper, we extend our exploration of management capabilities in Canada and Ontario to the retail sector. 1 2007 Canadian dollars; US dollars converted at 2007 Purchasing Power Parity. 12 The retail sector is full of innovation. One classic example lies in the success of Walmart and its pioneering introduction of â€Å"cross-docking† at its distribution centres. This revolutionary system enabled Walmart to achieve excellent productivity and customer responsiveness without the usual inventory and handling costs attached. By enabling its goods to be continuously delivered to its warehouses, then immediately selected, repackaged and transferred to their stores, Walmart has been able to streamline its inventory pipeline by crossing its goods from one loading dock to another without its goods ever spending valuable time and space in the arehouse. 2 Through effective management and innovation, Walmart was able to transform itself from a small niche retailer to the largest and most profitable retailer in the world today. Other examples of innovation in retail include big box retailers with a focused, but very expansive product selection, and Carrefour, which ushered in the concept of combining supermarket an d department store into one roof, known today as a â€Å"hypermarket. † It should be noted that these examples and other specific ones in this Working Paper are from business literature and in no way indicate that they were mong the companies we interviewed in our research. Such information is confidential. The benefits of improved management practices also apply in many other sectors. For example, a Washington Post article describes a study conducted in hospitals in the United States, where they implemented a simple management tool, a â€Å"surgical checklist† in surgical procedures. The â€Å"low-cost, low tech invention† led to a decrease of in-patient deaths by more 2G. institute for competitiveness & prosperity than 40 percent and a fall in the rate of serious complications of 36 percent. The article captures the essence of this ool very well: â€Å"The human brain can’t remember everything, so it’s best to focus on the complicated challenges and leave the simple reminders to a cheat sheet. †3 Management tools such as the surgical checklist, the equivalent of the retail store’s â€Å"daily to-do list,† are small changes that can substantially decrease the rate of waste in a business – be it of time, resources, or lost revenue because of product shortages. In this Working Paper, we focus on management capabilities in the retail sector. We define â€Å"retail† as those firms engaged in the selling of consumer goods to the public, ranging from utomotive and furniture stores to pharmacies, clothing, and grocery stores. We first briefly review the importance of management talent for innovation and prosperity. 4 We then set out key findings from research we have recently conducted into the current state of management capabilities in Canada’s and Ontario’s retail sector, and how retail fares against the manufacturing sector in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Ma nagement talent is important in the Innovation System As we have discussed in previous reports,5 innovation is a result of the ongoing interaction of three elements supply, demand, and financing of innovation – in an Innovation System. These elements are driven by competitive pressure and broad support (Exhibit  1). Each of the elements is critical for success, but all three need to work together in balance. The supply of innovation includes the factors dedicated to increasing the stock of innovation, including highly qualified personnel, businesses’ facilities, resources, and activities. The demand for innovation is the combination of customer insistence on new products and process breakthroughs and corporate demand for innovation within a firm. The financing of innovation is an important bridge between demand and supply since, even if these two factors are in balance, significant funding is typically required to commercialize new ideas and scientific breakthroughs. Innovation requires pressure and support in each of these areas. Strong management is important in each element of the Innovation System. The management function includes goal setting, organization building, resource allocation, and monitoring of results. It also includes actions in enterprise finance, sales and promotion, production and delivery, and people evelopment (Exhibit  2). Hence, in building an innovative firm or an innovative economy, management talent matters. Senior managers in successful companies develop strategies where innovation is a critical component. Innovation strategies typically follow one of two paths: †¢ Innovation to reduce costs. Cost reductions can be realized in two ways. – First, improved management and operating proce sses can reduce the producer’s costs. For example, Harlequin determined that producing romance novels consistently with the number of pages that coincided with one sheet on the printing press would educe its printing costs, standardize shipping requirements, and simplify display for the retailer. Harlequin also determined that mail order distribution would cut costs and build Stalk, P. Evans, and L. Shulman, 1992, â€Å"Competing on capabilities: The new rules of corporate strategy,† Harvard Business Review, Mar/Apr, 1992, p. 58, available online: http://my. execpc. com/~jpurtell/HBR-CompetingonCapabilities. pdf Washington Post, January 15, 2009, â€Å"Surgery checklist lowers death rate†, available online: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011402831. tml 4 For a more extensive discussion see Roger Martin and James Milway, Strengthening management for prosperity, Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, 2007, available on line: http://www. competeprosper. ca/images/uploads/ManagementPaper_May07. pdf 5Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, Working Paper 12, Management matters, March 2009. 3 13 management matters in retail repeat purchase behaviour among loyal customers. The lower operating costs could be passed on as lower prices for consumers. But true innovation means that the producer captures some of the value added by not reducing prices at the same rate s costs. –Second, innovation can reduce costs for retailers or other parts of the distribution channel. McCain’s became one of Canada’s global leaders by eliminating the need for restaurants and food service operations to buy whole potatoes and peel them. Instead, they could buy fully prepared frozen fries from McCain’s and simply finish the frying. †¢ Innovation to enhance customer experience. Four Seasons, the world’s leading luxury hotel chain, has succeeded by relentlessly studying what its guests wanted and by improving the customer experience. Cirque de Soleil, the world’s leading ircus company, recognized the customers’ experience of circuses left much to be desired and reinvented the circus world to delight them. Such innovations draw as much on management capabilities – competitive analysis, customer research and segmentations, cost analysis – as they do on technological capabilities. Indeed, our research into high technology firms in Canada shows that, as these firms succeed and mature, the importance of technical skills at the top of the organization is matched by the importance of other skills, including management capability. 6 And below the CEO level, evidence is mounting hat the economy is requiring greater numbers of sophisticated conceptual thinkers and those with the strong analytic and people skills required to lead innovation and upgrading. 7 Exhibit 1 Innovation system has three components Exhibit 1Pressure and Support drive all th ree elements of the Innovation System The Innovation System PRESSURE PRESSURE Strong Management Source: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. 6 7 Demand for Innovation SUPPORT Financing of Innovation SUPPORT Supply of Innovation The Strategic Counsel, â€Å"Assessing the Experience of Successful Innovative Firms in Ontario,† 2004, p. 1, available online: http://www. competeprosper. ca/images/uploads/InnovationInterviewStudyRep. pdf Ibid, p. 41 14 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Canada lacks sufficient sophisticated management capabilities An important opportunity for improving Canada’s innovation and productivity performance is to strengthen management talent in our economy. In our research over the years, we have consistently found that our managers generally have lower educational attainment than their US counterparts, and CEOs of our largest corporations are less likely to have formal business education at the graduate level. Half of US managers hav e a bachelor’s degree or above compared to just over a third of Canadian managers (Exhibit 3). Further, innovative, hightech firms report disadvantages in access to management talent as a key constraint. 9 A key part of Canada’s prosperity under performance is attributable to its lack of management talent. Management skills are a critical complement to science and engineering skills in creating a high quality supply of innovation, driving sophisticated demand for innovation, and putting in place the required quantity and quality of financing to make the Innovation System work effectively. Exhibit 2 Managers play an important part in creating Pressure and Support in all elements of the Innovation System The Innovation System PRESSURE PRESSURE Strong Management Source: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity. 8Institute 9R. Demand for Innovation SUPPORT Financing of Innovation SUPPORT Supply of Innovation for Competitiveness & Prosperity, Working Paper 6, Reinventing innovation and commercialization policy in Ontario, October 2004, p. 40 Martin and J. Milway, Strengthening management for prosperity, p. 11 15 management matters in retail Management innovation delivers higher productivity Contemporary research often focuses n two measures of productivity: †¢ output per unit of labour input, such as hours worked or employment; and †¢ total factor productivity (TFP), which measures the extent to which actual economic output is higher than capital and labour employment data would suggest. Many researchers and policy makers believe that productivity changes are i ntimately linked to changes in technology in the traditional sense; that is, productivity growth results from improvements in machinery, equipment, or techniques of production. Thus, the key to higher productivity is technological advances, as evidenced in higher R&D expenditures or more patents. Professor Michelle Alexopoulos of the University of Toronto presents an alternative, though less intuitive, view. 10 She argues that anything that improves producers’ ability to transform inputs into final goods and services deserves the title â€Å"technology. † For her, productivity is indeed influenced by the traditionally understood types of technology – such as machinery and new products – that she calls â€Å"tangible. † But productivity is also influenced by â€Å"intangible† technology – such as management techniques and production processes. She posits that it is important to distinguish between these wo types of technologies, since they affect the types of policies governments may want to put in place. It is generally agreed among management experts that changes in intangibles – such as corporate work rules, team structures, communication channels, morale, or managerial leadership – raise productivity and workfo rce efficiency. While this is not a controversial statement, quantifying the effect of improvement in management techniques at the aggregate level is extremely difficult because of measurement issues. Professor Alexopoulos’ measure tracks the development and diffusion f management techniques through a count of Library of Congress management book titles, supplemented with counts of relevant academic journal articles. She has demonstrated that changes in management techniques are an important factor in US productivity growth. 11 With the index of management book publications serving as a proxy for diffusion, her regression analyses reveal that available management books are positively associated with growth in an economy’s TFP and GDP. In particular, following the introduction of a new management technique that causes a 10 percent increase in new management books, GDP and TFP Exhibit 3 Canadian managers are less well educated than their US counterparts Managers’ educational attainment, average 2005–2007 12% 18% Advanced degree 35% Bachelor’s degree 26% Some post secondary 18% High school 23% 39% 19% 7% Canada 3% United States Less than high school Source: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity analysis based on Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, and U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey 10M. Alexopoulos and T. Tombe, â€Å"Management Matters,† forthcoming working paper, University of Toronto. 11Ibid. 16 institute for competitiveness & prosperity row at statistically significantly higher rates than average for approximately six years. In fact, the impulse response estimates suggest that by year five, GDP would be 2. 1 percent higher and TFP would be 1. 4 percent higher in an economy with innovation in management techniques (Exhibit 4). A 2 percent increase in our GDP per capita would increase avera ge disposable income per family by $1,500 in Canada and Ontario. 12 Alexopoulos does not assert that the research definitively leads to this direct impact – but it does suggest that improved management has a significant effect on a region’s or nation’s prosperity. She concludes that Canadian managers, have access to the same resources as our American neighbours, but many lack the expertise to employ the most productive management innovations. Increasing the number of graduates from economics, business, or management programs and raising funding for research in business management and related fields may help alleviate this deficiency. This kind of â€Å"business R&D† is to management what science is to engineering, and deserves more attention from the government. It is intuitively likely that stronger management capabilities lead to more innovation and higher rosperity. But the impact of management capabilities on regional prosperity has not been well studied. Our research and that of others indicate that management matters. The development of improved management techniques, their diffusion, and their implementation by capable managers lead to higher prosperity. Exhibit 4 New management techniques are associated with increases in product ivity and prosperity Effect on Gross Domestic Product and Total Factor Productivity Response to a 10% increase in management publications Percentage increase 2. 5 % Gross Domestic Product 2. 0 1. 5 Total Factor Productivity . 0 0. 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Years following unanticipated increase in management publications Source: M. Alexopoulos and T. Tombe, â€Å"Management Matters,† forthcoming working paper, University of Toronto. 12Calculation based on a 2 percent increase in the Canadian 2008 income per capita, personal disposable income as a percentage of GDP, and average household size. 6 management matters in retail 17 Management practices can be measured C learly, good management is an important factor in firm innovation and productivity and, to the extent that a region’s firms are well managed, overall prosperity will be higher. But economists and management researchers have paid little attention to measuring effective management practices and their impact on firm productivity. A major stumbling block has been the lack of useful, consistent measurements of the quality of management across firms and countries. While researchers recognize the importance of effective management, they typically refer to it as an empirically unobservable variable in their research to account for the differences in productivity across firms within the same country and industry. International research evaluates management practices To fill this research gap, professors Nick Bloom, John Van Reenen, and Raffaela Sadun developed a methodology to measure management practices first within a manufacturing operation,13 and now have expanded this methodology to include 13 See, for example, N. Bloom and J. Van Reenen, â€Å"Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries,† NBER Working Paper No. 12216 and N. Bloom, J. Van Reenen, â€Å"Why do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries? † Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 203–244. 18 institute for competitiveness & prosperity the retail sector as well as forthcoming esearch on management of schools and hospitals. They have applied this methodology since 2004 and have interviewed over 7,000 firms in eighteen countries,14 including developed economies, such as the United States, Germany, and Japan, and developing economies like China, India, and Brazil. The Institute collaborated closely with Pro fessor Bloom to interview Canadian manufacturing firms through the summer of 2008. In 2009, the Institute further collaborated to extend the methodology to the retail sector, for the first time in a large-scale project, including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Bloom, Van Reenen, and Sadun’s ethod to measure management practices in the firm is based on an interview evaluation tool that scores firms on a scale of 1 to 5, indicating from worst practice to best practice across eighteen management practices, developed originally by McKinsey & Company, a leading international management consulting firm. The management practices cover three distinct, but related areas of management: †¢ Adopting effective operations management approaches. How well have firms implemented retailing management systems that are generally regarded by academics and consultants as best practice? â€Å"Lean Retailing† is a fairly recent concept erived from the original â€Å" Lean Manufacturing,† which is generally regarded as the most effective management system. Based on the production methods developed by Toyota, but applicable beyond the automotive (and manufacturing) industry, Lean achieves highly efficient operations through a relentless drive to reduce waste of time and resources. It is characterized by an ethos of 14For continuous improvement, backed by close tracking of the operation to identify problems and improvement opportunities. †¢ †¢ Managing targets effectively. Do firms’ management teams set stretch yet realistic targets, monitor performance against these targets, and ake corrective action when necessary? Effective management in this area means that companies are finding the right balance of targets to aspire to for maximum achievable performance. Setting targets too low means under performance; setting them too high will discourage improvements by workers and managers. Effective management also means determining how to measure performance and to follow through with actions when targets are not met. Managing people well. Are companies promoting and rewarding employees based on performance, and systematically trying to hire and keep their best employees? The cliche that people are a firm’s most mportant asset is true. Skilled workers and effective people management together are an important element of productivity in firms and across the economy. Well managed firms are able to attract and retain their top talent through effective reward and incentive programs. They also deal effectively with problem performers. Professor Bloom and his team designed the research process according to rigorous academic research standards. Our analysts, who were business and economics students, were trained to conduct the interviews consistent with analysts in other countries. We randomly selected retail locations for elephone interviews from a comprehensive industry list of firms categorized by Standard I ndustrial Classification (SIC) retail codes. 15 The analysts conducted telephone interviews that lasted an average of fifty-seven minutes with the most senior store managers available and occasionally district managers. Through a series of structured, but open-ended questions, the analysts scored each company on a scale of 1 to 5, across eighteen factors. These results generated scores on each of the three factors described above, which in turn generated an overall score for the quality of management at the operation. The structure of the retail interview followed the manufacturing one, in which sixteen out of the eighteen topics were comparable between the two sectors. Analysts also â€Å"double scored† fourfifths of the interviews. That is, while one analyst conducted the interview, another, who was not taking part in the interview, listened and independently scored the company. Subsequent comparisons of the scores showed a high degree of consistency between analysts. We conducted interviews from June to August 2009 from a central location in Toronto. To ensure the comparability of the retail scores with the previous year’s anufacturing scores, our analysts were trained using the same methodology, and two analysts from the previous year’s manufacturing project returned to supervise and double-score the interviews. Thus we conclude that, as much as possible, the retail interviews were scored in the same way as those in the manufacturing sector, and therefore are comparable to the rest of the management sample. Further, the distribution of completed interviews across Canada and the United States matches the distribution of actual retail locations. more information on the research methodology, see Professor Nick Bloom’s website: http://www. tanford. edu/~nbloom/index_files/Page371. htm on the Dun & Bradstreet database, using SIC codes 50–57 and 59. For more information, see http://www. dnb. ca/ 15Based 19 management matters in retail Lean Retailing is best practice operating strategy Lean Retailing is an example of a best practice operating strategy that management needs to adopt to maximize the efficiency of the retail operation process. including those in insurance companies, hospitals, airline maintenance organizations, government agencies, retail industries, and many others. 16 In the retail sector, the same Lean approach as now developed to improve operations flows; these principles are known as Lean Retailing. What is Lean Retailing? H ow does Lean Retailing work? Business success lies in effective management. This is especially critical today, as retailers continue to face the increasing challenge of competing against falling prices alongside rising operating and labour costs. Now, more than ever, retailers are turning toward adopting a more Lean approach in their management operations to improve profitability. At the core of Lean Retailing is a dedication to the elimination of waste. Similar to the manufacturing sector, the ajor types of waste targeted by the Lean approach include excess inventory, product defects, unnecessary motion, under used employees, and wait times. Managers can now apply similar tools and principles to identify these forms of waste to improve their operations efficiency. These Lean techniques include: But what is Lean Retailing? Lean Retailing refers to the operating strategy that seeks to maximize efficiency by identifying and eliminating waste. It focuses on simplifying the work process to eliminate wasted effort, time, materials, and motion. By adopting a Lean approach, managers who employ these tools and principles are able to educe non-value adding activities, detect and prevent problems early, and improve overall operating flow. †¢ †¢ Using â€Å"pull† to drive replenishment. Ensuring that the supply of goods is pulled by actual demand of customers as opposed to forecast or estimated demand so that inventory levels are kept low and space is conserved †¢ Removing bottlenecks through the supply chain. Eliminating inefficiencies to shorten delivery times, lower transportation costs and defects, and improve product flow and operational performance †¢ Today, the Lean approach has evolved from the manufacturing industry to apply to operations of all kinds, 16S. To win in this increasingly competitive environment, retailers need to adopt a relentless focus on delivering value cost effectively. For, despite steadily falling prices, store operating costs are trending upwards because of more expensive operating overheads and labour costs as well as higher investments in shop fittings to match increasing trends to improve the customer experience. 17 Retailers must pursue a Lean perspective in their core operations, including best practices in operations management, performance management, and people management. (See A guide to best practices in Lean Retailing. ) Doing so will produce a more fficient cost structure, more productive workers, less waste, lower effort, and shorter wait times – all of which generate significant improvements in store profitability and customer satisfaction. Today, more and more businesses are focusing on streamlining their key operations to reduce unnecessary processes and waste and to improve customer experien ce. Lean Retailing is a best practice that, once implemented, can improve productivity and contribute to higher overall economic performance. Our research allows us to measure the quality of retail management through the lens of Lean Retailing – and to provide guidance for retailers in dentifying and implementing Lean Retailing best practices. Eliminating wasted effort, time, materials, and motion. Identifying the core value of operations by eliminating excess motion, time, and materials used in the process flow to reduce and prevent extra work, problems and wait times Where did Lean Retailing originate? Pioneered by Toyota Motor Corporation, the concept of Lean was conceived as a set of tools and methods to eradicate waste and inefficiency in their manufacturing system, famously known now as the Toyota Production System (TPS). This revolutionizing manufacturing strategy fuelled Toyota’s rise from a ash-strapped company to becoming one of the most successful automobile manufacturers in the world. Simplifying work design. Organizing individual work processes to be more feasible and manageable so that these efforts have clear start and finish points Why is Lean Retailing important? Corbett, â€Å"Beyond Manufacturing: The evolution of Lean production,† McKinsey Quarterly, 2007, 3, pp. 94-96. Voisin, â€Å"The ‘Industrial revolution’ of European retailers in underway,† McKinsey Quarterly, 2004, available online at: http://www. mckinsey. com/practices/retail/knowledge/index_full. asp? startval=20&sort=title 17Jean-Baptiste 0 institute for competitiveness & prosperity A guide to best practices in Lean Retailing For each topic in the study, we define the best practice and provide an example drawn from the 661 retail interviews conducted across North America and Europe Operations management Rationale for Lean retailing techniques Adoption of Lean practices store operations Has the store implemented all the major Lean store ope rations practices? For example, does the manager have a standard to-do list to follow daily? Is there an automated inventory control system determined by the pull of demand? Is the backroom organized systematically? Example of best practice: A Canadian bookstore has a point-of-sale system that automatically orders an item as soon as it is sold. The managers and employees check off every item on their set to-do list every morning. The manager has a â€Å"store clock,† where she plans for what is happening in the store every hour of the day. Some inventory is kept, and what is on hand in the backroom is organized by aisle with bin codes, keeping the backroom clutter-free. scheduling Has the store implemented all major Lean scheduling practices? Is the scheduling done automatically, based on store traffic and transactions data? Are there defined roles within the staff? Example of best practice: Scheduling at a US supermarket is based on a computer system that is linked to its sales results system. The computer system bases the schedule on transactions per hour and allocates more labour to peak hours. Roles in the store are clearly defined, and employees rarely have to respond to unexpected traffic increases. What was the reasoning behind the adoption of any or all Lean Retailing techniques? Were managers implementing changes because all their competitors were doing it? Did managers believe it would merely reduce costs and thus ecided to make the switch? Or did Lean fit the businesses’ goals, which often include increasing quality, reducing waste, and reducing injuries while increasing profits? Example of best practice: A UK specialty apparel store introduced techniques to improve customer service, raise product availability, decrease waste, and increase efficiency and productivity. Process problem do cumentation If an operational/procedural problem in the store occurs, what happens? Do managers wait for problems to happen to address them or do they search for ways of improving processes and avoiding potentially costly product shortages or mistakes? Is there a specific way that shop floor workers, who are executing most of the tasks, can suggest process improvements? Example of best practice: A UK supermarket uses a checklist system for checking the store every hour. Managers document all issues and have weekly business strategy meetings to discuss them and identify solutions. Action plans encompass targeted completion dates and everything is reported to corporate headquarters. There is a standard system whereby employees can suggest improvements, and managers review them weekly with potential rewards for the employee whose suggestion gets implemented. management matters in retail atters Operations performance tracking What types of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the managers tracking? For example, do managers only track sales per day or does the set of KPIs include a comprehensive list of all productivity factors, such as average transaction value and conversion rates? And are these KPIs available for all to see, or is i t only the senior managers who are privy to this information? Example of best practice: A Canadian bookstore manager tracks all major performance indicators daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Sales are tracked by shift, and if targets are not being met, the manager follows up mmediately with the sales staff to improve performance. All information is posted for employees to see and updated as new data become available. Operations performance review Does a manager review KPIs with other managers and staff? Is there a meeting to review them? Who is involved in these meetings? Who gets to see the results of this review? What are the typical next steps after a meeting? Example of best practice: A hardware store in Canada has weekly management meetings to review the basic KPIs, and routinely invites floor staff to attend as well. Every meeting, they create a follow up plan with five to six main oints they have to focus on in the coming week with specific timelines and accountability. Res ults are tracked daily and shared with employees in small team huddles and storewide meetings twice a week. The managers keep a scorecard to help track how they are doing. a 21 Operations performance dialogue Here managers are asked to describe a KPI meeting. Is there a set structure to the meeting; for example, a set agenda used every week? If KPI data are needed to discuss specific issues, are the data always available? Do discussions lead to the root cause of problems? Example of best practice: The manager at an American eneral merchandise store has a set agenda for the meetings (part of it from corporate, part of it open to managers’ discretion), which is distributed ahead of time. All involved are expected to have reviewed it and to come prepared for discussion. Problems are identified and conversations are only finished when the root cause is found. The manager often uses root cause analysis tools such as fishbone diagrams and the 5Ys. a All items are documented and fol lowed up on. Consequence management How do managers deal with a business unit that is under performing? What are the consequences for the under performing unit? Are there parts of the business that seem to fail repeatedly to carry out agreed actions? Example of best practice: A general merchandise store in Canada has a computerized system where follow-up plans are logged. Outstanding items are flagged (red, yellow, or green). In-store issues have a â€Å"sundown rule,† where problems need to be fixed by sundown. External issues require progress reports, and status is frequently reviewed until the item is no longer red-flagged. 5Ys is a management technique used to solve problems by asking â€Å"why† five times. By the time the fifth why is asked, the root cause of the problem has already been found. 2 institute for competitiveness & prosperity Performance management Types of goals What types of goals are set for the company? Are there specific goals for the store? Are there any non-financial goals? Example of best practice: A hardware store in Canada has a range of financial and operational goals in place, and also has specific non-financial goals for community involvement (charitable donations/fundraising) and environmental targets. The manager was concerned with â€Å"making money† but felt that supporting their community was just as important. Interconnection of goals Is there a clear motivation behind the goals? For instance, oes the company clearly communicate goals, such as â€Å"we want to be the leader in the industry† or â€Å"we want to grow by 4 percent in the next two years†? How are the goals cascaded down to the individual workers? For example, are workers aware of how their work fits within the larger framework of the company? Example of best practice: The motivation behind a US general merchandise store’s goals is to create shareholder value and deliver customer satisfaction. Corporate headquarters divides goals by region, division, and store. The manager then further divides those goals by department and individual associates, so that all ave personal targets l inked to the store’s overall goal. Company goals are communicated through storewide meetings and newsletters. Time horizon What is the time scale of the targets? Do managers focus more on short-term or long-term goals? Do the short-term goals form a â€Å"staircase† to the long-term goals? Example of best practice: A Canadian department store has daily, weekly, quarterly, annual, three- and five-year goals and ten-year strategic goals. The goals are all linked in a staircase; if the store meets all the short-term goals, they will inevitably meet the long-term goals. Setting stretch goals How tough are the goals? Do managers feel pushed by them? Are any goals obviously too easy or too hard? In other words, are there goals that are always met and some that are never met? Do all departments have the same level of difficulty in the targets or do some get off easy? Example of best practice: A UK clothing store has rigorous goals for all departments, based on a specific store growth plan. The manager feels the targets are very tough, but attainable. She meets them between 75 to 80 percent of the time. Clarity of goals Do all employees in the store know what their personal targets are? Does anyone complain that the targets are too omplex – that is, not that they are too stretching, but that they are difficult to understand? Is performance between teams or shifts openly compared to others? Example of best practice: A Canadian bookstore manager sets clear individual targets for her employees and keeps them accountable to them during weekly huddles. She posts performance in the break room and e mployees are encouraged to compare individual performance, as the manager believes this leads to friendly competition. Instilling a talent mindset Do senior managers discuss attracting and developing talented people? Do managers get any rewards for the talent ool they create? Are managers held accountable for creating a talent pool? Example of best practice: Managers at an American department store participate in university/college job fairs, and actively seek talented people to join the company. The company has a â€Å"human capital report,† and the number and quality of the people a manager hired are important in his appraisal and affect (positively or negatively) his bonus at the end of the year. management matters in retail 23 People management Promoting high performers If a worker is exceptionally good, can he or she be promoted on a fast track? Are top performers routinely identified and developed? Is length of service unduly important in promotions? Rewarding top performers How does the appraisal system work? How does the bonus system work? Are there non-financial rewards? How do these systems compare to the competitors’ systems? Example of best practice: An American hardware store holds appraisal meetings every six months – one full appraisal meeting and one update meeting. There is a bonus for both shop floor employees and managers, based on a review of personal performance. For the shop floor employees, there is a reward system where employees et â€Å"stars† in a staircase structure for outstanding performance. For each set number of â€Å"stars,† there is a financial reward. When employees reach the highest level, they get a gift. There are also gift cards/movie tickets and other financial rewards for good customer service performance. Addressing poor performance If a worker is continuously under performing, what is the course of action? Is there a set procedure that is followed? How long would under performance be tolerated? Example of best practice: A US department store has a performance improvement plan, whereby managers meet with poor performers, identify their improvement pportunities, develop a plan, and give them tools to make them work more effectively. Once under performance is identified, weekly meetings are set up to update the status. The manager tries to retrain and/ or move the employee to other departments, but under performance is only tolerated for a maximum of three months. Example of best practice: An American grocery store has a formal career path plan for all employees and a succession plan for managers. Promotions are based solely on performance, and tenure does not play a role. The manager uses regular performance appraisals to identify op performers and look for â€Å"diamonds in the rough. † The company has a mentoring program that tra ins the best to be future managers, and encourages workers to take courses outside the store. Attracting high performers Does the company offer a distinctive work environment that is attractive to top talent? Example of best practice: An American hardware store offers competitive wages, strong performance incentives, and clear career paths. The managers believe it is important to get employees involved in the decision-making process to make them feel like a valued part of the company. Retaining high performers What special practices are in place to retain top performers who want to leave the company? Example of best practice: A hardware store manager in Canada keeps an eye on the top employees and, if they seem unhappy or are thinking about leaving, senior management will meet with them to discuss their career. For a top performer, the manager would adjust hours, increase pay, and offer more responsibility. The manager mentioned an example where he helped the employee’s mother move to their town so they could live closer together and the employee would stay with the company. 24 institute for competitiveness & prosperity