Usability Report on the Battery

Questions: Create a usability report on the battery using the three sections outlined below. 1. Write an Executive Summary. 2. Write a requirements analysis and/or a task analysis. 3. Conduct a usability analysis on the device. Answers: Executive summary Cogstate Brief Battery is a playing card based battery and it is administered by IT technologies. Diseases such as schizophrenia, Alzheimers disease, dementia, depression, etc., which are neurodegenerative are screened by this battery. The ability of individuals in cognitive tasks are measured by this battery which are impaired with the diseases (Cogstate, 2015., Maruff et al., 2013). There are four tests which the battery is composed of. The tests have been designed so as to measure different domain of diseases. The four tests are as follows: Detection Test: Processing speed is measured by this test through the use of reaction time paradigm. Identification Test: Attention is measured by this test through the use of a choice reaction time paradigm One Card Learning Test: Visual Learning is measured by this test through the use of a pattern separation paradigm and One-back Test: Working memory is measured by this test through the use of an end back paradigm (Cogstate, 2015). Exploration of The One Card Learning Task and The Detection Task will be done for the purpose of this analysis. The clinical trials of Cogstate provide the scientific services and products for optimization of the design and execution of the clinical trials aimed at establishing the cognitive effects of the investigation or the marked products. The designs have the computer tests which are specific to patients populations, in this case, they are reliable for use, brief and concise, valid, sensitive to the changes across the languages and cultural aspects. The cogstate gives the provisions for management for scale, monitoring services, and the paper and pencil neuropsychological testing, and questionarres for the patient reports the outcome. Requirement analysis The batteries engage the study subjects which are the cogstate tests are known to be brief in the industry. For the appropriate site staff it involved with scheduling in the patient and also do the requirement study analysis, and at the end of the survey appreciate the ease use of the cogstate system. The products delivered in the approach of various platforms which are the laptops, web based and also on the tablets. In this case, they do not require to checked by an expert in neuropsychologist, but they can conduct from remote access. The training process for the system is easy. The system has to meet all the relevant regulatory and security requirements, also, the clinical data integrity. The system is procedure guidelines are in line with the ISO 9001:2008. The computerized tests in the cogstate clinical trials have provision rapid, sensitive, and valid measure of the different cognitive functions. The tests use novel and verbal stimuli to enhance the assessment. All the tasks are designed for repetitive practices in the little training and learning factors making them a high factor for the clinical trials. The batteries comprise of some individual tasks each designed to a particular area of cognition. Each single task battery is customizable. The services includes are scientific consultations, scales management; it also includes the selection, training, certification, recalibrations and the quality control measures. The teams in the clinical developments always the cost efficient and scale and high quality cognitive data. The management and training services are provided by the cogstate. High quality cognitive data is of the essence, and will result in the generation and collection of valid questionnaires. The baseline and change in the range of cognitive domains are measured by various cognitive tasks which are computerized. Memory, attention, language cognition, executive function and emotional cognition can be assessed by specific tasks. Not only that the effect of drugs, nutraceuticals, devices are also determined by the batteries. The batteries re also used in screening programs and large scale sports medicine programs. International peer reviewed journals have also validated the cogstate testing method. A wide range of cognitive domains such as attention cognition, social-emotional cognition, simple reaction tome are targeted by these batteries. The tests are designed to decrease the noise from cognitive records taken from the trials in research and increase the signal . and The ability has been proven to detect both the reduction in the in cognition and improvement. Usability analysis on the device There has been extensive use of Cogstate batteries for assessing a number of diseases. Four cognitive domains are assessed by the Cogstate batteries. These are Working memory Visual learning Attention Processing speed Any of the four tests which have been mentioned in the starting of the paper may be used by researchers for measuring the domains. The researchers may choose test according to their suitability and convenience. The use of the cogstate batteries have been very reliable as it has been tested by a large number of researchers. A huge range of language and cultural groups have used these tests and given positive feedbacks with respect to reliability of the batteries. Using and navigation of minimal interface is easy. The difference between a failed and a successful experiment can be made by the services provided by the Cogstate. It will be helpful for the clinical teams. Assessment of cognitive functions in both younger and older adults and in clinical gropus suffering from pysochologiocal illness and dementian are done by the costate batteries. The battery has always been described in detail in the scientific literature and used broadly to guide clinical decision making in early phase settings. Due of its brevity and lack of generation of any practice effects upon repeated administration, it can be given many times in a single day and then on many days in the same experiment. The psychometric characteristics of the Cogstate Early Phase battery and its demonstrated sensitivity to change associated with drug effects are the subject of numerous for peer-review scientific journal publications. In the early phase Clinical Research Units want to imlement a proven, sensitive and rapid test battery to measure the cognitive effect of the new drugs of their Pharmaceutical Sponsor clients, the Cogstate scientific consultancy , software, training and data monitoring systems enable fast yet precise cognitive data collection. The other test batteries, the Cogstate Early Phase battery is easy to use, engaging and brief for subjects. For site staff, the system is quick to set-up, requires minimal training, is very easy to use and requires minimal data reconciliation work. Assessment of the device Benefits are accrued to battery users of targeted clinical population. The users do not need to learn the use of battery and they are also not distracted by the new information while progressing through the test. Thus there is not more interference from the programming which are assessed by the battery. However, there are certain flaws associated with the use of the battery. The Cogstate Research comprises a customizable range of computerized cognitive tasks able to conduct baseline and change in a wide variety of cognitive domains. The baseline and change in the range of cognitive domains are measured by various cognitive tasks which are computerized. Memory, attention, language cognition, executive function and emotional cognition can be assessed by specific tasks. Not only that the effect of drugs, nutraceuticals, devices are also determined by the batteries. It would not be feasible to use the batteries in screening and large-scale sports medicine programs. Audition of the quality and data systems are done by global pharmaceutical companies and by independent consultants. There are flaws associated with the use of battery. The feedbacks of error should be shown in red because red is accepted as an error colour. There is problem in understanding the error tone which accompanies the display as it cannot be heard properly. There are also certain guess abilities associated with the test and both my volunteer and I did not require the reading of detailed instructions while applying the test. There were concise instructions written and the instruction page also contained a start button. Signifiers and conventional constraints were used by the start button. The button was dark and it lit up once an user proceeds. Mapping was also used to establish a similarity between the onscreen keys and the keyboard keys. Thus I completed using the battery without going through much of the instructions. I could easily identify what needed to be done. The feedback for correct responses was being shown in green which was quite pleasing. However the error feedbacks were accompanied by low tone and blue cross and I did not find pleasing at all in the beginning. It created a kind of confusion. I tried to click on the no and yes button as it seemed to me that those buttons were clickable which were actually not. The mapping of the two keys on screen which were analogous to the keyboard was however appreciable. The tasks were quite lengthy and at some points I was getting really confused whether I was still in the practice test or in the real test. The tests being lengthy I was getting a bit bored as well. These were the minor problems associated with the performance of the tasks. Overall the tests have been designed quite well and it was a pleasant experience for me. References Alzheimers disease. BMC Pharmacology Toxicology, 1. doi: 10.1186/2050-7283-1-30 Barbas, N., Darby, D., Giordani, B., Hammers, D., Heidebrink, J., Persad, C., Ryan, K., Spurgeon, E.(2012). Validity of a brief computerized cognitive screening test in dementia. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 25, 89 99. Doi:10.1177/0891988712447894 Cogstate Ltd. (2015, October 10). Cogstate brief battery. Retrieved from: community-dwelling older adults. J Alzheimers.Dis 2011;27(3):627-37. Lim YY, Ellis KA, Harrington K, Ames D, Martins RN, Masters CL, et al. Use of the CogState Brief Battery in the assessment of Alzheimer's disease related cognitive impairment in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study. J Clin Exp.Neuropsychol. 2012;34(4):345-58. Lim, Y. Y., Jaeger, J., Harrington, K., Ashwood, T., Ellis, K. a, Stffler, A., Maruff, P. (2013). Three- Month Stability of the CogState Brief Battery in Healthy Older Adults. Louey, A. G., Cromer, J. A., Schembri, A. J., Darby, D. G., Maruff, P., Makdissi, M., Mccrory, P. (2014). Detecting cognitive impairment after concussion: sensitivity of change from baseline and normative data methods using the CogSport/Axon cognitive test battery. Archives of Clinical Maruff P, Thomas E, Cysique L, Brew B, Collie A, Snyder P, et al. Validity of the CogState brief battery: relationship to standardized tests and sensitivity to cognitive impairment in mild traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, and AIDS dementia complex. Arch.Clin Neuropsychol. 2009;24(2):165-78. Maruff, P., Lim, Y. Y., Darby, D., Ellis, K. A., Pietrzak, R. H., Snyder P. J., Bush, A. I., Szoeke, C., Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimers Disease: Results from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers, and Lifestyle-Rate of Change Substudy (AIBL-ROCS). Archives of clinical neuropsych.

Sample GED RLA Extended Response With Essay

Sample GED RLA Extended Response With EssayA Sample GED Response-Knowledge (RLA) Extended Response is a required course for high school students interested in earning a General Education diploma. Typically, you will need to write a multiple-choice essay on the following topic: student's goal of obtaining a GED; approaches to increasing student proficiency in English language arts and mathematics; student's role in influencing academic achievement and success in the future; student's role in helping others to develop the knowledge and skills they need for their future career; student's role in promoting lifelong learning; student's role in helping to sustain personal growth and development; student's involvement in fostering a nurturing learning environment; student's involvement in meeting national goals and objectives for students; student's role in helping students become productive learners.The GED-RLA Extended Response requires several elements and is intended to help students pr epare for the 'big time.' Several things can be included in this section of the course, including an essay, a quiz, a short report, and a personal statement. If you are interested in earning a General Education diploma, you should definitely take a look at what this short course has to offer you.Students participating in this section of the course will work on a wide variety of topics. Some of the topics that students will cover include: the student's role in promoting lifelong learning; student's role in developing lifelong learning opportunities; student's role in sustaining personal growth and development; student's role in nurturing learning opportunities; student's role in promoting lifelong learning by encouraging achievement; student's role in encouraging quality student performance in terms of academic achievement; student's role in encouraging quality student performance in terms of interpersonal development; student's role in promoting lifelong learning by contributing to the growth of the learner; student's role in preventing academic failure by providing the learner with the skills necessary to achieve academic success; student's role in enhancing student proficiency in the English language arts and mathematics. As you can see, there are many different topics that you can choose to focus on as you prepare for your GED-RLA Extended Response essay.In order to get the most out of your Sample GED RLA Extended Response with Essay, it is important to know what the requirements are. First, you should not have a 'problem' grade (any score above a 50% in the Essay section). This is in reference to students who are under the age of 16 and/or under the age of 21, who do not have a Social Security Number. Second, you should check the student's age before completing the online form.In order to receive credit for your Sample GED RLA Extended Response with Essay, you should provide your Social Security Number. This will help you keep your grades consistent from o ne essay to the next. Next, you should get a sense of how much information is necessary for your essay. Many courses have very strict rules regarding essay topics and the amount of information that you should include in the essay.If you have not taken a Sample GED RLA Extended Response with Essay, this will give you a good idea of what you should expect. It will also give you a good idea of what you should expect if you decide to take this course in the future.With all of the information that you will need for the Sample GED RLA Extended Response with Essay, it is time to sit down and create your essay. There are a number of different types of essay styles available to you, and it is important that you choose the one that works best for you.With a little bit of research, you should find a style that is appropriate for your needs and your essay. Once you have chosen a style, make sure that you are working on a well-written essay so that you will receive all of the credit that you des erve when you complete the course.

Digital Divide Essays - Digital Media, NetDay, Non-profit Technology

Digital Divide The Digital Define is the distance between the people who have adequate access to technology and those who do not. As teachers, we have numerous avenues through which we can assist in narrowing the gap of the Digital Divide. Some suggestions are the following: 1. Gather teaching materials through sources such as: www.pbs.org/digitaldivide/about.html www.pbs.org/digitaldivide/learning.html www.siliconvallydigitaldivide.net www.ed.gov/free www.fcs.gov/resources.html 1-800-257-5126 2. Donate a computer, obtain a donated computer, or upgrade an obsolete one. Many organizations have been developed to assist in this task; a few are as follows: Share the Technology - www.sharetechnology.org Computers for Learning www.computers.fed.gov NewDeal www.newdealine.com Heaven www.heavens.org 3. Keep informed about the most recent government initiatives, as well as what politicians and government officials have to say. A variety of Web sites can aid you in this undertaking; some are listed here: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology www.ed.gov/Technology Federal Communications Commission www.fcc.gov.major.html Closing the Digital Divide www.digitaldivide.gov The National Telecommunications and Information Administration www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/contents.html The Digital Divide Network www.digitaldividenetwork.org 4. Investigate the community access centers (CACs) in your area and spread the word about their availability. CACs include places such as libraries, community centers, schools, and other public-access locations. 5. Learn about model initiatives successful models. A few projects include: The Digital Divide Project www.washington.edu/wto/digital/resources/html NetDay www.netday.org Alliance for Community Technology www.communitytechnology.org The Foundry www.thefoundry.org The Village Foundation www.villagefoundation.org/PROGRAMS/pathways/technology/index.html PowerUP: Bridging the Digital Divide www.powerup.org The Maine Laptop Program Lightspan, Inc. www.lightspan.com Plugged In www.pluggedin.org Neighborhood Network www.hud.gov/nnwnnwindex.html 6. Explore opportunities for corporate support. A good place to start is www.wested.org/tie/grant.html#corporate. This site has a list of corporate and foundation funding sources and other grant related resources. The model initiative I chose to investigate is NetDay. NetDay is a project connecting students and their teachers in under-served communities with the necessary resources to facilitate learning through education technology. From this site, NetDay Compass is accessible. NetDay Compass is a teachers guide to educational technology resources. There are sections on developing technology plans, technology infrastructure, grant and funding, classroom support, and model high tech schools. Here teachers will find the information they need to include technology in education and narrow the gap of the digital divide. In the three years I have been teaching in Louisiana, I have seen numerous incidents of digital divide. However, one particular incident stands out in my mind the most. Last year, I had a Financial Math class made up of mostly juniors and seniors. I had never really though about students not having access to the Internet or much less a computer. We had just finished a unit on hiring expenses, when I decide to have the students complete a mock job search. I gave them a list of web sites and asked them to go home and find a job add and bring it back the next day. To my surprise, most of the student brought adds from the newspaper, which was perfectly fine, but it peaked my curiosity. I started inquiring why they had clipped the articles instead of clicking for them. Come to find out, only about ? of the 26 student class had access to the Internet away from school. I was astonished. In addition, the students that had used the Internet to job hunt tended to bring in more professional typ e job interest as compared to the students who used the newspaper. Was this just a coincidence or are the students without Internet access limited in their employment opportunities? The conclusion I have reached scares me! Computers and Internet

201 Week 1 Essay

Psy/201 Week 1 Essay Psy/201 Week 1 Essay My daughter has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Some of the problems that I deal with on a daily are lack of attention, failure to follow instructions, loses things easily, and impulsive behaviors. However, having to deal with this, we are dealing with growing pains, her body is growing fast, but her bones are taking their time, so she has some discomfort. With that, her physician told her when she feels pain she may have a pain pill. However this is been a constant problem, every day she has pain. Therefore, I decided to give her a low dose Bayer aspirin, instead of Tylenol. Within less than twenty minutes, she is telling me she is doing just fine. The next couple of days I changed the aspirin to a vitamin, and got the same reaction. For the past 7 months, when she feels pain, she takes a vitamin believing it is a painkiller, and again the same result. In less than twenty minutes, she is feeling no more pain, or discomfort. I used the informal research method of ex perimental research. Psychologist produces a change in one variable to observe the effects of that change on other variables. This is the placebo effect, when a patient has symptoms, they receive what they think is treatment, and their symptoms disseminate. If I had to make this decision again, I am not sure I would handle it the same way again. I personally acknowledge that I am dealing with a child not well; I believe that I am not hurting, but I know I am not helping either, I have seen that

Graffiti as a Spatial Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Graffiti as a Spatial Practice - Essay Example This is the type of people who air their views through graffiti and put them up in strategic places in the city. Taking a tour around suburbs this can be confirmed for sure. Besides putting up encouraging words or even passing across messages graffiti can be used to comfort people who tend to know where they come from and who relate to it. Speech does not necessarily mean word of mouth in this case thus can be used manipulatively to achieve the main goal of communication. A symbol is a giant tool when it comes to relaying messages because they can easily be interpreted and require a short time to come up with. In a way, graffiti conveys most sensitive information by putting up symbols and images for the purpose. Names point out without necessarily having meaning they too tend to ring a bell to the readers. Graffiti cannot be related to a given group of people because it’s universally applicable across the globe. Relating graffiti with an interpretation of de Certeau wouldn’t be deemed wrong because all in all graffiti as sure as any other functional tool qualifies to be a spatial practice that needs to be allocated.  

Healthcare Interpersonal Communication Research Paper

Healthcare Interpersonal Communication - Research Paper Example Communication is important in practically all human endeavors, especially in the provision of healthcare. The Mental and Physical Health Platform noted that â€Å"better communication and cooperation between medical disciplines, careers, families and service users, must be prioritized to ensure a 360 ° approach to mental and physical health† (Bowis et al., n.d., p. 1). All those involved in healthcare- health professionals, patients and family members should be able to communicate well as part of good practices in improved recognition, monitoring, diagnosis and management of health problems. Likewise, the Mental and Physical Health Platform recognized that implementation of â€Å"measures for improved health literacy, access to better health promoting services, information and advice on lifestyle changes and other factors â€Å" is pat of empowering the â€Å"service users together with their families and careers†. Definitely, effective communication is vital in thi s empowerment. Ensuring effective communication is a great task which should be pursued by the healthcare providers. There are communication problems which have to be identified, and properly solved to guarantee the desired results in healthcare provision and management: health, survival and quality of life. â€Å"The relationship between patient-clinician communication and outcomes of care is, from a conceptual standpoint, one of the least developed areas of communication research† (Pathways from Communication to Health Outcomes: Mediators and Moderators, n.d., p. 56). Applications of interventions and other solutions to communication problems are vital to healthcare provision and management. Identification of barriers and other interpersonal communication problems and their possible solutions, between and among healthcare professionals and patients will improve delivery of healthcare services. There are three types of Interpersonal communication (IPC), namely, caring/socio- emotional communication, diagnostic communication/problem solving and counseling According to De Negri et al. (1995, p. 15), effective IPC is the one resulting in the following outcomes: 1. The patient discloses enough information about the illness to lead to an accurate diagnosis. 2. The provider, in consultation with the client, selects a medically appropriate treatment acceptable to the client. 3. The client understands his or her condition and the prescribed treatment regimen. 4. The provider and the client establish a positive rapport. 5. The client and the provider are both committed to fulfilling their responsibilities during treatment and follow-up care. Nevertheless, the aforementioned outcomes cannot be perceived as the guiding line within the context of effective communication. These steps generally include encouraging a two-way dialogue, establishing a partnership between patient and provider, creating an atmosphere of caring, bridging any social gaps between provider an d client, accounting for social influences, effectively using verbal and non-verbal communication, and allowing patients ample time to tell their story (De Negri et al., 1995, p. 15). COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS â€Å"Poor communication has been shown to lead to disruptions in continuity of care, delayed diagnoses and duplication of or unnecessary interventions† (Astrom et al., 2007, p. 279). In the study of Astrom et al. (2007, pp. 279-285), it was shown that communication between individuals

Human Resource Management - Recruitment and Selection Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Management Recruitment and Selection Essay 1. A report distinguishing between traditional personnel management and the new approach to human resource management, outlining their historical development. 2. The Human Resource department in TD Travel Group. Its role and purpose in the organization. Task 2 1. An analysis of the objectives and the process of human resource planning. 2. An evaluation of the systematic approach to recruitment for NIS Europe. 3. An investigation of the selection procedures used for NIS Europe and TD Travel Group. 3. Evaluation and Conclusion 4. Bibliography Task 1 TASK 2 AN ANALYSIS OF THE OBJECTIVES AND THE PROCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING. Human resource planning is the task of assessing and anticipating the skill, knowledge and labour time requirements of the organisation and initiating action to fulfill those requirements. Human resource planning involves a strategy for the: * Recruitment * Retention * Utilisation * Improvement, and * Disposal of the human resources of a business. It needs to look at the following factors: * What are the skills and abilities of the current workforce? * What skills and abilities the organisation needs in the future? * Where can the organisation find its future supply of labour? * What are the future objectives of the business likely to be? * How will the business manage and obtain its human resources to meet these objectives? In order to plan Human Resources effectively a business has to undertake considerable research. Here is a table showing the things companies have consider when planning human resources: What is happening now? * Organisational Objectives * Analysis of staff numbers and age * Wage rates * Work loads * Key skills * Labour turnover * Absenteeism What do we expect to happen to the demand for products / services and therefore labour? * Changing technology * Sales forecasts * Market research * New product development * Managerial skills * Wage Rates * Union Agreements What do we expect labour supply to be like in the future? * Local unemployment / employment trends * Local skills and availability * Demographic changes * Legislation * Government training schemes * Quality of local education, housing and transport * Competition for workers All these issues raise questions, which the human resource plan should cover. The plan should include: * Organisation development * Training and management development * Recruitment, redundancy and redeployment * Appraisal and job evaluation * Promotion prospects Human Resource Planning (HRM) is a form of risk management. It involves realistically appraising the present and anticipating the future (as far as possible) in order to get the right people into the right jobs at the right time. This may seem simple at first, short of staff hire some new staff, too many staff make redundancies. Unfortunately its not that simple anymore and that is why human resource planning is necessary. Why Human Resource Planning is necessary: It is increasingly important to look beyond the present and short-term future to be able to prepare for contingencies. This will help to exercise control over as many variables as possible, which influence the success and failure of a business. For example, for highly skilled or specialised jobs, it will be more difficult to find replacement staff with the right skills quickly, therefore the need for new staff will have to be anticipated in advance to give enough time for extra training to be given without leaving the company short staffed and unable to provide an efficient service. For example, in the travel industry, reservation staff need to be fully trained on the computer reservation system (CRS) and have a full understanding of fares and ticketing, otherwise there would be a minimum of a six month training period, which would leave the business vulnerable and unable to provide good quality service Redundancies are not as easy to make anymore. It is a much slower more costly experience, not only in financial terms but also in loss of reputation as a secure employer. This in itself may make it harder to recruit labour when required. Rapid technological change is leading to a requirement for manpower, which is both more highly skilled and adaptable. Labour flexibility is a major issue, which means that the career and retraining potential of staff are at least as important as their actual qualifications and skills. They must be assessed in advance of requirements. In the selection process trainability is one of the most popular innovations of the HRM era of personnel management. The UK still suffers from particular skill shortages, despite high unemployment levels, for example nurses at Macclesfield Hospital, 20 nurses from the Philippines have had to be employed, as there was a shortage of suitably skilled staff in the UK. The scope and variety of markets, competition and labour resources are continually increased by political and economic moves such as the unification of Germany, the opening of Eastern Europe and continuing progress towards European Union. Computer technology has made available techniques which facilitate the monitoring and planning of manpower over fairly long time spans: manipulation of manpower statistics, trend analysis, modeling and so on. THE PROCESS OF HRP There are three main factors in HRP: * Forecasting Demand * Forecasting Supply * Closing the gap between demand and supply FORCASTING DEMAND The Demand for labour must be forecast by considering several factors: The objectives of an organisation Organisations will normally devise a strategic plan, which will set out its objectives. This will be the responsibility of the directors who will devise their plan after discussion with the most senior managers. In some cases the directors of companies may decide to change the strategy of the business completely. This could involve getting rid of the senior managers and replacing them with a new managerial team, which can put the new strategy into place more efficiently. This happened both at British Airways and at Tescos where it was decided that a complete change of image was needed to improve profits. Most of the top management were replaced and in both cases the strategy was successful. This sort of strategy will obviously affect the demand for labour in general and / or for particular skills. Manpower utilisation how much labour will be required given the expected productivity or work rate of different types of employees and the expected volume of business activity. Productivity will depend on capital expenditure, technology, work organisation, employee motivation and skills, negotiated productivity deals and many other factors. The cost of Labour including overtime, training and other incentives, and therefore what financial constraints there are on the organisations manpower levels. Environmental factors trends in technology and markets that will require organisational change, because of threats or opportunities. The recession in the 90s created conditions in which expectations of labour demand in the short term were low: downsizing of staffs and delayering of organisation structures were the trend. FORCASTING SUPPLY The available supply of labour will be forecast by considering the following factors: * The skill base, potential trainability and current and potential productivity level of the existing workforce * The structure of the existing workforce e.g. age distribution, skills, hours of work, rates of pay etc The likelihood of changes to the productivity, size and structure of the workforce, caused by, wastage (turnover by resignation and retirement), promotions and transfers, absenteeism and other staff movements; this will require information on: * The age structure of staff (forthcoming retirement or family start-up) * Labour turnover for a comparable period * Promotion potential and ambitions of staff Other causes of changes in productivity are employee trainability and motivation, which may increase productivity and flexibility. Organisational, technological and cultural changes are factors, which may affect employee productivity and loyalty. The present and potential future supplies of skilled labour in the environment that is, the external labour market. The HR planner will have to assess and monitor factors such as: * Skill availability, locally, nationally and internationally (e.g. within the EU) * Changes to skill availability due to education and training initiatives (or lack of these) * Competitor activity which may absorb more or less of the available skill pool * Demographic changes areas of population growth and decline, the proportion of younger / older people in the workforce in a particular region, the number of women in a workforce etc. * Wage and salary rates in the market for particular jobs CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN DEMAND AND SUPPLY A deficiency of labour may be met by: * Internal transfers and promotions, training and development * External recruitment or improvement to recruitment methods * Extension of temporary contracts, or contracts of those about to retire * Reducing labour turnover by reviewing possible causes (e.g. pay and benefits) and improving induction and socialisation * The use of freelance / temporary / agency staff * The development of flexible working methods and structures * Encouraging overtime working * Productivity bargaining to increase productivity * Automation (increasing productivity, and / or reducing the need for human labour) A surplus of labour may be met by: * Running down manning levels by natural / accelerated wastage * Restricting or freezing recruitment * Redundancies (voluntary and/or compulsory) * Early retirement incentives * A tougher stance on discipline, enabling more dismissals * Part time and short contract working, or job sharing * Eliminating overtime and peripheral workforce groups * Redeployment of staff to areas of labour shortage. This may necessitate diversification by the organisation, to find new work for the labour force, and/or plans for multi-skilling, so that the workforce can be flexibly deployed in areas of labour shortage as and when they emerge. There are also external constraints on HR planners when considering any of the above such as, UK legislation and EU directives, regulations and court rulings, the employer brand or reputation and other factors must be taken into account when planning to hire, fire or alter working terms and conditions. Labour turnover is the number of employees leaving an organisation and being replaced. The rate of turnover is often expressed as the number of people leaving as a percentage of the average number of people employed, in a given period of time. The term natural wastage is used to describe a normal flow of people out of an organisation through retirement, career or job change, relocation etc. AN EVALUATION OF THE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO RECRUITMENT AT NIS EUROPE. Recruitment is the phase, which immediately precedes selection. Its purpose is to pave the way for selection procedures by producing, ideally the smallest number of candidates who appear to be capable either of performing the required tasks of the job from the outset, or of developing the ability to do so within a period of time acceptable to the employing organisation. The main point that needs to be made about the recruitment task is that the employing organisation should not waste time and money examining the credentials of the people whose qualifications do not match the requirements of the job. A primary task of the recruitment phase is to help would-be applicants to decide whether they are likely to be suitable to fill the job vacancy. This is clearly in the interest of both the employing organisation and the applicants. The current approach to recruitment within NIS Europe works in six stages. Stage One Determining the vacancies Human resources would confirm what resources are needed and determine as to whether or not they wanted to fill the vacancy. This very much depends on the aim and objectives of NIS Europe. Stage Two Considering the sources internally and externally If appropriate they would advertise the vacancy internally, or think of possible transfers. HR within NIS always gives this very careful consideration and where possible favours this option first for the following reasons: * Existing employees are know to the organisation and are generally familiar with its customs and practices * The cost and time that recruitment, selection and induction procedures consume can be significantly reduced * Internal recruitment may be used as a means of career development, widening opportunities and stimulating motivation amongst existing employees If the vacancy were not filled internally then they would look to external sources. Dependent on the vacancy this would be via one of the two main means: * Through employment agencies governmental, institutional and private commercial * Advertisements in newspapers and journals Stage Four -Preparing and publishing information NIS Europe feels that this aspect of the recruitment process requires very special attention and skill. It is their objective to publish information, which fulfils the following conditions: * It is succinct and yet gives a comprehensive and accurate description of the job and its requirements * It is likely to attract the attention of the maximum number of potentially suitable candidates * It gives a favourable image of the organisation in terms of efficiency and its attitude towards people * It does not contravene employment laws concerning sex and racial discrimination Along with the submission of curriculum vitae, NIS Europe standard procedure is for each applicant to submit a NIS Europe application form. This falls in line with equal opportunities and allows NIS to obtain standard information about the applicant, that on a curriculum vita may be omitted. See appendix for job advert and application form. Stage Five Processing and assessing applications When all the applicants have been received by the due date, the next task is to select those applicants who, on the evidence available, appear to be the most suitable as future employees of NIS Europe and therefore, worth the time and cost of further examination in the selection procedures. The screening process is based on the published requirements for the job. It involves a scrupulous study of the information provided by the applicants, a comparison of this information with the job requirements, and then a final decision as to whether to accept or reject the applicant at this stage. Stage Six Notifying applicants Once the selection process from the applicants has taken place, the final step is to notify the chosen applicants of the arrangements for the selection procedures, and the rejected applicants that they have not been chosen. The letter to the successful applicants will have full details about the arrangements for the selection procedures, i.e. time and place. NIS Europe ensures that all letters informing applicants of the result of applications are sent as soon as possible. THE EVALUATION OF THE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH FOR NAVIGANT INTEGRATED SERVICES EUROPE Below is an evaluation of the recruitment procedure for Navigant Integrated Services (NIS). The aim of this evaluation is to determine whether NIS recruitment procedures succeed in getting a suitable person for the job advertised and at an acceptable cost. The methods for auditing the recruitment process follow these performance indicators: Total numbers of applicants received: Dependent on the type of vacancy NIS Europe can expect to receive on average around a dozen applicants for an advertised job vacancy. They have recently advertised for an accounts co-ordinator and have received over 30 applicants. They have admitted by not stating the salary this has interested applications, covering a wide range of experience, or in some cases very little experience. Time taken to locate applicants: Most vacancies within NIS are usually filled within one month of the advert being placed. Cost per applicant: NIS calculates à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1000.00 per applicant, including the initial training. Time taken to process applications: NIS normally processes their applications within one week. Number of female /minority/ disabled applicants: NIS does not meet this indicator. They predominantly employ females; they have one minority employee and no disabled employees. When this was discussed with our HR department they advised this was nothing discriminate. The travel industry is known as being a female dominated environment and there have never been any disabled applicants at NIS. If there were any disabled or other minority applicants, they would go through the same process, as other applicants and no preferential treatment would be given. Number of qualified applicants: 90% of applicants are qualified for the job advertised. NIS biggest employment is of reservation staff for the travel industry. If they obtain a new account they will need to recruit fairly quickly, training is costly and time consuming so it is important that they stipulate qualified applicants only, at the advert stage, which is why they have a good success rate in finding candidates quickly for the vacancy advertised. Number of qualified female/minority/disabled applicants: About 70% of our applicants are female and qualified. NIS has very few minority or disabled applicants applying. Cost effectiveness of the recruitment methods: Dependent on the type of job will determine where NIS Europe advertises for staff. If they are looking for reservation agents they would normally get in touch with one of the industries recruitment agencys. Most staff within the industry registers with the agencies. Many years ago jobs were advertised in industry papers the trend now leans towards recruitment agencies. Dependent on the level of salary the agencies take a percentage. For example on a salary of 17,000 they would take 10% of the gross salary. As the salary increases so does the percentage. Although working with an agency can work out costly, they do have a majority of the qualified personnel on their database and therefore gives NIS access to qualified personnel straight away. Monitoring the make-up of the workforce: NIS Europe workforce is split into the following departments and the make up of the workforce is as follows: Reservations within the Travel, Hotel Conference reservations department, NIS employs 60 staff in this department, 10% of the workforce is male, 88.33% are female, none are disabled and only one staff member is a minority employee. * Sales and Marketing NIS employs eight staff in this department, 37.5% of the workforce is male and 62.5% are female. None are disabled or minority employees. * Accounts NIS employs four staff in the department, 25% are male and 75% are female. None are disabled or minority employees * HR NIS employs two staff in this department, 100% are female. None are disabled or minority employees. * IT NIS employs five staff in this department, 100% are male. None are disabled or minority employees. * Top line management The top line management of NIS is made up of four. 25% is female and 75% are male. None are disabled or minority. From the above information it is evident that there are three groups of employees that are underrepresented at NIS Europe, male, disabled and minority. Attitude Surveys: Once you under taken employment with NIS Europe, they do not require you to fill in an attitude survey asking you if you were satisfied with the stages of recruitment and selection process. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SELECTION PROCEDURES USED AT NIS EUROPE AND TD TRAVEL GROUP. Selection is the part of the employee resourcing process, which follows on from recruitment. It essentially involves the identifying of the most suitable of the potential employees attracted to the organisation by recruitment efforts. The crucial importance of selecting people who can meet the requirements described in the job description and person specification hardly need to be stressed. It is equally evident that mistakes in selection can have very serious consequences for corporate effectiveness. Such mistakes may adversely affect colleagues, subordinates and clients. Employee incompetence may lead to costly mistakes, loss and waste of valuable resources, accidents and avoidable expenditure on training. Employee selectors face an inevitable dilemma. They have to carry out a vitally important task, but one that at the same time is fraught with problems to which there are either no answers or no easy answers. The abiding problem is the dependence on subjective human judgment. We must take into consideration, that fallible human beings devise so-called objective lists. For example some person specifications require certain attitudes and attributes, such as conscientious or able to stand pressure, how can the selectors identify these requirements in a person whom they do not know during the short acquaintance of the selection process. In view of the importance and difficulties of the task, employers need to take selection most seriously. Appropriate investment at this stage can and will be cost-effective if it avoids the possibly enormous and incalculable cost that faulty employee selection may produce. For example, NIS Europe recently employed an operations manager through a recruitment agency, within six weeks of employment it was evident to NIS that he was not capable of the job he had been employed to do. Therefore NIS had to terminate his employment at a cost to the company of approximately à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8,000. Other errors of the selection process could include lack of skill or experience of interviewers, stereotyping by the interviewer in the absence of more detailed information and incorrect assessment of qualitative factors such as motivation, honesty or integrity. Various selection methods are used to try to reduce the risks by gathering as much relevant information about the candidate as possible. Currently NIS Europe is working with UMIST on a competencies project where NIS is contacting their client base to investigate in terms of service, what their expectations of NIS Europe are. The information collated in turn will then be translated into competencies and then used in the selection process. Following on from our earlier systematic approach to recruitment is the systematic approach to selection Point five six of the systematic approach to recruitment overlaps with the first second point of the Systematic approach to selection. Stage One Processing and assessing applications When all the applicants have been received by the due date, the next task is to select those applicants who, on the evidence available, appear to be the most suitable as future employees of NIS Europe and TD Travel Group and therefore, worth the time and cost of further examination in the selection procedures. The screening process is based on the published requirements for the job. It involves a scrupulous study of the information provided by the applicants, a comparison of this information with the job requirements, and then a final decision as to whether to accept or reject the applicant at this stage. Stage Two Notifying applicants Once the selection process from the applicants has taken place, the final step is to notify the chosen applicants of the arrangements for the selection procedures, and the rejected applicants that they have not been chosen. The letter to the successful applicants will have full details about the arrangements for the selection procedures, i.e. time and place. NIS Europe ensures that all letters informing applicants of the result of applications are sent as soon as possible. TD Travel Group operates a very informal selection procedure. If the curriculum vitae are up to standard the applicant will be called for an interview, nothing will be advised on paper, arrangements are made on the telephone. If the curriculum vitae do not have the correct qualifications for the job it will be discarded straight away and no call to advise the applicant will be made. Stage Three Possible interviewees Possibles will then be more closely scrutinised, and a short-list for interviews drawn up. Ideally this should be done by the HR specialist and the perspective manager of the successful candidate, who will have a more immediate knowledge of the type of person that will fit into the culture and activities of his department. In TD Travel Groups case, John Owen (the operations Director) would be solely responsible for this stage, as there is no human resources department employed. At NIS Europe Barbara Sutton (Human Resources Director) and the line manager of the relevant department would be jointly responsible. Stage Four- Inviting candidates from the short list for interviews At this stage the company would require successful candidates to complete a standardised application form if not already submitted at the outset. NIS Europe standard procedure is for each applicant to submit a NIS Europe application form along with the curriculum vitae at the first stage for applying for the job. See appendix for application form. This falls in line with equal opportunities and allows NIS to obtain standard information about the applicant, that from a curriculum vita may be omitted. TD Travel Group have no standard information that is required and work off the submission of a curriculum vitae only. Stage five Interview potentially qualified candidates. Since the interview is likely to continue to play a major role in the selection process, it seems sensible to adopt a realistic approach, which means making the best possible use of the interview. There are many different types of interview including: * One-to-one interviews these are the most common selection method. They offer the advantages of direct face-to-face communication, and opportunity to establish rapport between the candidate and interviewer. Each has to give attention solely to the other and there is potentially a relaxed atmosphere, if the interviewer is willing to establish an informal style. * Panel Interviews A panel may consist of two or three people who together interview a single candidate, most commonly, a personnel manager and the departmental manager who will have responsibility for the successful candidate. NIS Europe use the above forms of interview, however they also have other interviewing techniques, which can be panel interviews or one to one interviews, such as: * Audition interview this is predominantly to assess people in leisure and service industries; it focuses on personality versus skill. This would involve exercises, which display the personality of the candidate as well as the skills. * Criteria based interview these are specific questions which highlight predetermined behavior which you are looking for e.g. if you need an outgoing person you would ask a question If somebody came into the room how would you put them at ease? You would rate the response as positive or negative. * Behavioral event interview ideally this interview is a taped interview. The interviewer would have a competence list on a chart and when questions asked and in turn answered, the competencies would be marked off. TD Travel has a much more informal interview technique. It is generally a panel interview conducted by the Operations Director with the General manager and also the Sales and Marketing Director. There are no set techniques; it is more of a formal chat about skills and qualifications, outlined on the curriculum vitae. Stage six Selection testing Once the interview has taken place, some companies go one step further by inviting candidates for a selection test. These tests are all standardised so that an individuals score can be related to others, reliable in that it always measures the same thing and is non discriminatory. These can be in various forms: * Intelligence or cognitive testing these test memory, ability to think quickly, perceptual speed, verbal fluency and problem solving skills. See appendix. * Aptitude tests these are designed to predict an individuals potential for performing a job or learning new skills. * Personality tests these may measure a variety of characteristics such as the applicants skill in dealing with other people, ambition, motivation or emotional stability. See appendix. * Proficiency tests these measure the ability of the applicant to do the work involved e.g. a typist would be asked to type, and a salesperson would be asked to sell. Td Travel does not use selection tests at all. Most people are employed through word of mouth, as travel is a very incestuous business. NIS Europe use personality and aptitude tests. Stage seven Checking references of short listed candidates References provide further confidential information about the perspective employee. A reference should contain: * Straightforward factual information confirming the nature of the applicants previous jobs, previous employment, pay and circumstances of leaving * Opinions about the applicants personality and other attributes. At least two employer references are desirable, providing necessary factual information, and comparison of personal views. NIS Europe and TD Travel Group offer the successful candidate the job subject to checking the references. Stage eight -Institute follow-up procedures for successful applicants The follow up procedures include: * Offer of employment Assuming that the right candidate has by now been identified, an offer of employment can be made. It is common for an oral offer to be made. With a negociated period for consideration and acceptance. * Draw up a contract or written particulars this should include all terms, conditions and circumstances of the offer must be clearly stated and negotiable aspects of the offer and timetable for acceptance should be set out, in order to control the closing stages of the process * Arrange work permits if required Work permits are required of people coming into the UK for employment * Plan induction Induction is a formal programme, designed and carried out by HRM to introduce new employees to the organisation, in all its social as well as work aspects. Stage nine- Review all candidates Review un-interviewed candidates and sort out those that my be kept on file for possible future use. Send standard letters to unsuccessful to applicants and holding letters to those being kept on file. NIS Europe will hold candidates on file for a maximum of one year. TD Travel group do not use this procedure, they would start their informal recruitment process again as and when required. SUMMARY OF THE SELECTION PROCESS FOR TD TRAVEL GROUP AND NIS EUROPE It is evident from the above information that NIS Europe carries out a more formal selection procedure than TD Travel Group. This is down to the fact that NIS Europe have more employees than TD Travel Group, and therefore see it necessary to have a HR department.