Impacts Unemployment on The Health and Wellbeing of People - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 781 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/05/29 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Unemployment Essay Did you like this example? The unemployed person will be thinking of all the problems proceeding no regular incomes. The victim is most likely to be isolated from the surrounding people and community, creating a lesser chance of seeking help and assistance from others. Mental health also leads to depression. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Impacts Unemployment on The Health and Wellbeing of People" essay for you Create order Upon all the thinking and worrying, such feelings can create the inability to be at peace or comfort. All these gradually builds up and eventually leads to bad eating habits, drug abuse, and alcohol addicts. Psychologically, it may affect the victim by reducing their thinking ability. Relating to that, he or she can suffer from psychosis which is a major destruction to the persons intellect. On the other end, the negative impacts of unemployment outweigh the positives. The importance of positives impacts of unemployment can influences the good health and wellbeing of an unemployed person logically if the person takes it positively. When a person is unemployed or jobless, he or she will not be rushing to work early in the morning to keep up with traffic as usual but taking long hours of good sleep and body rest satisfyingly. Also able to reduced workload concerns. Moreover, the unemployed person can have managed to spend quality time with family and friends. All these can create space to be on alert and attentive to needs of kids in school, neighbors, and relatives. In this way, that person is increasing the social aspect of his or her life. Furthermore, unemployment also gives enough time to get involved in several activities, for instance, sports, and part taking in exercise to reduced obesity and promote the health, physical fitness and well- being. In spite of this, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined ?being healthy as, not just the abse nce of disease but also relates to the social, spiritual and mental dimensions of life. Therefore, when all these are in place, there is a bigger chance of improving health. (Burdo 2018). The result of unemployment clearly locates the importance of education by providing the ability for an unemployed person to successfully navigate for the future re-employment market. In this way, it can be much easier to minimize the time and effort that required to look for a new job. In other ways, the higher levels of education increase the probability of an unemployed person to secure a desirable job that can fix every needs for particular household and partly including community prior to satisfied income. With that understanding, the benefits of higher levels of education can be argued by some workers who categorizes under the higher skills or at top hierarchy regarding the dynamic perspective that the more position pursued by this category reduce downwards price pressure which enabling the lowering of wages while the low skilled job is taking the opposite direction. The concept could be classified as the positive impact of unemployment if chose to consider education as a disadv antage of unemployment. From the economic perspective, increase in the unemployment rate has certain advantages and disadvantages approach that is also affecting the economic growth of a country, which greatly contributes to the positive and negative impacts of health and wellbeing of people. The economic advantages during the event of being unemployed include; reduction of environmental damage, limiting the working pressure calmingly and reducing the power for the demand for higher wages and salaries. Besides, still in the critical stage and misery of unemployment, disadvantages emerged collectively such as; loss of potential output and waste of resources, lower degree in the growth of economic, deteriorate the finance of the government, creating financial problem in homes and business and increase the rate of divorce, crime, health problems morbidity and mortality. Todays generation depends entirely on their economy, therefore, health and economics are related. Focusing on the discussion of unemployment, it is still an adverse circumstance. This situation has been addressed in complex views and different opinions resulted in both, good or bad outcomes. Purposely, this article illustrated the idea of positive and negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of an unemployed person, without being biased. As stated, unemployment can be categorized, differentiated and sorted out but the outcome of economic decline remains the same. However, unemployment remains one of the major ongoing problems in the world today and is yet to be solved. For clear understanding, let us take a look at the interrelationship between the worlds unemployment statistics and health statistics. International Labor Organization World Employment Social Outlook, Trends 2018 stated that there has been an increase in the economic growth. From 3.2 percent which was hitting the last six years to 3.6 percent in 2017. This, however, is the outcome of development and economic e xpansion relationship between developed countries and other economic activities.

Self Reflexive Aspects of Singing in the Rain Essay

Singin’ in the Rain (MGM, 1952) is an American musical comedy directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. The film comically emulates the transition from the production of silent movies to ‘talkies’ in Hollywood during the 1920s. The narrative follows a successful silent film star named Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and his glamorous blonde on screen partner Lina Lamont as they attempt to adapt The Duelling Cavalier a silent film, into a talking film. However, the shrill sound of Lamont’s voice cast serious doubt of the potential success of the film. Lockwood’s musically talented sidekick Cosmo Brown (Donald O’conner) suggests that the film be turned into a musical, and recommends Lockwood’s love interest Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds) perform†¦show more content†¦At the conclusion of the musical number Cosmo flips off the illusionary backdrop of a hallway. This example demonstrates how the text reflects its own making and works to d emystify the illusions of Hollywood. The back stage pass that is granted to audience uncovers the modes of Hollywood production and replaces it with musical performances. Throughout Singin’ in the Rain self referential techniques are employed to signal to the audience that the film is a metafictional text. The text consciously advises the audience that what they are watching is not real, consequently disrupting the illusion of the fourth wall. Ingersoll (1999, p.385) describes metafiction as â€Å"a fictional text that draws attention to itself as a text in a variety of ways†. An example of this can be identified during the opening scene when Don Lockwood explains his rise to fame story. The character looks directly into the camera as he speaks, breaking the illusion of the fourth wall and acknowledging the audiences existence. This technique is markedly different from the established convention of the audience ‘eaves dropping’ on characters that ordinarily function within a three walled environment (Auter amp; Davis 1991, p.165). Singin’ in the Rain acknowledges the audience and itself as a work of fiction self-refer entially, as a result the audience are no longer voyeuristically watching, they are being spoken to. The term genre is used within film studies to refer toShow MoreRelatedIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 Pages............................21 6.2.8 Aspect and tense in the indicative mood.....................................................................................................22 6.2.8.1 Simple versus Perfect aspect ................................................................................................ 22 6.2.8.2 The Simple Aspects: Progressive versus Non-Progressive ................................................ 23 6.2.8.3 The Perfect aspects: Completive and Incompletive ........Read MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pages40071 173—dc22 I. Cameron, 2009040522 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ISBN 10: 0-13-612100-4 ISBN 13: 978-0-13-612100-8 B R I E F TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S Preface xvii Introduction 1 PART I 1 2 3 PERSONAL SKILLS 44 Developing Self-Awareness 45 Managing Personal Stress 105 Solving Problems Analytically and Creatively 167 PART II 4 5 6 7 INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 232 233 Building Relationships by Communicating Supportively Gaining Power and Influence 279 Motivating Others

Project Management in Healthcare Research - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Explanation of healthcare research in project Management? Answer: Introduction A large percentage of the world's TB burden occurs among the Asian populations with approximately 22 % and 37% of reported cases occurring in Western Pacific and South East Asia respectively (1). While there are large numbers of cases reported of TB in Asia's lowest income countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India, there have also been notifications reported in high income areas such as Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong and often in larger amounts than those witnessed in Western populations over the last half century. In the late 50s, Hong Kong reported annual rates of notifications that surpassed 500 for every 100,000 in comparison to the UK that reported 70 to 120 for every 100,000. Since the 70s, the rates of notification from Hong Kong have reduced slowly reaching levels that are tenfold greater than the UK, that is, 100 for every 100,000 in comparison to 10 for every 100, 000. The rates of TB induced by HIV in Hong Kong have been relatively low to the current day (1). The occurrence of TB pleural effusions was until recently, assumed to be caused by a delayed reaction to hypersensitivity(2). With improvement of culture media, culturingM. tuberculosisis now possible for pleural tissue and pleural fluid in approximately 70% of patients and based on Koch's infection postulate, this is suggestive of a causal relationship (2). The likelihood of the pleural effusion as a paucibacillary mycobacterial infection manifestation inside the pleural space is high, and this is acquired from initial lesions in the parenchyma resulting in an immunological response which causes an increase in formation of pleural fluid and a decrease in the removal of pleura fluid (3) . Pleural takes second place after lymphatic involvement with reference to it being an extra pulmonary TB site, and occurs either in the reactivation or primary phases of the disease (4). The TB diagnosis gold standard in pleura detection ofM. tuberculosisin the pleural fluid, sputum, or pleural biopsy samples is done either by culture or microscopy or the demonstration of histological caseating granulomas present in the pleura in addition to presence of acid fast bacilli (AFB) (4,5). However, in settings of high burden of the disease, the diagnosis of TB is most times inferred in persons who have high level of ADA and exudates that are lymphocytic predominant (6). In this study conducted at a regional hospital in Hong Kong, the researchers aimed at evaluating the Lights criteria usefulness in differentiating exudates and transudates; and evaluating the Lights criteria usefulness in working together with other biochemical parameters. The prospective cohort study was conducted between August 2002and March 2003 at eh princess Margaret Hospital, Department of Medicine and Geriatrics. Role of candidate Diagnosis of pleural effusion TB is done through laboratory, histological, radiological, and clinical findings(7,8). There are other useful and modern techniques that are also used in diagnosing TB and these include: polymerase chain reaction(9), nucleic acid probes, gas chromatography, rapid culture (Bactec) (10), and adenosine deaminase (ADA) (11). Pleural effusion ranks second after TB lymphadeitis in the extra pulmonary tuberculosis that are most common. After history and informed consent was taken from all participating patients, they were taken through a series of clinical examinations that were detailed including lab examinations such as haemoglobin tests, WBC count, WBC differential counts, Random Blood Sugar, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, RFTs, Urine Examination, S. Proteins, Tuberculin Test, and Sputum Examination were done. In addition, the patients were subjected to PA view plain chest X-ray before and after thorecocentesis to eliminate any possible complications that may be present. Further, ultrasound and films, as well as CT scans, were also done where it was deemed necessary. Analysis of pleural fluid was also done for total cell count, sugar, protein, differential cell count, ZN stain, Gram stain, ADA, and culture sensitivity. Clinical examination was the basis of diagnosis, and so too were the laboratory results and radiological examination data that was collected. The role played by the researcher included: The researcher was tasked with guiding participants on the requirements of the research and explaining to them their right to accede or deny participation. Those that accepted to participate were given consent forms to fill-in their demographic and other details prior to signing it. The researcher explained to the participants that no information collected during the duration of the research and related to the participant's personal interests would be shared. The researcher assured participants of the confidentiality and privacy of all details that the participants shared with the research team. The researcher was also involved in carrying out physical examination of the participants including measuring of weight, height and BMI; collection of blood samples and sending the same to the laboratory for examination; recording of clinical symptoms and any other relevant information garnered form the participants. Leadership role of the researcher Turner and Miller (12)assert that a leadership that is project-focused is necessary for the success of the project where managers need to focus on competent teams' maintenance. Coleman and MacNicol (13) suggest that managers can lead a successful project by ensuring that efficiency and effectiveness are maintained by the team members. Hence, the focus of project managers should be the utilization of innovative and flexible leadership styles that allow for ideas to be shared which is critical for the success of the project to be achieved (14). Further, the focus of project managers should also be on building teams effectively as well as motivating them through different strategies that will ensure that the different members of the team work in harmony to achieve the goals of the project(15). Chiocchio, Kelloway, and Hobbs (16) have defined team building as activities utilized by organizations or project managers to enhance social relations among team members or employee and which include tasks that are collaborative. In addition to these tasks, team building also involves diverse roles played by the team members and more, so roles that include tasks that are collaborative in nature. Team building plays a significant role in improvement of efficiency during the implementation phase of the project which is critical in ensuring the achievement of the set goals and objectives of the overall project. The researcher was tasked with planning for and executing team building activities. These involved short exercises that the team members were engaged in at the end of every week. The researcher ensured that all team members attended the weekly update meeting and it was during these meetings that team building that aimed at building cohesiveness was undertaken. These included 1)legoman (see Appendix 1): the goal of this game was to teach the participants how to communicate in an effective manner, strategize, as well as solve problems within the group. 2)Mine field: the activity was set to improve the trust and relationships between team members as well as enhance their communication skills to become more effective. 3)Win, Lose, or Draw: this activity aimed at enhancing cohesion in the team as well as reflection based on observed information. These were among the many other activities that the researcher organized for the team to enable them work together cohesively while building on s kills such as observation and logical thinking. Stakeholders involved in the study Individual patients: These were patients presenting with TB at the regional hospital in Hong Kong. The total number of participants were STATE HERE. The patients were recruited through the AE department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Princess Margaret Hospital. Inclusion criteria: Newly diagnosed pleural effusion evident on Chest X ray without previous known diagnosis of pleural effusion; and diagnostic tapping decision that was initiated by the in charge medical officer. Research Ethics Committee at the department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Princess Margaret Hospital: The ethics committee was tasked with revising, reviewing, and appraising the clinical investigations as the research involved patients. The goal was to protect the participants in the research and to ensure that they were accorded the right ethical treatment as participants. The committee paid keen attention to the process of patient consent (17, 18). In addition, the researchers followed the Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) International Conference on Harmonization's (ICH's) (ICH E6), which is a guideline that is closest in similarity to the U.S. regulations and consent on Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's (19). The ICH provides regulation that informed consent forms include statements on the extent to which individual identification records confidentiality is maintained. Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs): these had wide data quality assessment and monitoring responsibilities which focused on the benefit/risk ratio during the course of participant recruitment and subsequent follow up. Initially, the reviews were made by the DMC on the protocol used for the trial so as to gain details' familiarity without necessarily approving it. The DMC also carefully reviewed the draft DMC charter so as to effectively execute it as per the request of the researchers and sponsors and make any modification suggestions where necessary before they finally approved it. During the trial conduct, the DMC reviewed the interim data detailed report which was made by the intervention arm and which was unblinded to the assignment of the intervention. The review encompassed the progress of recruitment, base line data that gave a description of the characteristics of the participants, baseline data comparison, interventions or medications concomitance, data on adverse events, ser ious adverse events, data on the primary outcome, data on the secondary outcome, and a description on the subgroups that were pre-specified. Additionally, the DMC requested further analyses that were interim data motivated. The DMC maintained strict confidentiality of the interim data up to the point when the trial was completed. Throughout the entire trial conduct, the DMC were keen and looking out for signals that highlighted any inadequacies with regard to data quality and data integrity and often asked for follow up reports that would clarify any suspected inadequacies. The work of the DMC was completed with the researchers' last visit and asked the researchers and sponsors to share their views and results interpretations once the data files were completed. Although it was not the DMCs role to approve or review the research, the researchers solicited their input on the same. Disease advocacy organization: The Hong Kong Tuberculosis Chest and Heart Diseases Association was another stakeholder in the research study. The association was involved primarily to facilitate and promote participation in the study and also to raise money for the research funding. In addition, the association collaborated with the researchers on the design of the study and protocol review of the clinical research. The association was also involved in the development and management of the clinical research networks. This was in addition to incorporating the data collected with regard to the outcomes of the research (20). Furthermore, through online networks, the advocacy group acted as a conduit where in the event the participants wanted to express any frustrations with regard to miscommunication after the research was concluded, such participants would receive redress on the issues they raised (21). Funders and sponsors : the research was funded by (STATE HERE) with the grant sent to the sponsor (Princess Margaret Hospital). The recipient organization took up the role of sponsor. According to the ICH GCP, the sponsor is tasked with specific responsibilities such as ensuring the scientific robustness of the research, compliance of the research procedure with ethical and safety standards, and that the participants were adequately compensated in case they encountered any harm resulting as a direct consequence of their participation. The sponsor was also responsible for listing the research in a recognized register of researches The researchers: there were two types of researchers involved: the key figure in the research design as well as those participating in the interface; and the data analysis researchers who examined the processes and projects in which their involvement was not included. The first group of researcher played a significant role in the design of the trial, recruitment of participants, and accrual of data. University: the academic center provided the infrastructure to support the research .These infrastructure comprised of research coordinators, data managers, informatics and biostatistician support, and other relevant center expertise for research coordination. Goals of the Project As stated earlier, the study was conducted in 2002/2003. At that time, during the previous decade, the TB notification rate which was inclusive of bacteriologically unconfirmed clinically active cases and bacteriologically confirmed cases, reduced among populations aged 60 years and below, remained unchanged among populations aged between 60 and 69 years, and increased in populations aged 70 years and above. An increase in the bacteriologically confirmed cases rates (this included culture or smear that tested positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis) was observed in the older age groups within the same time span. 31.9% of TB cases in 1989 were those recorded amongst populations aged 60 years and above and accounted for close to the total increase in TB prevalence in the previous decade. Patients from the populations with higher age groups presented with advanced disease forms during the time of diagnosis, in addition to higher comorbid illnesses proportions. These age groups also had higher rates of mortality in comparison to age groups that were younger. The key factors that contributed to the increased TB rates among the elderly were the equally increased longevity of population in Hong Kong (that is, people lived longer and those with TB that lived longer years tipped the scales on TB prevalence in Hong Kong) (22). The study in question that was conducted by the researchers, aimed at improving case detection and effective treatment of TB as these two were deemed to be key factors that were mandatory for better control of mycobacterial disease. The traditional methods using AFB smear and culture had the pitfalls of low sensitivity and long duration respectively. To overcome this shortcoming, the rapid detection method which utilizes adenosine deaminase was analyzed for efficiency and accuracy using pleural fluid in detection of TB. The study objectives were: To evaluate the usefulness of Lights criteria in differentiation of transudates and exudates. To evaluate the usefulness of Lights criteria in combinations with other biochemical parameters. Project plan for success A project can only be successful when a management plan is developed and executed in precision. The researchers embarked on developing a project plan which included arrangement details for the development and monitoring of every aspect of the research including steering committee servicing, as well as the committee tasked with independent data monitoring, but of more importance, how the day to day activities were to be run was planned in advanced and managed accordingly. A crucial element of the project plan was the inclusion of the statistical analysis robust plan; this was supported with considerable time and resources for the efficient conclusion of the research. The plan also gave a description of who was responsible for all activities that were essential such as recruitment of staff, management of staff, collaborative group communications, monitoring of recruitment, management of data, and promotion of the project through analysis, safety reporting, writing the reports, and trial results' dissemination. The project plan gave a brief but concise description of what the researchers wanted to achieve, resource utilization, and the time frame. It also included how monitoring of the project would be done and this ensured that the project was delivered as per the plan. The plan was reviewed and refined where it was deemed necessary, during the course of the research. The plan also included clear description of processes both within and without the office. The continuous reviewing of the plan was necessary to navigate unforeseeable incidences such as emerging evidence, natural disasters, accidents etc. Wise risk assessment, quality assurance tailored management systems, and monitoring that was done, were essential to the project as they optimized the project's potential in addition to providing evidence that was reliable (23). Difficulties Encountered Job descriptions: initially, there was overlapping of different posts' job descriptions. This created the potential for competition that was unhealthy or for individuals assuming that responsibility for a particular task belonged to another person; whereas there were those job descriptions that were too wide for completion to be feasible. The project management team revised the job descriptions and ensured that they were achievable, clear, and realistic Administrative work: this was very lengthy especially when getting ethical approval. The procedures, documentation, and necessary legislation took a lengthy period. This was mainly because of the bureaucracy that is involved in acquiring any permit from government run bodies. Monitor burnout was another challenge that was threatening to slow down the progress of the project. However, the weekly meetings that were characterized by one team building activity per week, as mentioned earlier, ensured that the project team were revitalized and rejuvenated in preparation for the work that awaited them. Resources deployed Desktop computers, laptops, and internet connection was provided for the project team members. The project heads were given an office to share while the rest of the team were given three offices to share. These offices were located at the Princess Margaret Hospital and the University respectively. In addition, the hospital availed three field personnel who were tasked with carrying out odd errands and also in assisting the patients during the trial with minor tasks such as walking them to and from the waiting area to the project offices, among other tasks. The grant money that was approved for the project was used in purchasing the experiment resources as well as paying research assistants. Laboratory personnel were also availed to the researchers and were responsible for analyzing all samples forwarded from the patients and giving back accurate and comprehensive results. Other resources included training material that was used in training sessions and weekly meetings as teaching aids. Leadership and management principles There were several leadership principles that the researcher utilized during the duration of the project and these included: Distribution of responsibility. As a leader, gaining of skills required practice and called for a considerable amount of lending of autonomy (24). The researcher opted to push power down the level, and also across the team, in order to empower all the team members in every level in making decisions pertaining to their level of working. By distributing responsibility, the researcher as a leader got the opportunity to see firsthand, what would happen by taking risks. This strategy also increased collective intelligence, resilience, and adaptability of the team over time, by tapping on the wisdom of those who are traditionally not included in the hierarchy of decision making. Honesty and openness with information. Transparency allows and cements conversation on the meaning of any information as well as improving the daily practices (25). If for example, productivity declines, it calls for reason to implement change. By coming to a better understanding of the issue at hand, it will call for the participation of the team. In this case, the researcher ensured that team members were able to talk honestly and openly about any data. Concealment of information was discouraged as concealment increases the temptation for data manipulation to take place. In such a scenario, the opportunity of being a strategic leader is lost. Even worse is that team members are implicitly informed that expediency is of more value as opposed to leading the project to higher performance levels (26). As a leader, the researcher was able to know and communicate to the team that the actual power that is contained in information is not sourced from hoarding it but rather, from utilizing it to discover and create new growth opportunities (26). Creation of multiple ways of ideas to be raised and tested. The researcher was aware that ideas presentation is critical and of more importance, was being capable of connecting the ideas to the way the project would create value (27). The researcher set up different ways through which the team members would bring their innovative ideas to the table and assisted them in learning how they can utilize their creativity to the maximum. This approach that the researcher opted to take differs from the traditional culture where channels of new ideas are limited to a single individual manager. In the event that a manager fails to perceive and accept the value that the idea holds, he/she may hinder it from progressing to the next level and which would in turn de-moralize the innovator. However, indiscriminate provision for people to raise ideas at whatever and whenever stage of the project, is counterproductive especially if much attention has not been given to the development of the same. Too many ideas presented in several repetitive forms may eventually be impossible to sort them and the best opportunities may not get recognized and acted upon. To avoid such a situation, the researcher created a variety of channels that allowed for thinking that was innovative. To do this, the researchers created a cross functional forum where the team members presented their ideas to others and which were tested against the reasoning of others. Managerial Model For this project, the researchers utilized the Blake Mouton Managerial Grid which is founded on two dimensions of behaviour and these are: Concern for people; and concern for results (28). The concern for people refers to the degree to which the team members' interests, needs, and personal development areas, are considered by a leader when considering the best approach to completing a task. Concern for results refers to the degree to which concrete objectives, high productivity, and organizational efficiency, are emphasized by a leader when determining the best approach to completing a task (28). Five leadership styles were defined by Blake and Mouton that were based on these two dimensions as seen in the diagram below. The managerial quadrant of the Blake Mouton model that was adopted in the duration of the project was the Team Management High Production/High People. According to the model, the most effective leadership style is Team management as it is reflective of a leader that is passionate with what he does while at the same time doing what is best for the team members working with and under him. Team mangers commit to the objectives and goals of the organization , offer motivation for subordinates, and work relentlessly at getting people to go beyond their comfort zone in delivering high results. The team leader accomplishes this while at the same time inspiring figures who oversee their teams. The researchers opted for this managerial style as it allowed for team members to feel empowered and valued and also because it enabled for the team members to be committed to achieving any goals that had been set. The researchers also prioritized both the needs of the project at hand as well as those of the team members. This was done by ensuring that the members understood the purpose of the project as well as involving them in determining the needs of the project. When the team members got committed to the project and had a stake in its success (29), the project's needs and those of the individuals coincided. This created an environment based on respect and trust which resulted in high motivation, satisfaction, as well as good results. Result of the project management The results of the project showed that the greatest activity of ADA occurs in the lymphoid tissues. ADA is also responsible for lymphoid cells differentiation (30). There are two different isoenzymes and these are ADA1 and ADA2, where the ADA2 was located in macrophages and monocytes (31). The total ADA levels were high in TB pleural effusion was as a result of the high ADA2 activity (32). A biological plausible explanation exists for the negative correlation that was seen between age and ADA, and this is attributed to immunosenescence. Evidence shows that immune function in the elderly is lost with age (33). LDH and pleural protein both indicate for pleural inflammation degree and hence, would be a conceivable presence of ADA production and more lymphocytes that are activated in the event of pleura inflammation that was greater. Previous studies have shown why there lacks a relationship between pleural cell count and ADA standard measures using ADA for determining its activity which may depend on pathological stimulus such as presence of TB or rapid proliferation of T lymphocytes as opposed to the amount of present lymphocytes. The final results concluded that the routine use of ADA in hisotpthologic diagnosis of TB would have reduced the number of treated cases based on the clinical data only. Management Lesson Learned The first lesson that the researcher learned was that understanding stakeholders is key for the success of the project (34). At the onset of the project, the researcher did not consider the impact that the project would have on the stakeholders and this resulted in the researcher encountering a road block. The project had executive support which the researcher assumed was sufficient for moving forward to the next stage which was implementation. However, it soon became obvious that there was one group of stakeholders who had not bought into the vision of the project. At first, the researcher did not take the time to gain an understanding of the concerns that the said group raised; the more the researcher attempted to push work through, the more the group resisted. The researcher finally took some time to address the issue that the group was concerned with and was able to construct a way their concerns would be addressed. The lesson that the researcher learned was that even when execut ive support is guaranteed, it is critical that a leader takes time to understand all the stakeholders that are part of the project. The second lesson learned was that constant communication needs to be ingrained in the duration of any project (35). By having constant communication, poor awareness of any situations will be avoided. Team members all had one thing in common: they wanted to ensure that they did a good job and that their individual part of the work was in sync with the entire project's aspects. Where situational awareness is lacking, the good intentions remain just that. The lack of communication can lead to a wrong interpretation with regard to failure of the project to be in sync. Where communication is poor among team members, the probability of misunderstanding of root causes becomes very high and the entire project can fail. The third lesson was strengthening the weaknesses. Pinpointing any weaknesses that emerge during the project will ensure that the entire project does not fail (36). By not knowing what the weaknesses are, it becomes impossible to prevent the downfall of the project. The researcher and the team held meetings once a week where the project was carefully examined to figure out which parts flowed slowly or were difficult, and strategized how the leadership and team members would improve on the weak areas. Multitasking reduces productivity. This was another valuable lesson learned by the researcher. Contrary to popular belief that multitasking increases one's output, a research done at Stanford University (37) showed that when a person focuses on one task at a time, such a person is able to do the task faster, better, and have every memory levels that are higher in comparison to people who are flooded with information from multiple sources all at once. The researcher resolved to use the Promodor technique to increase focus. In addition, the researcher soon realized that multitasking increased levels of stress (38). When stress levels are high, there is diminished cognition, hormone fluctuations, and sleep problems, among other health complications. Constant switching from one task to another can result in panic even as the brain attempts to adjust to all information that it is subjected to process (39). Limitations of the report Inability for the project to be managed with an unspecified budget. This was one of the biggest limitations to the incarnation of the project. Project management imposes a deadline and budget which is potential recipe for major problems. Most projects that finish within the scheduled time (which occurs very rarely) are often compromise with regard to quality. The resources availed for the project in question was not allowed to offer the best and completion the project with the specified time and budget became a real struggle. Another issue was dependence of the project on a functional management. The non-agile traditional project is very specific on the authority that the management team of the project have over the resources and in this case, the sponsor and funder had a final say on the way the resources were deployed and utilized. It is this stakeholders that had the real ownership of the resources and who had to make reports on how they were utilized, their performance, and also their respect and gratitude. The research team was constantly subjected to the decision of the sponsor and funder which was very limiting to the optimal success of the project. Another limitation of the project with regard to its management is following a methodology that was exclusive which was very restrictive. In Project management, only one methodology is applicable at anyone given time which restricts any form of flexibility. Even when there is a better and more effective method that arises in the course of a project, the initial methodology cannot be altered. This restriction limited and undermined the potential of the project including those of the resources. Conclusion Project management in healthcare research is different from organizational based management. In researches involving human subjects, there are many unforeseeable situations which the traditional structured way of carrying out a project cannot accommodate. The need to have a flexible methodology hen carrying out such researches is critical for the successful completion of a project. In addition, having specified budget with minimal to no bureaucracy to resource access is critical for any research. There needs to be a new and all inclusive project management model that can encompass the issues that the researchers faced along with any other issues not mentioned herein. References 1)WHO, 2015. Global Tuberculosis Report. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). A large percentage of the world's TB burden occurs among the Asian populations 2) Vorster, M. J., Allwood, B. W., Diacon, A. H., Koegelenberg, C. F. N. 2015. Tuberculous pleural effusions: advances and controversies.Journal of Thoracic Disease,7(6), 981991. https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2015.02.18 3) Porcel JM.2009. Tuberculous pleural effusion.Lung. 187:263-70. 4)Ruan SY, Chuang YC, Wang JY, et al.2012. Revisiting tuberculous pleurisy: pleural fluid characteristics and diagnostic yield of mycobacterial culture in an endemic area.Thorax:67:822-7. 5)Gupta, M., Lobo, F. D., Adiga, D. S. A., Gupta, A. 2016. A Histomorphological Pattern Analysis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Lung Autopsy and Surgically Resected Specimens.Pathology Research International, 8132741. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/8132741 6) Amer, S., El Hefnawy, A., Wahab, N.A., Okasha, H. and Baz, A., 2016. Evaluation of different laboratory methods for rapid diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy.International Journal of Mycobacteriology,5(4), pp.437-445. 7) Antonangelo, L., Vargas, F.S., Seiscento, M., Bombarda, S., Teixera, L. and Sales, R.K.B.D., 2007. Clinical and laboratory parameters in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion secondary to tuberculosis or cancer.Clinics,62(5), pp.585-590 8) Valds, L., San Jos, M.E., Pose, A., Gude, F., Gonzlez-Barcala, F.J., lvarez-Dobao, J.M. and Sahn, S.A., 2010. Diagnosing tuberculous pleural effusion using clinical data and pleural fluid analysis: A study of patients less than 40 years-old in an area with a high incidence of tuberculosis.Respiratory medicine,104(8), pp.1211-1217. 9) Amin, I., Idrees, M., Awan, Z., Shahid, M., Afzal, S. and Hussain, A., 2011. PCR could be a method of choice for identification of both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.BMC Research Notes,4(1), p.332. 10)Rodrigues, C.S., Shenai, S.V., Almeida, D.V.G., Sadani, M.A., Goyal, N., Vadher, C. and Mehta, A.P., 2007. Use of bactec 460 TB system in the diagnosis of tuberculosis.Indian journal of medical microbiology,25(1), p.32. 11) Verma, S. K., Dubey, A. L., Singh, P. A., Tewerson, S. L., Sharma, D. 2008. Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) Level in Tubercular Pleural Effusion.Lung India?: Official Organ of Indian Chest Society,25(3), 109110. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-2113.44121 12) Turner, J., Mller, R. 2010.Project-Oriented Leadership.Farnham, Surrey, UK Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing, Ltd. 13)Coleman, S., MacNicol, D. 2015.Project Leadership.Farnham, Surrey, UK Burlington, VT: Gower 14) Amabile, T Khaire, M. 2008. Creativity and the role of the leader. Havard Business Review. (Retrieved on 29th April, 20170. https://hbr.org/2008/10/creativity-and-the-role-of-the-leader 15) Madsen, S. 2013. The difference between managing and leading. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/the-difference-between-managing-and-leading/ 16) Chiocchio, F., Kelloway, E., Hobbs, B. (2015).The Psychology and Management of Project Teams.New York: Oxford University Press. 17)EUREC (European Network of Research Ethics Committees)European Network of Research Ethics CommitteesEUREC.2014. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017).https://www?eurecnet.org/index.html. 18) WHO (World Health Organization)2009. Casebook on ethical issues in international health research. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017).https://whqlibdoc?.who?.int/publications/2009?/9789241547727_eng.pdf. 19) O'Rourke PP, Forster D. 2014. Considerations of informed consent in the discussion of clinical trial data sharingdomestic issues; Paper presented at IOM Committee on Strategies for Responsible Sharing of Clinical Trial Data: Meeting Two; February 3-4; Washington, DC. 20) Landy DC, Brinich MA, Colten ME, Horn EJ, Terry SF, Sharp RR. 2012. How disease advocacy organizations participate in clinical research: A survey of genetic organizations.Genetics in Medicine.14(2):223228. 21) Terry SF, Terry PF. 2011. Power to the people: Participant ownership of clinical trial data.Science Translational Medicine.3(69):69cm63 22) Dolin P J, Raviglione M C, Kochi A. 2000. Global tuberculosis incidence and mortality during 19902000. World Health Organization. 72: 213220. 23) Farrell, B., Kenyon, S. and Shakur, H., 2010. Managing clinical trials.Trials,11(1), p.78. 24) Carpozzi, C. 2014. What Is the Importance of Establishing Assigning Responsibilities for Project Team Members? (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-establishing-assigning-responsibilities-project-team-members-18128.html 25)Abudi, G. 2009. Methods for Distributing Information on Projects. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://www.ginaabudi.com/methods-for-distributing-information-on-projects/ 26) McGraw, B. 2014. Communication: The Essential Ingredient for Good ProjectManagement. (Retrieved on 30th April, 2017). https://fearnoproject.com/2014/04/06/communication-the-essential-ingredient-for-good-project-management/ 27) Eisenhauer, T. 2014. Here's Why Project Collaboration is Just as Important as Project Management. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://axerosolutions.com/blogs/timeisenhauer/pulse/166/here-s-why-project-collaboration-is-just-as-important-as-project-management 28) Mindtools, 2016. The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid: Leading People and Producing Results. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_73.htm 29) Arella, D 2011. When the team members got committed to the project and had a stake in its success, the project's needs and those of the individuals coincided.(Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://www.managementexchange.com/hack/commitment-based-management-20-making-and-keeping-commitments 30) Tay, T. R., Tee, A. 2013. Factors affecting pleural fluid adenosine deaminase level and the implication on the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion: a retrospective cohort study.BMC Infectious Diseases,13, 546. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-13-546 31) Zavialov, A.V., Gracia, E., Glaichenhaus, N., Franco, R., Zavialov, A.V. and Lauvau, G., 2010. Human adenosine deaminase 2 induces differentiation of monocytes into macrophages and stimulates proliferation of T helper cells and macrophages.Journal of leukocyte biology,88(2), pp.279-290. 32) Afrasiabian, S., Mohsenpour, B., Bagheri, K. H., Sigari, N., Aftabi, K. 2013. Diagnostic value of serum adenosine deaminase level in pulmonary tuberculosis.Journal of Research in Medical Sciences?: The Official Journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences,18(3), 252254. 33) Dorshkind, K., Swain, S. 2009. Age-Associated Declines in Immune System Development and Function: Causes, Consequences, and Reversal.Current Opinion in Immunology,21(4), 404407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2009.07.001 34) Lohrey, J. 2016. The Importance of Identifying Stakeholders in a Project. (Retrieved on 30th April, 2017). https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-identifying-stakeholders-project-74730.html 35) Sivasankari, R. 2010. Art of communication in project management. (Retrieved on 30th April, 2017). https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/effective-communication-better-project-management-6480 36) Bryce, B. 2016. Why does project management fail? (Retrieved on 30th April, 2017). https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/why-does-project-management-fail.php 37) Gorlick, A. 2009. Media multitaskers pay mental price, Stanford study shows. Stanford News. (Retrieved on 30th April, 2017). https://news.stanford.edu/2009/08/24/multitask-research-study-082409/ 38) Williams, T, 2013. Multi tasking can increase stress but not productivity. (Retrieved on 29th April, 2017). https://www.goodcall.com/news/multitasking-010351 39) Alkadhi, K., 2013. Brain physiology and pathophysiology in mental stress.ISRN Physiology,2013.

The Different Between Male and Female Entrepreneur free essay sample

Under contract number SBAHQ-06-M-0480 Previous research has shown the performance of women-owned firms lagging male-owned firms on factors such as annual sales, employment growth, income, and venture survival. Reasons for the differences are often hypothesized, but empirical tests have historically suffered from data with a limited number of control variables on the motivations and characteristics of the owners. Moreover, many of the previous studies have suffered from survivor bias as they study existing (or surviving) businesses. This study seeks to determine why a performance difference exists for female- and male-owned ventures. Overall Findings When other factors are controlled for, gender does not affect new venture performance. However, several factors—differing expectations, reasons for starting a business, motivations, opportunities sought and types of businesses—vary between the genders, and these result in differing outcomes. Such observations should be taken into account when comparing the outcomes of ventures across genders. Highlights While gender was shown not to affect new venture performance when preferences, motivation, and expectations were controlled for, the differences observed among men’s and women’s new business ventures include the following: †¢ Men had more business experience prior to opening the business and higher expectations. We will write a custom essay sample on The Different Between Male and Female Entrepreneur or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page †¢ Women entrepreneurs had a larger average household size. †¢ The educational backgrounds of male and female entrepreneurs were similar. †¢ Women were less likely than men to purchase their business. †¢ Women were more likely to have positive revenues, but men were more likely to own an employer firm. Female owners were more likely to prefer low risk/return businesses. †¢ Men spent slightly more time on their new ventures than women. †¢ Male owners were more likely to start a business to make money, had higher expectations for their business, and did more research to identify business opportunities. †¢ Male entrepreneurs were more likely to found technologically intensive businesses, businesses that lose their competitive advantage more quickly, and businesses that have a less geographically localized customer base. †¢ Male owners spent more effort searching for business opportunities and this held up when other factors were controlled for. D ifferences between women and men concerning venture size and hours are explained by control variables such as prior start-up and industry experience. †¢ Researchers and policymakers need to understand that studies which do not take into account the differing nature of men- and women-owned firms could result in misleading results. Scope and Methodology The data used was from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). The PSED captures very small ventures on average and is a self-reported survey. The subset used was a sample This report was developed under a contract with the Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, and contains information and analysis that was reviewed and edited by officials of the Office of Advocacy. However, the final conclusions of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Advocacy. of representative entrepreneurs who started in 1998 and 1999, resulting in 685 usable new businesses. Women represented 349 cases as they were oversampled, and the data were weighted to account for the oversampling. Various measures of performance outcome were studied, such as venture size. Many of the variables were on a scale from â€Å"no extent† to â€Å"a very great extent. † Econometric models were created to determine the relationship among the variables. The relatively small sample size, short time frame, and nascent nature of the ventures are limitations of the study. This report was peer reviewed consistent with the Office of Advocacy’s data quality guidelines. More information on this process can be obtained by contacting the director of economic research at [emailprotected] gov or (202) 205-6533. Ordering Information The full text of this report and summaries of other studies performed under contract with the U. S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy are available on the Internet at www. sba. gov/advo/ research. Copies are available for purchase from: National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 (800) 553-6847 or (703) 605-6000 TDD: (703) 487-4639 www. ntis. gov Order number: PB2007-112634 Paper A05 ($31. 50) Microfiche A01 ($14. 00) CD-ROM A00 ($24. 00) Download A00 ($18. 95) For email delivery of Advocacy’s newsletter, press, regulatory news, and research, visit http:// web. sba. gov/list. For Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, visit www. sba. ov/advo/rsslibrary. html. I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report describes a statistical evaluation of the similarities and differences between male and female entrepreneurs and their ventures. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the extent to which entrepreneurship by men and women is different. Using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, the sample included 685 new business people who indicated that they were in the process of starting a business in 1998 or 1999. Preferences, motivations and expectations are not randomly distributed across gender. Analyzing the effect of structural barriers on new venture performance requires precise measurement of the effects of gender on these things. Failure to measure the effect of preferences, motivations and expectations, or inaccurate measurement of the effect of these factors, will lead to biased estimates of the effects of structural barriers, and over- or under-estimation of their effects. Our study contributes to the literature on gender differences in entrepreneurship by showing the presence or absence of support for many previous findings about gender differences in entrepreneurial activity. Specifically, the more limited findings shown in the PSED, in comparison to previous studies, indicate the limitations of previous studies, and suggest caution in assuming their validity. First, because the PSED is a survey of a representative sample of people in the process of starting new businesses in the United States differences between the findings here and those of prior studies might exist because the results of previous studies are artifacts of recall and selection bias. Second, differences might result from differences in â€Å"self-employment† on the one hand, and business formation on the other. Third, the differences might be explained by selection bias in previous studies, like the Survey of Small Business Finances, which survey surviving small businesses. Fourth, the differences might exist because of unobserved heterogeneity in previous studies that examine data sources like the Statistics of Income and the Current Population Survey, which include a limited number of variables. Our study makes several contributions to public policy. First, it shows that there is no evidence in the PSED for the effect of gender on new venture performance when preferences, motivation and expectations are controlled. Second, the study provides information useful to policy makers who seek to analyze whether government intervention is needed to overcome structural barriers to female preferences, motivations, and expectations for new ventures. 2 II. BACKGROUND A wide variety of research studies have shown differences between male and female entrepreneurs: motivations for starting businesses; their preferences for venture risk; the types of businesses they start; the process they use to identify business opportunities; the size of their start-ups; the effort they expend in developing of those businesses; their confidence in their start-up efforts; their start-up problems; their expectations for the performance of their businesses; and their performance outcomes (Brush, 1992; Brush et al. , 2006; Carter et al. , 1997; Du Rietz 1999; Fischer 1992; Rosa et al. 1996; Sexton and Bowman-Upton, 1990; Van Stel 2003; and Verhuel et al. , 2004). Despite the wealth of studies on this topic, some researchers have questioned how much we understand about the similarities and differences between male and female entrepreneurs because of limitations of the data that have been used to explore this question. These data are limited in four ways. Fir st, many sources of data, such as the Current Population Survey, examine â€Å"self-employment. † While selfemployment is an important phenomenon, it is not a good proxy for new business creation. Many selfemployed people do not create new businesses, and many people who create new businesses are categorized by the Census Bureau as â€Å"wage employed† because wage employment is their primary source of income (Reynolds, 2000). Second, many sources of data are quite limited in the information that they include. As a result, analysis of these data cannot control for many other factors, making the results subject to the limitation that gender may merely be proxying for unobserved characteristics that really account for the differences observed in the data. Third, many data sources fail to measure entrepreneurial activity from the beginning of the process – that is, when a person begins to create a new firm. As a result, the data collected from this process is highly selective (only entrepreneurs running surviving firms are contacted). Moreover, the data collection process involves a great deal of recall bias, as entrepreneurs are asked to reconstruct events, attitudes, and motivations that took place months, and often years, before (Reynolds, 2000). Finally, many data sources are convenience samples that are not representative of the underlying U. S. population. This is necessarily the case when studies use sampling frames – Dun and Bradstreet listings, unemployment insurance filings, new incorporations, trade association membership, and affiliation with a university – which are not representative of the overall population. As a result, one cannot draw inference from the results of these studies to the overall population of start-ups in the United States. The data limitations make it difficult for policy makers to develop effective policies toward entrepreneurship because they cannot have confidence in the data on which they are making policy choices. Because researchers cannot undertake randomized experiments to discriminate against groups of entrepreneurs, gender-related policy questions in entrepreneurship need to be addressed through regression 3 analysis. Accurate regression analysis depends on the ability to measure and account for a variety of factors that could account for gender differences that policy intervention is designed to remedy (e. . , discrimination in capital markets). Given that the multitude of factors which needed to be ruled out are almost never randomly distributed across gender (e. g. , motivations for starting a business, effort expended, expectations for performance or the types of businesses started), measuring gender differences in these alternative factors is essential to determining if discrimination ad versely affects female entrepreneurs. Failure to measure them will likely lead to biased estimates, which could result in the over- or under-estimation of the need for policy intervention. Moreover, even if the variety of factors that could account for the gender differences that the policy intervention is designed to address are controlled, accurate policy can be formulated on the basis of those findings only if the phenomenon of new business formation (and not something else, like self-employment) was examined in the studies, and only if the samples in the studies represent the population that the policy would effect, in this case the overall United States. This study uses a new data set, called the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED), to examine many of the differences between male and female entrepreneurs documented in the literature. The PSED examines new firm formation from the inception of the firm formation process for a sample of U. S. entrepreneurs that matches the distribution of the Current Population Survey in terms of gender, race, age, and income. Consequently, the PSED allows exploration of the difference between men and women in new business creation without being subject to many of the limitations (described above) that come from the examination of other data sets. As a result, this study permits examination of the differences between male and female entrepreneurs, which is necessary for policy makers to determine if policy intervention is needed, and, if so, what types of interventions (e. g. , laws to prevent discrimination, education and support programs, and so on) should be used to alleviate the problems. It is important to note that the PSED suffers from its own limitations. First, the PSED data are obtained through a survey, and the self-reported data are not verified through corroboration with another data source. Therefore, the answers given by respondents to the PSED may not be entirely accurate and might only reflect differences in the way in which male and female entrepreneurs answer questions. Second, the small sample size and short time horizon of the PSED might account for many of the null findings. Because many of the differences between male and female entrepreneurs discussed in the literature come from the examination of very large datasets, substantive differences between entrepreneurs of the two genders may not be statistically significant in the PSED because the sample size is very small. In addition, because the PSED begins with the examination of people in the process of starting a business and gathers data only over four years, it may not show differences that become visible only after the businesses age. 4 Third, the PSED mixes entrepreneurs with people who say they are starting a business, but fail to do so within the study period. Only one-third of the PSED sample has a business that the respondent views as â€Å"up-and-running† at any time during the four-year observation period. This small proportion suggests that the majority of the sample consists of people who never actually get a new business started. The inclusion of these people in the sample might explain the divergence of the findings from those observed in other datasets that look only at employer firms or people for whom self-employment is their primary occupation. Fourth, differential selection into starting a business might account for many of the patterns observed among male and female entrepreneurs because men are twice as likely as women to start businesses. Therefore, women entrepreneurs might not differ much from male entrepreneurs, because a more selected group of women start businesses. If women started businesses at the same rate as men, then more differences between male and female entrepreneurs might be observed. In the next section, we briefly review the findings of previous researchers about gender differences on a variety of dimensions of entrepreneurial activity and use them to formulate hypotheses that we would expect to be supported in our investigation. III. PREVIOUS RESEARCH HYPOTHESES Previous studies have shown that male and female entrepreneurs differ in terms of their business outcomes; the motivations they have for starting businesses; the effort that they put into the development of their businesses; the size of their start-ups; the types of businesses they start; the performance expectations they have for their businesses; their preferences for venture risk; the process through which they identify business opportunities; the confidence they have in their start-up efforts; and the start-up problems that they face (Brush, 1992; Brush et al. 2006; Carter et al. , 1997; Du Rietz 1999; Fischer 1992; Rosa et al. , 1996; Sexton and Bowman-Upton, 1990; Van Stel 2003; and Verhuel et al. , 2004). We review each of these topics in turn, and then posit ten hypotheses for the current study. III. 1 Firm Performance Studies have shown that the performance of female-led new ventures lags behind that of male-led new ventures. Sales growth, emplo yment, employment growth, income, and venture survival are all lower for female-led ventures (Boden, 2000; Office of Advocacy, 2006; Robb and Wolken 2002; Srinivasan, et al. 1993). Women-owned businesses have lower sales and employ fewer people than men (Fischer et al. , 1993). For instance, in 2002 women-owned employer firms generated an average of $87,585 in sales and had an average of 7. 79 employees, as compared to $1,862,159 in sales and 12. 04 employees for those owned by men (Office of Advocacy, 2006). Women-owned businesses are less profitable than those started by men. The average employer-firm owned by a woman generates only 78 percent of the profit of the comparable business owned by a man (Robb and Wolken, 2002). Moreover, 46 percent of self-employed women had an 5 income of less than $15,000 in 1998, while only 21 percent of self-employed men earned this low level. In contrast, 16 percent of self-employed men earned more than $95,000, as compared to 4 percent of women (Office of Advocacy, 2001). New ventures started by women are less likely to survive over time than new ventures started by men. The four-year survival rate of new women-owned employer firms is 8. 6 percent lower than that of comparable new businesses founded by men (Boden, 2000; Srinivasan et al, 1993). Finally, research from Norway shows that new ventures started by women are slower to complete the organizing activities necessary to get their businesses â€Å"up-and-running† (Alsos and Ljunggren, 1998). These observations lead to our first hypothesis: Hypothesis1: The performance of new ventures led by female entrepreneurs is lower than the performance of ventures led by male entrepreneurs. III. 2 Motivations for Starting the Business People start businesses for a variety of different reasons; and these motivations vary by gender. First, women are more likely than men to start businesses to achieve a work-family balance (Brush et al. , 2006). In surveys, women cite the desire for flexibility and work-family balance as a reason they started their businesses more often than men (Boden, 1999; Carter et al. , 2003). Parenthood plays a significant role in women’s desire to become self-employed (Birley 1989). Research shows that many women want to become self-employed to develop a more flexible work schedule that allows them to balance work and family demands (Boden 1996; Georgellis and Wall, 2004; Lombard 2001). They also pursue selfemployment because it allows them to work at home; and may ease the burden of finding childcare (Boden 1996; Connelly 1992; Presser and Baldwin, 1980). In fact, Boden (1996) uses data from the Current Population Survey to show that, there is a significant positive correlation for women between entrance into self-employment and becoming a parent. Second, male entrepreneurs are much more likely than female entrepreneurs to say that the desire to make money or build a company were the reasons why they started their businesses. For instance, DeMartino and Barbato (2003) found that male entrepreneurs prefer careers that make money, while female entrepreneurs prefer careers that allow work-family balance. Women also place higher value on nonfinancial dimensions of employment than men do (Jurik, 1998). They are more likely than men to cite personal interests, a desire for self-fulfillment, and job satisfaction as their reasons for starting businesses (Georgellis and Wall, 2004; Jurik 1998). Women are also more likely than men to say that they started their businesses to be challenged personally and to achieve self-determination (Buttner and Moore, 1997). Third, women are more likely than men to start businesses to gain the recognition of others (Fischer et al. , 1993). Shane et al (1991) found that women in the United Kingdom and in Norway are more likely than men in those countries to start businesses to â€Å"achieve something and get recognition for it† (page 438). 6 These observations lead to our second hypothesis: Hypothesis 2: Male and female entrepreneurs start businesses for different reasons. III. 3 Effort Expended on New Business Creation Researchers have found that female entrepreneurs, on average, work fewer hours than male entrepreneurs. In particular, studies have shown that women invest less time in the development of their new businesses than men (Verheul et al. , 2004). They also indicate that self-employed women are less likely to work full-time than self-employed men (OECD, 1998). Male entrepreneurs may work more hours than female entrepreneurs because they are more likely to have gone into business to earn money. Alternatively, they may face fewer competing demands for their time because women devote more hours to caring for children, older parents, and the household. Competing domestic demands may restrict the time and effort that women can devote to other things, such as venture formation, leading women to spend less time on their new ventures than their male counterparts. This leads to our third hypothesis: Hypothesis 3: Male entrepreneurs spend more hours on the development of their ventures than female entrepreneurs. III. 4 Venture Size Women start businesses that are smaller than those started by men. Studies of surviving businesses show that those that are women-owned are smaller than those that are men-owned (Kalleberg and Leicht, 1991). In addition, women start businesses with lower levels of initial employment and capitalization than men (Brush, 1992; Carter et al. , 1997). The smaller scale of female-led start-ups is believed to be the result of a lack of access to larger-scale business opportunities and the financial resources necessary to develop them (Reynolds, forthcoming) and different goals and intentions for their businesses (Carter and Allen, 1997). These observations lead to our fourth hypothesis: Hypothesis 4: Male entrepreneurs start businesses of larger magnitude than female entrepreneurs. III. Type of Business Started Male and female entrepreneurs do not start the same types of businesses. Female-led businesses are more likely to be found in personal services and retail trade and less likely to be found in manufacturing and high technology (Anna et al. , 2000; Brush et al. , 2006). In addition, women start businesses that are less 7 growth-oriented and less driven by opportunity, and more oriented tow ard wage substitution (Minniti et al, 2005). Some researchers argue that gender differences in the types of businesses that men and women found are the result of socialization and structural barriers. Women tend to work in certain occupations and industries because these occupations and industries are more socially acceptable for women, and because women face obstacles to working in other industries and occupations (Mirchandani, 1999). Because entrepreneurs tend to identify opportunities to start businesses that are similar in type and industry to those in which they previously worked, the tendency of women to work in certain types of businesses leads them to start those types of companies. In addition, some businesses cannot be founded easily by people without the appropriate educational background. This is particularly the case for businesses that rely heavily on technology. Because women are less likely than men to study engineering or science (Brush et al. , 2006), they often lack the education to start businesses that demand technical skills. Furthermore, some businesses are inherently easier to start than others because they have lower barriers to entry. Women may be more likely to start businesses that face low barriers to entry because these businesses make lesser demands on human or financial capital than other businesses, and women may lack these types of capital. These observations lead to the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 5: Male and female entrepreneurs start different types of businesses. III. 6 Expectations for Venture Performance Female entrepreneurs have lesser expectations for their businesses than male entrepreneurs. First, they expect to generate lower profits and employ fewer people than male entrepreneurs because they are less highly motivated to make money and more motivated to achieve other goals (Brush, 1992). Second, male entrepreneurs have greater confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities than female entrepreneurs. These differences in confidence lead male entrepreneurs to form greater expectations for their businesses. Third, female entrepreneurs tend to start types of businesses that have lower growth and income potential than male entrepreneurs. As a result, the expectations of female entrepreneurs, which are in line with the reality of the businesses that they start, are lower than those of male entrepreneurs. Fourth, female entrepreneurs are more likely to set limits beyond which they do not want to expand their businesses to ensure that they do not adversely affect their personal lives (Cliff, 1998). Fifth, female entrepreneurs start smaller scale businesses than male entrepreneurs; hence their initial expectations for their businesses tend to be lower (Anna et al, 2000). These observations lead to our sixth hypothesis: 8 Hypothesis 6: Male entrepreneurs have greater performance expectations for their businesses than female entrepreneurs. III. 7 Risk Preferences Research in sociology and psychology shows that women are more risk averse than men across a wide variety of settings (Arch, 1993; Byrnes et al. , 1999). In particular, women display greater financial risk aversion than men (Jianakoplos and Bernasek 1998). Some studies suggest that this greater risk aversion carries over to female entrepreneurs. In fact, one study shows that a convenience sample of female entrepreneurs have lower risk propensity scores than male entrepreneurs on a psychological scale (Sexton and Bowman-Upton, 1990). The greater risk aversion of female entrepreneurs is thought to make them less willing to trade potential gain for risk, which leads them to prefer businesses with lower failure probabilities than those preferred by male entrepreneurs (Brush et al. , 2006). As a result, male entrepreneurs pursue business opportunities that involve more risk than the opportunities pursued by female entrepreneurs (Baker et al. , 2003). The greater risk aversion of female entrepreneurs also leads them to engage in greater amounts of risk minimizing activity. For instance, Mallette and McGuiness (2004) found that the female entrepreneurs focus more on minimizing risk than male entrepreneurs in the business organizing process. These observations lead to our seventh hypothesis: Hypothesis 7: Male entrepreneurs prefer riskier ventures than female entrepreneurs. III. Opportunity Identification Female entrepreneurs search for new business opportunities differently than male entrepreneurs for a variety of reasons. First, many opportunities are identified through information that is transferred through social networks. Women have different types of social networks than men (Renzulli et al. , 2000). As a result, they have access to different sources of information about opportunities. For instance, male entrepreneurs are more likely than female entrepreneurs to identify opportunities through conversations with investors and bankers because, on average, they know more investors and bankers. Second, learned behaviors and social norms lead men and women to develop different cognitive processing styles (Gatewood et al. , 1995). As a result, on average, men and women gather information and solve problems differently (White et al. , forthcoming) For instance, female entrepreneurs are thought to learn from a greater variety of sources than male entrepreneurs, while male entrepreneurs are thought to learn more from setbacks than female entrepreneurs (Barrett, 1995). In addition, the greater risk aversion of female entrepreneurs may lead them to search for more information that mitigates the potential risks about business opportunities than their male counterparts (Eckel and Grossman, 2003). 9 These observations lead to the eighth hypothesis. Hypothesis 8: Male and female entrepreneurs identify business opportunities differently. III. 9 Confidence in Organizing Abilities Because of how men and women are socialized, women have lower levels of career-related selfefficacy than men, particularly in careers that are seen as traditionally â€Å"male† (Brown, 2002). Because starting a business has been considered a traditionally â€Å"male† career, female entrepreneurs are thought to have less confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities than male entrepreneurs. As a result, they are less likely to believe that they can undertake the key tasks in organizing a new venture, such as obtaining start-up and working capital, and attracting customers. This argument leads to our ninth hypothesis: Hypothesis 9: Male entrepreneurs have more confidence in their abilities to organize their new ventures than female entrepreneurs. III. 0 Start-up Problems Research suggests that social norms about the role of women in society, the shortage of female role models, and the greater household burdens faced by women lead female entrepreneurs to face more start-up problems, and for those problems to be of greater magnitude, than their male counterparts. For instance, attitudes toward the role of women make it more difficult for female entrepreneurs to be take n seriously as business people (Brush, 1992), and to gain support for their entrepreneurial activities from their spouses, family, and friends (Stoner et al. 1990). In addition, the relative shortage of female role models makes it more difficult for female entrepreneurs to obtain adequate mentorship for their start-up efforts. Furthermore, the greater household and childcare responsibilities of women lead them to have more trouble balancing business formation and family responsibilities (Stoner et al. , 1990). These observations lead to the tenth hypothesis: Hypothesis 10: Female entrepreneurs face more start-up problems than male entrepreneurs. IV. DATA RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IV. Sample We use data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) to conduct the analysis that is discussed in this report. The PSED is a multi-year effort to follow a representative sample of people who 10 were involved in the business formation process in 1998 and 1999 (Reynolds, 2000). To create a sample representative of people in the lower 48 states who were involved in the business formation process at this time, researchers contacted 64,622 U. S. households between July of 1998 and January of 2000 through random digit dialing (Reynolds and Curtin, 2004). They screened the first adult who agreed to participate, subject to quotas to ensure an equal number of men and women (Reynolds and Curtin, 2004). In the screening process, three telephone attempts were made to contact blocks of 1,000 potential respondents over a three-day period, with the same number of people contacted on weekdays and weekends (Reynolds, 2000). People who were contacted were identified as being entrepreneurs if they answered ‘yes† to the question: â€Å"Are you, alone or with others, now trying to start a new business? † The entrepreneurs were offered $25 to participate in an hour-long telephone phone survey. Approximately 71 percent agreed to participate, and could be contacted (Reynolds and Curtin, 2004). However, 27 percent of the respondents were eliminated from the survey because the respondents indicated that their businesses already had positive cash flow for three consecutive months, which the PSED researchers considered to be â€Å"beyond the start-up phase† (Reynolds, 2000). Those respondents who completed the telephone survey were offered another $25 if they would also complete a mail survey, which 72 percent did (Reynolds and Curtin, 2004; Reynolds, 2000). These respondents were also re-contacted 12, 24 and 36 months later for follow-up telephone and mail surveys. The respondents were treated as key informants about their new ventures. Information was collected about a wide variety of topics, including demographic characteristics; background and experience; motivations, beliefs, and attitudes; perceptions of new ventures and the environment; new venture strategy; organizing activities; the achievement of milestones; financial investments made in the ventures; performance expectations; the use of assistance and educational programs; and a variety of other topics (Reynolds, 2000). The sample included 830 people who indicated that they were in the process of starting a business in 1998 or 1999. However, the analysis reported here is limited to the 711 respondents that were in the process of starting a business that was independent of their employer’s company. An additional 26 respondents indicated that the start-up effort was not active in the past 12 months and were dropped from the sample. As a result, the usable sample includes 685 new businesses, 481 of which completed the additional mail survey. Due to over-sampling of women, 349 of the entrepreneurs were female. Because the research effort over-sampled women and minorities, and because some categories of respondents were less likely than others to be reached or to respond to the surveys, post-sampling stratification weights were used to match the data to the Current Population Survey on gender, age, education, and race (Reynolds and Curtin, 2004). In the analysis presented here, the weights were recentered on 1. for the usable subsample to avoid biases in the standard errors (Reynolds, 2000). 11 IV. 2 Analysis The data were examined in two ways. First, descriptive statistics were examined to compare male and female entrepreneurs on a variety of dimensions that correspond to the arguments made in the literature. In addition, the differences in the variance in characteristics across male and female entrepreneurs were explored, both to explain those differences, and to ensure that subsequent regression analysis to examine thes e differences is done accurately. Second, the effect of gender on those dimensions for which bivariate analysis shows statistically significant and substantive differences were examined in a regression framework that controls for a variety of factors that might alternatively account for the differences between male and female entrepreneurs on these dimensions. Given the nature of the dependent variables, two types of regression models were used. For the continuous variables, we used ordinary least squares regression. For the dichotomous variables, we used logistic regression. IV. Variables The study involved the examination of the effect of gender on several different dependent variables and employed a variety of control variables. These variables are described below, with the dependent variables described first. IV. 3. a Dependent Variables We examined several different dependent variables to measure the factors posited in the ten hypothesis: performance outcomes; effort expended; motivations to start a business; ve nture size; the nature of the venture; expectations for income and employment; risk preferences; approach to opportunity identification; confidence in venture organizing; and start-up problems faced. We begin with performance outcomes. IV. 3. b Performance Outcomes We examined seven different measures of performance: venture termination; becoming an employer firm; level of employment achieved; achievement of first sale; achievement of positive cash flow; count of organizing activities undertaken; and perception that the venture is â€Å"up and running. † Because the PSED involves the collection of follow-up data on new ventures at three additional times after the initial interview, it is possible to look at performance outcomes that occurred over a four-year period. We measured venture termination with a dummy variable of one if the effort to develop the venture was stopped by all parties working on it at any time in four years covered by survey. Specifically, termination will be identified as occurring when the respondent answers â€Å"no† to the PSED question: â€Å"Are you, or is anyone else, still actively pursuing the creation of this venture? † 12 The U. S. government measures new employer firms (which it defines as firms that have at least one employee, including the founders) based on unemployment insurance filings. Because many new ventures do not become employer firms, this status is an important milestone in the lives of new ventures. We measure employer firm with a dummy variable of one if the venture paid unemployment insurance taxes at any time in four years covered by survey. We measure employment as the number of non-founder employees of the venture at the end of the four years covered by survey. If the venture is terminated, its employment is coded as â€Å"zero. † If the venture is alive, but the respondent does not provide the number of employees in that year, we take the latest available employment provided by the respondent. We calculate part-time employment as one-half of full time employment. Because the employment number is skewed, in the analysis we also use the natural log of the employment plus one. For the same reason, we also operationalize employment with a dummy variable of one if the venture has any employees other than the founder and zero if it does not. We measure has revenues with a dummy variable of one if the venture receives income from the sale of goods or services at any time in four years covered by survey.

Football Strategy

Football Strategy The need for a comfortable measure of certainty in the outcomes of human endeavors underscores the drive towards formulating strategy. Strategy involves allocating resources for achieving predetermined goals in the most efficient manner. Strategy has widespread application and is usually the responsibility of leadership. Military strategy applies to the management and deployment of armies to achieve certain goals. Various teams, sporting or otherwise, use strategy to improve their chances of getting the best results.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Football Strategy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Business strategy is about maximisation of profits by arranging all the input factors in the most productive pattern. ‘Strategy creation is about doing the right things and is a primary concern of senior executives and business owners’ (Havard, 2005, p. xi). Mintzberg et al. (1998, p15) do not give a unified d efinition of strategy; rather they postulate that, ‘there may not be one simple definition of strategy but there are now some general areas of agreement about the nature of strategy.’ They proceed to identify five components of strategy in their 5ps of strategy. They say, ‘strategy is a plan’ (Mintzberg, et al.1998, p.9) to mean, ‘a direction, a guide or course of action into the future, a path to get from here to there’. In their statement of the second P they say, ‘strategy is a pattern, that is, consistency in behavior over time’ (Mintzberg, et al.1998, p.12). In the third P they state, ‘strategy is a position, namely the locating of particular products in particular markets’ (Mintzberg, et al.1998, p.12). They say on the fourth P, ‘strategy is perspective, namely an organizations fundamental way of doing things’ (Mintzberg, et al.1998, p.13), and finally, they present the last P as follows; ‘stra tegy is a ploy, that is a specific ‘maneuver’ intended to outwit an opponent or competitor’ (Mintzberg, et al.1998, p.13). Tour de France and Chelsea Football Club offers us a useful perspective in the study of various facets of strategy. The first Tour de France took place in 1903, where sixty riders participated. It has evolved over time with each tour currently taking three weeks and including twenty stages, up from the initial six, and now covers much of France’s countryside including its mountains and some neighbouring countries. The total course distance exceeds 2000 miles. ‘The cyclist who completes a strenous and often perilous course of more than 2000 miles in the lowest total time wins’ (Dummies.com, 2010). A key feature of the Tour is the different colours of special jerseys used by various riders. ‘Throughout the race, the reigning World Champion wears his team colors, but on a special jersey with horizontal stripes’ ( Dummies.com, 2010). Individual riders participate in the Tour as part of a team, with any winner receiving support from teammates based on the team’s strategy.Advertising Looking for essay on communication strategies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since the tour comprises several competitions and stages, team goals define the team’s efforts. Tour de France 2010 (2009) reports that, ‘different teams have different tour objectives, and so adopt different strategies’. It goes on to say that, ‘During the flatter stages, teams with outstanding sprinters like Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish, and Thor Hushovd, are likely to work to reel in any breakaway, setting up a sprint finish that favors their fast men’ Tour de France 2010 (2009). The other sports strategy case study is Chelsea Football Club. Chelsea Football Club, established in 1905, became English champions twice in its one hundr ed year history, between 1905 and 2005. Gus Mears founded Chelsea Football Club at a time when London had failed to send any team to the first division of the football league. ‘Mears had spotted the potential for a football club to play at an old athletics ground at Stamford Bridge, an open piece of land in West London’ (Chelaseafc Team History, 2010). An interesting note on Chelsea’s formation is that ‘in contrast to the history of so many clubs, Mears decided to build a team for a stadium, rather than the other way round’ (Chelseafc Team History, 2010). Another first for Chelsea was that, because of Mears associate, Parker, who ‘proved persuasive’, at the football league AGM so that Chelsea, ‘became the first club ever to make the League without having kicked a ball’ (Chelseafc Team History, 2010). Chelsea Football Club and the Tour de France will provide us with the analogy to use for an analysis of various aspects of str ategy. Teams in the Tour de France, and in the football leagues work hard towards attaining success. To Succed in the Tour de France, teams of riders must have coordinated action, which is normally determined by the team’s objectives. ‘Different teams have different tour objectives, and so adopt different strategies’ (Tour de France 2010). This compares well with the football leagues that Chelsea football club plays such as the English premier league. In both cases, each team must define a strategy for achieving its goals in each season or Tour. Evidence of strategy in the Tour emerges as different teams take certain deliberate actions to leverage on opportunities. This is exemplified by the Tour de France (2010) report that, ‘As the race progresses, responsibility for chasing down breakaways typically falls to the team of the leader, or sometimes to teams who will see a rider in the breakaway as a threat to their well-placed riders’. In a similar wa y, Chelsea football club strategises to win leagues and tournaments through various actions. This typically includes getting the best football talent, and having a futuristic view when signing up new players. An instance comparing two chelsea players, newly signed Sidwell and the veteran Ballack illustrates this point.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Football Strategy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Soccer Lens, the Best in Football (2007) says, ‘To state that Sidwell will out-perform Ballack in the upcoming season would be laughable, however to say that in two years time Sidwell will be competing with Ballack for a place in Chelsea as midfield would be realistic. In other words, the young midfielder is one for the future at the Bridge’ (Soccer Lens, the Best in Football, 2007). This shows that Chelsea signed up Sidwell as a strategic measure. These stategies presuppose strategic planning by the To ur de France participants and by Chelsea Football club. They expose the forethough that goes into organising for a desired outcome during a strategic planning exercise. This sufficiently describes the thrust of strategic planning. The common strategy for winning a Tour de France is to, ‘conserve energy as much as possible for the times when it is needed most. (Tour de France 2010, 2009) Elements of strategic management in the conduct of the Tour de France emerge in the selection of the team members and in the conduct of the race. A competitive team will usually have riders with certain skills and are able to provide the team with a competitive advantage. This makes it possible for the team to adapt to emerging situations either to expand its winning odds or to consolidate a commanding position. New developments emerge as the race takes shape, which may require adjustment to the original strategy. Part of strategy may be working with your opponent to minimize a common threat by another participant. These serve to excite the â€Å"tour de France. ‘It’s the adhoc alliances and shifting rider and team strategies that make a stage race fascinating.’ (Tour de France, 2010. In addition, strategic options consideration and use take place depending on the prospects of good results. The teams are constantly on the lookout for, ‘stages that might favor their best climber’ (Tour de France 2010). It aslo looks out for, ‘breaks where they can get a disproportionate number of riders from their own team, or a chance to launch a climbing specialist on a day-long solo expedition, where he can collect a jerseyful of King of the Mountain points’ ( Tour de France, 2010). The decisions to take these moves demonstrate strategic management by the teams in the Tour de France. However, Grant (2005, p.9) warns that, ‘without effective implementation, the best-laid strategies are of little use’. This rings true in both the Tour de France and in the pursuit of the football championship by Chealsea Football Club, It is one thing to determine actions required to attain a goal and yet another to implement these actions effectively. Moreover, goals dictate tactics and poor tactics can cause failure. Tactics are operational measures that are felxible to change and adjustments. Not changing ones tactics may prove fatal. If Chelsea ‘decides to stick to the tactics they have used in this past season, they might have a hard time achieving their main goal of winning the champions league’ (Soccer Lens, the Best in Football, 2007).Advertising Looking for essay on communication strategies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Resource constraints and availability affects strategy in several ways. Resources in the context of strategy will be specific to the set goals. Resources include finances, people, and time. The amount of resources available affect outcomes. Grant (2005, p.29) argues that, ‘Resource scarcity may engender ambition, innovation, and a ‘success-against-the-odds’ culture, while resource abundance may engender complacency and sloth.’ Chelsea seems to verify this argument. When Chelsea signed in Shevchenko, ‘most football fans expected a goal scoring machine to arrive’ (Soccer Lens, The Best in Football, 2007). The upping of human resource for the club did not seem to pay dividends for the club. ‘The high expectations resulted in sheer pressure on the shoulders of Chelsea’s new striker; as a result he failed to settle in his first season at the Bridge and his performances have been generally criticized’ (Soccer Lens, The Best in Foo tball, 2007). The human resource in the Tour de France depends on strategy, Tour de France 2010 (2009) reports, ‘Many teams carry specialist sprinters, sometimes with one or more ‘lead-out men,’ who are fairly strong sprinters themselves, and give their all to put a team-mate at the front of a bunch in the last 200-300 meters of a stage’. This kind of outlay seeks to insure competitive advantage for a team. Financial resources continue to determine which players Chelsea buys to meet its strategic needs and which riders a Tour de France team employs to have the best shot at the titles. Sports provide an interesting analogy in the understanding of strategy. Most sporting activities have very clear goals and objectives hence lend themselves easily to strategic approaches. Leagues, tournaments and other wide based organisational sporting events such as the Tour de France magnify this posibility. It is insufficient to look at Skill only in executing the sport, a s a sucessfactor. Rather, many factors to do with what patterns to follow in the execution of the sport come into play. It is not just about winning a match or winning a stage, it is about winning the overall title. The demands on individuals and teams alike, and their management take centre stage. Sports is also useful since it is much easier to tell whether a team had the best mix of strategy and resources, by the results it posts.in football, a teams strategy is immediately visible when its formation ismade public. Football coaches will create formations to meet the teams greatest need, which could be defensive play or offensive play. A big limitation with sports as an analogy for understanding strategy is that it does not provide an objective benchmark for a wide spectrum analysis of strategy. Winning a championship is a relative issue of being relatively better than your oponents who may have equally sound if not similar strategies. The scoreline is not the best parameter to us e to judge good strategy. In sports too, great execution of an average stretegy may deliver results compared to poor execution of good strategy. Another limitation is that most sporting activities take place in very controlled environments where penalties and reward are very clear, unlike business or military situations where the enviroment keeps changing and new trends and factors come into play effecting the execution of strategy. This makes sports insufficient for understanding dynamic elements of strategy and change management. In conclusion, sports provide an easy to understand model for the application of strategy, but it does not provide the best analogy for most of the applications of strategic approach in dynamic environments. This limits its usefulness for advanced learning. Reference List Chealseafc Team History, 2010. Introduction [Online] (Updated 25 Sep 2010) Available at: chelseafc.com/page/teamhistory/0,10268,00.html Dummies.com 2010. Understanding the ‘. [Onl ine] (Updated 25 Sep 2010) Available at: dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-the-tour-de-france-and-the-strategie.html Grant, R. M., 2005. Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 5th ed. Malden, Ma: Blackwell Publishing. Great Moments, 2010. Great Moments in the History of the Tour [online] (Updated 25 Sep 2010) Available at: letour.fr/2010/TDF/HISTO/us/index.html Havard, 2005. Strategy- Create and Implement the Best Strategy for Your Business. Boston, Massachusetts: Havard Business School Publishing Corporation Mintzberg, H., Lampel, J., Ahlstrand, B., 1998. Strategy Safari. New York: The free press. Soccer Lens the Best in Football, 2010. Analyzing Chelsea’s New Transfer Strategy [Online] (Updated 23 June 2007) Available at: http://soccerlens.com/analyzing-chelseas-new-transfer-strategy/2135/ Tour de France 2010, 2009. Beginners Guide to the Tour de France for 2009 [online] (updated 04 July 2009) Available at: tdfblog.com/2009/07/beginners-guide-to-the-tour-de-france-for-20 09.html  [Acessed 25 Sep 2010]