Coursework

week8_0 x

the instructions in attachment file. Answer the 3 questions.

I need 2pages answer the following questions in order and mark the question and the answers please.

1- Try to find three fragments, and revise them to make them complete sentences from the sentences below. Post and bold the original and write the revised sentence directly below the original.

1- Health care organizations with cultures that rely on shared vision are more positive and action oriented in providing what a patient needs.

2. HMOs are no longer a movement to better manage care, but more of a profitable business.

 

3. Many peoples life’s are held in balance due to lack of communication between health care providers and HMOs

1.       Focus on rapid growth at the expense of its culture led to the failure experienced by Kaiser.

 

2.       Lack of consumer-driven healthcare has contributed to the high cost of healthcare in the US.

 

3.       The key to success of an organization lies in its culture.

1.Health care organizations with cultures that rely on shared vision are more positive and action oriented in providing what a patient needs.

2. HMOs are no longer a movement to better manage care, but more of a profitable business. 

3. Many peoples life’s are held in balance due to lack of communication between health care providers and HMOs

· How can there be more choices in the world that aren’t sp central to life, but when it comes to health insurance, our choices are limited?

· -Employers chose health insurance for their employees. Few choices are offered to employees.

· -Human relation staff decides which health care insurance plans to purchase and offered to employees.

· People do not have to be expert in health care to influence in policy making.

· – The negative points of universal health care.

· – Complicated information about health care insurance makes people to choose poorly.

· – Doctors’ invention can be view in different ways.

2- The second questions Take the following points from the following Website

http://packratstudios.com/

– about the pros and cons of Linux and synthesize them to develop your own unique perspective about Linux’s strengths and weaknesses. Synthesizing information occurs when you take different chunks of information and combine them to make your own unique point.

 

Pros

· Runs on just about any hardware.

· Way more secure than Windows XP and even OSX.

· Everything is free. Although please donate a little something to your favorite projects.

· Full access to the free open source library of software.

Cons

· The latest and greatest hardware is typically slower to reach Linux.

· The shear number of options can be daunting to a non-technical user.

· Limited support for proprietary applications. 

· Limited vendor support.

3- The third question Read the below

sample Case Analysis

. List five specific, detailed strengths and five specific, detailed weaknesses of the analysis.

Prepared by Mike TeeVee

 
 
 

November 3, 2008

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Written for the Executive Committee

 
AAA Consulting

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Symptoms

 

In June 2008, an ad hoc committee, under the supervision of Charles Buckner, conducted an internal assessment of the state of AAA Consulting, with a focus on turnover, revenue, and employee satisfaction. The final report indicated a startling trend that has begun in our company. Initially, the committee viewed these trends as problems; however, a closer analysis revealed that these issues were merely symptoms of a larger set of related problems.

 

The report showed that between FY 2006 and FY 2008, the turnover at AAA Consulting rose by an alarming 18 percent; in this time period, 15 employees left our company, and we have been unable to replace them to our satisfaction as of yet. We realize that AAA is a small business, but this report indicated that we may not be as competitive as we could and should be, even among business comparable in size and function. This report also showed that our revenues are actually going down slightly even though comparable businesses’ revenues have increased.

 

Another symptom of a larger problem stems from information we have received from personnel regarding the concerns of interviewees: In sum, many of these interviewees inquired about tuition reimbursement when discussing our benefits package. As you know, AAA Consulting does not currently offer any form of tuition reimbursement to employees.

 

Finally, the report indicated that, over the past two years, employee complaints have risen by nearly 20 percent. Strikingly, these complaints seem to mirror the concerns of the aforementioned interviewees. The report indicated that an astonishing 30 percent of potential hires actually declined our job offer in favor of a job with a similar base salary at a comparable company. After carefully reviewing the available data, it became clear that the majority of these people desired a better benefits package—specifically, they were interested in pursuing higher education while working for our company.

 

Problems

 

Upon careful review of these symptoms, we were able to identify three distinct yet closely related problems that these symptoms are indicative of.

 

The first problem is simple and clear: AAA Consulting does not offer tuition reimbursement for our employees. This problem is certainly actionable because our company could start to offer this benefit; furthermore, it is rather serious because of the next related problem.

 

In the Baltimore area, the vast majority (97 percent) of comparable companies offers this benefit to their employees; therefore, when potential hires are weighing their options, they are obviously taking similar jobs with better benefits. This problem in and of itself is not directly actionable; however, we could indirectly ameliorate this problem by offering comparable benefits.

 

A third problem deals with our current employees and our turnover rate: In sum, valuable employees are leaving AAA to pursue careers at consulting firms that do offer tuition reimbursement. We do have the power to alleviate the turnover problem if we eliminate the reason for employees’ leaving our company.

 

Problem Analysis

 

A quick perusal of reports that other companies have produced revealed that offering tuition reimbursement as a part of a company’s fringe benefits package increases employee satisfaction, which seems to be lacking here at AAA Consulting. An informal interview with Veruca Salt of XYZ Consulting, a firm comparable in many ways to AAA Consulting, confirms this claim. In fact, a main difference between AAA and XYZ is that XYZ has increased revenues and decreased turnover during the same period in which we have seen opposite effects.

 

Although we have identified three problems, AAA primarily suffers from one major problem: We do not currently offer a benefits package that is competitive enough to obtain and retain good employees. Specifically, we do not have a tuition reimbursement policy currently in place. To analyze this problem more thoroughly, I contacted Emma Woodhouse, Senior Project Manager at a medium-sized firm on the West Coast. Ms. Woodhouse views a tuition reimbursement program as a smart business strategy, and she says that this particular benefit is one that is often overlooked by Human Resources. After speaking with Ms. Woodhouse, she sent me a copy of her own firm’s report, which drew on internal as well as external data. Ms. Woodhouse as well as Ms. Salt, of Baltimore-based XYZ Consulting, were adamant in saying that where companies do employ this strategy, it demonstrates that they understand the importance of cultivating internal talent to meet future workforce needs. Both of these executives also stated that a major reason they provide tuition assistance is that it is an effective employee retention aid. They also say it gives them a competitive edge in recruitment, and my own informal Internet search supports this claim. Therefore, it is clear that a tuition reimbursement program, as part of our otherwise competitive benefits package, could alleviate all of the problems that stem from the aforementioned symptoms. If we improve our recruitment and retention practices, as well as improving overall employee satisfaction, all of the problems will be solved.

 

A final interesting tidbit comes from Verizon Wireless’s Annual Report for 2007, which indicates that the impact of tuition assistance on employee turnover has been shown to improve employee retention at Verizon Wireless, which showed a 50 percent reduction in turnover among employees utilizing its tuition reimbursement plan (Verizon, 2008, p. 6). Judging from my own informal research and from my conversations with executives at other companies, Verizon’s success with their tuition reimbursement program is not unique; that is, many other companies have reported similar figures in terms of turnover and retention rates.

 

Alternatives

 

Our report identified no fewer than three symptoms: a high turnover rate, an inability to attract quality staff, and employee dissatisfaction. Through careful analysis, we realized that these symptoms all point to a larger problem: a lack of an attractive tuition reimbursement package. Now, we must identify alternatives, or a set of possible solutions, to alleviate this overall problem.

 

The first possible solution is to keep our current policy and continue our practice of not offering tuition reimbursement. The second possibility is to offer opportunities for professional development, but these opportunities would not include college credits; alternatively, this professional development could be achieved internally via workshops or conferences. A third possibility is to offer modest tuition reimbursement—for example, up to 50 percent of the cost of tuition. A final possibility is to offer robust tuition reimbursement—up to 100 percent of the cost.

 

Evaluation of Alternatives

 

Following is a reiteration of the possible solutions as well as an analysis of each:

 

Continue our current policy. If we continue not to offer tuition reimbursement as a part of our benefits package, it seems clear that the aforementioned symptoms might only get worse, which means less employee satisfaction, higher turnover, and more difficulty attracting the new staff that we need and desire. An upside of this alternative is that we would have no new paperwork to deal with (implementing a new policy always requires lots of red tape and extra initial labor).

 

Offer internal professional development. A positive aspect of this alternative solution is that we would have a high degree of control over what our employees are learning; therefore, we could ensure that the time spent would be related to the job directly. A downside of this solution is that it might not alleviate all of the symptoms. For example, if employees truly desire actual university credits, then this would not solve the problem. Also, compared to other companies that allow employees to choose their own coursework, this solution does not seem to be very good.

 

Offer modest tuition reimbursement. We identified two local companies comparable to AAA Consulting that offer up to 50 percent tuition reimbursement. According to informal reports, these companies are faring better than AAA in terms of employee satisfaction; therefore, improving employee satisfaction might be a pro to offering this solution. However, the turnover rate and recruitment efforts have been unaffected by this policy. In other words, it seems plausible that the high number of comparable companies that offer full tuition reimbursement options would attract the quality employees that we desire. So while this option has some possible positive effects, we believe that this option would not alleviate all of the symptoms that we need to fix for the benefit of AAA and our family of employees.

 

Offer robust tuition reimbursement. As mentioned previously, many other comparable companies have this policy in place currently, and it seems to have had extremely positive effects on the company overall; therefore, a pro of this possible solution is that it could solve our overall problem and all of its symptoms. A con of this possible alternative is the initial cost and paperwork. However, another major pro is the tax exemption that we would reap from implementing this policy. According to the IRS –issued Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits for use in 2009, Section 127, the Code allows employers to cover expenses other than tuition, such as books and lab fees, to be covered under education assistance programs. Employers may also choose to pay for time off if classes occur during normal working hours. Or employers may elect to only reimburse tuition (IRS guide, 2009, p. 112). In any case, the IRS allows all of this money to be tax exempt, which would benefit our company in the long-term. A final pro to choosing this alternative is that employees would have obligations to the company in return for the tuition reimbursement. Other companies’ executives, such as the aforementioned Veruca Salt, claim that this employee obligation is a boon to both the company and the employee. The benefit for the company is obvious; the benefit for the employee comes from the perception that the company really does care about the well-being of its employees, which, in turn, encourages employees to desire to do well for the company.

 

Recommended Course of Action

 

We therefore recommend that AAA Consulting, 21 South Street, Baltimore, MD 21212, begin taking steps to implement a tuition reimbursement plan as a part of our regular fringe benefits package. The Accounting department will begin immediately drawing up paperwork to fulfill the necessary IRS Federal and State funding requirements. Our goal is to begin offering this package to potential new hires (during the interview process) as soon as possible – within the next three months. The Human Resources department will also conduct a survey to assess the effects of this policy on new hires and current employees.

 

Implementation Plan

 

After we receive the paperwork from Accounting, we will construct information packets to be distributed to all current employees. We will clearly indicate the requirements of the policy. All of the following questions will be clearly answered in the packet: Will employees be limited to community and state colleges or will we also reimburse courses taken at private universities? Will we reimburse courses for undergraduate or graduate degrees only or will we allow reimbursement for certificate programs or post-graduate work? Will we limit eligible classes to those directly related to future or current job responsibilities or leave the policy open? Upon official acceptance of this policy, we will immediately hold meetings with our executives, with Accounting, and with Human Resources to answer all of these questions. We will clearly define which types of classes for which we will pay, and if any doubts arise, employees will be asked to bring in an official course description so that we may assess the nature of the course. We will limit eligibility to full-time employees, and an employee must be employed for six months before the employee is eligible for reimbursement. While the IRS permits only a maximum annual $5,250 tax free reimbursement, we can reimburse above and beyond that amount or even limit reimbursement to a lower dollar amount each year (IRS guide, 2009, p. 115). Following proven successful strategies of other companies, we will compensate according to grades: An “A” earns an employee 100 percent reimbursement while a “C” gets 50 percent.

We will make it our goal to encourage and support the educational pursuits of our employees. We will also consider helping employees balance work and school by allowing them to telecommute or work flex hours during exams and deadlines. Following is a tentative timeline for implementation:
 

Bradford (Human Resources)
Kendra (Accounting)

Today’s Date: January 8
Task	Timeline goal	Responsible party
Draw up initial paperwork	January 25	Susan (Accounting)
Distribute information packet to current employees	February 10	Charles (Human Resources)
Meeting of executives and other relevant departments	March 1	Helen (Administrative Executive Asst)
Hold informative employee workshop	March 18		Bradford (Human Resources) Kendra (Accounting)
Begin actual implementation of policy	April 1

 
 

References

 

IRS guide (2009, January 1). Retrieved January 2, 2009, from http://www.irs.gov/guide_to_benefits.

 

Verizon wireless annual report 2007. (2008, February 3). Retrieved January 1, 2009, from http://www.verizon.com/usa/annrep08.htm.