Air Products Case Essay Example

Air Products Case Essay Example Air Products Case Essay Air Products Case Essay Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a mid-size company that is rooted in three different industries. They are generating income from all three industries and want to continue that upward trend. There are so many new technologies available for Air Products to use to give them competitive advantage. In order to use these new technologies, they will need to rely on their MIS group. Is the MIS group equip to provide such service? With three different industries involved, can MIS help them all? This case will emphasize how MIS can support the business and how to utilize them as a resource rather than a hindrance. 1. COMPANY BACKGROUND Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is a global company that sells industrial gases, commodity specialty chemicals and process equipment. Air Products has two headquarters: one in Allentown, Pennsylvania and the other in Hersham, United Kingdom. The CEO and chairman is Dexter Baker. The Executive Vice President of MIS is Bob Lovett, the Vice President of MIS is Pete Mather and the Vice President of MIS Europe is John Shepherd. Air Products employees 13,000 people in more than 150 plants worldwide. 2. AS-IS MATRIX Figure 1 outlines Air Products As-Is for both the business and IT group. Air Products service a wide range of customers and competitors due to the three diverse industries they are involved in. Air Product is a strong competitor in all three industries as a result of their continued effort to lower manufacturing and distribution costs. They have also been able to implement a system that gives access to their engineering and database information globally. The Board of directors, stockholders and the management organization development committee are the major governing bodies when it comes to making company wide decisions. Air Products also adhere to government agencies like the PTT in Europe who regulates telecommunications. The organizational structure is setup to be functional based, horizontal and decentralized due to the diverse industries. The key processes are RD, engineering design, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Air Products recruits Ph. D. , MBA, BA and BE graduates from the top business universities in both the US and Europe. In Air Products MIS group, they provide support for many of the key business applications. Most of the applications are specific to one Business unit (BU) area. For example, the CAD/CAM application is used by the Process equipment group and RD Computing is only used for the chemical group. MIS maintains a data center, a DASD (disk storage), various client systems and mainframes to support business operations. MIS has successfully implemented project ICON that transferred Europes data center to the US data center. This allowed global access to one common database and enabled a company wide data consistency. The CIO, MIS directors and functional BU directors make these types of decisions in MIS. The architecture supported in Air Products include Ethernet based LAN and WAN, various client systems, mainframes, Tandem Dec, VAX, video conferencing equipment and telecommunications technology. The key processes of the MIS group provide customer support to our internal and external customer. MIS manages emerging technology, application development, database consistency and technology assessment. MIS recruits from MIS, BE and BS graduates from top technology universities. 3. WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS/OPPORTUNITIES? * SWOT ANALYSIS Figure 3 describes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business areas and the MIS group. The MIS group generated a strength when they decided to relocated the MIS development group into their business areas and transferred management control to the business managers. MIS was also able to centralize the database access in the ICON project. Additionally, MIS took an active role to re- engineer the customer interface in order to provide 60,000 customers a one point of contact. Another strength came about by finding ways to lower manufacturing and distribution costs while increase sales and income revenue. The weaknesses found in Air Products steams from the diverse business areas. It is hard to work with three very different industries. It causes difficulties when MIS resources need to be shifted around. It limits the career paths for both the business and MIS employees as each area requires different training needs. It also becomes difficult to support and upgrade the various systems in these areas. MIS needs to start taking a different role in their way of supporting the business. There are always opportunities for improvement. Air Products has the opportunity expand their business world wide in order to dominate the three industries. The BU areas can improve upon their role in managing technology within their area. MIS can help improve the odds of MIS staff moving out into the other areas of the company. MIS can also improve customer service by providing global support coverage and provide more business driven services. MIS has to deal with a constant threat of communication failure between the main sites. MIS also has threats from competitors as they fight to attract college graduates from the top universities. MISs governing power over the company is threatened as MIS standards are not being followed. The organizational structure of MIS is threatened due to constant pressure from BU areas to come through with project or changes. * TO-BE MATRIX Figure 2 outlines the To-Be matrix of how Air Products should be in a future. The key to get Air Products to this future stage is to strengthen MIS to better support the business areas. In the To-Be, if MIS guides and directs the business to utilize and incorporate new technology, then Air Products can venture out to compete in other industries or to team up with other firms to work on a new product or service. Air Products could even become consultants to other companies at the areas they are best in and have the most expertise. Air Products would be able to branch out to other areas of the world and dominate competition in these locations worldwide. In the decision-making area, the major difference would be the presence of MIS executives in all the major committees. MIS would be there to bring in new ideas and technology to the business areas or help to initiate joint ventures with two or more areas. The number for strategic internal or external partners would increase due to these initiatives. The type of partners are no longer limited to other industrial firms. For example, Air Products can partner with universities or government laboratories for RD to create or test a new product. All these things listed above can be accomplished if two things changes: the organizational structure of MIS and HR takes a proactive role to hire, train and retain the skills needed to succeed. In Figure 2, the organization structure needs to become a federalist model where MIS becomes both centralized and decentralized. MIS needs to decentralize the areas that support the BU areas directly like the application development and project management. MIS also will need to centralize the standards of HW management and SW management, centralize architecture, integrate and standardize common functions found through out the company. Lastly, HR will need to start becoming more proactive to help the Air Products attract the people and skills they desire. Also to provide guidance in career paths and training after they get hired into the company. They can also provide job postings or project bidding to give employees the opportunities to get some exposure to the rest of the company. * MAJOR PROBLEMS OPPORTUNITIES There are 4 major problems in Air Products that need to be addressed. A. MIS developers were moved in the BU areas but both sides are not certain on how to align themselves to each other. They did not know what to expect when the change was implemented so the BU areas are not managing the MIS resources well. The MIS developers groups do not know enough to help or guide the BU. Their function is to develop what is asked of them from the BU they support. Therefore both sides are lacking vision and direction in terms of development of existing and future technology. B. MIS lags behind in new technology or skills in terms of their resources and is having a hard time getting or keeping those skills in IT and the company. C. MIS has too many diverse systems and they cause lots of problems when trying to upgrade these systems. MIS needs to come up with a plan to standardize equipment both international and US. MIS needs to find a way to better control of the architecture and centralize them. D. MIS needs to work on improving their image to their customers and become more of a key enabler for the BU areas to guide and direct them to gain competitive advantage in their industries. * CONSIDER THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS? In Figure 4, the stakeholders of each problem are listed. For problem A, the key stakeholders are Bob Lovett as sponsor, Pete Mather as champion, MIS development managers as project managers and the BU managers as the group that are placing the requests. The managers are the ones who are mostly affected by this problem. Currently both sides are working with each other as before but now the BU managers have control over the budget. The desired state would be for MIS to help both sides work more effectively with each other in order to gain competitive advantage for that industry. The champion will need to demonstrate to them how to better align themselves together. For problem B, the CEO will need to support this issue as a sponsor. The VP of HR will be the champion and the HR department is the business partner. HR currently is not providing much guidance in the career path of an employee. There are no guidelines for managers to use and no tools available to help employees to get to where they want to go next. The desired state is for the VP of HR and HR to come up with better HR development tools, provide career paths for all areas and create a training guideline for managers to use. For problem C, Pete Mather is the sponsor, John Shepherd, director of MIS in Europe is the champion, Shepherds group is the beachhead group and the outside vendor is the supplier. The current state of the systems is too overwhelming to conduct upgrades. There are too many vendors involved and difficulties of communication with the different systems. The desired state of affairs would be to have one vendor that supplies only one line of systems and the vendor implements and support those systems. For problem D, Bob Lovett is the sponsor, Pete Mather is the champion, the new MIS specialized teams is the enabler and the BU areas is the supported group. The current state of affairs is that the BU areas are not getting any guidance on how to incorporate new technology or improve their current technology and applications. The desired state would be to have MIS provide this guidance so that the BU areas can evaluate and utilize new technology as they arise.

Prevention of Infection in Home Health Care Essay

Prevention of Infection in Home Health Care - Essay Example As such, this brief analysis will seek to analyze the definition of infection, types of infection/most common types of infection that exist within home health care, the modes of these different infection transmissions, ways to impede or disrupt such transmissions, and self protective equipment and its application within the home health care setting. Though home health care accounts for but a small percentage of total health care delivery within the United States, it is nonetheless a growing sector of health care deserves discussion. According to a recent study, published in 2011, there has been a high level of growth within home care; however, it still pales in comparison to the total amount of money that is expended upon hospital care. As of 2011, home care represented just 3% of total health care expenditures as compared to over 31% of total expenditure taking place with relation to traditional hospitals. However, the fact remains that even though the figure is small; it is a growi ng sector and is expected to grow a further 2.5% in the coming decade. As such, it is necessary to understand some of the key nuances that exist within home care as a function of anticipating and treating these issues in a medically expeditious means. For purposes of this brief analysis, the author will consider infection to be, â€Å"the invasion of a host organism’s bodily tissues by disease-causing organisms, their multiplication, and the reaction of the host tissues to these organisms and the toxins they produce† (Krismer 2012). With such a broad and encompassing definition, it becomes clear that infection within home care encompasses a broad range of issues; some acting as a more primal threat to health than others. It is important to note that although many journal entries have warned concerning the level of latent disease and exposure that exists within hospital and primary care, the level to which pathogens exist within the environment of the home is far less u niform. Whereas hospitals most comply with federal standards of cleanliness and procedures for disposal of an array of disease causing agents, regularly schedule cleanings, and a host of other preventative mechanisms, home care is almost invariably not nearly so tightly regulated, or sanitary. For this very reason, the prevalence of disease and the severity with which it affects patients within the given context is almost invariably higher than a similarly community of patients within a traditional medical facility. However, the prevalence of infection within the home care theater is not reason in and of itself to strongly recommend against its implementation as a means of treatment. With regards to the types of infections and the most common infections that exhibit themselves within home care, there are a number which will herein be discussed. As one might expect, the very same infectious disease agents that exhibit themselves within the hospital care front are also exhibited withi n home care; albeit, to different extents and total percentage rates than in traditional hospital care. For instance, studies on home care have typically indicated that the most common types of infections are concentric upon urinary tract infections, followed by an array of different types of skin infections, with staphylococcus aureus, and enterococcus rounding out the least

Same-Sex Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Same-Sex Marriage - Essay Example ause of children as they are a shared responsibility and without children husband and wife do not share any big responsibilities, which weakens their bond instead of strengthening it. George makes another argument that to ground marriage laws on the moral judgment of heterosexual and monogamous marriages is correct. He argues that since law is considered as a teacher, if it remains silent or neutral regarding marriages, then people would misunderstand the true meaning and essence of marriage. â€Å"It may harm people who need the reinforcement of the broader culture so that they are not distracted and lose their ability to â€Å"see the true meaning of marriage†, argues George (647). I agree with George’s criticism about same-sex marriages when he states that it is a union of man and women instead of two men or two women. I believe that heterosexual spouses unite in marital sexual activity for the goal of reproducing children but this unity brings longevity to their sp iritual happiness and strengthens their bonding for the rest of their lives. The goal of having children is not instrumental. This goal unites the two parents into such a bond that they find peace in being with each other, which is necessary to motivate them to make efforts for their children’s well-being. These children are not treated as ends in themselves because they are a source of spiritual and emotional strengthening of the bond between their heterosexual parents. This is not true in case of same-sex marriages because there is no emotional bond that needs to be strengthened- the bond that forms as a result of sexual intercourse, pregnancy and offspring. I also agree that if law does not restrict same-sex marriages or remains quiet, then such marriages will become very common resulting in destroying... This essay talks about a sensitive issue of same-sex marriages. The debate between supporters and opponents of same-sex marriages has been around for a fairly long period of time. The earliest known gay rights organization is the Society for Human Rights in Chicago that was established in 1924 and launched the first gay rights movement. After that, the Mattachine Society was established in 1950. History reveals that a number of organizations and movements have been launched at state level which support gay rights which include ceremonial marriages, child adoption, domestic partnership registration on public record, domestic partnership affidavit given by employers to gay employees that defines the couple’s economic relationship, health care, insurance, lawsuits, and property. An analysis of George’s criticisms reveals many facts that are agreeable to someone who wants the true definition of marriage to sustain. George claims that marriage is a bond between man and woman with the purpose of reproducing offspring and also of sharing responsibilities that tends to enhance mutual love and caring through sexual act and spiritual bond. He argues that legalization of same-sex marriages would deteriorate the society morally. Bolte, contrarily, argues that if marriage means bearing children, then the marriages of opposite-sex couples not bearing children are also not legal. She states many advantages of same-sex marriages, one of which is that this enables gays and lesbians to be accepted as normal individuals of the society.

Flax Seed Crop: Requirements for Growth

Flax Seed Crop: Requirements for Growth Garrett Sawatzky Devin Pouteau Flax has been produced in Manitoba for many years and once held a large portion of cropped acres throughout the province. Flax is still grown in some areas of Manitoba and there are many uses for the seed and straw. Flax is a sensitive crop and must be planted at the correct depth, seeding rate, and date to get the best production from it. Flax is typically sown later in the spring into warm soil at a depth of ÂÂ ¾ to 1 1/4 inches. A high seeding rate of 40 to 45 pounds is recommended to achieve 40 plants a square foot with the emergence rate of 50-60%. This high density is required to compete with weeds. Flax may be affected from seedling blight on rare occasions, the seeds waxy coating makes it hard to treat, meaning it often isnt treated. Flax has Specific nutrient needs and will not respond to higher rates of fertilizer. Excess nitrogen will cause prolonged maturation and lodging issues. Farmers should have a soil test done but a general fertilizer analysis following a grain crop is 40-60 lbs of nitrogen, 30 to 40 lbs of phosphorous, 30 to 60 lbs of potassium on sandy soils, and 15 lbs of sulfur. Chlorosis may be an issue due to a deficiency in zinc, ensure the soil has adequate zinc to avoid it. Flax is not a competitive crop meaning crop protection is important. Weed competition is the largest issue and can be controlled using high plant density and chemical herbicides. Herbicides that work well for flax are Curtail M which kills broadleaves such as thistles and volunteer canola. Centurian is also tank mixed which kills grasses such as wild oats. Typically, spraying herbicides twice is required as late weeds can still compete with established flax. Disease is not a huge issue in flax but rust, fusarium wilt, and powdery mildew are sometimes an issue. Some fungicides that help are Folicur, Headline, or Quadris which are sprayed at early flower. Flax reaches maturity in 90 to 125 days depending on the variety, once ripe the plant forms bolls that contain shiny flax seeds inside. The plant is mature when the bolls are brown, the seeds rattle inside when shook and the top opens slightly. Desiccation is often used to dry down the plant and the seeds to 10% moisture which is required for storage. Once dry, flax can be straight cut or swathed and rolled then harvested shortly after. Flax plants are very light and can easily be blown if swathed and left in the wind. The straw fibres are dropped and baled for the fibre if weed content is low or burned if it cannot be used. Typical yields for flax in Manitoba is 32 bu/ac on average, 45 on the high end and 17 on the low end. Flax seed is used for oil, nutritional supplement, and used in many wood finishes. The straw fibre is used for insulation, paper, linen, and livestock bedding. Although there are many uses for both the seed and plant the market is beginning to drop. Many of these products are now made with synthetic products rather than with flax seed or straw. Flax prices are currently at $12.25 a bushel and has been around that price for the past two months. Historical prices have been variable, being as high as $18.00 per bushel and as low as $10.00. The price is variable but typically averages between $12.50 and $13.00 a bushel yearly. Both globally and nationally supply will be similar or lower in the coming year as some people are removing flax from their rotation and adding more profitable crops such as soybeans. Demand will be similar as consumers continue to use flax for every day uses. Products manufactured from flax straw will be lower as less straws produced, and synthetic products replace it. Overall Flax can be a profitable crop, but may be challenging as it is not a competitive plant. Flax needs protection in all areas from planting, spraying and even during harvest. Market prices have been high, meaning with average yields flax Is very profitable. Its believe that consumers wont stop using flax as a healthy alternative in their diets, meaning the market will be here for the foreseeable future. Works Cited Manitoba Flax Growers Association, mfga.ca. Accessed 1 Feb. 2017. Flax Production and Management. Government of Manitoba, https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/production/flax-and-solin/index.html. Accessed 1 Feb. 2017. Flax Council of Canada, flaxcouncil.ca. Accessed 1 Feb. 2017.

A scope statement for a spring concert Essay

Your roommate is about to submit a scope statement for a spring concert sponsored by the entertainment council at Western Evergreen State University (WESU). WESU is a residential university with over 22,000 students. This will be the first time in six years since WESU sponsored a spring concert. The entertainment council has budgeted $40,000 for the project. The event is to occur on June 5th. Since your roommate knows you are taking a class on project management she has asked you to review her scope statement and make suggestions for improvement. She considers the concert a resume-building experience and wants to be as professional as possible. Below is a draft of her scope statement. What suggestions would you make and why? WESU Spring Music Concert Project Objective To organize and deliver a 6-hour music concert by June 5th at cost to not exceed $40,000. Deliverables †¢Concert security †¢Contact local newspapers and radio stations †¢Separate beer garden †¢Six hours of musical entertainment †¢Design a commemorative concert t-shirt †¢Local sponsors †¢Food venues †¢Event insurance †¢Safe environment Milestones 1.Secure all permissions and approvals 2.Sign big-name artist 3.Contact secondary artists 4.Secure vendor contracts 5.Advertising campaign 6.Plan set-up 7.Concert 8.Clean-up Technical Requirements 1.Professional sound stage and system 2.At least five performing acts 3.Restroom facilities 4.Parking 5.Compliance with WESU and city requirements/ordinances Limits and Exclusions †¢Seating capacity for 8,000 students. †¢Performers are responsible for travel arrangement to and from WESU. †¢Performers must provide own liability insurance. †¢Performers and security personnel will be provided lunch and dinner on the day of the concert. †¢Vendors contribute 25 percent of sales to concert fund †¢Concert must be over at 12:15 A.M.

Marx long ago wrote that philosophers

One of most controversial socio-political ideas, which advocators of social change want to incorporate within the context of society, is egalitarianism. Egalitarianism aims to ensure that equality is being observed among men. Equality is viewed in egalitarian stance, in the sense that each individual must be treated equally and fairly wherein economic opportunities are available to all and wealth is distributed evenly. Hence, egalitarianism presupposes that each individual should have an equal social worth and moral status. John Locke posits the basic tenets of egalitarianism, which explicitly state that the validation of our natural rights will lead to the realization of social change. First, each individual has the right to do everything she chooses; in so far that he/she will not infringe other’s rights, in forms of fraud, force, violence, and the likes. Second, each individual has the right to ensure his/her safety, except if she gave up this right or transfer to others or to the government. And most importantly, each and everyone is the owner of themselves and all infants must be nurtured properly until they reach their adulthood by those who biologically create them. Thus, Locke’s concept of egalitarianism is focus on self-ownership. In this milieu, we can infer that egalitarianism proposed by Locke is geared towards social change because even if it gives so much stress on self-ownership, it can never denied that the validation of one’s natural rights is the primary step for equality among men, which happens to be the epicenter of man’s struggle.   Justice is served when there is equality. The basic drive of egalitarianism springs from the contrast between the claim of every human being to an equal status, in respect simply of our common humanity, and the inequality of income and wealth. That equality of status is expressed in our notion of rights inherent in every human being, by reason only of his or her sentient existence. We speak of ‘human rights’, and expect them to be recognized in every land, whatever the structure of its society or the policy of its government, simply because the inhabitants are human beings as are we. Every person who shares with us the experience of voyaging on this planet between birth and death is in like case with us, and in some respects is entitled to an equal consideration. Those respects appear in civic rights, such as free speech, access to justice, the vote, and protection of property. They appear also where duties are imposed, such as conscription, or jury service; even taxation is required to lay an equal burden on households' ability to pay. In all these and other respects, we feel it wrong to accord or deny rights to people according to their parentage, their abilities, their attainments and even (except in extreme cases) their conduct. Increasingly in recent years it has been held that we should make no distinction by gender. We rate the standing of a country in the scale of civilization by the extent to which it observes these rights. Yet even where they are observed most fully, and the people pride themselves on their civic equality, they are divided from one another by great differences in their income and wealth, with all the consequent differences in their way of life. The spirit of humanity works in one way, the market economy in quite another. To many people who look for no revolutionary change, this disparity is shocking. Contrariwise, egalitarianism for Karl Marx is necessary for as long as it is construed that capitalism is eliminated altogether, in which the existence of inequalities among men in the arena of economic market will not be ruled by capitalist establishments. Marx argues that it is permissible to distribute economic goods based on the criterion emphasized by norms, and not by capitalists. Norm is the basis for equal rights because people will not be exploited since the economic earnings that a person will be getting is justified by his/her labor contribution, or as the catchphrase, â€Å"to each according to his contribution†.[1] But since this kind of reasoning is still problematic, Marx posits that this will only be a stepping stone, until a society reaches a higher communist status wherein the law will be â€Å"to each according to his needs†.   Marx furthers that a society, in order to acquire a just society, must not equate norms to any moral principle because incorporating such concept emanates an attitude of enforcement. If Locke claims that self-ownership is the key in actualizing egalitarian perspective, Marx, on the one hand, construes that is the realization of a utopian society. Self-ownership is lacking for Marx because a person is still vulnerable to any kind of exploitations, especially in economic market and labor, wherein those who cannot claim their self will be left to be exploited. He postulates that exploitation (in terms of labor, economic distribution, etc.) will only be annihilated if the society will reach its utopian status because for this status to be realized, it is a principal prerequisite that every member of a society participates in a societal operation that gives value to one’s ability, and with regards to what the individual can contribute in that society it should not be attacked by any prejudices and biases. Everyone is equal even if there is a diversity of abilities or contributions. If equality exists within one’s society, then social change is achievable. It must be noted that social change asks for the re-landscaping of society’s status quo. And in present times, the distribution of wealth and equal opportunities is of major concern. Reference: Henry, B. P. (1991). Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality (Reprint ed.): Oxford University Press, USA. [1] Henry, B.P. Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality. Oxford Univ. Press, p. 122.

How to Write a Research Essay on an Unfamiliar Topic

Sooner or later any student faces the task of writing an essay on a topic he or she doesn’t know anything about. Although it is a tough task no matter what kind of essay it is, the problem may be somewhat alleviated in case the essay in question is a research essay – because its very nature presupposes that you find out more about the topic in the very process of composing your paper. It, of course, helps if you have at least some inklings of what you are supposed to write about, but it is quite possible that your tutor has given you this task knowing that you are unfamiliar with the topic – for the sole purpose of teaching you how to do research. Before You Start Writing: Studying Research Essay Examples Practice makes perfect; nobody is going to argue against this maxim. But how are you supposed to practice if you have no idea what to begin with? You may be even familiar with theoretical aspect of research essay writing, but without ever seeing such an assignment completed by someone else you will hardly be capable of writing something along the same lines yourself. That is why it is a good idea to look for research essay examples before trying to write something on your own. You should, however, remember that there are a lot of essay databanks on the Internet, but not all of them are equally helpful. Some contain papers of extremely poor quality, often written by people who themselves have no idea of what they are doing and the standards they are supposed to use. These materials, of course, shouldn’t be used for reference. But how to find out which resources contain essays of sufficient quality? Unfortunately, in most cases the only way to filter out the second-rate sources is to get recommendations from the people you trust. A Sample Topic – Writing an Essay on Breast Cancer So, let’s say you have to write on this rather unpleasant topic. The first thing you should understand is that, essentially, research essays have a lot in common with argumentative ones, simply with a much greater emphasis on facts, statistics and personal research done as a part of the process of writing. It means that you have to determine the point you are going to support, and then do some research, looking for the information supporting your thesis. Of course, if you don’t know much about the topic in question, you will hardly be able to write something really profound, but still, you don’t want to repeat someone else’s thoughts too blatantly. Luckily, writing an essay on breast cancer leaves you a lot of freedom. You may try and prove a connection between certain lifestyle choices and the likelihood of breast cancer development, or study the rates of this disease in different decades of this and the previous centuries. In other words, choose whatever you like – just make sure you can find enough facts supporting your point.