Student response
Student#1
I don’t feel this would be an appropriate cost driver to calculate employee bonuses for a Critical Care department if this was the only cost driver being used. Financial performance in a patient care unit is not going to be as dependent on a fixed cost such as square footage as it will be on services delivered or supplies utilized. Square footage, being more of a fixed cost would be looked at in the cost pool of support services and breaking down the individual costs of those services for each department. The housekeeping scenario used in the textbook is a good example of this. The cost driver that involves housekeeping in the example is, does a department 10,000 square feet of space use twice the amount of housekeeping services as a department with only 5,000 square feet of space. This in my opinion will not have an effect on employee bonuses as it will have been predetermined information and not significant to how well the department has performed day to day financially.
Student#2
As the department head at Mercy Hospital, I would not agree that square footage is an appropriate cost driver for employee bonuses. Reason being; a larger square footage does not necessarily equal larger profit for the company. Consider two separate units of the same level of care: a 20-bed unit utilizes approximately 5,000 square feet and the other unit houses 40 beds (semi-private) at the same 5,000 square feet. With all things being equal (patient care, occupancy, supply cost, employee wages, etc…), the 40 bed unit will always be more profitable based on shear volume (beds and capability). Using square footage as the primary cost driver for providing employee bonuses, I believe, does not fairly or justifiably indicate the departments profitability. A more reasonable and accurate cost driver would be perhaps, number of hours worked by the nursing staff. This would be a good indication of how well the department utilizes their nursing staff in relation to the patient census.
Related posts:
- For this Discussion, you will investigate how another organization conducts assessments. Begin by finding out whatever you can through Web searching about your local or state health department's approach to assessment and strategic planning. Find out also if there are initiatives at the state level to coordinate health assessments from the various communities in the state. If so, are there tools and forms available to do that? (See the Iowa state Web site as an example: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/chnahip/reports_2005.asp.) Then locate and interview someone who has been involved in community health assessment and strategic planning at either a local or state level. To find a person to interview, contact your local health department. Depending on the size of the department, you may wish to ask to interview the director or else ask to be referred to someone who has participated in assessment and strategic planning. If you prefer, you could instead call your state health department; each state should have personnel who deal with coordinating strategic plans from individual counties, and one of these individuals might be a good person to interview. Your interview may be conducted over the phone or via e-mail, or in person if you prefer. (Note: You must transcribe or summarize your interview and post it.) Prepare your thoughts and questions carefully in advance so you can be succinct in your interview. In your interview, you should ask them questions along these lines, as well as any other questions you think are appropriate to the organization or individual you are working with: 1. How do you assess the needs of your community? How often do you conduct assessments? 2. What use did you make of the assessment data? Did you develop a strategic plan or something similar for your department and/or for the community? Please describe this plan. (For example, how detailed is it? Is it a long-range plan?) 3. What are your thoughts about the assessment process? How well is it working? What are specifc strengths of the process from your perspectives? Any barriers or difficulties to overcome? Then: # Identify the organization and title of the person you contacted (for privacy purposes, however, do not identify the name of the person you interviewed). # Summarize the findings of your interview, highlighting what you found most surprising or interesting regarding the challenges and benefits of the community health assessment process. Is there anything you would do differently or do you have suggestions for improvement? # Post a transcript or detailed summary of the interview as an attachment; this will allow other students who are interested to learn more about this organization's assessment process.
- Evaluating a film for its significance to the study of social justice movements
- Do individual research on creating a new hospital department. Discuss the measures you would use to show that your department has an edge over the competition. What kind of measures would you use to argue for this department to the hospital leadership? Conclude if your measures are strong enough to justify the new department.
- Calculate the after-tax cost of debt
- Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word strategic objectives summary. Include your balanced scorecard and its impact on all stakeholders, and the communication plan. Identify key trends, assumptions, and risks in the context of your final business model. Develop the strategic objectives for your new division of the existing business in a balanced scorecard format in the context of key trends, assumptions, and risks. The strategic objectives are measures of attaining your vision and mission. As you develop them, consider the vision, mission, and values for your business and the outcomes of your SWOT analysis and supply chain analysis. Consider the following four quadrants of the balanced scorecard when developing your strategic objectives: Shareholder Value or Financial Perspective, which includes strategic objectives in areas such as: Market share Revenues and costs Profitability Competitive position Customer Value Perspective, which includes strategic objectives in areas such as: Customer retention or turnover Customer satisfaction Customer value Process or Internal Operations Perspective, which includes strategic objectives in areas such as: Measure of process performance Productivity or productivity improvement Operations metrics Impact of change on the organization Learning and Growth (Employee) Perspective, which includes strategic objectives in areas such as: Employee satisfaction Employee turnover or retention Level of organizational capability Nature of organizational culture or climate Technological innovation Evaluate potential alternatives to the issues and/or opportunities identified in the SWOT Analysis paper and table you completed in Week 3. Create at least three strategic objectives for each of the four balanced scorecard areas. Base your solutions on a ranking of alternative solutions that includes the following: Identify potential risks and mitigation plans Analyze a stakeholder and include mitigation and contingency strategies. Incorporate ethical implications Develop a metric and target for each strategic objective using a balanced scorecard format. Example: a strategic objective in the shareholder or financial perspective is to increase market share. A metric to actually measure this strategic objective of market share increase is, "The percentage of increase in market share." The target is the specific number to be achieved in a particular time period. The target for the metric of "Increase market share" could be "Increase market share by 2% for each of the next 3 years" of an increase of 2% per year for 3 years.) Outline a brief communication plan discussing how you will communicate the company's strategic objectives that includes the following: Define the purpose. Define the audience. Identify the channel(s) of communication and why you selected that channel. Format paper consistent with APA guidelines. Attachments Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 9.17.03 PM.png Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 9.17.08 PM.png
- Employee engagement has been perceived as a significant development in providing greater commitment & energy benefiting both d organization & the employee.With reference tothis literature,critically evaluate d impact of employee engagement on org
- Coporate profitability decline by 20 percent from 2008 to 2009. What performance percentage would you used to trigger executive bonuses for that year?why? What issues would arise with the hiring and retaining the best managers?
- Antitrust laws were essentially created to stop businesses that got too large from blocking competition and abusing their power. Mergers and monopolies can limit the choices offered to consumers because smaller businesses are not usually able to compete. Although free and open competition ensures lower prices and new and better products, it has the potential to significantly limit market diversity. Look at the 2 examples below of how mergers and acquisitions have affected the way in which companies do business. Read each of the 2 examples below. Prepare a APA formatted research paper that responds to the aligned questions. Specifically, your paper must: Identify the two firms with similar problems from different countries Conduct a comparative analysis of the firms Analyze political, social, ethical and legal differences and their impact on management decision making Provide substantive conclusion and recommendations Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following: TITLE PAGE. Remember the Running head: AND TITLE IN ALL CAPITALS ABSTRACT. A summary of your paper…not an introduction. Begin writing in third person voice. BODY. The body of your paper begins on the page following the title page and abstract page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The type face should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics except as required for APA level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 4-5 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged. REFERENCE PAGE. References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hang indention, italics, and upper and lower case usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference Page is not a bibliography but a further listing of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item must have a corresponding in-body citation. Example 1 Federal antitrust enforcers are investigating whether a multinational pharmaceutical company has attempted to minimize the impact of generic competition to one of its most profitable prescription drugs. This anti-depressant drug is the company's best seller, with sales last year of $2.11 billion, representing a 22% increase from the year before. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting an investigation to determine whether the company has engaged in activities to prevent generic alternatives to the prescription drug from entering the market. Specifically, the FTC is challenging a practice among brand-name and generic-drug manufacturers to agree to delay the introduction of the lower priced generic drugs to the market. Answer the following questions: Why would the drug maker want to stymie generic competition? Explain. What types of legal barriers to market entry exist? What are the possible ethical dilemmas present in this example? Example 2 The boards of 2 major telecommunications companies recently agreed to a $16 billion-dollar merger that would create the world's largest telecommunications company in the world. Although some agree that the synergy between these companies could be dynamic, others feel consumers could ultimately pay the price for the merger depending on which company becomes dominant in the various service areas. Answer the following questions: Why do you think consumer advocates have expressed concern over such merger possibilities? Other than pricing, what are some pitfalls that consumers might have to deal with when 2 major companies merge? What are the possible ethical dilemmas present in this example?
- In Week One of this course, you were asked to find a child to observe. For this assignment, you will observe the child using the requirements below and summarize your observation. This can be done in one sitting, or it can be done in two since you will be conducting two different observations. Two is preferable for accuracy of assessment. For the observation you will need to: Be sure you have the permission of the child’s parent. Exclude any identifying information for this child (e.g., last name) Follow the guidelines on pages 141-144 of the course text regarding behaviors during the visit (ethical conduct, avoiding personal bias, etc.). Be sure you have the appropriate materials ready: You will need either a Running Record Form or an Anectodal Record Form, whichever you choose. For this form, you will choose one developmental domain to observe (e.g., cognitive, physical, motor, or language). You will need either a Time Sampling Form or an Event Sampling Form, whichever you choose. For this form, you will choose one developmental domain to observe (e.g., cognitive, physical, motor, or language). Example: Assessing “Bobby,” I would first observe his motor development using an anecdotal record form. In a different sitting, I would observe his cognitive development using an event sampling form. For the assignment, you will need to include: A title page. A copy of the completed Running Record Form or Anecdotal Record Form (remember this should address one domain). A copy of the completed Time-Sampling Form or Event Sampling Form (this should address a different domain). A one page summary of the observation(s). In this summary, include: How you felt the observation went and why. How receptive you feel the child was and why you feel that way (if using one of the video options state the reaction of the child upon being videotaped as you see it). The most challenging aspect of this observation. The most enjoyable aspect of this observation. What you learned from this experience. What you would change next time. A one-page paper providing some developmentally appropriate activities you might implement for this child in the classroom or daycare center to foster growth in each of the developmental domains you observed, and why those activities are a good fit for this child. Your two-page paper should be in proper 6th edition APA format. Remember to submit two written pages, both observation forms, and your title page in one document. Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
- ROLE OF CONTROLLER: Juanita Veracruz, newly hired controller of Braxton Industries, had been lured away from a competitor to revitalize the controller’s department. Her first day on the job proved to be an eye-opener. One of her first interviews was with Adrian Belton, production supervisor in the Cleveland factory. Belton commented, “I really don’t want to talk to anyone from the controller’s office. The only time we see those accountants is when our costs go over their budget. They wave what they call a ‘performance report,’ but it’s actually just a bunch of numbers they make up. It has nothing to do with what happens on the shop floor. Besides, my men can’t afford the time to fill out all the paperwork those accountants want, so I just plug in some numbers and send it back. Now, if you’ll let me get back to important matters.…” Veracruz left quickly, but she was already planning for her next visit with Belton. 1. Identify some of the problems in the relationship between the controller’s department and the production departments (assuming that the Cleveland factory is representative of the production departments). 2. What should Juanita Veracruz do next?