Reducing The Incidences Of Malnutrition Nursing Essay

Reducing The Incidences Of Malnutrition Nursing Essay -Reducing the incidences of malnutrition that often occurs during admission to hospital has been a priority within the nursing care profession for many years. There have been various explanations for this such as lack of staff, patients not able or are unwilling to admit they require assistance, poor use of assessment tools and care pathways. A key factor in the prevalence of patients presenting with malnourishment is the disturbances patients endure during mealtimes, such as ward rounds, non urgent medical interventions, housekeeping activities and visitors. This essay will explore the incidences of malnutrition, and those who are most at risk and the changes that have been made to reduce such incidences. Change management should be regarded as an ongoing process, which requires good communication, planning, positive leadership and cooperation. This essay will endeavor to explore the change management processes, leadership and team management skills used in the implementation of protected mealtimes. It will explore the negative aspects and problems encountered when implementing a change and the ongoing management skills required to maintain such changes. For many patients admitted to hospital, in particular the elderly, malnutrition is a common occurrence. It is the nurses fundamental duty of care to provide patients with the highest of care possible, a major requirement for any human being to survive and live a healthy life is the intake of a healthy nutritious diet, be that by conventional methods or artificial measures suitable for the patients state of health at that time (Royal College of Nursing 2007). Studies into hospital malnutrition show that as many as four out of ten elderly patients admitted to hospital are already malnourished and as a result of a hospital admission as many as six out of ten elderly patients, become malnourished, their situation worsens and their illness very often escalates (Age Concern 2006; BAPEN 2007). The NHS Improvement Plan (2004) set standards to deal with the increasing incidences of malnutrition within hospital settings; it has become apparent that these examples of good practice recommendatio ns have not been implemented in every hospital in the country, as incidences of malnutrition continue to exist. Davidson and Scholefield (2005) reports that inadequate nutrition can lead to longer hospital stays, impairs the recovery of patients and increases financial costs; several hospitals have indeed planned and implemented changes to reduce such incidences but on the whole have had limited success. The authors found that constant interruptions from drug, rounds, clinical activities and lack of nursing staff being on the ward at mealtimes (due to lunch breaks coinciding with mealtimes) all accounted for patients being provided with very little or on occasion no nutritional intake at any given mealtime. Savage and Scott (2005) does agree with this statement to some extent but argues that it is all to easy to blame nursing staff alone, it is the responsibility of each individual NHS trust to implement managerial changes and policies and ensure that they are monitored, evaluated a nd improved to provide the best care possible for each patient. Mamhidir et al (2007) argues that since the implementation of protected mealtimes in some hospitals there is substantial evidence to suggest that patients, particularly the elderly benefit immensely; patients gained weight, healing time reduced, were discharged earlier and mealtime experiences were a more pleasant experience for patients as well as nursing staff. Mooney (2008) argues that there is evidence to suggest even after hospital trusts have been presented with unarguable evidence that malnutrition is a major problem and a catalyst for longer hospital stays, only 43 percent of those trusts have not yet provided evidence that they have implemented schemes in order to reduce hunger and malnutrition. The Hospital Caterers Association (2004) further comment that mealtimes should not primarily focus on the provision of nutrition, it also makes way for social interaction between patients and carers, they further commen t that in general the quality of the food provided is not the issue, the inability of the patient to be able to feed themselves is far more the worrying issue. Council of Europe (2003) comment that hospitals should be designed to be patient centred, ensuring that the delivery of nutrition is flexible and all deliverance of care is set within a framework; all staff should work together in partnership to ensure that incidences of poor nutrition are dealt with. Repetitive reports of malnourishment is evidence enough to suggest that current practices are no longer working, change is a necessary force to ensure incidences are reduced. It is the responsibility of the leader to ensure this is tackled (Age Concern 2006). Change Management can be described as the process of developing a planned approach to change within an organisation. The objective should be to maximise the collective benefits for all stakeholders involved in the change and minimise the risk of failure implementing the change. Change involves assessment, planning and evaluation; changes in which people are nursed should always be focused on the benefits patients will receive if change is implemented (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, 2007). Welford (2006) writes that there are many theories which explore the need for change; the goal should be the provision of the highest quality of care, each individual involved in the delivery of such care should work together, be committed and supportive of each other during times of change. Change within a team which leads to new practices and ideas affects each individual differently; it can be a very daunting task for some and for others it is embraced to allow for personal development and the sharing of knowledge (Murphy 2006). There are many theories which uses steps or phases that can evaluate if a change is needed and if the changes that are implemented work. For the purpose of this essay the author refers to a popular theory developed by Lewin in the 1950s which requires three stages to implement effective change the acceptance and participation of all those involved in the area requiring change. The first phase, commonly referred to as the unfreezing stage of this theory requires the participants to acknowledge the need for change; evidence should be provided to encourage new thinking and beliefs about current practices. Hallpike (2008) writes that there is evidence to suggest that teams can be divided into groups who have their own individual opinion on certain regimes, practices and care deliverance. This can be said for the provision of nutrition to patients. In this particular study the author reports that some team members did not think the re was a problem with the current provision, some were not convinced that changes would be made and others did not have faith in a holistic approach across the team. In this situation it is the responsibility of the team leader to persuade all the team members that the need for change is necessary in order to provide the best service possible, that the whole team work towards a common goal. Welford (2006) discusses the second phase of Lewins theory; describing this stage as the moving stage, allowing individuals to voice their own ideas, experiment with different regimes, it allows time for reflection, to discuss positive or negative findings. Past practices may have seen some team leaders adopt the belief that employees were seen to work better when the leader provided strict job descriptions and a clear plan of what was expected of them; their opinions and ideas were not of value to the overall success of a team. Major (2002) argues that for a leader to adopt such thinking will on ly lead to flaws and a feeling of negativity within a team; the leader should adopt good communication skills and openness to allow for effective team building, positive group dynamics, all working efficiently and productively. Dennis and Morgan (2008) suggests that although change is the responsibility of the service provider, input from the service user is without doubt a valuable tool in assessing if a change is working for the greater good. Feedback, regardless of being positive or negative ascertains if the change has been a positive one. If the new change has a detrimental affect to the service user then the change has been a negative one, this requires a return to the freezing stage to allow the team to make further changes to increase the benefits to the service user. The authors further comment that managers should be seen as advocates for the service user; it should be the responsibility of the manager to challenge team members over poor practice, poor attitudes and resist ance to change for the better. Conflict within a team leads to unrest, a disbelief that change is for the greater good leading to a dysfunctional team. The third phase of Lewins theory can be commonly referred to as the refreezing stage, where new ideas and behaviours become a new or common practice. Pearce (2007) argues that to name this phase as such denotes that the change remains static, leaders should continuously strive to make changes for the better, communication across the whole team allows for individuals points of view to be exposed and discussed; feedback on how a new change is working is necessary in order to achieve the highest levels of quality care. Leadership styles become a key issue when developing, implementing and upholding change. Motivation of staff also plays a key role in the acceptance of change; leaders should demonstrate that they are a good role model, adopt a friendly attitude towards team members, accepting of criticism and be willing to provide positive feedback, when the team endeavour to believe in and implement the change (Darlington 2006). Corkindale (2009) argues that leaders need balance their role within a team to ensure that they do not become too over familiar with individual team members, as this may lead to team members relying too heavily on the leader to make all the decisions and authority may be compromised. Murphy (2006) writes that leaders need to adopt a style of leadership that suits the workforce; a laissez-faire approach can be seen as the leader not taking into account individual team members ideas, work ethics and commitment seriously, it can lead to a team feeling devalued and unorganised. The National Institute for Mental Health (2007) further suggests that leaders who show their commitment, by working alongside their colleagues, adopting and maintaining the changes themselves demonstrates a leader who is at the forefront in the deliverance of quality care. They further suggest that each leader will bring their own set of ethics, life experiences and education to a team, will often adopt their own style of leadership that may be a mixture of several styles moulded to suit the team and the area of practice they are employed to manage. Opportunities for team members to voice their opinions and concerns are invaluable; they are after all the main implementers of the change and wil l have be the first to recognise if the change has gained positive or negative results. The change can only work if leaders allow for reflection, discussion and adaptation of the change to suit each individual involved in the change process. A change that is difficult to implement or maintain will end in failure, this leads a team adopting negative feelings and a resistance to change in the future. Goleman (2000) suggests that to adopt an authoritarian approach, can at times be a positive approach to leadership especially if some team members resist change or there is a need to produce quick results. Goffee and Jones (2000) disagree with this statement and suggest that a good leader is someone who other people want to follow without bullying, threats or the fear of reprisals; they lead by communicating effectively and adopt a style of leadership that allows the team to understand what is expected of them. RCN (2007) writes that the only way malnourishment can be identified and managed effectively is with effective use of recognised screening tools.Perry (2009) argues that in many cases nursing staff are given the means and tools to assess a patient, but many are inadequately trained to understand the findings of the assessment or are unwilling to involve other health professionals in the care of the patient. A multidisciplinary approach to tackle such problems should be used. Protected mealtimes have been proven to be useful to not only the patient but to the whole care team, it allows for assessment in areas such as speech and language, mental health issues and other physical problems which can affect the nutritional intake of individuals. South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (2009) reports that protected mealtimes affects and involves all staff within in the organisation from physiotherapists, domestic staff, maintenance staff through to outside professionals such as social worker s. It involves all areas of clinical practice where patients require nutritional intake, not only for patients who are unable to feed themselves but for those patients who require and deserve a quiet, interruption free period to eat, drink and relax. To maintain and monitor the change process and may require several attempts before the target is reached. takes time and may not always be successful first time. National Patient Safety Agency (2008) states that many clinical staff referred to the implementation of protected mealtimes as a hindrance to their daily routine, but once the benefits for patients as well as the staff members were explained they became more compliant and understanding for the need to change.

How Useful Is the Boy in Striped Pyjamas About Telling Us?

How useful is the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in telling us about the Holocaust? The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, shows what life was like in Germany when the Nazis were taking over. The film tells us about two young boys with two different lives. The Boy in the Striiped Pyjamas is useful about some topics based in that time however it can also be unreliable in others. The Holocaust was mainly a target for Jewish people, black people, homesexuals, gypsies and the physically disabled, the mentally disabled and those involved in resistance movements against Hitler..The Jewish people were the main traget and this chatastrophe started when Hitler came into power. The holocaust was a bruital place for those people, they had no other choice but to do slave labour, such as people had to work in tunnels and starve to death. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas explains the Age of the Victims. The film suggests that age tended to vary from young children to old men. This showed a unuseful report beca use during that time Nazis would kill those who were old of age and useless at working.This rule would automatically apply for those who were physically and mentally disabled. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas only showed one child which meant the rest were adults. This was useful because sources show that there were the odd few of children but mainly adults in the concentration camps. This was because adults are more useful in terms of working. The film also explains the gender of the victims the film showed that there were only men in the camps. This was unreliable because other sources show that the gender also tended to vary with women also.However the sources did show that there were more men than women, so this meant men were stronger than women and could work more than women. There has been disagreement however whether or not men are stronger then women. â€Å"Men were stronger so would live longer†, I disagree with this statement because if women survived they would form a friendship with each other and therefore be able to support one another if they were sick and so could rely on each other. Also, the film showed what the work was like in the camps for a person.The film showed that people were forced to build and manufacture and they would all were the same uniform to represent that they were not and individual in the camps. The film also showed they were allowed to work outside of camps and work indoors with other families and work as a slave in their homes. This was reliable because everyone who were in the camp all had to wear the same uniform, and they did build and manufacture. But they also had to work in the tunnels , mining but mostly they worked until they died or were no longer fit to work and were sent to die.The rule that applied while working was if you could work well you would live, if not you would die. The film showed the small amount of food the people were getting. The young boy Shmall, explained the lack of food they were gett ing. The film showed Bruno bringing food to Shmall and how he ate it like a beast out of starvation. This was reliable because this represented that they did not get much to eat and some were forced to starve. Sources explains that each victim in the camp would get a slice of bread and sometime margarine and marmalade in the morning.Midday they would get potato soup and maybe a little of meat. Although the film did not show this they did show that the victims were skinny and many were starving. The film however did not show any escape from any victims in the camps. But showed that the electric fence surrounding the camp was that there was only one however sources show there were two so this meant, the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was unreliable. Escape from the camps was almost impossible but I believe it was all done by luck. At least on stats, 802 attempted to escape and only 144 succeeded.The victims who did escape did not realise the consequences that 10 people, selected randomly, by luck, in the camp would be killed if one victim escaped from the camp. The film did not show any survival in the camp which shows that the film is unreliable. Sources show that surviving in the concentration camp had to fight against the harsh conditions they were living in. There was less food, space and less opportunity to be with friends or family. The labour was even more difficult and exhausting; there was constant punishment and stricter rules and regulations regarding every intimate detail of life.The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas also showed death in the concentration camps. They showed how men were beaten if they had done something wrong, spilt wine accidentally on the soldier and had used gas chambers to kill the people, by tricking them thinking it was a shower. This was reliable, however there were quotes made such as â€Å"Luck was the only reason people survived†, I agree with this statement because Viktor Frankl, worked as a kitchen carrier supplier, and how h e explained how he explained how without his job he wouldn't have survived by eating crumbs from the floor.There were other bruital ways of dying in the camps, some soldiers will allow you to starve to death by not giving you your breakfast or lunch, some others were immediately shot dead if they had done something wrong. I believe the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is unuseful because it has given inaccurate accounts such as, men were the only people in these camps or no one escaped from the camps. It has however given some information such as how some people were killed in the gas chambers, but did not show how other people had died in more bruital impact other than a gas chamber.Also it has given an inaccurate account by implying that the people only worked by building and manufacuring when there were more jobs, working in the mines and dug holes for those who had lost their lives in the concentration camp. So summarising my view points I think the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is unuse ful and unreliable, because it has shown an inaccurate account of what life was like inside the camp and in my personal opinion was much more brutal than they had shown.

A Survey of Information Technologies in Logistics Management

A Survey of Information Technologies in Logistics Management Anil Gurung University of Texas at Arlington Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, College of Business Administration Office: Room 630 Business Building Box 19437 701 S West St. Arlington, Texas 76019-0437 Voice: 817. 272. 3528 Email: [email  protected] edu ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the impact of information technologies (IT) on logistics by conducting a survey of literatures on academic logistics journals and practitioner journals.The literature survey and practice find that third party logistic providers have better opportunity to leverage IT since they need to have interoperable IT systems with their customers. The business philosophy of Just-In-Time (JIT) has also contributed to the impact of IT in logistics. Further, information technologies are identified that has benefited the logistics. Future directions of logistics are discussed. INTRODUCTION The proliferation of information technologie s (IT) and the internet technologies have provided impetus and challenges to the logistics.New technologies present new means to manage the flow of information. IT as a productivity tool can be utilized to both increase the capability and decrease the cost at the same time (Closs et al. , 1997). It has been widely accepted that firms can achieve competitive advantage by cost reduction or differentiation with the proper implementation of IT (Porter & Millar, 1985). Enabled by IT the logistics has become a source of competitive advantage for many firms. Two streams of research are identified that highlights the role of IT in logistics.First stream relates to just-in-time logistics information system (Anderson & Quinn, 1986; Bookbinder & Dilts, 1989; Das & Handfield, 1997; Gomes & Mentzer, 1988; Perry, 1988; Schwarz & Weng, 2000; Spencer, M. S. et al. , 1994; Spencer, M. S. et al. , 1996; Takahashi & Nakamura, 2000; Titone, 1996; Wafa & Yasin, 1996). The other stream is the third party logistics (Lewis & Talalayevsky, 2000; Peters et al. , 1998; Sauvage, 2003; Sink & Langley, 1997; Vaidyanathan, 2005). Importance of IT in logistics has grown to some extent by business philosophy of Just-InTime (JIT) by firms.With the emphasis of firms on JIT, the impact of logistics has grown as it is increasingly recognized as a source of consistent, low lead time, damage free deliveries (Bardi et al. , 1994). In pursuit of competitive advantages, firms outsource their functions which are noncore competencies so that they can focus on their core competencies. A recent survey found that 83 percent of the surveyed Fortune 500 companies reported having at least one contract with a third-party logistics provider (Lieb & Bentz, 2004).Over the years, the use of third-party logistics has been increasing. Similar survey of Fortune 500 companies taken in 1991 had only 38 percent of the respondents reporting the use of third-party logistics provider (Lieb, 1992). The 618 third party logis tic operators attempt to harness the capability of information technology to provide superior services to their customers. The objective of this paper is to study how IT has impacted logistics. To this end, literature review of both leading academic and practitioner logistic journals is conducted.The next section will report the framework of logistics. The following section will analyze the IT enablers in logistics. Then, the implications of ecommerce are discussed followed by a section on future directions for logistics. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A classification scheme logistics functions provides a meaningful way to study how IT has impacted the various functions of logistics. Previous research in logistics have categorized the use of information systems in logistics in different ways.A system of logistics functions can be divided into following five broad areas (Bowersox, 1974): facility location, transportation, inventory, communication and material movement. Based on the proble m areas that application addresses, seven areas of logistics has been identified as facility location, inventory control, order entry, vehicle scheduling, warehouse layout planning, freight rate retrieval, and product and shipment tracing (Ballou, 1976). Another survey identified five categories as facility location, inventory control, transportation, production scheduling, and total physical distribution (House, 1978).These categories treated each category as individual entities rather than a whole system. Noting this shortcoming, Stenger (1986) proposed another classification consisting of transaction systems, short-term scheduling and inventory replenishment systems, flow planning systems, and network planning and design systems. Expanding on the framework developed by Bowersox, Novack et al (1992) divided logistics function into two categories. The first category refers to physical activities that are required various utilities of customer need.These will include inventory, tran sportation and customer service operations. The second category refers to flow of information or transaction activities that follow or initiate the physical activities. The physical and information flows in logistics function is well-depicted in Figure 1 that shows the categorization of logistics functions as described by Vaidyanathan (2005). As shown in the figure, information flows between logistics function are managed, coordinated and supported by various logistics technologies. 619Inventory and Logistics Management: – Freight Consolidation – Freight Distribution – Shipment Planning – Traffic Management – Inventory Management – Carrier Selection – Order Entry/ Management Information Flow Customer Service: – Freight Payments – Auditing – Order Management – Fulfillment – Help Desk – Carrier Selection – Rate Negotiation Information Flow Warehousing: – Packaging – Product Making – Labeling – Warehousing Material Flow Transportation: – Fleet Management – Cross Docking – Product Return Figure 1: Categorization of Logistics Functions (adapted from Vaidyanathan 2005)IT enablers in Logistics The literature in logistics is full of instances where information technology has been touted as a means to enhance logistics competitiveness (Bowersox, 1974; Closs et al. , 1997; Rabinovich et al. , 1999; Stenger, 1986). Yet there has been few empirical studies that relates logistics information capabilities to logistics competence (Closs et al. , 1997). A popular framework in information systems discipline put forward by Gorry & Morton (1989) place logistics decisions as structured and varying from operational to strategic.The role of logistics information systems as operational and strategic enablers in different areas of the firm’s supply chain has been stated in the literature (Langley et al. , 1988). There has been a shi ft of IT from being an enabler of operational and material handling functions to being an enabler of decision-making and activityplanning functions within the supply chain (La Londe & Auker, 1973). Logistics Information System Logistics Information System (LIS) is the application component of logistics information technology. An effective LIS facilitates the proper information flow between inventory, 20 Information Flow warehousing and transportation to realize the high level of customer service. The ability to optimize the logistics cost and service levels is affected by the LIS of the firm and its partners. Firms that provide better logistics services at a lower cost can have competitive advantage over its competitors (Bardi et al. , 1994). Two classes of LIS has been recognized in the literature (Closs et al. , 1997). Logistics operating systems (LOS) refer to transactional applications such as order entry, order processing, warehousing, and transportation.Logistics planning syst ems (LPS) refer to coordinating applications such as forecasting, inventory management, and distribution requirements planning. EDI Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has successfully enhanced the communication between firms which is essential for logistics. This technology requires firms to have common data formatting and transmission standards or protocols. Such technologies have been employed by companies to coordinate their value chain activities including logistics. Early applications of EDI has been on transmitting vehicle location information by railways to their customers.Other types of logistics information carried by EDI are purchase orders/releases and changes, advanced shipping notices, bills of lading, and invoices. Timely and accurate information is crucial in decision making about complex logistics problems. Japan Airlines (JAL) adopted EDI to manage their complex value chain logistics required for their operations, including procurement and just-in-time delivery of ai rcraft fuel, repair and maintenance aircraft parts, food catering and other customer requirements (Chatfield & Bjorn-Andersen, 1997).The competitive advantage gained by companies employing EDI is cited in the literature. Firms utilizing EDI were better able to fulfill greater number of services to their customers (Rogers et al. , 1992). Bar coding Bar coding is one of the most IT enablers to date and has made significant impact in the practice. Starting in 1960’s some of the earliest implementation of bar codes were in rail road cars. Nowadays it is rampant in anything that needs to be identified and tracked. The different type of bar codes are available, known as symbologies, for different purposes.In practice, most firms prefer to use industry standards rather than proprietary standards for most of their bar codes on their products. By following industry standards, bar codes reduce the complications inherent in the use of multiple standards and thus provides a strong founda tion for integrating the corporate logistics and the supply chain (Closs & Kefeng, 2000). Real-time communications capability The logistics IT capability of real-time communications is essential for maintaining the flow of information.As noted by Dudley & Lasserre (1989), one of the important roles of logistics IT is to substitute information for inventory. To make real-time tracking of goods, logistic information systems of business partners should have real-time communications capability. The business partners require an integrated messaging architecture which exchanges business data while customizing business flows and format transformation. Real-time communications also allows for schedule plans to change in dynamic routing and scheduling system when the vehicles are 621 already out on the road.Any last minute changes in routing and scheduling system or constant tracking has been possible only with real-time communications ability of the respective systems. RFID RFID helps to id entify, track and locate items automatically. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is expected to increase rapidly in coming years. Often referred to as the next step in the evolution of bar-coding, RFID is growing rapidly in the automatic data capture and identification market (Srivastava, 2004). RFID is not a new technology, in fact, its use dates back to 1940’s but only now it is starting to make a significant impact within the supply chain.The growth in use of RFID will be enhanced to some extent by mandates from large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, and the US Department of Defense, who require their suppliers to adopt this technology within the next few years (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). Among the companies that are piloting RFID in their supply chain management prominent ones are WalMart, Procter & Gamble, Coca-cola and Gillette. Although the biggest driver in the popularity of RFID has been supply chain, companies are experimenting in other applicati ons as well.Other applications are theft detection, asset tracking, mobile payments, in-process inventory tracking and luggage tracking. Dell, Seagate, Boeing and Ford are among other companies that are using RFID to track their in-process inventory in manufacturing. An RFID system includes transponders or tags that can identify items ; antennas that allows tags to be interrogated and to respond; and software that controls the RFID equipment, manages the data and interfaces with enterprise applications. RFID has lots of potential to improve the efficiency in the supply chain and reduce waste.For example, efficiency would result from automatic update of inventory system when products with RFID tags are unloaded from trucks into stores. The advantages of RFID over bar coding are as follows: RFID tags can provide longer read distances; store more data; require no direct line of sight between tag and reader; and can collect data from multiple sources simultaneously (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). There are some technical and business challenges to overcome before RFID can be ubiquitous. Technical issues include problems of interference, security and accuracy while business issues relate to costs and lack of standards.Another significant business challenge in adopting RFID faced by managers is to work out a business case for the executive board. Early adopters of these technologies are marred by problems such as possible adverse consumer outbursts to perceived invasion of privacy, reliability of the RFID system, and issues related to health, safety and IT integration. IMPLICATION OF ECOMMERCE ON LOGISTICS The growth of ecommerce pose opportunities and challenges for logistics. As internet retailing increases the companies are accepting orders from their clientele across the borders.In many instances the location of clients are not covered by any existing distribution system of the companies. On such occasions the companies have no resort but to turn towards third party logistics operators for physical flow of goods. As for the information flow, the companies need to have capabilities for ecommerce applications. The group of technologies and processes for coordinating logistics information flow has been named e-logistics. An important web 622 technology that facilitates the exchange of business data among logistics business partners across different platforms is extra markup language (XML).For example, UPS is exploiting the power of the web services to streamline its information flows for logistics activities such as RFQ, shipping and tracking. Changing Trends in Logistics Consultants are beginning to take an active part in helping out the shippers select third party logistics operators. Shippers hire consultants to help them align business processes with supply chain strategies. The newly coined term â€Å"4PL† for consultants stands for dominant role that consultants will be taking in managing the resources, the technology and the process es in the supply chain.It is yet to be seen whether the shippers will let the consultants manage all the logistics processes. Instead of handing over the authority to manage the logistics processes to the consulting firms, shippers may choose to develop alliance with the third party logistics operators and maintain the supply chain themselves. The key thing that will allow coordination between shipper firms and the third party logistics will be information technology and management skills to run the supply chain effectively. This implies that firms should also have proper logistic technologies in place to enjoy the full benefits of use of third party logistics.FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The research directions that are available for researchers in logistics are numerous. Before companies implement new logistic information technologies such as RFID it is important to assess the viability of adopting the technology. What would be the expected benefits? What is the ROI? Researchers can come up with various econometric models to predict the outcomes of adopting logistics technologies. Modeling techniques can be used to assess the scenarios that would be beneficial for adopting new technologies.As companies are entering into ecommerce, better coordinating techniques are required to streamline logistics activities for transactions taking place on the internet. Collaborative technologies for supporting e-logistics would greatly enhance the future logistics. Multi-agent systems (MAS) provide an interesting avenue of research that is applicable for supporting logistics technologies on the internet. Intelligent software agents can be used to assess the bids offered by multiple third-party logistics operators. To support global ecommerce the companies need to have different options for global logistics.The best way to traverse the geographical distribution is through technology. What are the communication channels and technologies that would benefit the company in terms of monitoring and coordination logistics functions? More empirical evidence will be preferred to establish the direct link between organizational performance and logistics information systems. Researchers can seek to examine the complex relationships between logistics technologies and performance from different paradigms and theories. The perspective of organizational learning can be used to evaluate the performance gained by employing logistics information systems. 23 CONCLUSION The objective of this paper was to observe the impact of information technology on the logistics functions. A literature review of the academic and practitioners journals was conducted. The information technologies that have been used to support logistics functions were discussed. It is evident that academic researchers are aware of new technologies in practice such as RFID. Development in technologies offer sources of competitive advantage for companies. Adoption of new technologies provide challenge and o pportunities for the companies.Proper business case and calculation of ROI needs to be done to assess the expected benefits from new technologies. Changing trends in business in terms of ecommerce open new markets for firms for all sizes to expand their market share. Strategic use of information resource would bear results of competitive advantage and thus leading to success stories. The best practices in logistic information technologies need to be adopted by firms in alignment of their strategic goals. Future trends in logistics may prompt companies to rethink their logistics strategies.Firms may choose to use third party logistics in order to focus on their core competencies. However, firms need to have logistics information systems in place that is compatible with the third party operators in order to fully benefit from their services. REFERENCES Anderson, D. L. & Quinn, R. J. 1986, â€Å"The Role of Transportation in Long Supply Line Just-InTime Logistics Channels â€Å", Jou rnal of Business Logistics, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 68-88. Asif, Z. & Mandviwalla, M. 2005, â€Å"Integrating the Supply Chain with RFID: a Technical and Business Analysis†, Communications of the AIS, vol. 15, pp. 393-427. Ballou, R. 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Impact of Internet Thinking - 4862 Words

Impact of the Internet on Thinking | September 24, 2010 †¢ Volume 20, Issue 33 | Is the Web changing the way we think? | | By Alan Greenblatt OverviewRecently at lunch, Eric Wohlschlegel announced, â€Å"I have to take a BlackBerry pause.†Plenty of people interrupt social and business meetings to check messages on their mobile devices. There was a time just a few years ago, Wohlschlegel recalls, when his employer didnt require him to have a BlackBerry. Now, as a spokesman for the influential American Petroleum Institute, Wohlschlegel is expected to be in constant contact with the world at large, fielding some 200 work e-mails a day.He doesnt have the option of tuning them out. But when circumstances forced him to, he had a hard time†¦show more content†¦Jeffrey Hill, a sociologist at Brigham Young University. â€Å"It enables just that kind of compulsive behavior.†Theres now a serious debate going on within therapeutic circles about whether people can become addicted to the Internet in the way that they might become addicted to chemical substances. And theres a broader debate takin g place about whether the Internet is changing the way people think.Much of that debate has been triggered by journalist Nicholas Carr, author of the controversial 2008 Atlantic article â€Å"Is Google Making Us Stupid?† He has since expanded his ideas into a book called The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.Carr says the Internet is an unmatched tool for communications and information but argues that it can have bad effects on our brains. The Internet, he says, speaks to the parts of our brain that are attracted to movement, visual imagery and novelty — primitive parts of the brain that do not lend themselves to deep thought and contemplation.â€Å"Theres a whole realm of thought that I think is very important to the richness of our personal intellectual lives, and also very important to the building of culture, that requires an attentive mind,† Carr said. â€Å"We dont want to sit alone in a dark room thinking about one thing all day long, bu t neither do we want to be processing a constant influx of texts andShow MoreRelated The Impact of Internet on Users and their Way of Thinking Essay1204 Words   |  5 Pagesdevelopment of internet causes considerable changes in social relations and people lifestyle. Internet users spend most of their life online. One of the recent trends is the development of social networks, which encourage the creation of realistic communities. 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