Collaboration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Collaboration - Assignment Example However, this mission would never be achieved owing to the situation in the agency. Similarly, some internal factors are influencing the operations of the agency making it underperform in meeting its goals. EHSA is facing many challenges, which is emanating from the conducts of its employees. The challenges may hinder the agency from realizing the positive results which it wants to deliver to the people since employees are the agents. One of the issues affecting the organization is the lack of commitments among its staffs to serve the people. Customer care services are very poor making some clients to go back unattended. This is very dangerous for the existence of the agency. Secondly, the organizational staffs are breaching confidentiality of client information. In many cases, the workers have openly compared clients information; a practice that is unlawful and punishable. Therefore, the current stage of the agency is below in the inter-organizational process. Hence, there are much more that the agency management needs to do in order to rescue the situation. Many methods and strategies that the agency can use to improve its services and to realize success in all that it does exist and can be put to use. One of the methods is improving customer care service to the level of clients needs and expectations (Woodside & McClam, 2014). Currently, the agency frustrates clients, and most of them go back without being given the attention they demand. Hence, there is a need to restructure personnel who frustrate clients and inform them of the expectation. This may be done by offering training services in areas related to customer service and advising them on the importance of clients to the agency (Rosenthal, 2012). Secondly, the agency can develop a privacy policy aimed at cautioning its employees and giving guidelines in relation to privacy (Rosenthal, 2012). There are many laws that

Analyse Zara Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Analyse Zara - Case Study Example Other firms also choose to outsource with the objective of enabling the firm reduce its costs through specialization and creating efficiency in the labor and resources of the firm (Porter 1996). Other firms also in the efforts to achieve the same try to gain control over the whole firms through as many departments as possible. This they are likely to achieve by the analysis of its value chain. Such firms are said to have gained such controls over the total production process by initiating in-house production hence and achievement of shorter lead times in production and supplies. Zara is one of the fastest growing cloth retailers and it holds a number of shares in the giant Spanish Inditex Group (Folpe 2000). This part of the group in the clothing industry in Spain has developed a unique business model which has enabled it to qualify as one of the vertically integrated retailers. This it has achieved through the identification of its lines of competition over the rest of the retailers . It shapes such competitive edges into strategic issues an act which has enabled the industry to obtain control of every step of the value chain while only outsourcing only cloths with a longer shelf/fashion lifetime (Birger and Stires 2006). The competitiveness and an organization’s focus on strategic issues in the modern business environment has become of age in strategic management of such organizations. A renowned author in this field is Porter through his five forces of competition where he introduced the ideas of competitive strategy, competitive forces and competitive advantage. This model is based on the fact that an organization’s internal environment that is the resources, capabilities, value addition to the value chain are the components of the organization that are most of the time used to account for its core competencies (Birger and Stires 2006). According to Porter’s model; cost and differentiation are the initial two competitive forces that resu lt into competitive advantage to any given organization. Low cost strategy is derived from the vast cost leadership strategy that is coupled with efficiency and stringent controls to costs (Folpe 2000). For example the high profitability and growth that is witnessed in the Zara industry over time is as a result of lower costs of advertising while adopting a flat organizational structure with superior organization systems and well laid down logistics coupled with efficient use of capital. All these are directed towards provision of efficiency (Porter 1996). The company also adopts differentiation as a competitive forces and strategy to make a difference in its operations. As a source of advantage differentiation ensures that unique brands of the products are offered as well as technology, customer service and products all these aimed at making the firm gain a bigger share of the market. Zara industry as one of the famous and fast growing firms in Spain is based on its strengths and s peed in designing and merchandising the products in stores. As compared to other firms in the turbulent fashion industry, Zara products are able to reach the stores in a record time of only 5 weeks as opposed to nine months of other firms in the industry (Folpe 2000). This fast response to the market is achievable due to the differentiation strategy in the

Business Travel Booking Market Trends & Forecast Essay Example for Free

Business Travel Booking Market Trends Forecast Essay

Analysis of variance models

Analysis of variance models Abstract: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) models has become widely used tool and plays a fundamental role in much of the application of statistics today. Two-way ANOVA models involving random effects have found widespread application to experimental design in varied fields such as biology, econometrics, quality control, and engineering. The article is comprehensive presentation of methods and techniques for point estimation, interval estimation, estimation of variance components, and hypotheses tests for Two-Way Analysis of Variance with random effects. Key words: Analysis of variance; two-way classification; variance components; random effects model 1. Introduction The random effects model is not fraught with questions about assumptions as is the mixed effects model. Concerns have been expressed over the reasonableness of assuming that the interaction term abij is tossed into the model independently of ai and bj . However, uncorrelatedness, which with normality becomes independence, does seem to emerge from finite sampling models that define the interaction to be a function of the main A and B effects. The problem usually of interest is to estimate the components of variance. The model (1) is referred to as a cross-classification model. A slightly different and equally important model is the nested model. For this latter model see (5) and the related discussion. 2. Estimation of variance components The standard method of moments estimators for a balanced design(i.e., = n ) are based on the expected mean squares for the sums of nij squares. The credentials of the estimators (4) are that they are uniform minimum variance unbiased estimators (UMVUE) under normal theory, and uniform minimum variance quadratic unbiased estimators (UMVQUE) in general. They do, however, suffer the embarrassment of sometimes being negative, except for .e which is always positive. The actual maximum likelihood estimators would occur on a boundary rather than being negative. The best way is to always adjust an estimate to zero rather than report a negative value. It should certainly be possible to construct improved estimators along the lines of the Klotz-Milton-Zacks estimators used in the one-way classification. However, the details on these estimators have not been worked out by anyone for the two-way classification. Estimating variance components from unbalanced data is not as straight-forward as from balanced data. This is so for two reasons. First, several methods of estimation are available (most of which reduce to the analysis of variance method for balanced data), but no one of them has yet been clearly established as superior to the others. Second, all the methods involve relatively cumbersome algebra; discussion of unbalanced data can therefore easily deteriorate into a welter of symbols, a situation we do our best (perhaps not successfully) to minimize here1. On the other hand, extremely unbalanced designs are a horror story. A number of different methods have been proposed for handling them, but all involve extensive algebraic manipulations. The technical detail required to carry out these analyses exceeds the limitations set for this article. On occasion factors A and B are such that it makes no sense to postulate the existence of interactions, so the terms abij should be dropped from (1). In this case .ab disappears from (3) and the estimators for .a and 1 Djordjevic V., Lepojevic V., Henderson?s approach to Variance Components estimation for unbalanced data, Facta Universitatis, Vol.2 No.1, 2004. pg. 59 Another variation on the model (1) gives rise to the nested model. In general, the nested model for components of variance problems occur more frequently in practice than does the cross-classification model. In the nested model the main effects for one factor, say, B, are missing in (1). The reason is that the entities creating the different levels of factor B are not the same for different levels of factor A. For example, the levels (subscript i ) of factor A might represent different litters, and the levels (subscript j) of factor B might be different animals, which are a different set for each litter. The additional subscript k might denote repeated measurements on each animal. To be specific, the formal model for the nested design is: and independence between the different lettered variables. It is customary with this model to use the symbol b rather than ab because the interpretation for this term has changed from synergism or interaction to one of a main effect nested inside another main effect. For a balanced design the method of moments estimators are based on the sums of squares: which have degrees of freedom I-1, I (J-1), and IJ(n-1) , respectively. The mean squares corresponding to (7) have the expectations: The increasing tier phenomenon exhibited in (8) holds for nested designs with more than two effects. The only complication arises when one or more of the estimates are negative. This is an indication that the corresponding variance components are zero or negligible. One might want to resent any negative estimates to zero, combine the adjacent sums of squares, and subtract the combined mean squares from the mean squares higher in the tier. Extension of these ideas to the unbalanced design does not represent as formidable a task for the nested design as it does for the crossed design. The sums of squares (7), appropriately modified for unbalanced designs, form the basis for the analysis. It is even possible to allow for varying numbers Ji of factor B for different levels of factor A. 3. Tests for variance components The appropriate test statistics for various hypothesis of interest can be determined by examining the expected mean squares in the table of analysis of variance. However, we encounter the difficulty that even under the normality assumption exact F tests may not be available for some of the   An analogous F statistic provides a test for H0:.b 2 =0 . Under the alternative no null hypotheses, these ratios are distributed as the appropriate ratios of multiplicative constants from (10) times central F random variables. Thus power calculations are made from central F tables for fixed effects models. The F tests of H :.2 =0 and H :.2 =0 mentioned in the 0 ab 0 a preceding paragraph are uniformly most powerful similar tests. However, they are not likelihood ratio tests, which are more complicated because of boundaries to the parameter space. Although their general use is not recommended because of their extreme sensitivity to no normality, confidence intervals can be constructed based on the distribution theory 10. The complicated method of Bulmer (1957), which is described in Scheffe [11 pg. 27-28], is available. However, the approximate method of Satterhwaite [10 pg. 110-114] may produce just as good results. The distribution theory for the sums of squares (7) used in conjunction with nested designs is straightforward and simple. To test the hypothesis H0:.b2 =0 one uses the F ratio MS (B)/MS(E), and to test H0:.a 2 =0 the appropriate ratio is MS (A)/MS (B). In all nested designs the higher line in the tier is always tested against the next lower line. If a conclusion is reached that .b2 =0 , then the test of H0:.a2 =0 could be improved by combining SS (B) and SS(E) to form a denominator sum of squares with I(J-1) + I J (n-1) degrees of freedom. Under alternative hypotheses these F ratios are distributed as central F ratios multiplied by the appropriate ratio of variances. This can be exploited to produce confidence intervals on some variance ratios. However, one still needs to rely on the approximate Satterhwaite [10 pg. 110-114] approach for constructing intervals on individual components. 4. Estimations of individual effects and overall mean For the two-way crossed classification with random effects interest The classical approach would be to use the estimates ?^ij = yij. The idea would be to shrink the individual estimates toward the common mean as in. where the shrinking factor S depends on the sums of squares SS (E), SS (AB), SS(B), and SS(A) . Unfortunately, the specific details on the construction of an appropriate S have not been worked out for the two-way classification as they have been for the one-way classification. Alternatively, attention might center on estimating a1,, aI , or, equivalently, on the levels of factor B. Again, specific estimators have not been proposed to date for handling this situation. In the nested design one sometimes wants an estimate and confidence interval for ?. One typically uses ?^= y . In the balanced case this estimator has variance. This can be estimated by MS (A)/I J n. In the unbalanced case an estimate for the variability of y can be obtained by substituting estimates .^2, .^b2 and 2 into the expression for the variance of y . Alternative estimators using different weights may be worth considering in the unbalanced case. 5. Conclusion Analysis of variance (ANOVA) models have become widely used tools and play a fundamental role in much of the application of statistics today. In particular, ANOVA models involving random effects have found widespread application to experimental design in a variety of fields requiring Two-Way Analysis of Variance for Random Models measurements of variance, including agriculture, biology, animal breeding, applied genetics, econometrics, quality control, medicine, engineering, and social sciences. With a two-way classification there are two distinct factors affecting the observed responses. Each factor is investigated at a variety of different levels in an experiment, and the combination of the two factors at different levels form a cross-classification. In a two-way classification each factor can be either fixed or random. If both factors are random, the model is called a random effects model. Various estimators of variance components in the two-way crossed classification random effects model with one observation per cell are compared under the standard assumptions of normality and independence of the random effects. Mean squared error is used as the measure of performance. The estimators being compared are: the minimum variance unbiased, the restricted maximum likelihood, and several modifications of the unbiased and the restricted maximum likelihood estimators.

Essay example --

A lens is an optical device that transmits or refracts light. Eyeglass lenses are glass or plastic items that are placed inside eyewear frames in order to correct the wearer’s vision. More than 80 percent of all eyeglasses worn today are plastic lenses. The glass lenses were popular in the 1945 until the plastic lens was introduced in 1952. Convex and concave lenses are known as spherical lenses. Convex lenses were the first lenses used to correct vision problems. They are used to correct hyperopia (farsighted vision). These lenses are thicker in the middle than at the edges. Concave lenses are used to correct nearsightedness. This is a condition that makes people see things that are close to them but struggle to see things far away. Concave lenses are curved inward like the inside of a spoon. Whether you have plastic or glass, concave lenses or convex lenses they are produced in much of the same way. Years ago opticians relied on separate optical laboratories to produce eyeglass lenses. However today optical outlets receive lens â€Å"blanks† (blanks received from optical laboratories) which are plastic pieces already formed to fit exactly into the front of the lens. The stages are grinding, polishing, and shaping. Materials used are plastic or glass blanks, which are thick in size to eyeglass frames, though slightly larger. Thickness may vary depending upon the prescription. Other raw materials used to make eyeglass lenses are adhesive tape, a liquid with a lead alloy base, metal, and dyes and tints. Eyeglass lenses are designed in many shapes in order to match the eyeglass frame. Assuming that plastic lenses are being made at an optical laboratory technician’s input optical prescription for a pair of lenses i... ... may also verify optics and optical prescription in the lensometer. The manufacturing of lens has progressed over the years. The labor-intensive nature of making glasses has made it hard for U.S. companies to make high-precision lenses to compete with forms located in countries with low labor costs. However the manufacturing process has become more automated which makes the process more capital intensive rather than labor intensive. American companies are able to compete on even ground. Now there is computer assisted grinding process using the Opticam. This machine is capable of surfacing, edging, and centering in one setup, which save so much time. Whether you use the old-fashioned labor-intensive approach or use newly developed technology it is important to know that the manufacturing of lenses requires strict adherence to guidelines and quality control.

News Coverage of September 11th, 2001 Essay -- Terrorism and Journalis

The attack that occurred on September 11th, 2001 on the World Trade Center in New York City is an event that lingers in the minds of many Americans and other people throughout the world. Most people can recall exactly where they were and whom they were with when they first heard about the airplanes crashing into the towers. It was a day that changed the way people looked at the world and brought to light the realities that even the wealthiest and most military advanced country was not safe from acts of terrorism. The dangers posed by religious extremist were being carried out on national and international news outlets live in front of millions if not billions of people worldwide. The events that occurred on this day changed the way journalism was practiced both by U.S. and foreign media outlets. This essay examines how domestic and foreign news stations covered the events of 9/11. As the events unfolded right in front of the eyes of America the framing of the news that day was done without preparation. Recollecting back to September 11th, 2001 the images being seen across the world were astonishing. In the beginning of the news coverage by the majority of the news stations both national and international, everyone seemed to be amazed and confused about what exactly was going on. No one knew if the first plane was purposely crashed into the first tower or if it were a small passage plane that accidently flew into its side. Once the second plane crashed into the other tower it was evident that it was done deliberately. Live broadcast from Sky news focused on the live events as they were taking place. Sky news relied on images from colleague stations in the United States such as CBS and FOX news channels to bring live image feeds from New York City into the homes of people in Europe. Sky news did not associate terrorism with the plane crash into the World Trade Center until after the second plane crashed into it because it was evident it was done so purposely. BBC World as they reported the events in New York City, would only classify the event as two plane accidents and did not associate it to any act of terrorism. According to â€Å"Television journalism during terrorist attacks† by Kirsten Mogensen, she states â€Å"terror events happen so quickly that there is hardly anytime to check the information. On September 11th, 2001, major television networks ... ... of 9/11: Towards an Interdisciplinary Explanation of the Construction of News.† Journalism (London, England) 11.5 (2010): 567-88. Print. BBC 9/11 Coverage. 2001. Retrieved February 5th, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15_DS_6kZ1k&NR=1 Hahn, Oliver. â€Å"Transatlantic Foreign Reporting and Foreign Correspondents After 9/11.† The international journal of press/politics 14.4 (2009): 497-515. Print. Li, Xigen, and Ralph Izard. â€Å"9/11 Attack Coverage Reveals Similarities, Differences.† Newspaper Research Journal 24.1 (2003): 204. Print. Mogensen, Kirsten. â€Å"Television Journalism during Terror Attacks.† Media, war & conflict 1.1 (2008): 31-49. Print. NBC 9/11/01 2nd Plane Collides. 2001. Retrieved February 5th, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tl__04Xoi0&feature=related PÅ‚udowski, Tomasz. How the World’s News Media Reacted to 911 :Essays from Around the Globe. Spokane, Wash.: Marquette Books, 2007. Print. Sky News September 11th, 2001. 2001. Retrieved February 4th, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449lQO93JU&feature=related Stacks, John. â€Å"Hard Times for Hard News: A Clinical Look at U.S. Foreign Coverage.† World policy journal 20.4 (2003): 12-21. Print. News Coverage of September 11th, 2001 Essay -- Terrorism and Journalis The attack that occurred on September 11th, 2001 on the World Trade Center in New York City is an event that lingers in the minds of many Americans and other people throughout the world. Most people can recall exactly where they were and whom they were with when they first heard about the airplanes crashing into the towers. It was a day that changed the way people looked at the world and brought to light the realities that even the wealthiest and most military advanced country was not safe from acts of terrorism. The dangers posed by religious extremist were being carried out on national and international news outlets live in front of millions if not billions of people worldwide. The events that occurred on this day changed the way journalism was practiced both by U.S. and foreign media outlets. This essay examines how domestic and foreign news stations covered the events of 9/11. As the events unfolded right in front of the eyes of America the framing of the news that day was done without preparation. Recollecting back to September 11th, 2001 the images being seen across the world were astonishing. In the beginning of the news coverage by the majority of the news stations both national and international, everyone seemed to be amazed and confused about what exactly was going on. No one knew if the first plane was purposely crashed into the first tower or if it were a small passage plane that accidently flew into its side. Once the second plane crashed into the other tower it was evident that it was done deliberately. Live broadcast from Sky news focused on the live events as they were taking place. Sky news relied on images from colleague stations in the United States such as CBS and FOX news channels to bring live image feeds from New York City into the homes of people in Europe. Sky news did not associate terrorism with the plane crash into the World Trade Center until after the second plane crashed into it because it was evident it was done so purposely. BBC World as they reported the events in New York City, would only classify the event as two plane accidents and did not associate it to any act of terrorism. According to â€Å"Television journalism during terrorist attacks† by Kirsten Mogensen, she states â€Å"terror events happen so quickly that there is hardly anytime to check the information. On September 11th, 2001, major television networks ... ... of 9/11: Towards an Interdisciplinary Explanation of the Construction of News.† Journalism (London, England) 11.5 (2010): 567-88. Print. BBC 9/11 Coverage. 2001. Retrieved February 5th, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15_DS_6kZ1k&NR=1 Hahn, Oliver. â€Å"Transatlantic Foreign Reporting and Foreign Correspondents After 9/11.† The international journal of press/politics 14.4 (2009): 497-515. Print. Li, Xigen, and Ralph Izard. â€Å"9/11 Attack Coverage Reveals Similarities, Differences.† Newspaper Research Journal 24.1 (2003): 204. Print. Mogensen, Kirsten. â€Å"Television Journalism during Terror Attacks.† Media, war & conflict 1.1 (2008): 31-49. Print. NBC 9/11/01 2nd Plane Collides. 2001. Retrieved February 5th, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tl__04Xoi0&feature=related PÅ‚udowski, Tomasz. How the World’s News Media Reacted to 911 :Essays from Around the Globe. Spokane, Wash.: Marquette Books, 2007. Print. Sky News September 11th, 2001. 2001. Retrieved February 4th, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449lQO93JU&feature=related Stacks, John. â€Å"Hard Times for Hard News: A Clinical Look at U.S. Foreign Coverage.† World policy journal 20.4 (2003): 12-21. Print.

Campaign Strategy Essay

1) What are the goals of the campaign? 2) What questions need to be answered to reach those goals? This is a list of general campaign questions to help start your research process. These are not research questions. Each general campaign question should generate a list of more specific research questions. For example, â€Å"What is the issue/problem?† could lead to the question, â€Å"What is the history of lead poisoning in our community?† General questions to ask about a campaign: 1. What is the issue/problem? (Understand their arguments.) 2. What are the solutions or alternatives? (Develop our arguments.) 3. Who else is trying to change the problem, how effective are they, and what are their solutions? (Potential allies. Locate a niche. Avoid obstacles and duplication of effort.) 4. Who can implement those solutions? Who has the power? (The Targets) 5. What kind of campaign would it take to convince them? (Feasibility test.) A. How long would victory take? What are the time constraints? B. What are tactics and paths to a victory? C. What are the opportunities or obstacles? D. What has worked for other organizations on similar campaigns? 6. Who are the other players? A. Who would support change? (Allies) B. Who opposes change? (Opposition) C. Who could become allies/opposition, but are currently neutral? 7. Does our base have the power and resources to win this campaign? 8. Will this campaign build our movement, base, or organization? WHAT IS A CAMPAIGN STRATEGY? A campaign can be seen as an organised, purposeful effort to create change, and it should be guided by thoughtful planning. Before taking action, successful campaigners learn as much as possible about: * the existing situation * who is affected by the campaign issue both positively and negatively * what changes could improve the situation * what resources, tactics and tools are available to implement a campaign that will address the issue. Campaigners use this knowledge to create their strategy, which guides them in planning, implementing, marketing, monitoring, improving and evaluating their campaign. A campaign strategy should answer the †¨following questions: Problem, Vision, Change 1. What problem are you confronting? 2. What is your vision of how the world will be, once the problem is resolved? 3. What change/s would bring about this vision? Stakeholders, Relationships,Targets 4. Who is affected, positively or negatively, by the problem? 5. How are these people or groups related to the problem and to each other? 6. Who are you trying to reach? 7. If your campaign is successful, who will be affected? Answering key questions repeatedly, at each stage of your campaign, about the problem, solution, stakeholders and targets as well as the tactics, message and tools you will use, will help develop your campaign strategy. Your campaign strategy will guide what you do and it should be updated regularly as the campaign is implemented and the situation changes. CREATE A COMMON VISION It’s useful to involve your whole campaigning group in exploring the problem, your vision and the changes sought: a shared understanding of the problem will stimulate ideas about possible actions to take, and will also help your group to stay motivated and focussed during the campaign. Creating a common vision will also help determine ways to monitor, and adjust the implementation of, the campaign if necessary. Activity 1: PROBLEM – SOLUTION – CHANGE 1. Discuss and decide, as a group, what core problem your campaign seeks to address. Elaborate all the adverse effects of this problem. 2. Each person in the group should create their own answer to the following question: What would a world without this problem be like? * Use words, diagrams, illustrations. * Imagine unlimited resources (money, power, etc). * Discuss and enumerate all the benefits of this proposed world. 3. Combine your individual visions of the future to create a single common vision for the campaign. Discuss in depth which broad actions or changes would resolve the problem you identified, so as to arrive at the world you have envisioned. These necessary actions are the main focus of your campaign. Discuss the scope of your campaign: decide whether it has multiple components (sub-campaigns). If it does, you may choose either to narrow the focus of your campaign or create a multiple-campaign strategy. UNDERSTAND THE CAMPAIGN’S STAKEHOLDERS Stakeholders are people, groups, organisations, or institutions that are connected to your issue. They may support your campaign, be adversely affected by the issue in question, have the power to change the situation, or even be responsible for the problem you have identified. An important task when designing your campaign is to learn as much about the stakeholders as possible. You should: * Understand each stakeholder’s relationship to the problem and your proposed solution * Define the relationships between different stakeholders * Determine the ability and willingness of stakeholders to help or hurt your campaign * Identify which of these stakeholders your campaign should concentrate on to create the change your desire. Activity 2: MAPPING STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS Start creating a map in which entities with a stake in your issue are represented as circles, or nodes, and lines between these circles represent relationships. It is good to use sticky papers (post-it notes) for this activity because they can be moved about as required. 1. Discuss the interaction that is at the root of the problem your campaign wants to address. Who creates the problem? Who is affected by it? How and why are these entities connected to one another? 2. Continue, taking notes as you go along, until you can identify the interaction between entities (nodes) that most represents what you seek to change. 3. Identify all of the nodes between which this kind of interaction is happening. 4. Place these nodes at the center of your map. 5. Identify the relationships of these central nodes with others nodes on your map. Start locally and move outward regionally, nationally, internationally and globally, if relevant. Depending on your problem, expand your map with two or more levels of nodes (marking these in a clear way): * First level: entities with direct contact to the central nodes (family / local) * Second level: entities with contact to the first level (regional / national) * Third level: nodes with general influence on the issue (international / institutional) 6. Next, draw lines representing relationships between these nodes and identify the kind of relationship they have; for example: * Power * Mutual benefit * Conflict * Potential After mapping out as many stakeholders as you can, you will have a graphic representation of your stakeholders’ relationships with your issue. Next you should analyse how your stakeholders may help achieve the change/s you seek. For more information on how to do this, see New Tactics in Human Rights Tactical Mapping. Activity 3: FROM STAKEHOLDERS TO TARGETS Begin defining specific objective/s of your campaign. Consider each stakeholder’s level of support and level of influence in the context of your campaign objective/s. 1. In simple, active terms, define what would resolve your problem and bring about the change you seek. Your objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. 2. Using the list of the stakeholders from the previous activity, identify as many as possible who could help achieve your objective. 3. Draw a horizontal and a vertical axis on a large sheet of blank paper (shown here). Place the stakeholders as follows: * The vertical axis represents their level of influence in achieving the goal of your objective from most influential (top) to least influential (bottom). * The horizontal axis represents whether they are likely to oppose (left) or support (right) your campaign. 4. After you place all the stakeholders on the paper, identify the most influential entities or individuals as potential primary targets, those who can make the change you seek. Note their level of support or opposition for this change. 5. Discuss the relationship of these entities to other stakeholders. You may already have this information on your stakeholder map from Activity 2. 6. Identify stakeholders who support your campaign and have influence on or relationships with your primary target group. They are your secondary targets, or participant groups, who could become actively involved in helping your campaign achieve its goals. Locate them on your graph and identify two or three participant groups to concentrate on. (Adapted from The Change Agency’s Power Mapping exercise.) Activity 4: FROM TARGETS TO TACTICS Now you have identified the target audiences that your campaign needs to communicate with, and what relationships they have with other entities with a stake in the problem, you can consider what tactics will best address your target and participant groups? 1. Draw a half-circle, divided into wedges. Place those who most support your campaign on the left side of the spectrum; those who oppose you the most on the right. 2. Use your maps and sticky papers, placing each target and stakeholder in a wedge according to their level of support for your cause. The result is a spectrum of stakeholders, a few of whom you have identified as primary or secondary targets. A five-wedge diagram would include the following: a. Active allies: supportive and motivated to achieve your goals b. Allies: may benefit from your success c. Neutral parties: may not be involved or affected currently d. Opponents: may suffer from your success e. Active opponents: actively interfere with your activities 3. Use this diagram to help decide which tactics to consider, depending on each stakeholder’s location on the spectrum. For example: f. Supportive: use mobilisation tactics g. Neutral: use educational. visualisation tactics h. Opposing: use disruption, interference tactics (Adapted from New Tactics in Human Rights’ Spectrum of Allies exercise.) This card was created by Namita Singh and Ali Gharavi in collaboration with Tactical Tech. There are four essential elements to every successful capital campaign: the Case; Leadership; Prospects; and, the Plan. This article is last in a series addressing each element and will focus on designing a successful capital campaign plan. You cannot do everything at once, but you can do one thing at a time. Begin by designing a comprehensive campaign strategy that works well you and your organization. Every successful campaign begins with a plan. The campaign plan is a detailed set of procedural guidelines for campaign leaders and volunteers. The successful campaign plan is built with two overriding principles in mind: (1) Anything other than a complete success is entirely unacceptable; and (2) To ensure the complete success of this fundraising effort, the campaign must be formally declared (and treated) as the primary institutional priority of the organization throughout the fundraising timetable. Recognizing and stating these basic truths puts you into the mindset to make the dec isions and commitments necessary for a successful campaign. From there, we begin to incorporate essential fundraising elements into a comprehensive strategy. Just as there are the four essential elements of a successful campaign (Case, Leadership, Prospects and Plan) there are many vital techniques at work within a good fundraising plan, among them the use of: personal visits, a phased approach, specific gift requests, lead and major gift solicitation, pledge type gifts. Personal visits always yield more money. People give to people—people they love, people they admire, people they respect and even people they fear. Often it is the personal relationship of the volunteer making the request that has the most sway with the potential donor. Our classic technique demands that we employ a phase-by-phase approach to our fundraising, always asking for the largest gifts first, and then medium sized gifts and finally smaller gifts. This ensures that we create enthusiasm and build momentum. Our success, as evidenced by our rapidly rising fundrais ing totals and our large average gift, will pull undecided people toward us and encourage them to give. Victory has a thousand fathers, yet defeat is always an orphan. One of the most important concepts we must use is to ask for a specific gift. We should be asking mostly with a view of our need in mind, but with some view of their means in mind as well. As we articulate the request, we want to make it clear that the reason we are asking them for this specific amount is because we need it if we are to succeed. It is important that they not get the sense that we are asking them for this amount just because we think they have it, or because we think that is what they â€Å"ought to give,† but only because â€Å"we have this enormous need and a limited number of people of means to whom we can turn.† If people are going to help you achieve ambitious plans, they need to know what is required of them. You must always ask for the specific gift. Every campaign that is successful in reaching its potential is going to do a good job of soliciting Leadership and Major Gifts. Clearly some families are especially able to help because of their material blessings. Within the fundraising industry, it is a well-known fact that approximately 80% of the money (or more) will come from just 20% of the people (and sometimes fewer). These Leadership and Major Gifts set the pace for others to follow and they provide the financial foundation upon which to build a successful campaign. Much time is spent, early in the campaign, trying to determine who should be challenged to consider a gift of this significant nature. A well-run campaign will always stress equal effort, equal stretching or even equal sacrifice from every prospective donor, but not equal giving. Each prospect should be encouraged to do their individual best. Another element of a successful campaign plan is to offer people the opportunity to make pledges, rather than one-time gifts, and to offer longer pledge redemption periods where appropriate and possible. Depending upon the length of the pledge redemption period, pledges are usually two—three times larger than one-time contributions. In today’s busy world, people often budget their money very carefully. If a family were going to give you $100 per month, you would rather have that run for 60 months (5 years) than 36 months (3 years), would you not? Narrowing the pledge collection period is not going to get this family (which is giving out of current income) to pay the money any sooner. It will merely get you a smaller pledge. There are many other important aspects of a solid fundraising plan, including: Financial Goals and Objectives Clearly stated goals tied to both the leaders responsible for attaining them and the timeline over which they are to be accomplished. A Detailed Campaign Timetable Giving form to function, the timetable gives us an orderly way to approach a complex task, ensuring the most important things are going to be done first. Organizational Chart Clarifying the responsibilities of each campaign leader and showing everyone how they are related to one another. Description of Leadership Roles and Responsibilities Written instructions delineating the job responsibilities of each leader/volunteer. Campaign Phases and/or Divisions and Tracks of Activity Another form of timeline, breaking out major phases of activity and tracks of action. Many phases may go on simultaneously, while others will be the only activity underway at that given time. Lead and Major Gift Programs This most important track of activity begins during the early quiet phase of the campaign and continues until the potential for such gifts has been exhausted. Commemorative Gift Plan A comprehensive plan to commemorate the gifts of your campaign donors, especially major and leadership donors which might include naming opportunities, public recognition and memorabilia that you can give to outstanding leaders/donors (such as a scale model of a building, etc.). Keep in mind that the plan may evolve as the campaign moves forward. Often this is a function of actual early results, and who is giving at what levels. Who is accepting a leadership role? Preparing a detailed timetable and organizational chart is a good way of measuring the progress of the campaign in relation to the plan and detecting when necessary adjustments or revisions may be needed. It also provides a specific measure of accountability. Establish goals for each constituency and phase. Everyone needs to know what is expected of him or her! A statistical summary of the number and level of gifts required to reach the campaign goal for each phase of activity should be kept regularly. This list should be constantly monitored against progress to date and should be consulted daily to develop a precise order of solicitation, thus providing us a plan and timetable for asking. In summary, the campaign plan is one of the four essential elements of a successful capital campaign and must be carefully researched and crafted. Remember to keep a close eye on the fundraising plan and modify it in view of your actual experiences. The plan is your road map to success. Remember, it is static while the world is very dynamic. Use the plan as your basic guide, maintaining your liberty to deviate from it briefly where called upon, and you will find it serves you quite nicely and leads to your fundraising success.