Synaptic

Introduction This assignment is a case study on the importance of a cohesive organizational culture. The case study is based on a San Diego based organization called Synaptic, which is faced with management challenges.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Synaptic specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The challenges have led to poor working relationship between two key departments, namely the Information Management (IM) and computational scientists departments. The main cause of the misunderstanding is poor organizational culture; which does not promote cohesiveness and harmony between various organizational departments. As a consultant, I would recommend that the organization adopts a cohesive organizational culture and reduces the centers of power. Discussion Organizational Culture An organization is a group of people who work together with coordinated efforts to achieve certain objectives or goals. Organizational g oals and objectives are of various categories and it is this variation of the goals and objectives which classify organization into three main categories namely profit-making, service-based and social responsibility based organization. Organizational culture is a very important aspect in any organization which aspires to realize its vision and mission. The reason is that organizational culture determines whether the organization is able to work together towards the realization of its vision.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Organizational culture is closely related to organizational structure in that the manner in which decisions are made by the top management influences the relationship between the top management and the other employees, which consequently determines the culture of the organization (Project management institute, 2013, p.78). Organizational culture is le arned implicitly through interactions within an organizational setting. The employees learn it through imitating other employees. This imitation happens unconsciously due to the human instinct to adopt behaviors which make him or her fit in the social environment which he or she finds himself or herself in. Through communication and interaction with each other, employees come up with unique ways of relating to each other as they go about their duties. Employees also learn organizational culture through conditioning and reinforcement. If for instance, a certain behavior is rewarded by the management of an organization, the employees tend to perfect that behavior which eventually becomes part of their culture (Project management institute, 2013, p.78). Likewise, if a certain behavior is negatively sanctioned by the management, then the employees will tend to avoid it, thus becoming one of the don’ts in the organization.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample o n Synaptic specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A strong organizational culture is found in organizations where the employees are committed to their work and discharge their duties with little or no supervision while a weak organizational culture is found in organizations where the employees have little commitment to their duties and are closely supervised so as to discharge their duties effectively. Organizations vary greatly in terms of their mission, vision, objectives, resource base philosophy and coverage. Due to this, each and every organization must cultivate a culture which is unique to itself so as to achieve its mission and objectives. This means that what may be considered as values or norms in one organization may not be considered as such in another organization. However, despite these variations and differences, there is importance of having a cohesive organizational culture regardless of the organizational structure, missio n and objectives. Why Synaptic Needs a Cohesive Organizational Culture One reason is because organizations are managed by people for the benefit of people. All employees in all organizations are social beings complete with needs, feelings and emotions. In many countries for instance, it is almost impossible to separate personal life and work among employees, which calls for an integration of employees lives with their work environment so as to make work both satisfying and enjoyable as well as a means of realizing happiness and fulfillment in one’s life (Heldman, 2011, p.37). But what is a cohesive organizational culture? Many organizational researchers agree that a cohesive organizational culture is one in which all members of an organization hold to similar beliefs and values which glue them together as an organization.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These beliefs and values may be implicit or explicit to the organization. In this kind of a culture, what matters most is the commitment of each and every member of the organization to these beliefs and values (Keshavarzi, 2007, p.152). For example, an organization may value hard work, honesty and teamwork and believe in transparency, utmost good faith, ethics and morality. A cohesive organizational culture has got many benefits. One benefit is that it leads to high motivation among the employees because they share common beliefs and values. When employees are highly motivated, there is minimal use of resources in their supervision which in turn increases their productivity because to them, what matters most is the good of the organization as a whole but not personal good. Another benefit of cohesive organizational culture is that it facilitates the alignment of organizations for the achievement of their objectives, mission and vision without much difficulty. The reason is that the employees are not only fully aware of the mission, vision and objectives, but have also internalized them, thus making them to work hard to achieve them. This makes them more motivated to accomplish the set organizational goals, targets or objectives. Strong organizational culture also boosts organizational efficiency because of the internalization of what is required of each and every employee. The sharing of values and beliefs creates a good working environment free from any kind of confusion, ambiguity or lack of understanding among the employees, which apart from increasing efficiency also saves on time wasted when things seem not to move in the right direction because the employees are able and free to consult each other without the fear of victimization or intimidation especially by the senior managers. Employees also portray good behavior at work because they know what is right to be done and what is not right. Furthermore, strong organizational culture leads to cohesion amon g various departments of an organization which leads to harmonization of all organizational procedures, policies and practices in each and every department. This cohesion leads to proper utilization of organizational resources without sabotage as well as sound, logical and relevant polices on how to coordinate organizational activities in a manner that would maximize the organizations’ chances of realizing their mission and vision. Cohesion among various organizational departments also leads to the sharing of information by various departments which increases the employees’ levels of understanding of how various departments work. This is very important because it enables employees to multitask, especially in times when staffs in some departments are not available. For example, the understanding of administrative issues in the organization by the head of accounting department may make him or her work on behalf of the head of the administration department when he or she is not present. Strong organizational culture enhances control, good coordination and consistency within an organization. The reason is that the employees and the management are in good terms and thus are able to agree informally on various procedures and practices without compromising the quality of services offered. This saves on time because employees implement the changes which they find necessary without having to wait for bureaucratic board meetings and discussions to approve even the slightest change in procedures or practices. Lastly, not the least, cohesive organizational culture enhances teamwork, group leadership and collaboration of the employees in various tasks. This is of crucial importance to organizations because it opens the room for employees’ creativity, innovativeness and openness to positive criticism which makes work not only enjoyable, but also enriched with a multiplicity of ideas. This, in turn, leads to increased achievement levels by the organizati on as opposed to situations in which employees’ creativity and innovativeness are not entertained by the management of the organizations. Conclusion As a consultant, therefore, I would advise the top management to ensure that all members of the organization are working towards the same goal. I would also recommend that the organization reduces the centers of power. Based on the organizational chart, it is evident that the organization has many centers of power and that is why there is poor coordination of the departments. If for example, the organization could have just one director in charge of information and communication technology, then the wrangles witnessed before would not happen again. For the organization to solve the problem once and for all, therefore, it needs to embrace cohesiveness and have few centers of power. References Heldman, K. (2011). PMP Project Management Professional exam study guide, (6th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Keshavarzi, H. A. (2007). The effect of organizational culture on knowledge sharing behaviourin the auto industry in Iran. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, London, UK: Aston University. Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide) (5th ed.). Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute. This case study on Synaptic was written and submitted by user F1sher to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Sample Word Essay Prompts - Do Not Copy Them

Sample Word Essay Prompts - Do Not Copy ThemSample word essays or sample essay prompts are useful and all around great. If you write a good sample, you will get some decent feedback on how well you did.The writing sample that you give your friends or students is almost useless, unless you show them that you know what you are doing when you use that sample. Even if you do give them a sample essay they have no idea how to use it because most writing samples only teach you how to copy from them, nothing else. My first lesson was, 'Do not copy them; copy your own writing.' If I got a test, I would always choose the test that I liked the most and read about it for several weeks before getting the actual test.New writers do not understand what the sample writer has to say, they read the whole sample. If you tell them that they will be able to give the correct answer, if they copy it, they will copy it wrongly.Sample essay prompts can be very helpful but they must not be used too much. Most writers are very busy and often cannot get enough time to write an essay. People don't have enough time to devote to an essay; if they have to sit for a week, they cannot concentrate and remember everything.It is hard for a person to stick to the writing sample when they read that a sample is done, just as it is hard for a person to continue studying for the test. I just let the test go on and moved on to the next one, each week my timesheet read out which was my personal best.When giving someone a sample essay prompt the rules are very simple. Do not copy the sample word for word, do not put a title in place of your own words, and do not put every question in the essay prompt. Most of the sample ideas are related to words that could be used in the subject or theme of the essay. If the sample idea is about a topic where you cannot include the word, it is better to omit it completely and then look for a theme or topic idea that fits into that topic.Sample essay prompts are great too ls to use and to get better at writing but when it comes to determining if you did a good job, the real answer is by making a good choice. Do not copy a sample; make your own.

Hofstede Cultural Dimension Essays

Hofstede Cultural Dimension Essays Hofstede Cultural Dimension Paper Hofstede Cultural Dimension Paper Hofstede Geert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions are individualistic vs. collectivism, power distance, quality of life vs. quantity of life, uncertainty avoidance and time orientation. Power Distance The term of power distance in the Hofstede’s framework means measurement of power in an institution and organization being distributed where the society able to accept (Bergman et al. 2006, 141). Both Australia and Sweden has a low power distance in their society. Low power distance countries tend to work in a decentralization environment and have greater power in decision-making (Lere and Portz, 2005). With decentralization, managers are more independent in the development of a company with leadership quality instead of just position and status (Lere and Portz, 2005). Australia and Sweden organization tend to be flatter and team-oriented structure to have better communication between subordinates and their bosses (Business Culture, n. d). Therefore opinions and decision-making are encouraged to voice out and information are easier to be pass around in the company. Therefore in Sweden matrix organization is common when there are any projects coming up (Business Culture, n. d). Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance means a measurement of tolerance risk and behaviour where the society’s culture able to accept (Bergman et al. 2006, 141). Both Australia and Sweden has low uncertainty avoidance. Countries with low uncertainty avoidance will have less concern on uncertainty and ambiguity and focus more on tolerance with each other (Lere and Portz, 2005). There will be more risk taking and less unwanted arguments. In this society, there will be less rule-oriented and would be able to adapt to changes of environment (Lere and Portz, 2005). Swedish are more willing to take risk than any other countries (Business culture, n. ). When judging a person, their performance is the greater importance in a working place (Business culture, n. d). Therefore equal amount of men and women are normally seen in high position (Business culture, n. d). While in Australia, they have a more relax and laid-back culture, where they will not fear the future and walk towards it instead (Bassett, 2004). This shows Australia prefer to move forward rather than being stop by an obstacle. Moreover, Australians believe in their legal rights and documents are normally interpreted literally due to their loyalty towards British Common Law (Bassett, 2004). Time Orientation In Australia, a culture with a short term orientation values such as maintaining personal stability or happiness and living for the present which look in the short run. Australian people prefer to follow clear rules and procedures. They prefer to work on one task at a time and may feel frustrated when other competing tasks distract that focus. (Robert et al. 2004) Furthermore in short term, the old once is easily kicked off and the new once can easily come in no matter in what industry. Where as in Sweden, they are in the medium time orientation. (Clearly Cultural n. d. ) For example, in Australian if two officers agreed to meet at 2. 0pm, they really mean to be there by 2. 30pm sharp or even earlier. So promptness in personal habits is important to them. Individualism Individualism is â€Å"the degree to which people in a country prefers to act as individuals rather than as member of groups† (Robbins and Decenzo 2004, p. 48). Individualism refers to the â€Å"strength of the ties people have to others within the community† (Mind Tools, 2008). In a high individualism country, there is a loose connection with people and there is also a lack of interpersonal connection and little sharing of responsibilities, beyond family and perhaps a few close friends. Sweden and Australia scored highly under this category. â€Å"This individuality is reinforced in Australian’s daily lives and must be considered when traveling and doing business in their Country. Privacy is considered the cultural norm and attempts at personal ingratiating may meet with rebuff† (ITIM International, 2003). To communicate better in an individualistic culture, as an individual you are expected to work on your own and take initiatives. Business environment will be less reliant on relationship and personal contacts which will separate business and personal life. Coworkers or subordinates will expect to have a chance to work on projects or solve issues independently. It is common for people in this culture to try to stand out from the rest during meetings, presentations, or even during group work. As for Malaysian, they are less individualistic. They work more in groups to get the best outcome so that they can fulfill the mission that they want to achieve. Quantity Vs Quality of Life In Australia, most of the Australians are actually scored high in quantity of life compared to quality of life. They are characterized by assertiveness and materialism. For example, Australians tend to follow each other. This happens because of the stability of Australian institutions and the strong economy. For example, since the beginning of 2003 there has been a boom in the housing market, in every place everyone is talking about houses. So, this may happen to the car industry too. Australia is considered one of the most competitive nations on earth (Yes Australia n. d. ) Because of this stability, Australians tend to buy more by following the trend. But there is a partial place in Australia where quality of life is high where people are friendly and helpful. Recommendation As we are a Swedish base company trying to expand our business in Australia, employees and managers from Sweden should learn how to communicate better with Australians. In the power distance dimension, we know that both Australia and Sweden is rank low. The Swedish managers should try to introduce him or her self in an informal manner. Decision making should also involve others. Australians and Swedish are more towards individualism. Employees from Sweden should learn how to work on their own and take more initiatives. They should also be prepared that business environment are less reliant on relationship and personal contact. As for uncertainty avoidance, Australian and Swedish scored low. This means that Swedish should learn how to be more flexible or open in the approach to new ideas. Agreed plans should be realized quickly. Swedish employee should also learn how to execute their task on their own with only guidelines from superior. Swedish are more medium term oriented as Australians are more to short term oriented. Swedish should expect to live by the same standards and rules which we create. Swedish should also be respectful to others and should not hesitate to introduce necessary changes.

Emily Davies, Advocate of Higher Education for Women

Emily Davies, Advocate of Higher Education for Women Known for:  founding Girton College,  advocate of womens higher educationDates: April 22, 1830 - July 13, 1921Occupation: educator, feminist, womens rights advocateAlso Known as: Sarah Emily Davies About Emily Davies Emily Davies was born in Southampton, England. Her father, John Davies, was a clergyman and her mother, Mary Hopkinson, a teacher. Her father was an invalid, suffering a nervous condition. In Emilys childhood, he ran a school in addition to his work in the parish.  Eventually, he gave up his clergy post and school to focus on writing. Emily Davies was privately educated typical for young women of that time. Her brothers were sent to school, but Emily and her sister Jane were educated at home, focusing mainly on household duties. She nursed two of her siblings, Jane and Henry, through their battles with tuberculosis. In her twenties, Emily Davies friends included Barbara Bodichon and Elizabeth Garrett, advocates of womens rights. She met Elizabeth Garrett through mutual friends, and Barbara Leigh-Smith Bodichon on a trip with Henry to Algiers, where Bodichon was also spending the winter.  The Leigh-Smith sisters seem to have been the first to introduce her to feminist ideas. Davies frustration at her own unequal educational opportunities was from that point directed into more political organizing for change for womens rights. Two of Emilys brothers died in 1858.  Henry died of tuberculosis which had marked his life, and William of wounds sustained in the fighting in the Crimea, though he had moved on to China before his death. She spent some time with her brother Llewellyn and his wife in London, where Llewellyn was a member of some circles that promoted social change and feminism.  She attended lectures of  Elizabeth Blackwell  with her friend Emily Garrett. In 1862, when her father died, Emily Davies moved to London with her mother. There, she edited a feminist publication, The Englishwomans Journal, for a time, and helped found the Victoria  magazine.  She published a paper on women in the medical profession for the Congress of the Social Science Organization.   Soon after moving to London, Emily Davies began working for the admission of women to higher education. She advocated for the admission of girls to London University and to Oxford and Cambridge. When she was given the opportunity, she found, on short notice, more than eighty female applicants to take exams at Cambridge; many passed and the success of the effort plus some lobbying led to opening the exams to women regularly.  She also lobbied for girls to be admitted to secondary schools.  In the service of that campaign, she was the first woman to appear as an expert witness at a royal commission. She also became involved in the wider womens rights movement, including advocating for womens suffrage. She helped organize for John Stuart Mills 1866 petition to Parliament for womens rights. That same year, she also wrote Higher Education for Women. In 1869, Emily Davies was part of a group that opened a womens college, Girton College, after several years of planning and organizing. In 1873 the institution moved to Cambridge. It was Britains first womens college. From 1873 to 1875, Emily Davies served as mistress of the college, then she spent thirty more years as Secretary to the college. This college became part of Cambridge University and began granting full degrees in 1940. She also continued her suffrage work. In 1906 Emily Davies headed a delegation to Parliament. She opposed the militancy of the Pankhursts and their wing of the suffrage movement. In 1910, Emily Davies published Thoughts on Some Questions Relating to Women. She died in 1921.

Explaination of the Importance of Reflective Practice in Coaching Term Paper

Explaination of the Importance of Reflective Practice in Coaching - Term Paper Example However, in the twentieth century, this trend of the teacher to student communication changed radically. In the context of this essay, it is important to note that modern coaching practices have been evolving as a two-way mechanism, where the learner is not the only learner, but the teacher or coach is also a learner at times. This sort of reflective practice would be a life long process which has been explored and analyzed on the basis of the various models and processes provided by continued research and development. Also, it becomes the learner’s responsibility to some extent that he or she frankly communicates with the coach; otherwise the process of sustained coach education would be largely impaired. Key Concepts and Processes of Reflective Practice The concepts and processes in relation to reflective practice have been primarily based on the various reflective models provided by the eminent educationists, psychologists and researchers in this field. Argyris and Schon: T he reflective model provided by Argyris and Schon introduces us to the idea of Single Loop Learning and Double Loop Learning. The theory has been built on the basis of the amendment and recognition of an observed error or fault. Single Loop Learning is the practice when an organization or practitioner continuously relies on current techniques, policies or strategies even after some error occurred and a correction had to be made. This continues until a similar situation is encountered again. However, the practice of Double Loop Learning is comparatively more innovative since it provides for alteration of the current techniques, policies or strategies on the account of an error observed. Thus, in this process, innovative ideas can be introduced when a similar situation is encountered again. (Schon, 1983) Kolb, 1984: The experiential way of learning involves the application of the information received from the educator to the experiences of the learner. It does not consist of activity generated in the classroom alone. The student does not acquire his or her knowledge exclusively from the teacher.  

FEDERAL EXPRESS MODULE 1 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

FEDERAL EXPRESS MODULE 1 SLP - Essay Example e the nature of the operations given the newfound understanding of operations management and productivity, and identify the strategy or global strategy of Federal Express. Federal Express operates under a variety of names depending on the product or service that the particular brand name provides. These include FedEx Corporation, FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services Solutions and Technology, FedEx Trade Networks, FedEx SmartPost, FedEx Custom Critical, FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Services, and FedEx Global Supply Chain Services. The company’s main line of business is shipping (Federal Express 2008). This paper will focus on the shipping services provided by Federal Express. According to the Federal Express website (2008, pg. 1), â€Å"The modern air/ground express industry was pioneered with the founding of Federal Express in 1971; the corporation was created in 1998 as FDX Corporation and became FedEx Corporation in January 2000.† The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee and is led by CEO Frederick W. Smith. It has been listed on the NYSE as FDX since 1978 and pulled in $35.2 billion in revenue in 2007. Over 290,000 employees work for the company worldwide. The average daily volume for the company is â€Å"more than 7.5 million shipments for express, ground, freight and expedited delivery services ,† the service area covers, â€Å"more than 220 countries and territories, including every address in the United States,† and fedex.com sees, â€Å"over 15 million unique visitors monthly; more than 3 million package tracking requests daily and 15 million packages shipped via FedEx Ship Manager monthly† (Federal Express 2008). The company is already going global at a strong rate. Not only do they have locations in Canada, Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, but they also service a list of countries that is way too big to list in this paper. It appears that they have a very strong global strategy,

Effectiveness of Interventions for Emotional Eating

Effectiveness of Interventions for Emotional Eating Peer review: Does educating pupils on emotional eating have a positive effect on their emotional eating behaviours? Summary of aims, rationale and hypotheses The applicant proposes an intervention for controlling emotional eating because emotional eating often has been linked to obesity, which is a major concern in the UK. This proposal focuses on prevention by giving people information about the topic via seminars before the emotional eating started. The applicant extended previous research about the assumption that stress can cause emotional eating and that eating disorders, such as obesity, binge eating and anorexia nervosa, are linked to emotional eating. A lot of emotions, such as arousal, fear, boredom and a negative mood can lead to food intake. The applicant focused on research about interventions on alcohol use and abuse and the success of these interventions because the participants behaviours and attitudes were changed. Three key parts were mentioned: drinking alcohol wont turn everybody in an alcoholic, the act of drinking is normal, but abusive drinking isnt and education starts early. This proposal hypothesized that pupils w ho receive emotional eating seminars, compared to pupils who receive litter picking seminars, will alter their behaviours and their emotional eating scores will reduce by educating them about emotional eating and thereby reduce obesity levels, trying to receive long-term outcomes. Summary of methods and expected results The applicant found 140 pupils from year 9, between the age of 13 and 14. These pupils were split up in two groups. The experimental group received the emotional eating seminars, while the control group received seminars about litter picking. Afterwards, the applicant used the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire, particularly the part about emotional eating and participants had to add their height and weight. Participants asked to fill in the questionnaire twice, once in the beginning and once at the end of term. Both groups were asked to fill in another short questionnaire at the end of each seminar to measure the impact of the seminar on their behaviour. The proposal expected to see a change in the behaviour of the pupils in terms of emotional eating and that pupils have a better chance of noticing these eating behaviours. Summary of limitation and challenges The applicant mentioned that previous research found little gender differences and therefore this proposal does not account for gender differences. Secondly, because increased stress causes an increased food consumption, the applicant found an additional test. Pupils were shown a stress inducing video while having snacks in front of them. The bowl was weighed before and after they had watched the video. Third, litter picking was chosen as the control variable because the applicant assumed that it had nothing to do with emotional eating. Constructive suggestions on how to improve the proposal (385) This proposal is very useful because it highlights a major problem in our society, obesity. Obesity is a worldwide problem with a lot of health problems, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer (Wang et al, 2011). Therefore, research is necessary to find preventions and interventions for this problem because researcher expect 11 million obese adults more in the UK by 2030 (ibid). Another good part about this proposal is that the questionnaires are quantitative, which means that it based on a measurement, for example a five-point scale, and that this study consists of numbers, which makes this proposal more valid. The extra stress test is very good to control the reliability of the questionnaire scores and therefore to measure a third variable, which might make the proposal again more valid. However, this proposal has it flaws. First, this proposal is not neuro-cognitive. Nothing in this study measures something neurological. The applicant could have measured brain activi ty in participants while they were eating before and after the seminars, in both, the control and the experimental group, to see if something changed neurologically while they were eating after the seminars compared to before the seminars, for example, the experimental group might think more about what they eat and how much instead of just eating without thinking at all. Secondly, only two seminars might not be enough. Most studies who use prevention methods, such as seminars, were longitudinally (Hivert et al., 2007; Keller, 1978; Schnell Doetkott, 2003). It might be better if the applicant would have done this study for two years or so, which would mean that every group would have for example 12 seminars each year for two years long. A longitudinal study gives more long-term outcomes instead of only short-term outcomes (Schnell Doetkott, 2003). The applicant is doing this study in only one school. It might be better to take participants out of different schools because it is pos sible that one school pays more attention to what their students eat or pay more attention to prevent unhealthy children than another school, which could affect the study. Therefore, more schools should be participating this study to make it more valid. Is the proposal feasible? Are the requested resources well justified? This proposal seems very feasible. The requested resources are well justified and the study shouldnt be too difficult to conduct. How novel is the proposal? This proposal is not a really new study, but not adopted either. Daubenmier et al. (2011) suggested a mindfulness intervention, based on therapy, instead of seminars. Although the intention of both is the same, the study differs in certain respects. Hivert et al. (2007) did a study that is very alike to this proposal, only they did the study on participants, who were already obese. What is the intentional impact of this proposal? Given that this study might already have been done and the few limitations, this study is not unnecessary. The impact in this proposal is to prevent eating disorders. Good in this study is that, if it works, it prevents eating disorders before they even come up compared to other studies, who only start these interventions when it is already too late. REFERENCES Daubenmier, J., Kristeller, J., Hecht, F. M., Maninger, N., Kuwata, M., Jhaveri, K., Epel, E. (2011). Mindfulness intervention for stress eating to reduce cortisol and abdominal fat among overweight and obese women: an exploratory randomized controlled study.  Journal of obesity,  2011. Hivert, M. F., Langlois, M. F., Berard, P., Cuerrier, J. P., Carpentier, A. C. (2007). Prevention of weight gain in young adults through a seminar-based intervention program.  International Journal of Obesity,  31(8), 1262-1269.. Keller, R. T. (1978). A Longitudinal Assessment of a Managerial Grid ® Seminar Training Program.Group Organization Management,  3(3), 343-355. Schnell, C. A., Doetkott, C. D. (2003). First year seminars produce long-term impact.Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice,  4(4), 377-391. Wang, Y. C., McPherson, K., Marsh, T., Gortmaker, S. L., Brown, M. (2011). Health and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and the UK.  The Lancet,  378(9793), 815-825.