Health care issues are receiving much attention in both academic and political arenas. A sociologist recently conducted a survey of citizens over 60 years of age whose net worth is too high to qualify for Medicaid. The ages of 25 senior citizens were as follows: 60 65 71 76 86 61 66 73 77 87 62 68 73 81 89 63 68 74 81 90 64 69 75 82 95

Calculate the arithmetic mean age of the senior citizens. (Note: Use two decimal places, i.e. 12.34)

Determine the median of the senior ages.

Determine the first quartile of the ages of the senior citizens.

Determine the third quartile of the ages of the senior citizens.

Determine the interquartile range of the ages of the senior citizens.

Compute the skewness.

Compute the Kurtosis.

Calculate the variance. (Note: Use two decimal places, i.e. 12.34)

Calculate standard deviation. (Note: Use two decimal places, i.e. 12.34%)

Calculate the coefficient of variation.

Data Mining

Life of academic staff can be very challenging and demanding. Even though it seems like a smooth sailing ship, many aspects might challenge an individual employed in such sector.
One of the biggest challenges to overcome is to ensure to keep a keen watch on all students enrolled in a specific course. The obstacle levels up when the student number is higher in the class, let's say more than fifty. Then one could imagine how difficult it might be if the class number is beyond a hundred or two hundred, for instance.
Dr. Prat is an academic staff at Fiji National University. He teaches a generic course where all students from different programmes are compelled to enrol in it. This would mean that the class number is usually very high and keeping a good watch on all students is merely impossible.
Dr. Prat is looking for avenues to make this possible. Being a colleague, Dr. Prat thought to seek assistance from the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems. Dr. Prat was given an assurance that the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems can use data mining tactics to resolve his hurdle.
Dr. Prat provided with two years of student coursework marks.
Your lecturer is seeking your help to find knowledge from the provided dataset. You are to use the results for 2017 an 2018 to pre-determine the AT-RISK future students.

Please include:
Introduction
Problem Domain
Aim/Objective
Data Source

please in reference to the above questions and statements, provide details, you can also generalize it but in context to the question

Mini Case study: Alliance Formation, Both Globally and Locally, in the Global Automobile Industry The academic literature on alliances has some interesting recent findings, one of which is the rationale that because firms are often located in the same country, and often in the same region of the country, it is easier for them to collaborate on major projects. As such, they compete globally, but may cooperate locally. Historically, firms have learned to collaborate by establishing strategic alliances and froming cooperative strategies when there is intensive competition. This interesting paradox is due to several reasons. FIrst, when there is intense rivalry, it is difficult to maintain market power. As such, using a cooperative strategy can reduce market power through better norms of competition; this pertains to the idea of "mutual forbearance:. Another rationale that has emerged is based on the resource-based view of the firm. To compete, firms often need resources that they dont have but may be found in other firms in or outside of the local firms home industry. As such, these completementary resources are another rationale for why large firms form joint ventures and strateic alliances whithin the same industry or in vertically related industries. Beacuse firms are co located and have similar needs, its easir for them to jointly work together, for example, to produce engines and transmiisions as part of the powertrain. This is evident in the European alliance between Peugeot-Citroen and Open-Vauxhall. It is also the reason for a recent US alliance between For and General Motors in developing upgraded nine and ten speed transmiisons. Furthermore, Ford and GM are looking to develop, together, eleven and twelve speed automatic transmissions to improve fuel efficiency and help the firms meet new federal guidelines regarding such efficiency. In regard to resouce complementarity, a very successful alliance was fromed in 1999 by French based Renault and Japan based Nissan. Each of these firms lacked the neccessary size to develop economies of scale and economies of scope that were critical to succeed in the 1990s and beyond in the global automobile industyr. When the alliance was formed, each firm took an ownership stake in the other. THe larger of the two companies Renault holds a 43.3 percent stake in Nissan, while Nissan has a 15 percent stake in Renault. It is interesting to note that Carlos Ghosn serves as the CEO of both companies. Over time, this corpoorate level synergistic allaince has developed three values to guide the relationship between the two firms: 1. trust )work fairly, impartially, and profesionall) 2. respect (honor commitments, liabilites, and responsibilites) 3. transparency (be open, frank, and clear) Largely due to these established principes, the Renalut Nissan alliance is a recognized success. One could argue that the main reason for the success of this alliance is the complementary assets that the firms bring to the alliance; Nissan is strong in Asia, while Renault is strong in Europe. Together they have eben able to establish other production locations, such as those in Latin America, whihc they may not have obtained independently. Some firms enter alliances because they are squeezed in the middle; that is they have moderate volumes, mostly for the mass market, but need to collaborate to testablish viable encomies of scale. For exmaple, fiat- chrysler needs to boost its annual sales from 4.3 billion to something like $6 billion, and likewise needs to strengthen its presence in the booming Asian market to have enough global market power. As such, it is entering joint ventures with two undersized Japanese carmakers, Mazda and Suzuki. HOwever, the past history of Mazda and Suzuki with alliance may be a reason for thier not being overly enthusiastic about the prospects of the current alliances. Fiat broke up with GM, Chrysler with aimler, and Mazda with Ford. This is also the situation in Europe locally for Peugeot Citron of France, which is struggling for survival along with the GM European subsidiary, Open-Vauxhall, More specifically, Peugeot Citroen and Opel Vauhall have struck a tentative agreement to share platforms and engines to get the capital necessary for investment in future models. As such, in all these examples, the firms need additional market share,but also enough capital to make the investment necessary to realize more market power to compete. In summary, there are a number of rationales why competitiors no tonly compete but also cooperate in establishing strategic alliances and joint ventures in order to meet strategic needs for increased market power, take advatnges of complemnetary assets and cooperate with close neighbor, often in the same region of a country. 1. How can the resource-based view of the firm help us understand why firms develop and use cooperative strategies such as strategic allainces and joint ventures? 2. What is the relationship between the core competencies a firm possesses, the core competencies the firm feels it needs, and decisions to form cooperative strategies? 3. What does it mean to say that the partners of an alliance have complementary assets? What complemenarty assets do Renault and Nissan share? 4. What are the risks associated with the corporate level strategic alliance between Renault and Nissan? What have these firms done to mitigate these risks? 5. Is it possible that some of the firms mentioned in this Mini case (eg Renault, Nissan, Mazda, Peugot Citroen, Opel Vauxhall) might form a network cooperative strategy? If so, what conditions mihgt influence a decision by these firms to form this particular type of strategy?

Introduction

Aaron and Dee are the two newest US-based coordinators hired by the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their primary task is to help the ALC identify credentialed female lecturers and presenters from the United States to participate in training workshops and leadership forums for aspiring faculty in the KSA higher education system. However, the current political climate is creating some cross-cultural differences and personal assumptions about the venue that are making it difficult for them to find speakers willing to consider the opportunity.

Background on KSA Higher Education

The KSA has long been established as an oil country, and much of their economy is driven by the production and sale of oil, making it a commodity-based economy. Realizing that the long-term sustainability of this model would eventually put the Kingdom in potential jeopardy, King Abdullah created a vision for the country that centered on moving the nation to a knowledge-based economy. The 2007 King Abdullah Project for General Education Development was a $3.1 billion project (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2007). His successor, King Salman, supported King Abdullah’s vision and propelled it forward with the nation’s blueprint for growth, which he characterized as a “pioneering and successful global model of excellence” (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para. 1) in Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s plan for the future. The themes of the vision are: (a) an ambitious nation; (b) a vibrant community; and (c) a thriving economy (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para 20). With a new focus on a knowledge-based economy, King Abdullah turned his attention to education in KSA. Two significant factors were at play. First, the physical structure of institutions of higher education were expanded and upgraded. Most of these institutions were constructed with separate but equal campuses for women. And second, the establishment in 2005 of a national scholarship to educate Saudi men and women at Western universities. By 2007, approximately 5,000 students took advantage of the scholarship in the US (General Authority for Statistics [KSA], n.d.) and 89,423 by 2014 (World Education News & Reviews, 2014). The modern higher education system in the KSA is relatively new; in fact, only three institutions of higher learning are more than 50 years old. And, about 63% of the public universities were created in the past 15 years (Global Penn State, n.d). In 2008, the KSA housed 24 government-supported institutions of higher education (not counting institutes), and by 2017, that number grew to 37 (Buller, n.d). With the onset and growth of colleges and universities within the KSA came a need for training. Within the KSA, law prohibits expatriates from holding key positions such as Dean or Vice President (Vice Rector). These government-sponsored positions must be held by Saudi nationals. Clearly, with the rapid growth of campuses across the nation, those individuals moving into such positions from the faculty ranks needed to have resources for professional development and training in the business of higher education administration. In 2009, the Ministry of Higher Education (now, the Ministry of Education), sponsored the development of a newly formed ALC, modeled largely off the American Council on Education and Universities of the United Kingdom. The ALC was spearheaded by a team of leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan. The vision of the ALC was “to be a leading centre in the region for the advancement of leadership in higher education institutions” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 40). The early programs of the ALC focused on such topics as: The Essential Academic Leader; Introduction to Academic Leadership; Advancing Undergraduate Education through Best Practices in Teaching and Learning; and Advancing Professional Development through Best Practices in Leadership and Administration. Today, the services of the ALC have grown to include: training and consultation to potential leaders of higher education; direct consultation service to sitting university leaders; an emerging national faculty mentorship program (spearheaded by the only full-time Western ALC female faculty development trainer); research studies related to KSA higher education; a training-thetrainer program; and full-blown leadership forums and symposia, of which the first was for women (on which the male forum was modeled).

Background on Women in the KSA

The KSA remains an enigma in terms of women in society. Ask women there how they feel, and you will get mixed answers. Many want the right to drive a car, while others say, “Why would I want to do that, when I have my own driver? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you load your strollers and groceries and pick you up at the front door in the rain wherever you are shopping?” They have a point. Some women are angered when Western women judge them as oppressed. This is a mistake often made in the midst of conversations – one to be avoided. Tribal values are very much revered and regarded, and many Saudi women see those values as part of their heritage. Western ways are exactly that – the ways of Westerners.

Interestingly, however, as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, there are changes underway. The social–political landscape is slowly shifting. In just 2015, women gained the right to vote; and, in 2013, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to sit on the high Shura Council (formally called the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia), the governing body that advises the King. Amid these changes, however, limits are real. Under the conservative Islamic state, for example, women still have male guardianship. This guardianship dictates if women can open a bank account, travel, get married, work, or have access to healthcare. In addition, women are not allowed to try on clothing in the mall. They must make purchases and take them with them. Disrobing in public, even behind closed doors, is a great risk. You may remember that when the KSA sent its first female athletes to the London Olympics, critics denounced the competitors as prostitutes. So, yes – women still face limits to their freedom in the KSA.

While these limits seem far removed from what one experiences in the United States and other Western cultures, there are certain outcomes we can only dream about. For example, women in the KSA are paid the same wage for the same work as their male counterparts. Additionally, women are given more rights in terms of family and monetary support. Unlike years of back payment in child support in the United States, such an outcome does not happen in the KSA. The law demands women and children are provided for by men, and men are held to that with unwavering expectations. And, just like men, women are educated for free by the government.

Before 1960, there was no public form of education for women in the KSA (Al-Rawaf & Simmons, 1991). In 1970, 795 men and 13 women graduated from a university in the KSA compared to 21,229 men and 21,721 women in 1999 (Baki, 2004). In 2015, the number of women enrolled in higher education for a bachelor’s degree was estimated to be 551,000 compared to 513,000 men (Saudi Gazette, 2015).

Shortly after its beginning, the ALC strategically hired Byron, a male US coordinator, to work for the Center. Byron’s job is to recruit speakers for the various programs, help identify the yearly agenda of workshop topics, and develop curriculum to be delivered during the seminars. Byron was responsible for recruiting both the men and women facilitators for the workshops.

In 2015, the ALC hired an additional male coordinator from the US, Aaron, to assist with the development and strategy of new emerging programs. And, shortly thereafter, the first US female ALC coordinator, Dee, was hired. Aaron and Dee worked together on the new programming to include the first ever national women’s leadership forum held in Riyadh.

Together, Aaron and Dee began working on identifying women to speak at the programs. Often, the ALC desires speakers from well-known top-ranked US universities. And, the women need to have strong backgrounds in academic administration, teaching, and leadership. Practitioners are preferred to theorists, and most need to have served at the level of Dean, or higher. Prior to each workshop or forum, Dee and Aaron schedule a conference call to begin brainstorming about identifying women who might be a good fit for the topics being covered, in addition to the other criteria just mentioned. Usually, a list of anywhere between four to 10 women are identified. For a traditional workshop, only two women are required to participate as facilitators, but for a forum, the number ranges anywhere from four to six. Because the women must have approximately one week of availability in order to attend, many promising candidates are unavailable. After the recruiting calls are made, the list of potential candidates quickly dwindles, and often, a new list needs to be generated.

The workshops are two days long, and the two speakers rotate their groups in a single city so that each group gets eight sessions over the course of the two days. When the two days are over, the presenters move to another city for another two-day workshop. The on-the-ground time is usually five days – four workshop days and one travel day between workshops. Two additional travel days are required to get back and forth from country to country. A forum has a much broader range of activity, hence, the need for more presenters. The forum usually consists of an opening session, a panel discussion with the presenters, a case study across the four days, and a more traditional workshop setting, including different topical sessions presented by the lecturers. The case study is assigned to groups, and they work during the evenings to present case findings during the final day of the forum.

After this initial inquiry, the candidates typically respond in one of two ways. The first is that the individual being recruited simply indicates she has no interest in traveling to the Middle East. The other typical response is that the individual is interested, but has concerns about going. At this point, Aaron and Dee have their work cut out for them, particularly if Aaron (as a man) is trying to explain to the woman what the experience is like. Remember, in the KSA, women still cannot drive, must be vigilant about not entering spaces occupied by men (such as elevators and airports or restaurants’ seating areas), and must wear the traditional coverings to include the abaya (body) and hijab (head). The stigma associated with these diverse viewpoints is often difficult to overcome in the recruiting process; however, for women who can tolerate these constraints, the international experience gained is invaluable.

Furthermore, as might be imagined, the media depiction of the Middle East does not inspire women to want to travel there. Often, there is just an initial divergence in terms of personal beliefs, since many high-powered higher education female leaders have gotten where they are because of their strong advocacy for women’s rights and their own determination to not be a victim of the proverbial old boys’ network.

Once the candidate agrees to participate, she is nominated to the ALC, and her qualifications are vetted by a committee. Sometimes, the candidate is not accepted, and Aaron or Dee must go back to the drawing board to find another candidate from an already slim list of potential candidates.

Identifying women who would be good candidates as speakers for a workshop or forum in the Middle East is challenging. The recruiter must have a deep “Rolodex” and find appropriate candidates to meet the criteria of the ALC in terms of home institution, position and experience.

Once the list is generated, the challenge remains to engage interest on the part of the lecturer. However, the work is gratifying, advances women in global higher education, and offers an opportunity to advance one’s professional international résumé – often a game changer in being selected for high-powered positions in the hiring process. Frequently, the women who are interested in possibly attending are torn about whether to go. They have hesitations because of personal belief systems and pre-conceived notions about the Middle East as depicted by the media.

Questions

1. Discuss the pros and cons of having Aaron and Dee, two Americans, to be the recruiters of the faculty trainer position in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Apply trait approach and dynamic approach in your analysis.

Introduction

Aaron and Dee are the two newest US-based coordinators hired by the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their primary task is to help the ALC identify credentialed female lecturers and presenters from the United States to participate in training workshops and leadership forums for aspiring faculty in the KSA higher education system. However, the current political climate is creating some cross-cultural differences and personal assumptions about the venue that are making it difficult for them to find speakers willing to consider the opportunity.

Background on KSA Higher Education

The KSA has long been established as an oil country, and much of their economy is driven by the production and sale of oil, making it a commodity-based economy. Realizing that the long-term sustainability of this model would eventually put the Kingdom in potential jeopardy, King Abdullah created a vision for the country that centered on moving the nation to a knowledge-based economy. The 2007 King Abdullah Project for General Education Development was a $3.1 billion project (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2007). His successor, King Salman, supported King Abdullah’s vision and propelled it forward with the nation’s blueprint for growth, which he characterized as a “pioneering and successful global model of excellence” (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para. 1) in Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s plan for the future. The themes of the vision are: (a) an ambitious nation; (b) a vibrant community; and (c) a thriving economy (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para 20). With a new focus on a knowledge-based economy, King Abdullah turned his attention to education in KSA. Two significant factors were at play. First, the physical structure of institutions of higher education were expanded and upgraded. Most of these institutions were constructed with separate but equal campuses for women. And second, the establishment in 2005 of a national scholarship to educate Saudi men and women at Western universities. By 2007, approximately 5,000 students took advantage of the scholarship in the US (General Authority for Statistics [KSA], n.d.) and 89,423 by 2014 (World Education News & Reviews, 2014). The modern higher education system in the KSA is relatively new; in fact, only three institutions of higher learning are more than 50 years old. And, about 63% of the public universities were created in the past 15 years (Global Penn State, n.d). In 2008, the KSA housed 24 government-supported institutions of higher education (not counting institutes), and by 2017, that number grew to 37 (Buller, n.d). With the onset and growth of colleges and universities within the KSA came a need for training. Within the KSA, law prohibits expatriates from holding key positions such as Dean or Vice President (Vice Rector). These government-sponsored positions must be held by Saudi nationals. Clearly, with the rapid growth of campuses across the nation, those individuals moving into such positions from the faculty ranks needed to have resources for professional development and training in the business of higher education administration. In 2009, the Ministry of Higher Education (now, the Ministry of Education), sponsored the development of a newly formed ALC, modeled largely off the American Council on Education and Universities of the United Kingdom. The ALC was spearheaded by a team of leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan. The vision of the ALC was “to be a leading centre in the region for the advancement of leadership in higher education institutions” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 40). The early programs of the ALC focused on such topics as: The Essential Academic Leader; Introduction to Academic Leadership; Advancing Undergraduate Education through Best Practices in Teaching and Learning; and Advancing Professional Development through Best Practices in Leadership and Administration. Today, the services of the ALC have grown to include: training and consultation to potential leaders of higher education; direct consultation service to sitting university leaders; an emerging national faculty mentorship program (spearheaded by the only full-time Western ALC female faculty development trainer); research studies related to KSA higher education; a training-thetrainer program; and full-blown leadership forums and symposia, of which the first was for women (on which the male forum was modeled).

Background on Women in the KSA

The KSA remains an enigma in terms of women in society. Ask women there how they feel, and you will get mixed answers. Many want the right to drive a car, while others say, “Why would I want to do that, when I have my own driver? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you load your strollers and groceries and pick you up at the front door in the rain wherever you are shopping?” They have a point. Some women are angered when Western women judge them as oppressed. This is a mistake often made in the midst of conversations – one to be avoided. Tribal values are very much revered and regarded, and many Saudi women see those values as part of their heritage. Western ways are exactly that – the ways of Westerners.

Interestingly, however, as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, there are changes underway. The social–political landscape is slowly shifting. In just 2015, women gained the right to vote; and, in 2013, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to sit on the high Shura Council (formally called the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia), the governing body that advises the King. Amid these changes, however, limits are real. Under the conservative Islamic state, for example, women still have male guardianship. This guardianship dictates if women can open a bank account, travel, get married, work, or have access to healthcare. In addition, women are not allowed to try on clothing in the mall. They must make purchases and take them with them. Disrobing in public, even behind closed doors, is a great risk. You may remember that when the KSA sent its first female athletes to the London Olympics, critics denounced the competitors as prostitutes. So, yes – women still face limits to their freedom in the KSA.

While these limits seem far removed from what one experiences in the United States and other Western cultures, there are certain outcomes we can only dream about. For example, women in the KSA are paid the same wage for the same work as their male counterparts. Additionally, women are given more rights in terms of family and monetary support. Unlike years of back payment in child support in the United States, such an outcome does not happen in the KSA. The law demands women and children are provided for by men, and men are held to that with unwavering expectations. And, just like men, women are educated for free by the government.

Before 1960, there was no public form of education for women in the KSA (Al-Rawaf & Simmons, 1991). In 1970, 795 men and 13 women graduated from a university in the KSA compared to 21,229 men and 21,721 women in 1999 (Baki, 2004). In 2015, the number of women enrolled in higher education for a bachelor’s degree was estimated to be 551,000 compared to 513,000 men (Saudi Gazette, 2015).

Shortly after its beginning, the ALC strategically hired Byron, a male US coordinator, to work for the Center. Byron’s job is to recruit speakers for the various programs, help identify the yearly agenda of workshop topics, and develop curriculum to be delivered during the seminars. Byron was responsible for recruiting both the men and women facilitators for the workshops.

In 2015, the ALC hired an additional male coordinator from the US, Aaron, to assist with the development and strategy of new emerging programs. And, shortly thereafter, the first US female ALC coordinator, Dee, was hired. Aaron and Dee worked together on the new programming to include the first ever national women’s leadership forum held in Riyadh.

Together, Aaron and Dee began working on identifying women to speak at the programs. Often, the ALC desires speakers from well-known top-ranked US universities. And, the women need to have strong backgrounds in academic administration, teaching, and leadership. Practitioners are preferred to theorists, and most need to have served at the level of Dean, or higher. Prior to each workshop or forum, Dee and Aaron schedule a conference call to begin brainstorming about identifying women who might be a good fit for the topics being covered, in addition to the other criteria just mentioned. Usually, a list of anywhere between four to 10 women are identified. For a traditional workshop, only two women are required to participate as facilitators, but for a forum, the number ranges anywhere from four to six. Because the women must have approximately one week of availability in order to attend, many promising candidates are unavailable. After the recruiting calls are made, the list of potential candidates quickly dwindles, and often, a new list needs to be generated.

The workshops are two days long, and the two speakers rotate their groups in a single city so that each group gets eight sessions over the course of the two days. When the two days are over, the presenters move to another city for another two-day workshop. The on-the-ground time is usually five days – four workshop days and one travel day between workshops. Two additional travel days are required to get back and forth from country to country. A forum has a much broader range of activity, hence, the need for more presenters. The forum usually consists of an opening session, a panel discussion with the presenters, a case study across the four days, and a more traditional workshop setting, including different topical sessions presented by the lecturers. The case study is assigned to groups, and they work during the evenings to present case findings during the final day of the forum.

After this initial inquiry, the candidates typically respond in one of two ways. The first is that the individual being recruited simply indicates she has no interest in traveling to the Middle East. The other typical response is that the individual is interested, but has concerns about going. At this point, Aaron and Dee have their work cut out for them, particularly if Aaron (as a man) is trying to explain to the woman what the experience is like. Remember, in the KSA, women still cannot drive, must be vigilant about not entering spaces occupied by men (such as elevators and airports or restaurants’ seating areas), and must wear the traditional coverings to include the abaya (body) and hijab (head). The stigma associated with these diverse viewpoints is often difficult to overcome in the recruiting process; however, for women who can tolerate these constraints, the international experience gained is invaluable.

Furthermore, as might be imagined, the media depiction of the Middle East does not inspire women to want to travel there. Often, there is just an initial divergence in terms of personal beliefs, since many high-powered higher education female leaders have gotten where they are because of their strong advocacy for women’s rights and their own determination to not be a victim of the proverbial old boys’ network.

Once the candidate agrees to participate, she is nominated to the ALC, and her qualifications are vetted by a committee. Sometimes, the candidate is not accepted, and Aaron or Dee must go back to the drawing board to find another candidate from an already slim list of potential candidates.

Identifying women who would be good candidates as speakers for a workshop or forum in the Middle East is challenging. The recruiter must have a deep “Rolodex” and find appropriate candidates to meet the criteria of the ALC in terms of home institution, position and experience.

Once the list is generated, the challenge remains to engage interest on the part of the lecturer. However, the work is gratifying, advances women in global higher education, and offers an opportunity to advance one’s professional international résumé – often a game changer in being selected for high-powered positions in the hiring process. Frequently, the women who are interested in possibly attending are torn about whether to go. They have hesitations because of personal belief systems and pre-conceived notions about the Middle East as depicted by the media.

Question:

1. Discuss the factors that influence a female employee to accept an overseas assignment like this. What recommendations would you make to ALC to enhance the job performance of the female expatriates working as faculty trainers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Introduction

Aaron and Dee are the two newest US-based coordinators hired by the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their primary task is to help the ALC identify credentialed female lecturers and presenters from the United States to participate in training workshops and leadership forums for aspiring faculty in the KSA higher education system. However, the current political climate is creating some cross-cultural differences and personal assumptions about the venue that are making it difficult for them to find speakers willing to consider the opportunity.

Background on KSA Higher Education

The KSA has long been established as an oil country, and much of their economy is driven by the production and sale of oil, making it a commodity-based economy. Realizing that the long-term sustainability of this model would eventually put the Kingdom in potential jeopardy, King Abdullah created a vision for the country that centered on moving the nation to a knowledge-based economy. The 2007 King Abdullah Project for General Education Development was a $3.1 billion project (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2007). His successor, King Salman, supported King Abdullah’s vision and propelled it forward with the nation’s blueprint for growth, which he characterized as a “pioneering and successful global model of excellence” (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para. 1) in Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s plan for the future. The themes of the vision are: (a) an ambitious nation; (b) a vibrant community; and (c) a thriving economy (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para 20). With a new focus on a knowledge-based economy, King Abdullah turned his attention to education in KSA. Two significant factors were at play. First, the physical structure of institutions of higher education were expanded and upgraded. Most of these institutions were constructed with separate but equal campuses for women. And second, the establishment in 2005 of a national scholarship to educate Saudi men and women at Western universities. By 2007, approximately 5,000 students took advantage of the scholarship in the US (General Authority for Statistics [KSA], n.d.) and 89,423 by 2014 (World Education News & Reviews, 2014). The modern higher education system in the KSA is relatively new; in fact, only three institutions of higher learning are more than 50 years old. And, about 63% of the public universities were created in the past 15 years (Global Penn State, n.d). In 2008, the KSA housed 24 government-supported institutions of higher education (not counting institutes), and by 2017, that number grew to 37 (Buller, n.d). With the onset and growth of colleges and universities within the KSA came a need for training. Within the KSA, law prohibits expatriates from holding key positions such as Dean or Vice President (Vice Rector). These government-sponsored positions must be held by Saudi nationals. Clearly, with the rapid growth of campuses across the nation, those individuals moving into such positions from the faculty ranks needed to have resources for professional development and training in the business of higher education administration. In 2009, the Ministry of Higher Education (now, the Ministry of Education), sponsored the development of a newly formed ALC, modeled largely off the American Council on Education and Universities of the United Kingdom. The ALC was spearheaded by a team of leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan. The vision of the ALC was “to be a leading centre in the region for the advancement of leadership in higher education institutions” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 40). The early programs of the ALC focused on such topics as: The Essential Academic Leader; Introduction to Academic Leadership; Advancing Undergraduate Education through Best Practices in Teaching and Learning; and Advancing Professional Development through Best Practices in Leadership and Administration. Today, the services of the ALC have grown to include: training and consultation to potential leaders of higher education; direct consultation service to sitting university leaders; an emerging national faculty mentorship program (spearheaded by the only full-time Western ALC female faculty development trainer); research studies related to KSA higher education; a training-thetrainer program; and full-blown leadership forums and symposia, of which the first was for women (on which the male forum was modeled).

Background on Women in the KSA

The KSA remains an enigma in terms of women in society. Ask women there how they feel, and you will get mixed answers. Many want the right to drive a car, while others say, “Why would I want to do that, when I have my own driver? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you load your strollers and groceries and pick you up at the front door in the rain wherever you are shopping?” They have a point. Some women are angered when Western women judge them as oppressed. This is a mistake often made in the midst of conversations – one to be avoided. Tribal values are very much revered and regarded, and many Saudi women see those values as part of their heritage. Western ways are exactly that – the ways of Westerners.

Interestingly, however, as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, there are changes underway. The social–political landscape is slowly shifting. In just 2015, women gained the right to vote; and, in 2013, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to sit on the high Shura Council (formally called the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia), the governing body that advises the King. Amid these changes, however, limits are real. Under the conservative Islamic state, for example, women still have male guardianship. This guardianship dictates if women can open a bank account, travel, get married, work, or have access to healthcare. In addition, women are not allowed to try on clothing in the mall. They must make purchases and take them with them. Disrobing in public, even behind closed doors, is a great risk. You may remember that when the KSA sent its first female athletes to the London Olympics, critics denounced the competitors as prostitutes. So, yes – women still face limits to their freedom in the KSA.

While these limits seem far removed from what one experiences in the United States and other Western cultures, there are certain outcomes we can only dream about. For example, women in the KSA are paid the same wage for the same work as their male counterparts. Additionally, women are given more rights in terms of family and monetary support. Unlike years of back payment in child support in the United States, such an outcome does not happen in the KSA. The law demands women and children are provided for by men, and men are held to that with unwavering expectations. And, just like men, women are educated for free by the government.

Before 1960, there was no public form of education for women in the KSA (Al-Rawaf & Simmons, 1991). In 1970, 795 men and 13 women graduated from a university in the KSA compared to 21,229 men and 21,721 women in 1999 (Baki, 2004). In 2015, the number of women enrolled in higher education for a bachelor’s degree was estimated to be 551,000 compared to 513,000 men (Saudi Gazette, 2015).

Shortly after its beginning, the ALC strategically hired Byron, a male US coordinator, to work for the Center. Byron’s job is to recruit speakers for the various programs, help identify the yearly agenda of workshop topics, and develop curriculum to be delivered during the seminars. Byron was responsible for recruiting both the men and women facilitators for the workshops.

In 2015, the ALC hired an additional male coordinator from the US, Aaron, to assist with the development and strategy of new emerging programs. And, shortly thereafter, the first US female ALC coordinator, Dee, was hired. Aaron and Dee worked together on the new programming to include the first ever national women’s leadership forum held in Riyadh.

Together, Aaron and Dee began working on identifying women to speak at the programs. Often, the ALC desires speakers from well-known top-ranked US universities. And, the women need to have strong backgrounds in academic administration, teaching, and leadership. Practitioners are preferred to theorists, and most need to have served at the level of Dean, or higher. Prior to each workshop or forum, Dee and Aaron schedule a conference call to begin brainstorming about identifying women who might be a good fit for the topics being covered, in addition to the other criteria just mentioned. Usually, a list of anywhere between four to 10 women are identified. For a traditional workshop, only two women are required to participate as facilitators, but for a forum, the number ranges anywhere from four to six. Because the women must have approximately one week of availability in order to attend, many promising candidates are unavailable. After the recruiting calls are made, the list of potential candidates quickly dwindles, and often, a new list needs to be generated.

The workshops are two days long, and the two speakers rotate their groups in a single city so that each group gets eight sessions over the course of the two days. When the two days are over, the presenters move to another city for another two-day workshop. The on-the-ground time is usually five days – four workshop days and one travel day between workshops. Two additional travel days are required to get back and forth from country to country. A forum has a much broader range of activity, hence, the need for more presenters. The forum usually consists of an opening session, a panel discussion with the presenters, a case study across the four days, and a more traditional workshop setting, including different topical sessions presented by the lecturers. The case study is assigned to groups, and they work during the evenings to present case findings during the final day of the forum.

After this initial inquiry, the candidates typically respond in one of two ways. The first is that the individual being recruited simply indicates she has no interest in traveling to the Middle East. The other typical response is that the individual is interested, but has concerns about going. At this point, Aaron and Dee have their work cut out for them, particularly if Aaron (as a man) is trying to explain to the woman what the experience is like. Remember, in the KSA, women still cannot drive, must be vigilant about not entering spaces occupied by men (such as elevators and airports or restaurants’ seating areas), and must wear the traditional coverings to include the abaya (body) and hijab (head). The stigma associated with these diverse viewpoints is often difficult to overcome in the recruiting process; however, for women who can tolerate these constraints, the international experience gained is invaluable.

Furthermore, as might be imagined, the media depiction of the Middle East does not inspire women to want to travel there. Often, there is just an initial divergence in terms of personal beliefs, since many high-powered higher education female leaders have gotten where they are because of their strong advocacy for women’s rights and their own determination to not be a victim of the proverbial old boys’ network.

Once the candidate agrees to participate, she is nominated to the ALC, and her qualifications are vetted by a committee. Sometimes, the candidate is not accepted, and Aaron or Dee must go back to the drawing board to find another candidate from an already slim list of potential candidates.

Identifying women who would be good candidates as speakers for a workshop or forum in the Middle East is challenging. The recruiter must have a deep “Rolodex” and find appropriate candidates to meet the criteria of the ALC in terms of home institution, position and experience.

Once the list is generated, the challenge remains to engage interest on the part of the lecturer. However, the work is gratifying, advances women in global higher education, and offers an opportunity to advance one’s professional international résumé – often a game changer in being selected for high-powered positions in the hiring process. Frequently, the women who are interested in possibly attending are torn about whether to go. They have hesitations because of personal belief systems and pre-conceived notions about the Middle East as depicted by the media.

Questions

1. Discuss the pros and cons of having Aaron and Dee, two Americans, to be the recruiters of the faculty trainer position in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Apply trait approach and dynamic approach in your analysis.

2. Discuss the factors that influence a female employee to accept an overseas assignment like this. What recommendations would you make to ALC to enhance the job performance of the female expatriates working as faculty trainers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Peter is a twenty-year-old Caucasian college student referred for counseling by the dean of academic affairs. Peter has been suspended from school for drinking and fighting on two occasions over the past six weeks. He has a history of recurrent detentions and classroom dismissals for similar, though less severe, behavior since high school. Peter was suspended for having a pint of vodka and a small quantity of marijuana in his locker. Peter has recently started experiencing mood swings and is feeling depressed and agitated. Earlier, having felt that the stress of home life was the root cause of his depression, Peter thought that leaving home and living on-campus would resolve his mood swings. He has been practicing self-medication with marijuana and alcohol. He disclosed that he had been prescribed medication for depression when he was in high school but has since then stopped all medication and follow-up on mental health counseling. Presently, he has no desire to enter or seek treatment voluntarily. He has come in for therapy only to avoid being expelled from the college. He denies having any problem with either alcohol or drugs and feels marijuana should be legalized. In addition, he compares his alcohol and drug use to others' and does not think his intake of substances is a problem. He feels that everyone is just picking on him; he works hard and should be allowed to do. He takes alcohol or marijuana because he just wants to relax after a tough day's work.

QUESTIONS:

how might the interventions within IDDT be structured? That is, what type of psychological intervention might work best? What type of educational and social interventions might be best?

1. A University has recorded the following freshmen enrollment of students in each Academic Year shown below.

Year                Enrollment

2015                     662

2016                     596

2017                     570

2018                     541

2019                     496

      a.   What is the forecast for 2020 using a three period moving average?

b. What is the forecast for 2020 using a weighted moving average, in which the weights are .6, .3, .1?

c. What is the forecast for 2020 using a linear trend?

Extra credit (10 points) – This part is not required. Use the mean absolute deviation (MAD) to determine which method is most accurate.

Transforming a pharmacy together: the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic hospital.

Before 2015, the patient experience at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital pharmacy went something like this: take the day off work to have your prescription filled; line up at dawn before the pharmacy opens in hopes of beating the rush; once inside, wait up to several hours for your prescription to be filled; or worse, wait only to experience a “false stock out”—a phenomenon in which a medication appears out of stock but is in fact available in pharmacy storerooms—and go home empty-handed.

Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic is one of the largest central hospitals in South Africa, which sits in the province of Gauteng. The hospital pharmacy dispenses almost a quarter of a million prescriptions each year—yet it had a reputation for poor service and facilities. For example, patients discharged from the hospital with prescriptions—a patient category known as “to take outs”—spent on average six hours waiting for prescription medication to be delivered to the ward after discharge. Every day, an average of 20 percent of out-patients visiting the pharmacy experienced false stock-outs.

In September 2014, the Gauteng Department of Health began a province-wide project to provide pharmacy customers with more professional and efficient visits. The department wanted to prove that it could offer better service wherever needed, and the troublesome situation at the Charlotte Maxeke pharmacy made it an excellent place to make its case.

With so much ground to cover, the leadership at Charlotte Maxeke needed a step-by-step plan for the pharmacy transformation.  

The consultants began by working with managers to narrow their focus to improving the physical environment, prescription-filling process, and stock management, the main factor behind lengthy waiting times. To kick off the project, the consultants focused on making the physical premises more welcoming and attractive to patients and staff. One Saturday, Department of Health officials, including a member of the executive council, the pharmacy manager and CEO of the hospital, infrastructure-department representatives, and the consultants, all pitched in for a day-long cleaning. The idea was to show staff how committed leadership was to turning around the pharmacy. The volunteers painted and decorated walls; added amenities like water coolers, TVs, and coffee machines in the waiting room; and supplied pharmacists with monogrammed lab coats. Patients and staff immediately appreciated the more cheerful and professional atmosphere.

Then the consultants turned to improving the process of prescription filling. A consulting team mapped the existing process and studied each step to identify bottlenecks and areas of wasted activity. They then devised a streamlined approach using three principles of lean production.

The first was called “first time right” and aimed to stop invalid prescriptions from entering the filling process. A senior pharmacist became the first point of contact for each patient. The pharmacist would filter out patients whose prescriptions were invalid (because they were not yet due for refills) or could not be filled because of stock shortages. Second, they removed the batch system, which meant prescriptions were no longer dispensed in batches of ten, but were made available to be dispensed as soon as each one was ready. Finally, the team introduced a “demand-pull” system, which enabled staff actually to dispense these prescriptions to patients in a timely fashion. The existing process began with taking in scripts as fast as possible, and then filling them. The result was a huge buildup of filled scripts that were waiting to be labelled and dispensed to patients (in other words, a “push” approach). The team shifted the focus to the end of the process—dispensing—and ensuring that there was sufficient staff to distribute prepared scripts, thus “pulling” prescriptions through the process more efficiently.

Relatedly, the team addressed false stock-outs, another important factor behind long wait times. These were resolved by implementing a two-bin system on the pharmacy shelves with pre-defined refill levels. Essentially, when one bin of medications was empty, pharmacists would begin retrieving medications from a second bin. The refill levels for a bin—how many medications to place inside—were calculated for each medication based on dispensing frequency. The consultants also revised each staff member’s role in the process and adjusted the layout of the pharmacy to make it more orderly. This included outfitting each workstation with laminated posters that displayed the new process rules. They also designed management tools—for example, a daily roster with role allocation and a performance dashboard—that the pharmacy manager was then responsible for implementing.

Under the new system, pharmacy staff rotated between duties to ensure that there was no build-up of scripts. This required knowing how many people to assign to each stage of the process and shifting staff when someone was absent, at lunch, or when there was a backlog. The team initially oversaw these shifts, but then coached the pharmacy staff on identifying and resolving bottlenecks quickly, with the senior pharmacist on the floor ultimately responsible for managing the workflow.

In conclusion, the teamwork and process review that was provided helped staff to work smart and not hard. Improving the working environment of staff, listening to their concerns and supporting them through change management has definitely improved the quality of care and the experience that the patients and communities received from the hospital.

QUESTION 1           [60]

1.1 To ensure that all processes in the Charlete Maxeke Johannesburg Academic hospital were streamlined, the consultants provided many useful methods to improve the situation of the hospital. Analyse the case study to justify the methods utilised. (5 x 6marks =30)

1.2 Provide a critical account of how the total quality management (TQM) concept could have been used in the case study? (30)

Peter is a twenty-year-old Caucasian college student referred for counseling by the dean of academic affairs. Peter has been suspended from school for drinking and fighting on two occasions over the past six weeks. He has a history of recurrent detentions and classroom dismissals for similar, though less severe, behavior since high school. Peter was suspended for having a pint of vodka and a small quantity of marijuana in his locker. Peter has recently started experiencing mood swings and is feeling depressed and agitated. Earlier, having felt that the stress of home life was the root cause of his depression, Peter thought that leaving home and living on-campus would resolve his mood swings. He has been practicing self-medication with marijuana and alcohol. He disclosed that he had been prescribed medication for depression when he was in high school but has since then stopped all medication and follow-up on mental health counseling. Presently, he has no desire to enter or seek treatment voluntarily. He has come in for therapy only to avoid being expelled from the college. He denies having any problem with either alcohol or drugs and feels marijuana should be legalized. In addition, he compares his alcohol and drug use to others' and does not think his intake of substances is a problem. He feels that everyone is just picking on him; he works hard and should be allowed to do. He takes alcohol or marijuana because he just wants to relax after a tough day's work. Based on your understanding of the above scenario and drawing upon all relevant course material, address the following questions: Does Peter have a co-occurring mental disorder? Describe what that disorder may be based on the symptoms mentioned in the case scenario.Analyze and justify the co-occurring disorders in the case. At what stage of change does Peter appear to be in? Why? Explain. What model of treatment could possibly work with Peter? Would he do well with a psycho-educational model, CBT, behavioral approach? Why? Share your clinical recommendations based on research. What are the relapse concerns? Are there any noted defense mechanisms intact?