Five Stages of Team Development-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Five Stages of Team Development Suggested by TUCKMAN. Answer: Introduction Team building is a group of people working for a single thing with cooperation with each other and moving to achieve some success. However, during the process, the team undergoes various stages and they are expected to cross those stages successfully in order to achieve their goals (Raes et. al. 2015).The paper discusses about the TUCKMAN stages of team development to evaluate the stages the team worked through these stages while preparing the report. Further, it illustrates on the three professional objectives of the group such as the time management, effective communication building with the audience and successful interaction within the group. Further, it shows the use of these objectives in our group activity. TUCKMAN Report Team is not a static phenomenon, as it needs to pass through various stages of self-development as well as team development. The members of the team need to learn continuously in order to operate effectively within the changing environment. Each stages of team development process in crucial and interlinked with one another. The members of the team moves from one stage to another and on completion get to know their skills and areas they are lacking. TUCKMAN has suggested five stages of team making process such as forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Each of these stages is important as one wants to the team to develop through the period. This also helps to know the way the team has helped in dealing with the challenges, problems and found the solution to deliver effective results (Scherrer et. al. 2016). The development of a team or a group is a natural phenomenon and applies to all cultures and environment. Human beings desire to form a group while undertaking any activity so that they can develop solutions easily to cope up with the challenges faced by the team or any individual in the team. Group processes are based on values offering stages of group progress through which each member can develop their functioning in a group (Humphrey and Aime 2014). The five stages suggested by TUCKMAN group development model are discussed below: Forming The initial stage of group development is forming that is features as relying. Here the members of the group depend on their leaders for suggestions and direction. The members of the group seek the choice of the group leader to accept them in the team in order to work successfully. After the group formation, the members try to keep the rules of the team simple and acceptable. It is the stage where the team meets to discuss about the task they are going to deal with and the goals of doing it. In this stage the team members work in together to form the task and try to show their best behavior and capability. However, they are too focused on their individual needs and benefits. The matured members tend to succeed faster on behavior motive than the less matured members. Further, there the surroundings of the place where the meeting takes pace also affects the team members behavior. The surrounding of the meeting environment also alters the actions of the team members and plays an importa nt role in this initial phase of team building. If the environment is too friendly and easily adaptable then the team members will easily gel up with each other. Finally, the team needs to decide the task they will do to move to next stage and avoid conflicts regarding any topic (Betts and Healy 2015). Storming It is a stage after the formation of the group and decision of the group members actions. In this stage, the team member after analyzing the behavior of their fellow mates can raise their voice if someone is trying to dominate or escapes from doing a task. They can also question the decision taken by the team leader without consulting the other members. This stage requires the team to solve all types of problems and disagreements they are facing in their group in order to move successfully with their goals and topic. However, in this stage it is also realize that there is a scope of reentering in case there are some clashes arising in the later stages of team building. On the other hand, there are also cases where the teams are so supportive that they directly jumps from stage one to stage two. Thus, this shows that the effect and duration of the storming stage varies from one group to another. The team must first analyze the tolerance level of their members to question them in the s torming stage as teams that lack patience fail to succeed in future. Thus, in the end of this phase each member will be able to understand each other and participate in the teamwork more comfortably (Woodcock 2017). Norming The next phase where the team enters after crossing the storming stage successfully is the norming stage. This stage displays the spirit of the team to work together after solving all the clashes. Coming to this stage is only possible if each member of the team realize the importance of competition that it might face in order to succeed unexpectedly (Heinz, K., 2014). Thus, this stage makes it visible the efforts that the team is putting to achieve their goals and the ambitious motive they hold. The realization of the amount of competition from other teams makes them tolerate everything and work with zeal to succeed. Moreover, this stage is witnessed by a free flow of data in the group without any hindrances. There is a feeling of openness and sharing between group members as they work for the betterment of the team as a whole. However, this phase is also backed up by the sense of fear of untying among the group members (Putnam 2014). Thus, this might stop them from taking up any cha nges. Performing This stage is the fourth stage that a team might gain after crossing the other three stages successfully. It is seen that if the team is able to reach this stage then they there is a strong bond in the team and they were able to resolve all kinds of clashes. In this stage, teams are interdependent on each other for all their activities and prefer taking each others view before pursuing with a task (Yang 2014). Along with this, they also support each others view and this enables them to move faster with the team task. Thus, this shows that this stage helps in the development of personal relationships along with effective problem solving capabilities. The people are now become more leaned towards task and people of the team. There is an evident development of unity in the team with high group identity, moral and loyalty. Group moral and loyalty is one positive factor embedded in team that allows the team to perform better and stand out from other competing teams. Thus, it is seen that stage four allows the members to show their performance on the task with the team spirit that they have developed while crossing the other stages. Adjourning: A team achieves this final stage after successful completion of other stages. The final stage adjourning is the time when the team separates after completion of task. This is the time when all the team members separate themselves from the task behavior and from any kind of relationships with the task members. This is the concluding stage as all the activities get over after performing the task. However, it might lead to some apprehension about the group or the task. It is also a regression stage where there is termination of group control as well as group inclusion. Thus, it is the finalize stage where all the work related to the task is completed and the group members departs from the group and their responsibility. This stage is also not approachable easily by a group as they need to cross the first three phase successfully and perform the task effectively to reach to the final stage. However, it might happen that the group, which fails to achieve stage 3 directly, separates from t heir teammates and comes to stage five of adjourning (Griffith and Yombo 2015). Thus, from the above discussion it is seen that the five stages group development model suggested by TUCKMAN is very effective in evaluating the stages of growth in a team. Professional Objectives Report Manage the use of time and other resources to complete project IDEAS CONNECTIONS EXTENSIONS Identifying the goals At first our team identified the goals that we wanted to make a boat, a flag, a logo in our social club. We designed out the time for each task with the help of a timeline. Our aim was to submit the task in time without missing any credentials of the work. This required us to deal with unexpected circumstances by dividing the team members with certain individual duties. Some of the members were assigned with the boat task, while others were with logo and flag. Identification of individual needs Then our team planned the task for the boat building and other activities one by one and organized a meeting to allot the work among the team members according to their skills and needs. Team members were advised to come prepared for the meeting with all the necessary equipments such as the chart papers for making the things and the layout of the boat, flag and logo. The task was divided among the members according to their skills that helped in personal development as well. This in turn proved to be a positive point for the team and the task as everyone got the task in which they excelled. Preparation for project completion After the completion of the meeting we planned out the resources to be used in the team work among memebre which offered the best design for particular things and incorporated them effectively within a structured timeline. This was done for successful completion of the task. All the members of the team participated in the discussions effectively in order to move according to the timeline that was prepared. Identification of available resources However, the prepared timeline has some loopholes as we failed to incorporate certain events such as the break time, uncertain circumstances. These tasks were incorporated later as these events might have interrupted the task. Multiple task was balanced according to the needs and important which helped us tom compete with the time needs. Reallocate resources when necessary and adjust the time After the formulation of the timeline, our team move forward with the task of building and met with certain constraints such as some people fell sick, while some was unable to do the task nicely in the initial period. These constraints were sorted immediately before we proceeded with the work. Our team was able to manage the time affectively by systematic management within the team. Table 1: Time management for boat, flag and logo building and social club Source: (Taylan et. al. 2014, Maier, and Branzei 2014) Communicate clearly and concisely with the audience It is vital to develop a proper idea, build connection and extension with the audience. Identifying the needs of the audience is the most fundamental element in communicating with them. It is necessary to consider the requirements and needs of the audience in achieving the optimal effect. Interaction with the help of various presentation formats also helps in building connection with the audience. It is important to adapt the existing presentation styles to fulfill the needs of the new audience. Using proper vocabulary and the terms appropriately and correctly will also help us to develop good relationship with the audience. Simple and lucid language must be used while communicating with the audience so that it becomes easy for them to understand the basis of their interaction i.e. building a boat, social activities, making a logo and joining the social club (Stock Mahoney and Carney 2013). It is necessary to adapt a particular style, vocabulary and tone while communicating with the new targeted audience for joining the social club. One should not use jargons and it must be assumed that others understand the theme or the subject very easily. It is vital to select the best method in building the boat or making a logo so that they properly understand it. We also asked questions to the audience to check their level of understanding and also explain it in different ways if they failed to answer them. The audience must also be encouraged to exchange their views and ideas and sometimes even address the small and unpopular issues in an assertive way (Levi 2015). The most vital aspect of effective communication is to think before speaking out in the public. This will help to convey the idea concisely and it will also be easier for the audience to follow them. Providing correct and necessary supporting information while communicating with the audience is important in this aspect. By using varied social contexts with different expectations related to the communication st yle, it is important to stay focused on the particular topic and communicate with the audience. Thus, it is important to communicate in a strategic direction with the audience (Wood et. al. 2014) Creation of effective work relationship within the team Effective communication within the team members will help in the creation of healthy work relationship. It will be easier to communicate how we feel about the team or communicate the passion via open meetings. This is considered as one of the best approach of communicating with the team members. The team members shared their ideas and viewpoints in the open meetings and this helped in the successful implementation of the project such as making a logo, building the boat and engaging in various social activities. Moreover, the team members were also encouraged through formal and informal team activities in all these social activities. The leaders arranged team outings which encouraged the team members to feel a part of the team and thus develop a good relationship with the team mates. We also rewarded the team members who made excellent contribution in building the boat, making the logo or engaging themselves in varied social activities. It is also important to demonstrate to the team members that we are accountable to them by being responsible and reliable (Dyer and Dyer 2013). Each one of us should try to be a role model by doing the best possible work always and at all times. This will help in developing the trust among the team members. It is also vital to look at the positive side and recognize the team work. Moreover, it is also vital to listen to the team members what they say about others and the project in a non-judgmental manner. The most vital element that is important and essential while working in team is developing mutual respect within the members. Everyone in the team must be treated equally and this will help in maintaining proper relationship with others as well as help to complete these projects completely. Active listening skills must also be developed within the team members and this will help in the successful implementation in building the boat, engaging in various social activities or making a logo. Regular contact and communication with t he team members is important to maintain proper relationship (Miller 2015). Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be concluded that team building is not an easy task. Various types of problems and steps need to be dealt successfully in order to be an effective team. The team development model recommended by TUCMAN is very true in the real life teamwork. There are these five stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning which a team needs to cross in order to come up with the best task. However, a team also needs to manage the time of the work, maintain perfect team interaction and creation of affective work relationship. References Betts, S. and Healy, W., 2015. Having a Ball Catching on to Teamwork: An Experiential Learning Approach to Teaching the Phases of Group Development.Academy of Educational Leadership Journal,19(2), p.1. Dyer, W.G. and Dyer, J.H., 2013.Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance. John Wiley Sons. Griffith, B. and Yombo, B.N., 2015. Keep the Momentum Going: A Project Managers Plan to Sustaining High Team Performance on Time-Sensitive Projects. Heinz, K., 2014. Multicultural team conflict management.Securitologia, (1 (19)), pp.117-128. Humphrey, S.E. and Aime, F., 2014. Team microdynamics: Toward an organizing approach to teamwork.Academy of Management Annals,8(1), pp.443-503. Levi, D., 2015.Group dynamics for teams. Sage Publications. Maier, E.R. and Branzei, O., 2014. On time and on budget: Harnessing creativity in large scale projects.International Journal of Project Management,32(7), pp.1123-1133. Miller, B.C., 2015.Quick team-building activities for busy managers: 50 exercises that get results in just 15 minutes. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Putnam, S.P., 2014.Management Styles in Relationship to Small Group Output: Let's Standardize Management Practices(Doctoral dissertation). Raes, E., Kyndt, E., Decuyper, S., Van den Bossche, P. and Dochy, F., 2015. An exploratory study of group development and team learning.Human Resource Development Quarterly,26(1), pp.5-30. Scherrer, J.L., Olco?, K., Butterfield, A.K. and Kebede, W., 2016. Bringing experiential educational groups to the United States: an analysis of group development in an international travel and study program.Social Work Education,35(6), pp.693-705. Stock, R., Mahoney, E. and Carney, P.A., 2013. Measuring team development in clinical care settings.Fam Med,45(10), pp.691-700. Taylan, O., Bafail, A.O., Abdulaal, R.M. and Kabli, M.R., 2014. Construction projects selection and risk assessment by fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methodologies.Applied Soft Computing,17, pp.105-116. Wood, M., Chen, P., Fu, K., Cagan, J. and Kotovsky, K., 2014. The role of design team interaction structure on individual and shared mental models. InDesign Computing and Cognition'12(pp. 209-226). Springer, Dordrecht. Woodcock, M., 2017.Team development manual. Routledge. Yang, I., 2014. What makes an effective team? The role of trust (dis) confirmation in team development.European Management Journal,32(6), pp.858-869.

Lyme Disease Essays (1202 words) - Rheumatology, RTT,

Lyme Disease Lyme disease is a tick-transmitted inflammatory disorder characterized by an early focal skin lesion, and subsequently a growing red area on the skin (erythema chronicum migrans or ECM). The disorder may be followed weeks later by neurological, heart or joint abnormalities. Symptomatology The first symptom of Lyme disease is a skin lesion. Known as erythema chronicum migrans, or ECM, this usually begins as a red discoloration (macule) or as an elevated round spot (papule). The skin lesion usually appears on an extremity or on the trunk, especially the thigh, buttock or the under arm. This spot expands, often with central clearing, to a diameter as large as 50 cm (c. 12 in.). Approximately 25% of patients with Lyme disease report having been bitten at that site by a tiny tick 3 to 32 days before onset of ECM. The lesion may be warm to touch. Soon after onset nearly half the patients develop multiple smaller lesions without hardened centers. ECM generally lasts for a few weeks. Other types of lesions may subsequently appear during resolution. Former skin lesions may reappear faintly, sometimes before recurrent attacks of arthritis. Lesions of the mucous membranes do not occur in Lyme disease. The most common symptoms accompanying ECM, or preceding it by a few days, may include malaise, fatigue, chills, fever, headache and stiff neck. Less commonly, backache, muscle aches (myalgias), nausea, vomiting, sore throat, swollen lymph glands, and an enlarged spleen may also be present. Most symptoms are characteristically intermittent and changing, but malaise and fatigue may linger for weeks. Arthritis is present in about half of the patients with ECM, occurring within weeks to months following onset and lasting as long as 2 years. Early in the illness, migratory inflammation of many joints (polyarthritis) without joint swelling may occur. Later, longer attacks of swelling and pain in several large joints, especially the knees, typically recur for several years. The knees commonly are much more swollen than painful; they are often hot, but rarely red. Baker's cysts (a cyst in the knee) may form and rupture. Those symptoms accompanying ECM, especially malaise, fatigue and low-grade fever, may also precede or accompany recurrent attacks of arthritis. About 10% of patients develop chronic knee involvement (i.e. unremittent for 6 months or longer). Neurological abnormalities may develop in about 15% of patients with Lyme disease within weeks to months following onset of ECM, often before arthritis occurs. These abnormalities commonly last for months, and usually resolve completely. They include: 1. lymphocytic meningitis or meningoencephalitis 2. jerky involuntary movements (chorea) 3. failure of muscle coordination due to dysfunction of the cerebellum (cerebellar ataxia) 4. cranial neuritis including Bell's palsy (a form of facial paralysis) 5. motor and sensory radiculo-neuritis (symmetric weakness, pain, strange sensations in the extremities, usually occurring first in the legs) 6. injury to single nerves causing diminished nerve response (mononeuritis multiplex) 7. inflammation of the spinal cord (myelitis). Abnormalities in the heart muscle (myocardium) occur in approximately 8% of patients with Lyme disease within weeks of ECM. They may include fluctuating degrees of atrioventricular block and, less commonly, inflammation of the heart sack and heart muscle (myopericarditis) with reduced blood volume ejected from the left ventricle and an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly). When Lyme Disease is contracted during pregnancy, the fetus may or may not be adversely affected, or may contract congenital Lyme Disease. In a study of nineteen pregnant women with Lyme Disease, fourteen had normal pregnancies and normal babies. If Lyme Disease is contracted during pregnancy, possible fetal abnormalities and premature birth can occur. Etiology Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete bacterium (Borrelia Burgdorferi) transmitted by a small tick called Ixodes dammini. The spirochete is probably injected into the victim's skin or bloodstream at the time of the insect bite. After an incubation period of 3 to 32 days, the organism migrates outward in the skin, is spread through the lymphatic system or is disseminated by the blood to different body organs or other skin sites. Lyme Disease was first described in 1909 in European medical journals. The first outbreak in the United States occurred in the early 1970's in Old lyme, Connecticut. An unusually high incidence of juvenile arthritis in the area led scientists to investigate and identify the disorder. In 1981, Dr. Willy Burgdorfer identified the bacterial spirochete organism (Borrelia Burgdorferi) which causes this disorder. Affected Population Lyme Disease occurs in wooded areas with populations of mice and deer which carry ticks, and can be contracted during any season of the year. Related Disorders Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disorder similar in appearance to

Sample Essay on Political Socialization in UK Universities

Sample Essay on Political Socialization in UK UniversitiesSample essays are given out to students who need guidance on certain subjects. They are offered as a way to instruct students on what they should expect when writing and submitting essays for classes in UK universities. Students must understand the guidelines that are given in order to write a good sample essay on political socialization in UK universities.There are certain tips that need to be utilized when submitting a sample essay. The most important step is to write with purpose, in terms of ideas and research. Students should also consider the common topics to be discussed and use them as a basis for the content of the essay.The first thing that students must remember when writing a sample essay on political socialization in UK universities is to make it very informative. The readers of the essay must have a good grasp of the subject matter being discussed in the essay.The students should focus on three areas when writing an essay. The first is the ideas. They must focus on the ideas that they should include in the essay and incorporate them in the right context to be able to properly communicate the ideas.The second area that the students should concentrate on is the presentation. They must make sure that the facts they present are precise and are supported by the facts provided. They should be able to articulate the points that they want to make clearly without any confusion.The third and last area that the students must concentrate on is the research that they do. They must make sure that they conduct the research on a specific topic that they know very well or has some great relevance to the topic that they are discussing.When it comes to writing an essay, students need to think about how they can best answer the questions that they need to answer. They must make sure that they write essays that will help their readers in getting information that they need in order to properly answer the essay q uestions.

Walmarts Success

Walmarts Success There are several critical factors that have lead to Wal-Mart's impressive success through the years. To unveil (at least partly) the secret of its success, we must examine Wal-Mart's cost advantage relative to a more typical discount retailer. To do this we will study table A derived blow.Exhibit A: Wal-Mart vs. Industry Economics of Discounting Comparison in 1984 (% of net sales)Line ItemsWAL-MARTIndustry AverageNet Sales100%100%License fees and Other income.811.1Cost of Goods Sold73.8071.9Payroll Expense10.1011.2Advertising Expense.352.3Rental Expense1.902.2Miscellaneous Expense6.237.6Operating Income8.505.9Net income4.202.7Firstly, as indicated in Exhibit A, the licensing fees and other income is slightly lower than that of the industry average. This is primarily due to the fact that Wal-Mart increasingly ran over two-thirds of their specialty (shoes, pharmaceuticals, and jewelry) departments themselves. As indicated in the case, this figure continued to drop in subsequent years. Secondarily, in examining the cost of goods sold (COGS) for Wal-Mart we see that, quite unexpectedly, their COGS is actually higher by nearly 2% than that of the industry average.walmart beijingThis seemingly large difference can be explained by Wal-Mart's overall strategy of volume pricing vs. margin pricing.Third, we see that the payroll expense incurred by Wal-Mart is nearly 1% point less than that of the industry average. This can be explained by the fact that Wal-Mart enjoys high labor productivity that is a result of technical investment made at each store location. Wal-Mart's high revenue also reduces payroll expense as a percentage of revenue.Additionally, advertising expense is considerably lower than that of the industry average. We know that in 1979 $3.7 million were spent on television advertising and this figure represented 29% of Wal-Mart's total advertising expense. From this we can calculate that the total actual advertising expense for 1979 was...

Prompt Six - On Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Prompt Six - On Design - Essay Example This is also referred to as a cross over study. It allows for a comparison of the results arising from different tests performed on the same group of subjects. For example, in a test comparing the effects of a low glycemic load (LGL) diet with a high glycemic load (HGL) diet the same group is fed with a LGL meal in one instance and a HGL meal in another instance. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. In the ‘between groups’ approach participants are less likely to become bored as in the ‘within group’ approach because they are only used for one treatment. Therefore, they are more likely to entertain follow up treatments than is the case with the ‘within group’ approach where participants may not complete the tests. The ‘within group’ is less costly when compared to the ‘between groups’ approach as it involves only one group on which more than one treatment is administered while the ‘between groups’ approach require more than one group. Therefore, the number of participants subjected to tests are half as much as in the ‘between groups’ approach. Additionally, the ‘within group’ approach is less error prone since the same subjects are used for both tests whiles the ‘between groups’ approach is negatively imp acted by individual differences. The effect of the first treatment on the second treatment is a major disadvantage of the ‘within group’ approach. The main differences between the two approaches need to be clearly understood in order to facilitate a determination of the statistical tests to be employed so that inferences can be made. Paired t-Tests is useful in analyzing ‘within group’ designs while independent t-Tests is useful for analyzing data for ‘between groups’

International Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

International Financial Management - Essay Example And the larger financial markets now have a much bigger consumer base than ever before. (Issing, 2000) With the occurrence of globalization the capital structure of MNC has changed. This is because these companies can now be owned by their customers from outside their base country. Like for example Jaguar (originally British) being owned by the Tata Group of India (Berkowitz, 2008) and Volvo (originally Swedish) is now owned by Geely which is a Chinese company (IBSEN, 2010). The stock market activities are now largely dependent on the availability of information. Stocks are traded on the basis of information coming from across the world. And with the time difference between the major stock markets from East to West, stock market activities are now held round the clock. Globalization has essentially made the financial markets much more competitive by broadening the horizon of their operations. Therefore it is safe to say that the affect of globalization on the financial sector has helped it grow and give exposure to a wider array of investors. Berkowitz, J. (2008, March 25). Tata Motors Buys Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.9b. Retrieved from The Truth about cars: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/03/tata-motors-buys-jaguar-and-land-rover-for-2b/ IBSEN, D. A. (2010, March 30). VOLVO TO BE OWNED BY A CHINESE CONGLOMERATE, BUT WILL STAY A SWEDISH BRAND. Retrieved from The Marketeer:

Economics - Short Answers Essay Example for Free

Economics Short Answers Essay Answer #1 One of the problems that concern me right now would be the continuous increase of prices of petroleum products in the market which greatly affected my budget. Moreover, the said hike of oil prices causes our economy to perform badly for the past quarters which indirectly affects the prices of major commodities in the market like sugar, coffee, rice etc based from what I have read from the news papers and magazines. In this regard, oil price hike imposes negative externalities on our welfare –consumers. But to some extent, oil price hike also bring benefits to our economy in a form of forcing our federal government to find ways of providing alternative sources of energy aside from crude oil like bio-fuel. If it not for the price hikes of petroleum products in the market for the past decades, authorities would make no effort to find other sources of energy especially one that would serve as substitute for crude oil. After a few more decades, prices of petroleum products will start to decline as a consequence of emerging alternative sources of energy like bio-fuel as what I have said a while ago. Answer #2 One of the best examples of monopolists that currently exist in the market would be Microsoft Company. Microsoft Company serves to be the sole provider of Windows – software being used by almost all of personal computers around the globe. In this regard, the absence of other provider of Windows other than Microsoft makes the latter a monopolist catering for a large pool of buyers. Moreover, since Microsoft is the sole provider of Windows which we are all using nowadays, there is a great possibility for Microsoft to charge higher prices due to the absence of substitute goods for Windows. Furthermore, monopolists, because of its large market influence, can easily prevent new players to enter the industry of Software production giving them enough room to enjoy sole player in the market. Answer #3 Based from the negative effects that monopolists imposes not only to consumers but also to other market players, the federal government made necessary laws that would restrict the action of monopolists in the market creating enough way to protect the welfare of the consumers and other market players. One of the said laws could be the Anti-Trust Law. Anti-Trust Law is a bulk of laws that forbid unfair market competitions and anti-competitive behaviour of monopolists through illegalizing some practices of the latter that believed to hurt either or both businesses and consumers (U. S. Department of Justice, 1996). As for the case of labor monopolization of giant unions, I think we could also consider them as a source of potential negative effects just like of Microsoft as well as the misallocation of economic resources. The main reason here would be that, having a giant union monopolizing laborers in the market, there is a tendency that they will have a higher bargaining power on private firms of various industries, such as salary increase, which imposes negative effects on the operation of the businesses. At the end of the day, it is the consumers who will suffer from the actions of giant unions since the tendency of the private firms is to pass what ever the added costs they will incur from the said increase of bargaining power of labor unions. Answer #4  Another type of market structure aside from monopoly would be oligopoly. Oligopoly is a type of market structure wherein there is a few sellers and many buyers in market. As compared to monopoly, there exist market competition in oligopoly which improves the quality and quantity of goods and services in the market and so with the consumer welfare. One possible example of oligopoly would be Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a retail stores and tagged as â€Å"the Giant Store† which leads the industry of retailing due to its large size relative to other retail stores in the industry. The only down turn here in oligopoly would be the possibility of collusion between those â€Å"few sellers† in the market in order for them to minimize competition and have control on the price level in the market. The said collusion of oligopolists is called cartel and this act in the market just like a monopoly. This is the reason why federal government is keeping an eye on oligopolists to prevent such scenario since cartel is no difference with monopoly. Answer #5 Yes, the local phone service market, which was dominated before by Bell, has a great possibility of reaching competitive market due to the forces of competition. With the existence of competition, the local phone service industry members would have to compete to one another in order to attract more customers in terms such as higher service quality and lower price. Those improvements in the service quality and lower price of local phone service would make the said industry competitive since consumer welfare will surely improve; and at the end of the day, societal welfare will start to improve along side with the local phone service industry itself. Answer #6  One of the ways for us to determine if the product differentiation of competitive firms us wasted or not would be to know if the consumers possess brand loyalty which is the main target of differentiating product from one another. Product differentiation serves as the â€Å"identity† of any firm belonging to the competitive market and that identity will stand as the â€Å"brand† for the private firm. Now, if consumers in the market do not have the sense of â€Å"brand loyalty†, then, there is a big possibility that the product differentiation of private firms will be deemed unsuccessful in penetrating its target consumers. Answer #7  OPEC has been successful in controlling the production of oil since it has a bargaining power superimpose on the government of various countries that supplies oil in the market. OPEC determines the market demand and supply existing in the world market and either they increase or decrease the oil supply depending on the season, economic stability of their member countries and volume of supply of oil-producing countries to the organization, moreover, there are times that OPEC regulated the supply of oil for precautionary reasons like during the times of war and during the times of potential shortage in the coming period. The only negative effect of OPEC’s intervention on our welfare, especially during the times when they cut the supply of oil in the world market, would be the high prices of petroleum products on our domestic market. Therefore, the reason why there is existing oil price hike in the market would be either OPEC cut the supply of oil in the world market which creates pressure for the prices of petroleum products to increase, or because of the economic and political instability of oil-producing countries which creates threats for oil supply shortage in the world market. At the end of the day, consumers will carry the burden of that economic and political instability of other country through the intermediation of OPEC in the world market for petroleum products. Answer #8 The reason behind the success of Wal-Mart for the past years lies on its market share and size which provide rooms for further lowering down the prices of their goods relative to their competitors. Because of the large market size and share of Wal-Mart, they have been able to have more bargaining power to their suppliers in a form of price discounts since once Wal-Mart buys products to their suppliers; millions of volumes of goods are at stake. This is the reason why suppliers would want to supply Wal-Mart due to large volume of order that they can get once they were able to close a deal with the management of the Giant. At the end of the day, those price discounts that Wal-Mart was able to receive from their suppliers will give them enough room to further set the prices of their products lower as compared to their competitors, thereby, attracting more customers which eventually lead to experiencing high company growth in terms of profitability and sales volume.