Category: Performance

Self-assessment And Professional Performance

The beginning of the 21st century appears to be ushering in a new era of human life with a number of very significant inexorable changes. The ever changing and developing technologies have changed the all round expectations of the people as a whole along with the library users. Users are not satisfied with traditional library services. Users are demanding modern, innovative information and knowledge support facilities from libraries, not only in the existing fields of engineering but also in a number of new fields that are emerging. For all the strengths and weaknesses, the government has launched the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) to equipment the strength effectively and to fighting weaknesses of the country. NKC has suggested for creating a knowledge based society to build up India as human resource capital of the world. NKC has given a very strategic role to Libraries and Information Centers to provide all the information and knowledge support to the process of economic development and growth. Thus the library professionals have an unfortunate opportunity to participate in the change of our strength into knowledge strength. In the process, library professionals have to face a number of challenges. Library professionals need to assess strengths and weaknesses of the field to overcome and get rid of the weakness of the same.

At present, library professionals have to acquire computer and communication skills and get in-depth training in use of institutional repositories, library management software package, radio frequency identification technology as part of their professional education and training. Library professionals need to perform their job with special combination of intellectual aptitude, computer skills, communication skills and managerial abilities all at a relatively high level. Library professionals need to attend short term courses, continuing self education, publish professional writing, presenting seminar and conference papers etc. to keep themselves updated.

The responsibilities of the library professionals have increased and changed tremendously with the changing environment of the libraries. The Autonomous Engineering College libraries of Andhra Pradesh are now moving towards modernization and they are successful to a large extent in meeting the demands of the users. Self-Assessment plays a vital role for the improvement of the library professionals by helping in different decision making policies of the libraries. Further it also helps a lot in the right direction to achieve organizational goal and for better performance of the library professionals.

These issues were in my mind before taking up the study area for the Ph.D. programme. Moreover, I have attended a number of professional events like seminars, conferences, discussions, workshops wherein self-assessment were the one of the focal areas. All these have worked in a positive way for taking up the study and research.

Keeping in mind all these, I discussed with my fellow professional friends, professionals working in various colleges at different positions and respected lecturers of B.L.I.Sc and M.L.I.Sc. Courses, including my research guide Professor Kodela Venkata Rao who has also advised me for undertaking the topic for my PhD.

I am confident that this study will ably guide library authority and library professionals for evaluating self-assessment and better professional performance.

The Role of Regulations During the Progressive Era in Boosting Overall Economic Performance

Regulations during the Progressive Era played a key role in helping the general economic performance. The Progressive Movement is associated with the way assessments concerning challenges facing the people were resolved. Government involvement was necessary for the reforms. During the Progressive era (about 1880 to 1930s), the ideology of justice begun taking hold. Members of the Progressive Movement supported the government’s regulations, policies and programs intended to address the problems of the time. An increasing government interference and interventions regulating business between the late 1800s to the late 1930s was seen to help the overall situation of the economy and that of the common workers.

There were legal systems that existed to protect the rights of property and business over labor. In 1893, there was a change of legislation that gave mandate that women and teenagers were only supposed to work for eight hours a day. Also abolished was child labor in factories and the businesses were against such regulation terming it as going against their businesses. The court did not, however, grant men the freedom of the eight-hour workday. The state tried to protect the women because it felt that their productive capabilities were of concern to it. The result was that male and female workers were not equal in the eyes of the law and women had limited opportunities in the economy. Women were socially inferior when compared to men in law and apart from that, however, the government had helped their wellbeing by reducing their extreme working hours and ensuring that they were not physically injured at work. Women started to get organized and worked together to identify and seek solutions to problems which were caused by urbanization (Whitaker, 2, p. 504-506). The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of 1890 controlled what the women did in the entire country. Progressives pressurized for the enactment of new regulations by the municipal governments. They lobbied that such legislations be addressing the deplorable conditions in the urban areas of poverty, inequality and disease pandemics. It was in 1899 that the first juvenile court was established through the efforts of women in Chicago. From such women efforts and activism, public health was improved, clean water supply ensures and even clean food supplies such as pure milk.

In the year 1899, the National Consumers League advocated for democracy in the national level. It worked to ensure that companies offered better working by conducting investigations and it encouraged its members to force companies to using new production standards. This would be done by the use of their purchasing power and those companies which did not comply with the practice of better standards in employment did not get their products purchased. The efforts of the National Consumers’ League later bore the New Deal legislation. The legislation was against child labor, set the minimum wage level and the maximum working hours (Schultz, 1, p. 378). There were regulations such as the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the 1890’s Sherman Antitrust Act which started considering the challenges of the unregulated capitalism associated with laissez-faire and monopoly which restricted trade. This war on monopoly continued until 1909 when President Theodore Roosevelt decided to use the powers of the congress to fight against monopolies in corporates that restrained trade. The Congress was given the power to ensure regulation and control of the predatory practices in business by The Elkins Act. There were also other government Acts that regulated the quality of food sold from industries such as the Meat Inspection and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The Great Depression (1929) was harsh and Franklin Roosevelt initiated the New Deal regulation in 1932 to use the federal government’s power to bring to halt the economy’s downfall. Under Roosevelt, the Agricultural Adjustment Act together with other 15 important laws were passed and helped reshape America’s Economy (Leonard, 3, p. 215).

Although, the regulations of the progressive era were aimed at the better good of the economy and workers, it had its downfalls. There was increased cases of discrimination and segregation against African Americans. Less efforts put on improving lives of the African Americans and even cases of laws that supported segregation being upheld in the Supreme Court.

In the recent times of financial calamities, regulations regarding the revival of education, investment in the public sector and protection of the environment among other social and public services are crucial. Laws which discourage impunity and give the people the power shows great progressiveness in democracy.

Operating and Commercial Performance of Ryanair Airline: Analytical Essay

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the operating and commercial performance of Ryanair Airlines. This paper begins by briefly looking at the operational characteristics of the company, will follow with the marketing and competitive situation followed by the financial performance and It will conclude with the environmental policy of the airlines.

Ryanair, founded in 1984, has their headquarters in Dublin, in Ireland, and its first operational base is London Stansted. part of Ryanair Holdings is Ryanair Uk, Ryanair Sun and Ryanair Lauda. The company was inaugurated in 1984 when the first flight departed from Waterford and landed in its final destination, London Gatwick.

Ryanair runs with more than 400 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and one 737-700 used as a charter airplane. It’s fast expansion, and the low-cost business model has characterized the company which now serves more than 35 countries between Europe, Africa and the middle east with 84 bases connecting over 200 destinations.

Ryanair usually chooses to fly to and from secondary airports or little ones, typically situated outside the central city, this helps the airlines to reduce costs benefiting of lower landing tariff and quick turnaround. For example, it flies from Weeze, which is 70 km away from the central city of Dusseldorf. Despite this, sometimes the secondary airports are not that far from the central city or in some cases even closer for example Roma Ciampino (anna.aero, 2019).

Ryanair operated in a point-to-point model as a substitute of the traditional hub and spoke model, that is when the Flyers have to swap aeroplane in transit at the main airport (anna.aero, 2019).

According to the Ryanair web site in 2017, it was the first European airline to have transported over 1 billion customers (Corporate.ryanair.com, n.d.).

Operational characteristics

Routes:

Ryanair has more than 50 bases in Europe, It has a significant presence in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the moment the biggest market is Italy with 14 bases and 9 non-base airports. During the year 2018, 3,765 new programmed services have been launched from airline; it represents a 6.8% increase over the preceding year.

Ryanair was the first airline for new air services, and the US was the principal country for new networks.

As seen above Ryanair connects over 200 destinations around the world (anna.aero, 2019).

Figure 1(Ryanair Europe coverage, 2019)

Ryanair has maintained the denomination that it obtained in 2017 for the number of new routes launched, and it added to its map 218 airports. A number which many other airlines are nowhere near. Marrakech and Frankfurt has been added the newest routes with 16 and 14 services correspondingly. Despite the fact that Ryanair is the top airline ranking for the major new routes, it has launched 60 routes less in 2018 than the years before. In 2017 it launched more than double as connections as the second-placed Eurowing (anna.aero, 2019). According to BBC, Rynair is dropping the flies to Poland and to Malta. It is also reducing the flights operating to London Stansted and Manchestairs airport. This is happening because of the weak request from the uk market and the tax UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) (BBC News, 2019).

Passenger traffic :

[image: /var/folders/dd/rd2hvs9n17j567y_cxtdswnw0000gn/T/com.microsoft.Word/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/Ryanair-passenger-growth.jpg]

Ryanair Holdings Plc published in 2018 another year of slowdown passenger growth as a result of a battle with unions, not good weather and air traffic control and pilots’ strikes.

The growth was of 8% compared to 2017, smaller than the previous year which was 17% compared to 2016 (Perez, 2019).

Comparing Ryanair to the other airline companies, Wizz had a 20% growth in passengers in 2018. Ryanair had a load factor in the first half of 2017 of 94.7% and 96% for the other part of the year. Compared with the competitors, EasyJet had one of the lowest load factors with 92.1% (Jarvis, 2018).Figure 2 (Ryanair passengers’ number, 2019)

Financial performance

Profitability:

According to the article written in the Financial Times in 2019, Ryanair has been faced a profit warning, due to the fall of the airfares more than expected. The company announced at the beginning of the year that the final report would be down of over a billion due to a predicted drop of 7% in ticket prices. Over the previous 16 months, the airline had devastating service disruptions due to the staff that strike in 2017 to the summer of 2018 and causing the cancellation of many flights (Spero, 2019). The cabin crews are requesting a “fair living wage” and a contract based on their language and law rather than Irish (BBC News, 2018). According to BBC of the end of 2018, the higher oil prices, the low fares and strikes hit the profits and the enthusiasm of investors (BBC News, 2018).

At the beginning of the year, Ryanair was down by 40% compared to the previous year, while competitors such easy jet has dropped off a quarter and Hungary’s low-cost airline decreased of 14%. According to Daniel Roeska, an analyst at Bernstein the strategy of the company at the moment is to focus on ancillary services for example, reserved seats that in other words they prefer to have more passengers even at lower fares (Spero, 2019).

Looking at the table 1, 2 and 3 of the FY Ryanair annual report we can see that in the last five years the profit has increased.

From the year 2014 to 2015 it increased of 25% and 43% the followed year, the increase of the following two years has not been dramatic as the past as the profit increased of 6% on 2017 and 10% on 2018 due to the reason seen above.

The introduction and prospect of Brexit is considered a considerable threat to the company because there is a risk that on the event of hard Brexit the company’s UK shareholders may be considered as non-EU. That means that they may reduce the English shareholders to ensure that Ryanair will remain owned by the majority of EU shareholders (BBC News, 2018).

Costs and Revenues:

One of Ryanair’s strengths is to have a very low cost. On FY18 the unit prices fell of 1%.

For the FY19 Ryanair is investing in people, systems and business, it will deliver a new Boeing aircraft B737-MAX-200, the airplane will be 16% extra fuel-efficient also it will have 4% more seats and 40% less noise emissions. It will reduce the unit cost massively over the next 6 years. The staff cost is expected to rise by 200 m. Which means higher pay for the employee. Ryanair is expecting the unit cost to grow in the next year by 9% (Ryanair Investor Relations, 2018).

The staff cost grew by 34% due to the increase of the pilot salary and flight hours (BBC News, 2018). In 2018 has started the negotiation with the pilot’s unions and cabin crew regards them requests due to an incredibly dramatic and well-documented strike by the media. The higher pay rate, improved rotas and job security, are the improvements that the airline is making to make sure that it will be an employer choice. The company is hiring many pilots and cabin crew including lots coming from bankrupt airlines like Air Berlin (Ryanair Investor Relations, 2018).

[image: ]As already seen, Ryanair’s strong point is the capacity of maintaining the cost very low. Any other EU airlines can equal or even arrive close to Ryanair unit cost. According to the report, the fuel is better circumvented than most European competitors (Ryanair’s Corporate, 2018).

To support this statement, figure 3 shows how significant is the difference between the other airlines, the main difference is the Airport, the choice of the company to fly on the second airports (Ryanair’s Corporate, 2018).Figure 3 ( Europe’s Lowest Costs, 2019)

Revenue is the amount of money a certain company gets from its clients in conversion to sales.

It is the top item on an income report where the costs and expenses are deducted to get the net income (Macrotrends, 2018). Ryanair in the last 5 years have had a steady growth on revenue as shown by the table 1, 2 and 3.

The growth has been not dramatic but steady around 10% every year apart from 2017 were it grown just 2% from the year before.

Table 1 (FY 2018 results, 2018)

Table 2 (FY 2015 and 2016, 2016)

Table 3 (FY 2015/ 2014, 2015)

Compare with competitors

American airlines are the world most lucrative airline according to table number 4, followed by Delta airline. Part of the profitability comes from the fact that airlines have added seats on their aircraft in recent years. Also, the low oil price has been a significant contributor.

[image: Top 10 economic profit generators, by absolute dollars (2012-2016)]To have a clear comparison with Ryanair, there is an essential factor to consider, the dimension of the airplane (Consultancy.uk, 2017).

American Airlines is the largest carrier in the world with 1,556 aircraft, Delta 1330 aircraft,

United Airlines 1229 aircraft, International Airlines Group 464 aircraft and Ryanair 349 aircraft (Consultancy.uk, 2017) .

To conclude Ryanair is the second European most lucrative airline and the six- world wise

Table 4 (Top 10 economic profit generator, 2018)

Competitors

Main competitors:

Ryanair has numerous low-cost competitors. Around 60 new low-cost airlines have been formed in 2004.

The main competitors for Ryanair are Easy jet and Wizz Air because they are the one that tend to keep a low prices and extended routes.

Comparing the three companies on the main points, the results are that All of them have an extensive network, and each has some unique routes; however, Wizz Air is offering flight to the US and Asia. All of them have a random seat assignment system for the customers who don’t buy packages or don’t pay for the additional upgrade. Regarding reliability, Ryanair had had a period with many strikes, much more than its competitors (Nukina, 2018).

Ryanair has a strong sense of competition, and it treats all companies that are trying to compete in a very competitive way. It has been blamed for dropping prices significantly just to cut their competitors. An example of competitivity happened in 2003 when MyTravelLite starts to compete on the Birmingham/Dublin route then Ryanair creates very competing flights on certain MyTravelLite routes until they pulled out (anna.aero, 2016).

EasyJet is Ryanair’s principal competitor. In 2004 it started new routes in Irland. Before that moment EasyJet was never directly competing with Ryanair on its territory.

When in 2012, WizzAir moved its flight operations to new low-cost Warsaw Modlin Airport, Ryanair started numerous routes identical to Wizz Air (anna.aero, 2016).

Alliance:

Alliance is an arrangement among different airlines with the aim of pool resources. The main benefit is the reward system. The main alliance are Star Alliance, One Worls and Sky team (Boon, 2018).

Ryanair is not part of an alliance for the reason that it doesn’t fit the company’s business model, it took the decision of not have any interaction with other airlines.

Marketing strategy:

The main reason why the growth of Ryanair is the small price it offers. It practices a different strategy to arrive at the lowest cost level it practice outsourcing (Leeham News and Analysis, 2019). For example, the pilots are not employed by Ryanair, but they are all contract pilots, another strategy is the decision to fly from secondary airports; this is the main difference from EasyJet, it main competitor witch fly from the main ones. The figures show an average of Ryanair’s tariffs compared to other low-cost airlines. This significant gap gives a real understanding of the effective marketing strategy they act (Leeham News and Analysis, 2019).

The Chief Executive Officer Kenny Jacobs affirm that the marketing of the company has focused on delivery. Ryanair operates on the philosophy of having as much as digital expertise is possible to avoid to pay the advertising on or Google (Rogers, 2017). The chief declared that the company doesn’t spend any money on Google but it’s by far the most researched airline, he also affirmed that the company is right on social and always talk with the press and it’s very accessible. Ryanair is expanding its additional products, selling holidays and car rental servicing and offering tailored packages for members of MY Ryanair. This means that is taking the way of personalizing the marketing approach (Rogers, 2017).Table 5 (Airlines compared fares, 2019)

Environmental policy

In March 2018, Ryanair published a new Environmental Policy called Europe’s Greenest Airline. In this policy, the airline commits to helping to fight climate change and it looks to lower noise pollution and CO2 emissions (Ryanair Corporate, 2018). The plan goal is the reduction of global impact and local impact.

According to Ireland (2018) Ryanair invested billion into the fuel-efficient airplane and allowed the client to offset the carbon fee of their flight.

Ryanair promises to decrease noise and emissions through the new “next generation” airplanes. These new planes, 737-MAXs, are fuel-efficient, and quieter and will continue to decrease the local noise by up to 40% per seat and air quality (Ryanair Corporate, 2018).

The mission of the plan is to achieve by 2030 an emission rate of 61.4 gr of CO2 for flyer km. iN spring 2019 will further reduce noise by up to 40% per seat;

The plan explains the main point of the reduction of the emissions such us the increase of load factors to 94%, the wingless, high density and light-weight seats (Ryanair Corporate, 2018).

However, According to the EU Trasport and Environmental Group, Ryanair is part of the top 10 biggest polluters. The airline is the first that does not operate a coal-fired power plant to be part of it. (BBC News, 2019)

Plastic pollution is a threat to our planet, Ryanair is one of the few airlines to have introduced the policy of eliminating non-recyclable plastics. The company will work together with its suppliers to replace non-recyclable plastics with favorable solutions for the environment such as a paper cups. Ls solution will be fully in place in the next five year’s time across the entire operation (Ryanair Corporate, 2018).

Off Set:

Ryanair from 2018 offer to them customers the option on the booking process to do a donation to offset carbon emissions. Environmental Charities will annually benefit from this deliberate guest domination (Ryanair Corporate, 2018). The charities are First Climate, Renature Monchique, the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group and Native Woodland Trust.

According to an article of the Jornal.it, the EU’s verified Emission report has discovered that Ryanair was in the top 10 for carbon polluters in Europe.

The data shows that the airlines produced over 9 million of tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2017, the date was shocking because is the first time that a company that is not running a coal-fired power plant is into the list. the airline’s defense itself says that it has more than 400 aircraft and a loading plan over 94% on average (McDermott, 2019) .

Conclusion

The present research aimed to evaluate the operating and commercial performance of Ryanair airlines.

This report has shown that the airline in question, Ryanair, has experienced as dramatic financial growth over the past few years. Ryanair has constantly, for many years, scored and higher than many of its competitors. This is for many reasons, but the main credit has to be awarded to their strategic decisions when it came to the extra light seats and the choice of flying to secondary airports. This growth has been not only, under the financial aspect as Ryanair kept the unit cost lower than the competitor ensuring the best low fairs, but the airline has created many new routes and bought new airplanes.

Despite this, the company has aspects to improve such as the relationship with the cabin crew and the pilots, the result of many strikes from a variety of different members of staff, but also for these actions to have been so heavily documented in the press meant that the airline is required to act for the sake of its own reputation if nothing else.

As well as the emission because however, it releases environmental policy, “Europe’s Greenest Airline” it is in the ranking of the top 10 polluter airlines. Said that In the next few years, Ryanair has a keen focus on decreasing the unit costs and reducing the emission.

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Impact of Total Quality Management on Firm Performance of SMEs in Amhara Region: Analytical Essay

I Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

In Ethiopia, in particular, in Amahara Regional State, textile and garment industries are the most potential areas for further development and job opportunities. Because of the large agricultural land for the production of cotton as the raw material source, Amhara Regional State should take advantages for further processing their raw material to finished product. According to a McKinsey (2015) study apparel buyers are sourcing large-volume items from Ethiopia.

Amahara Regional state is the second largest state in Ethiopia with a total population of 20 million. In Amhara region there are more than 685 small and medium manufacturing industries those are engaged in textile, garment and leather and leather products manufacturing. Some small and medium industries have started export finished products to international markets. The local manufacturers of garment and fashion products have their own attributes in local customers. In Ethiopia, particularly in Amahara Region, at holiday, peoples are wearing traditional clothes that are prepared from cotton and sometimes from wool. Therefore, the current study will focus on the supply chain integration, quality management and learning capability of small and medium industries towards their performance. The purpose of the study is to investigate the supplier and manufacturer integration and the impact of total quality management on firm performance of SMEs in Amahara region.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Recently, the manufacturing industry in developing countries has been facing pressure generated by the new business trends. To contend with this pressure, the manufacturing industries have tried to upgrade their operations by using different manufacturing techniques such as Supply chain integration, Total Quality Management, Kaizen practice, and human resource development. In Amahara region small and medium industries are trying to integrate more in their production activities such as raw material sourcing, production, and delivery to customers.

Firm performance is essential indicator of the strength of firms to stay in operation, expand, and compete in local and international markets and thereby contribute to employment, and economic development. In order to meet the target effective supply chain integration are becoming increasingly critical factors for small and medium enterprises performance. As Samaranayake (1998) stated that organizations integrating their information and raw material flow can transform to optimal utilization of the supply chain.

Most SMEs source their major raw materials from locally produced cotton product whereas other sources their major raw material from Chinese fabric manufacturer. In addition, the supply chain starts from cotton cultivation from local suppliers and then local textile manufacturers and finally distributes to local SMEs and foreign markets customers. However, this all steps lack integration, there is wastage of time in raw material delivery system, and information sharing between cotton producers and garment manufacturers is inefficient and lacks synergy. Many firms simply do not trust other members of the supply chain, and they reluctant to share information. This indicates that the main challenges of supply chain integration are information exchange and planning activities to fulfill the appropriate delivery lead time and organizational learning capability towards quality improvement. Therefore, the present study will try to investigate the impact of supply chain integration, quality management and organizational learning capability on small and medium industries operational and financial performance.

1.3 Research gap

Various researchers conducted in context of supply chain integration and firm performance (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Cousins and Menguc, 2006; Mitra and Singhal, 2007, Flynn, Huo, and Zhao, 2010). Hence, they did not consider the critical contextual factors like organizational learning capability, Total Quality Management and the moderating role of Information Technology towards the organizational performance which play a prominent role for holistic understanding about firm performance.

Others also tried to investigate the role of Supply Chain integration to firms’ their competitive strategies and advantage as well as organization performance (Lambert & Cooper, 2000; Birhanu, 2014; Pathak, 2015; Rao, 2015). On the hand some researchers also investigate the impact of total quality management and employee performance on firms’ performance in order to satisfy customers need (N.M Zakuan et al., 2008).

Furthermore, others investigate human resource practices as critical strategic tools for promoting favorable behavior among employees and leveraging their knowledge, skills, and abilities, which should increase productivity and performance of firms’ (Bartlett, 2001; Bates & Chen, 2004; Clardy, 2008).

Hence, the above studies did not investigate firm performance in a comprehensive conceptual framework. The previous studies explored the influence of supply chain integration on firm performance has been largely overlooked. In addition, the impacts of Total Quality Management on firm performance have been investigated in the previous research adequately. However, the previous studies could not show us the human capital factors and IT competence as a comprehensive framework. To fill this gap in the literature, we have try to develop a system through which the effect of supply chain integration, Total Quality Management and organizational learning capability on firm performance with the moderating effect of IT strategy. So, the present study will be a step forward by applying a comprehensive conceptual framework to investigate firms’ performance.

1.4 Research Contribution

This study aims to make key contributions by providing key predictors that through influence firm performance in small and medium industries sourcing, making and delivering processes. This study identified three predictors of operational and financial firm performance which are supply chain integration (internal and external integration), Total Quality Management and the moderating effect of firms’ organizational learning capability. Therefore this study will try to fill two gaps.

First, it tries to extend the theories that supply chain integration is more important in small and medium enterprises in the context of developing countries and inter-organizational and extra-organizational transfer of raw materials and information sharing.

Secondly this study will use a comprehensive conceptual model to investigate the performance of manufacturing firms and assessing the relationship between supply chain integration, total quality management and organizational learning capability on firm operational and financial performance in the context of developing countries SMEs.

II. Literature review

2.1. Supply chain integration

The literature has provided numerous definitions for Supply chain integration. Some studies defined Supply Chain Integration as a regular process of partnership (Cao et al., 2010), others understand SCI as a set of practices that include sharing of resources and information across internal departments and external organizations (Swink et al., 2007). Furthermore, Flynn et al. (2010) argued that supply chain integration implies collaboration among industrialists and other supply chain partners in order to develop an effective and efficient movement of materials, resources, and information to produce products and services that are valuable to the customer quickly and at low cost. Qi et al. (2017) also defined supply chain integration as cooperation plans and activities between suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers that plan to develop products by transforming raw materials into finished goods.

Supply chain integration refers to the degree to which a firm coordinates intra- and inter-organizational processes with channel partners in a collaborative way (Liu et al., 2013; Kim, 2006). Basically, supply chain integration is related with firm information sharing and operational coordination with channel partners and the degree to which partners are provided with information that might help them (Liu et al., 2013). The present study will apply two major classifications of supply chain integration which are external integration and internal integration (Abdallah et al., 2017; Lii & Kuo, 2016).

2.1.1 Internal integration

Internal integration ensures product quality and reduces the duplicated tasks by promoting the internal resources and capability (Flynn et al., 2010). Internal Integration has been said to be the foundation of other kinds of integration and is defined as the linkage of business processes of departments in an organization into a strategic fit for improved performance (Fawcett &Magnan, 2002). Therefore internal integration in this study refers to the degree to which a firm can construct its organizational practices, procedures and behaviors into collaborative, integrative and manageable processes in order to fulfill customer requirements (Sank et al., 2001).

2.1.2 External integration

External integration refers to the degree to which a firm can partner with its key supply chain members (customers and suppliers) to structure their inter-organizational strategies, practices, procedures and behaviors into collaborative, synchronized and manageable processes in order to fulfill customer requirements (Stank et al., 2001).

2.2 Firm performance

Organizational performance refers to how to do mission and organizational activities and the results of them as well [19]. Based on the conducted researches, the evaluation of organizational performance is divided into two dimensions: operational performance and financial performance [21].

2.2.1. Financial performance

A company’s financial performance is defined as the achievement of organizational goals or as active, constructive, and effective performance [22]. Financial performance refers to the company’s achievement to shareholders’ financial goals in order to increase their wealth. These goals include indicators and criteria such as profit earnings, return on assets, return on investment, etc. which are considered as a part of organization’s performance [3,23,24]. Financial performance is one of the important concerns of shareholders and managers of economic entities and, using new methods, managers try to manage their organization and provide an outstanding performance [25].

2.2.2. Operational performance:

Operational performance refers to the ability of a company in reducing management costs, order-time, lead-time, improving effectiveness of using raw material and distribution capacity (Heizer et al., 2008). Operational performance has an important role to business firms by improving effectiveness of production activities and creating high quality products (Kaynak, 2003), in turn, leading to increased revenue and profit for companies

Many researchers Spasojevic et al., (2013), Spasojevic et al., (2011), Sadikoglu and Zehir (2010) and Samson and Terziovski (1999) formulate five dimensions to measure operational performance such as customer satisfaction, the share of defective products in relation to the volume of production, the cost of the warranty period as compared to total sales, quality costs in relation to total revenue and proportion of timely deliveries in total deliveries.

2.3) Organizational learning capability

Organizational learning capability is defined as the organizational and managerial characteristics, practices, skills or factors that facilitate the organizational learning process such as generating, acquiring, disseminating & integrating information and allow an organization to learn (Jerez Gomez et al, 2005).

Jerez-Gomez et al., (2005) stated that organizational learning capability have four dimensions managerial commitment, openness and experimentation, knowledge transfer and integration, and systems perspective.

Managerial commitment indicates the development of managerial support for and leadership commitment to the learning process and employee motivation (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005). Systems perspective refers to bringing the organization’s members together around a common identity and a shared vision, interconnecting the activities of employees, and developing relationships based on the exchange of information and shared mental models (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005). Openness and experimentation denotes a climate of accepting new ideas and points of view and allowing individual knowledge to be constantly renewed, widened and improved through experimentation (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005). Knowledge transfer and integration refers to the internal spreading of knowledge through verbal and non-verbal communication and the information systems (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005).

2.4 Total quality management

According to Dean & Bowen, (1994) define Total Quality Management as a system approach which is an integral part of organizational strategy aimed at people focused management featuring participation of all firm members and a culture of cooperation to create value for all stakeholders through continuous improvement. In addition, Terziovski (2006) define Total Quality Management improves effectiveness, flexibility, and competitiveness of a firm to meet customers’ requirements, as the source of sustainable competitive advantage for business organizations

Besides to its definition Total Quality Management has been successfully implemented in many small and large business firms, giving them the edge in international as well as local competitiveness through the production of high quality products to satisfy customer needs (N.M Zakuan et al., 2008). This is supported by Lakhal et al. (2006), who noted that organizations with Total Quality management systems in place consistently exceeded industry standards for return on investment. For this study we adopt Six fundamental factors of Total Quality Management practices such as customer focus, leadership, training, teamwork, communication, and top management.

2.5 IT Competence

The concept of IT competence was first put forward by foreign research scholars Ross et al. (1996). In their opinion, IT competence is the ability to influence the organization goal by controlling the cost relevant to IT and implement IT. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), IT competence was further classified into human, technology and relative resources. Some scholar defined IT competence as the ability to use and integrate IT resource (Bharadwaj, 2010). Thus, IT competence is the tools but purpose for enterprises to attain competitive advantages. Some scholar defined IT competence as the ability to use and integrate IT resource (Bharadwaj, 2010). For this study, IT competence particularly IT Strategy is used as moderating role.

III. Hypothesis development and Conceptual Framework.

3.1 Supply chain integration and operational performance

As Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) suggested that companies with the widest degree of integration with both suppliers and customers have the strongest association with performance improvement. In addition, (kim 2006) argued that Supply chain management (SCM) seeks to improve competitive performance by closely assimilating the internal functions within a company and effectively linking them with the external operations of suppliers, customers, and other channel members.

Droge et al., (2004) states that external integration with suppliers and customers has a direct positive influence on market share, while internal integration has an influence on financial performance. He also suggests that integration may enhance flexibility and reduce costs, thus leading to improved performance by retaining more customers and increasing profit ratios.

In addition, process integration with supplier helps the manufacturers reduce mistakes and improve product quality by information sharing and jointly planning to enhance the operation performance (Petersen et al., 2005).

The product integration with suppliers and customers can enhance manufacturers’ new product development capabilities, promoting product quality, flexibility and innovation in addition to product competitive advantage (Koufuteros et al., 2007; Swink & Song, 2007). Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis:

H1: Supply chain integration /internal and external/ positively relate to firm performance.

3.2 Organizational Learning Capability and Firm Performance

Many studies have stated that organizations are going to promote productive learning as a core competency (Sinkula, Baker, & Noordewier, 1997). In addition, other researchers suggested that there is a significant and positive relationship between organizational learning and firm performance (Zahir et al., 2008; Garcia et al., 2006; and Carayannis & Alexander 2002). Moreover, others also suggested that learning at organizational level has a positive effect on firms’ performance (Milia & Birdi 2010); in the same line Baker and Sinkula (1999) suggested that learning orientation has a direct effect on company performance. Therefore based on the above empirical studies the following hypothesis is formulated.

H2: Organizational learning capability has a significant and positive relationship with firm performance.

3.3 Total Quality Management and Firm Performance

Some previous studies suggested that TQM have been positive relationship with manufacturing performance and productivity (Chenhall, 1997); financial performance (Agus & sagir, 2001; Kaynak, 2003; Fuentes et al., 2006) and comprehensive organizational performance (Sharma 2006; and Zahir & Sadikoglu, 2012). Sharma (2005), Samson and Terziovski (1999), suggested that quality improvement practices improve business performance.

Based on this relationship the following hypothesis is formulated

H3: Total Quality Management positively related with firm performance (operational and financial performance).

3.4 The moderating effect of IT Competence/IT Strategy/

IT influences the operation of a firm in multi aspects, including product quality, types and customer service. Some scholar proposed that IT influences the operation and strategy of a firm, and the effect of operation reflects the enterprises operation performance (Mukhopadhyay, 2002); also IT competence promotes the integration of supply chain.

H4: The positive relationship of Supply chain integration and Operational performance is strengthening by IT strategy of the firms.

H5: The positive relationship of Total Quality Management and Operational performance is strengthen by IT strategy of the firms

Comprehensive Overview of Key Methods Used in Performance Management

Introduction

Grades are an essential part of almost every university class. What would happen if there were no grades ? Would your individual performance improve or decline? Similar issues take part between employees concerning their performance. Performance management involves assessing and communicating employee contributions. Rating employees’ performance is similar to giving them grades. In the employment context, important questions include the following : Do employees improve their performance when their contributions to the organization are measured? Is it helpful to give feed- back so that employees know how they are doing? Does effective measurement of individual contributions help in improving organizational performance?

Measuring performance and giving feedback does indeed improve employee performance. And improvements in individual performance trans- late into better organizational performance. Organizations have higher productivity when top management encourages supervisors to set goals, assess performance, and provide feedback to employees.One reason is that trust in management increases when performance is accurately measured and adequately rewarded. It can, in fact, play a major role in providing for an integrated and coherent range of human resource management processes which are mutually supportive and contribute as a whole to improving organizational effectiveness.

Performance Management Systems

Performance management systems involve numerous activities, much more than simply reviewing what an employee has done. These systems must fulfill several purposes. Moreover, they’re often constrained by difficulties in how they operate. It is a way to get better results by understanding and managing performance within an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competency requirements. A system that helps in measuring and evaluating the connection between the efficiency of the work performance and the duties and responsibilities of the job it occupies , in a way that helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the past performance and determine how it’s possible to avoid the weaknesses and invest the strengths at the present and in the future .

Aims of performance management

Monitoring and evaluating individuals and organization performance is an essential part of handling human capital . It has several key aims.

1. Identifying the learning/development and performance enhancement needs of individuals
2. Identifying challenges or performance obstacles which require intervention
3. To identify people with potential for future promotion, supporting succession planning
4. Providing the basis for incentive decisions: qualifications for results-related rewards, competency-related promotions, merit awards and so on.
5. Improving contact between managers and team leaders on job problems, success and growth opportunities.

How Is Performance Management Strategic?

Although identifying high and low performers is an important part of performance management , it might not be the best approach for other organizations. In some cases, encouraging people to stand out from the crowd may discourage teamwork and harm employee motivation. Like other HR practices, then, performance management practices are most effective when aligned with an organization’s competitive strategy.

Emphasizing Either Merit Or Parity

Organizations tend to follow one of two approaches in measuring performance . Some organizations create a merit-based climate that emphasizes performance differences among employees. In other organizations, the system encourages parity, or a sense of equality, among employees.

Merit-Based Systems

The basic objective of a merit-based system is to create and recognize high performance in order to achieve superior outcomes. This is the approach with the underlying purpose of performance management being to encourage employees to perform at the highest possible level. Employees who produce the highest outcomes, or results, are given high marks. this is usually done through the use of relative measures that compare employees with each other. Success at work is defined not just as meeting a certain standard but as doing better than others. With a merit-based system, managers are also frequently required to place a certain percentage of employees in each rating category, which is called a forced distribution. Only a few can be given the highest rating, and at least some must be given the lowest rating. In summary, merit-based systems focus on bottom-line results and use relative measures and forced distributions to ensure that high and low performers are clearly identified.

Parity-Based Systems

The basic objective of a parity-based system is to encourage cooperation and allow everyone who meets a certain standard to be classified as a high per- former. Parity-based performance measures frequently focus on processes rather than outcomes. High performance is defined as following guidelines and performing behaviors assigned by supervisors. This usually involves absolute measures that compare employees with an established benchmark rather than with each other. Most parity-based systems also adopt a free distribution, which allows any percentage of employees to be placed in a particular category. For example, any employee who assembles a certain number of cell phones without error can be given a top performance rating, regardless of how many cell phones others assemble. Every employee can thus be a top per- former. In general, parity-based performance systems do not separate people into categories of high and low performance but rather encourage all employ- ees to perform above a certain standard.

Functions of Performance Management

The performance management is especially concerned with individuals , processes, and organizational performance . To achieve this objective performance management performs a spread of functions.

• Create Healthy Work Environment:

HR or performance manager works with the employees, Their aim is to create an environment of openness, trust, mutual affection , team spirit and collaboration . In this environment only the manpower can be utilizing more effectively to contribute to organizational goals. They create environment with the support of HR policies, day to day dealing, welfare, promotion, discipline, incentives, training etc. It creates confidence in individuals to work without worry.

• Develop Performance Plans:

Management goes for planning of the job, competencies needed to perform the roles and standards required for performance of the jobs. It includes job description, job specification and fixation of job performance standard. Through these plans it is possible to determine the individual’s type required can be ascertained.

• Selection of Appropriate People:

It is important to carry out the different styles of people to do various types of jobs in the organization . The required type and number of people are to be selected from the aspirants. In order to perform the tasks at the appropriate time, they should be at the right location in the right time. This can be accomplished by proper training and selection of employees.

• Decision Regarding Performance Standard:

Performance management as a function of human resource management, management takes decision regarding the appropriate standards of the performance in consultation with top level management, head of departments and experts or consultants.

• Plans for Development of Employees:

Performance management is involved in the development of both employees and organization. It conducts orientation of the persons, provides education, and finds out the need for training and conduct training program for development of skills, knowledge and competencies. This can help in improvement of the performance of employees and company.

• Measurement of Performance:

After planning and development activities the following task of performance management is to measure the performance of the people at work. For measurement of performance the different criteria has been fixed such as output per hour/shift quality of work, behavior, discipline, level of commitment etc. This helps to find out the poor and good performers out .

• Conducts Performance Feedback:

After measurement of performance of all employees the management finds the slow moving persons. The aim of performance management is to figure out why they’re going slow. They hold coaching sessions for these individuals and give them feed back. They propose ways of improving their performance, too. It helps the individuals a lot to understand their abilities and difficulties. Through the coaching and counseling session the attitude of the employees is changed positive.

Methods of Performance Appraisal

There are a number of methods that are used to evaluate employee’s performance. It may be evaluated on the basis of his traits and attributes as well as on the basis of his work or results and objectives achieved by him. Thus his performance may be measured in terms of standards of his traits and general behavior on the job or in terms of results and goals. Some of the common techniques are given below:

Individual Appraisal Methods

1. Rating scale
2. Checklist method
3. Forced choice method
4. Critical incident method
5. Field review method
6. Performance test and observation method
7. Annual confidential reports (ACR)

Group Appraisal Methods

1. Factors and points method
2. Ranking method
3. Paired comparison method
4. Forced distributions

Other Methods Including MBO System

1. Self-appraisal
2. Appraisal by results or management by objectives (MBO) approach
3. 360o Performance appraisal
4. Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)
5. Cost accounting method

Traditional and Modern Methods:

1. The traditional methods are almost similar to individual and group appraisal methods.
2. Outcomes of Performance Management:

Financial Gains: Financial gains from performance management are following:

1. Improve productivity and production of the company.
2. Reduce costs due to honest and skilled employees .
3. Complete the projects well in time because everyone is giving his best performance at work.
4. Align the priorities of the company and individuals that avoids all delays in performance.
5. Through proper and timely communication, the objectives are clarified , and desired action can be accomplished by employees .

Non-Financial Gains: Non-financial gains from performance management:

1. Healthy working atmosphere avoids work stress of the employees .
2. Optimizes incentive plans to reach specific targets, not just business as normal.
3. Employees feel satisfied when the working environment is friendly.
4. Employees get opportunities for further career development, training and promotion etc.
5. A sense of belongingness, attachment and commitment develops among employees.
6. It leads to a high degree of motivation in employees and also generates a sense of commitment towards the organization.
7. Individuals recognize the value of their positions, and are committed to contributing to the organizational objectives.
8. Create transparency in approach and dealing among employees.
9. High confidence in organization and its different processes like salary, bonus, promotion etc.

Effective Management Control

1. Responsiveness to management needs and performing the tasks.
2. Displays better data relationships
3. Helps comply with inspection, audit and other regulatory requirements.
4. Simplifies communication of strategic goals and gets involvement of lower level employees too.

Effects of Positive and Negative Feedback.

Positive feedback increases motivation when it is linked to future goals. Positive feedback, then, creates a sense of accomplishment that encourages sustained effort as long as employees have goals that provide them with the opportunity to further excel. Employees who perceive negative feedback as criticism become less motivated and more likely to experience conflict with others. The basic problem is that people become defensive when they hear that they are not performing as well as expected.

The initial reaction of employees who have received negative feedback is to increase their effort. But they will continue to put forth greater effort only if they experience success or believe that success is likely. In other words, negative feedback only improves performance when people are confident that they can do what is necessary to improve.Building confidence and helping people see that they have the skills necessary to improve is therefore one important consideration in making sure that negative feedback improves performance.

Reflective Essay on Personal Performance

I have engaged with concepts, principles, and strategies about tactical awareness and its use within the sport of netball. Throughout this task, my motor learning goal is for the ability to change from one stable state of movement to another when performing the specialized movement sequences of a wing attack. In order to achieve this goal I am required to self-organise. In response to the many adjustments that I am consistently making to a range of tasks, learner, and environmental constraints will either limit or enable my movements. It is suggested by sports scientists that with a favorable environment and a suitable task to perform an individual will spontaneously produce effective and efficient movement sequences. Therefore, tactical awareness gives me the ability to make the right decision and execute the appropriate skills at the best possible time. Resulting in opportunities for increased chances of success when performing the specialized movement sequence (Reference).

In this folio, I will devise a tactical strategy to optimize my performance based on the interaction of the constraints and principles of decision-making. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the tactical strategy will focus on the outcomes, implications, and limitations of the constraints on the proficiency of my movements. To analyze my personal performance, I gathered data using video footage of the specialized movement sequences and movement strategies for the position of wing attack in a range of authentic netball environments. A games performance assessment instrument (GPAI) was also used. I will also be evaluating the effectiveness of my personal performance when setting up for an attack.

Non-linear learning:

My position of wing attack is the key play-maker in netball. It was my job to create as many goal-scoring chances as possible by passing the ball to the shooters (Reference). As a result of being the key playmaker, I faced several tasks, learner, and environmental constraints that played a significant role in both limiting and enabling my performance. The dynamic systems theory suggests that my behaviors and/or actions emerge through and are influenced by the interaction of these constraints (Reference).

The actions of my opposition presented one environmental constraint that required me to perceive relevant information when they intercepted the ball or passed it to their other players. I was required to respond to their movements and/or the movement of the ball and react to implement the appropriate movements. For example, on occasions the gold defender would catch the rebounds, therefore, their next teammate to pass to the wing defender which was my opposition. I was required to modify movements and transition from an attacking player to a defending player, allowing for the opportunity of an intercept.

Perception action coupling is a theory that suggests “we must perceive in order to move, but we must also move in order to perceive (Reference). This theory along with the influence of this dynamic environment can be seen in the video evidence where my performance of attacking is limited or enabled by a range of different task, learner, and/or environmental constraints.

In comparison, learning to set in a nonauthentic netball environment such as the basic hands-over defense drill seen here does not facilitate this nonlinear approach to learning. Since the wing attack’s primary responsible is to get the ball to the shooter unless a rebound is caught by the opposing team, my responsibility is then changed to a defender. Therefore, learning needs to occur through a dynamic systems approach in order to learn in a constantly changing environment that represents the competition and the perception of the actions of my teammates passing the ball and the movements of the opposing team.

The role of tactical strategy:

• My tactical strategy will focus on the role of. The roll-off can be broken down into the following steps.
• Stand with the back against the defender, the far side of the passer, and identify the defender’s blind side.
• Continue to orbit around the defender and head towards their blind side to receive the pass.
• The interaction of a range of tasks, learners, and environmental constraints will limit or enable my movements and decision-making.

Task constraints are the goals, rules, equipment, play areas, and players (Reference). As the wing attack, the task constraint of needing to perform a successful pass to the shooter is the most significant task constraint that influences my movements. The goal of the wing attack in a team is to use the third pass to accurately and firmly pass the ball to either the goal attack or goal shooter who can then perform and shot and defend my player when our team is defending against an attack.

Learner constraints are your personal characteristics that can limit or enable your movements and decision-making. These constraints may include the physiological characteristics of the learner such as their height and speed as well as their ability to perceive the environment and process information for effective decision making to occur. The learner constraint that limited my performance and enables the development of my tactical strategy was my height in relation to the opposing players. As I was shorter than the opposing player I struggled to receive the center pass when I was on the outside of my player, therefore, I was unable to get the ball to my shooter. Through the dynamic systems approach to learning, I developed the tactic of the roll-off. This allowed me to roll around my player easily successfully receiving the centre pass.

Environmental constraints in netball are factors that influence my performance and my decision-making process. One of these factors includes the court size. In netball, there are different-sized courts. Indoor courts which I am used to playing on are much smaller giving you limited space to move around, however, these courts were much larger giving you the opportunity to make more movements. Therefore, this environmental constraint of the court size enabled the development of my strategy as I was given more space to roll around my player.

The interaction of the task, learner, and environmental constraints allowed me to make decisions about my movement patterns when performing a roll-off when placed against a taller opposing player. The tactical strategy of performing a roll-off emerged from the interactions each of these constraints had. The development of this personal tactical strategy is evidence of self-organization in response to these tasks, learner, and environmental constraints through a dynamic systems approach to learning.

Evaluating and justifying the personal tactical strategy – roll off:

My personal tactical strategy of performing the roll-off when placed against a taller opposition has been effective in optimizing my performance of the movement strategy of setting up for an attack. When performing the roll the results of this tactical strategy were varied. On most occasions, the roll-off was effective in allowing me to successfully receive the center pass allowing me the wing attack and the center to travel the ball down to the shooters. This roll-off made it difficult for my opposing player to perform a defending play.

Limitations that occurred during this tactical strategy were that in order to perform a successful role, there were several learner constraints that had to be overcome. Executing a successful role off requires me to be in the right position beside my player early enough to perform the relevant movements required. When I performed a roll-off at any other time my decision-making and ability to perceive the actions of my teammates needed to occur more quickly. Another learner constraint that limited this tactical strategy was my ability to organize my movements in response to the perceived action of the opposing defenders. If a defender put themselves in a position where I was unable to roll off in that particular direction, my movements needed to self-organize in time to respond to this perceived action, which was not always possible.

The most surprising implication of the tactical strategy of performing a jump set can be best described through perception-action coupling. A roll-off is a very effective way to trick your opposing player into making them think that you are going in a certain direction, however, you go in the opposite direction. Occasionally, I was able to hang back and let the goal attack receive the center pass, therefore, I was able to disguise my roll-off as a drive to the goal attack on the other side of the court. This meant that my player was behind me and I was able to catch and pass the ball without a defender. This modification of my action was in direct response to the perceived actions of the goal attack and the environmental constraints presented. This implication further allowed for the optimization of the movement strategy of setting up an attacking play.

These outcomes and implications of performing a roll-off justify the use of this tactical strategy to optimize the movement strategy of setting up for an attacking play. I would maintain using this tactical strategy when playing in an attacking position during netball as it helps me overcome the learner constraints identified earlier in relation to my height in comparison to other players as discussed previously. This strategy also allows me to disguise a drive toward the top of the circle where the goal attack would pass to me. This provides additional attacking plays for my team. The role is also a useful tactical strategy to maintain as it limits the opposition’s ability to defend.

Evaluation of my personal performance – setting up for an attack:

To evaluate my personal performance when setting up for an attack, I have selected two body and movement concepts. “These provide a framework for enhancing movement performance.” (Reference). The quality of movement and relations will be evaluated as to how they relate to the specialized movement sequences and strategies.

Quality of movement is the combination of mobility and stability/motor control (Reference). My roll-off is particularly effective in achieving the desired outcome when setting up for an attack. The following video evidence shows me transitioning with speed from the center pass to the top of the circle with accuracy and flow of movement. Occasionally I will hang back on the center pass. This allows me to trick my player into thinking that I am taking the center pass, therefore, I then can run in front of the goal attack and receive the pass without any opposing players. As you can see, I am able to regularly catch the center pass and accurately pass to the next player, in a position that allows the team to effectively pass to the shooters. I also perform a number of other specialized movements, sequences relevant to the position of goal attack with accuracy and fluency of movement. The video demonstrates my ability to perform an attacking play in this position.

When applying the body and movement concept of relationships to my performance as a wing attack in netball, you can see that I am able to quickly determine the location of the center or goal attack as I transition into a position where I am then able to pass to the shooter to take the shot. While performing an attacking play, I effectively use spatial awareness which is the ability to be aware of oneself in a space (Reference) to determine the location of the goal attack or center in relation to my position on the court and the distance I am from the top of the circle. This relationship is important to my successful performance, as I am required to quickly make a decision about optimal attacking strategy and which player to pass to based on the chance of the ball being intercepted. I also have to make decisions in relation to my teammates in terms of the type of pass that I am required to perform. For example, if the player is taller than his/her opponent I would perform a lob pass. The video here shows me performing a number of different attacking plays.

To further improve my performance and my ability to set up for an attack as a wing attack, I need to further consider the position of the opposing players to determine if they are taller or faster. Currently, I am also able to consider the position of my teammates.

Evaluation of my personal performance – defending against attack:

When defending against attack, you can see that I am able to perform a defending play, this includes ensuring I am three feet away from the player and my hands are over the ball. This allows me to successfully defend against an opposing opponent possibly getting an intercept. As a mid-court player, it is vitally important that I am able to perform this specialized movement sequence, as having a mid-court player who does not defend, creates a significant defensive gap on the team. The video here shows me demonstrating a number of defending players with accuracy, fluency, and speed. When defending against attack, I am easily able to modify my performance in response to the movements of the opposing players. I do this by perceiving the body position of the player to determine where they are planning to throw the ball. Therefore, this influences my actions as I react in response to the direction of the ball.

Conclusion:

Overall, it was evident that I was struggling to receive the center pass as my opponents were much taller than I was. Therefore, I put in place the tactical strategy of the role, which allowed me to receive more passes. Mine attacking play therefore improved greatly.