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Http://fortune.com/2017/06/14/marriott-arne-sorenson-starwood-acquisition-airbnb/

Why Hotel Giant Marriott is on an Expansion Binge as it fends Off Airbnb

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Why Hotel Giant Marriott is on an Expansion Binge as it fends Off Airbnb

Introduction

Giant Marriott has a successful and long history of excellent customer service as the company commenced as AW Root Beer stand in 1972 comprising of nine seats. The hotel has grown into a recognizable brand in the hospitality industry with its branches in several other countries. The portfolio of the brand has highlighted that the strategy of hotel has an aim to cater to a wide spectrum of customers in terms of fulfillment of needs with care and conviction. By the end of 2017, Marriott International has 6500 properties that included 554,642 rooms in total. The number of employees was 1,77,000 that makes the company effective as one of the organizers of a large number of employees worldwide. Taking into account the record of the last six years, it has been inferred that Martiot could continuously improve the crisis in a convincing and a well-suited manner. The company is in a tie with Hilton side by side; there is a threat to Marriott because there is a possibility, China will reject the merging of Chinese government with Marriott and Starwood.

Discussion

In order to undergo a complete exegetical analysis of Marriott, it is significant to opt for PESTLE analysis. Marriott operates 4,200 hotels worldwide, and these hotels exist in 70 territories. The revenue reported by Marriott is $14.22 billion that is growing at a rate of 5.88%. The point to consider is, do PESTLE factors that are surrounding Marriott justify its expansion or not?

Political Factors

The major stance of political factors is threat to terrorism, political climate and international relations that are related to tourist destinations. It is important to note that a significant threat to the company is military conflict because it could hamper international traveling and frighten people.

Economic Factors

Significant economic factors include the slowing of economic growth particularly in China as well as an ongoing drawback in Europe. The collapse of the stock market and the crisis of debt are a tool that has reduced the buying power as well as the provision of travel services. The exchange of high exchange rate for US dollar overseas is another phenomenon because it discourages Americans. A long term economic threat is increasing the income inequality taking into account the stagnation of middle-class wages in the country. It has reduced customers who aim at staying hotel and opt for traveling.

Social and Cultural Factors

Social factors are the empowerers of progress for Marriott, taking into account that the number of people with foresighted plans has increased up to 13%. The average amount of travelers who aimed at traveling and hotelling have increased from an average of $5,955 in 2013 to $5,136 in 2016. Increased number of Chinese and Asian travelers are the significant factors that can affect the cultural factors of an organization.

Technological factors

The technological factors that can impact the business of hotel refer to the innovations that have been brought into practice such as online rental services and individual rental rooms with sponsorship. About 6 million guests stayed in Airbnb, taking into account that about 25,500 Airbnb guest are listed just for New York. The technological threat cannot be neglected, taking into account that Airbnb poses a threat because a host voids some expenses such as fire regulations, hotel taxes and the measures to lower cost.

Legal Factors

The legal factors that are brought into insight include service status like Airbnb. Authorities in diverse cities have charged Airbnb as well as its hosts because of violating regulations, zoning laws, and the safety terms. Many of the hosts criticize Airbnb because of illegal hotels and avoidance to lodging taxes.

Environmental factors

Marriott’s business is hampered because of prices associated with fuel and oil that can lead to reducing travel costs and the demand for hotel rooms. A significant environmental fact can include increased electricity costs that can limit the burning of coal power plants. Environmental factors have the tendency to harm the economic baseline such as flooding of resorts and raising ocean levels.

Internal Environmental Analysis

Strategies

The internal factor analysis reveals that Marriott is using certain strategies such as an expansion of brands and global leadership in business, about 43% of the interest of hotel is consumed by internal operations. There are remarkable strategies that can attract customers such as eco-friendly environment, retaining customers through price satisfaction and quality.

Franchising

There are a large number of franchises in about 60 countries that can facilitate the expansion of the hotel portfolio. There is a strong assessment of segments that are found in different countries taking into account the facilities provided such as upper moderate, moderate and lower moderate prices. A context of high brand recognition and recall can make the company a priority for the clients.

Focus on Europe

Marriott International has a prime focus on US Market; taking into account that US marketing is always taken into consideration. The over dependency on brands is also a fact that imparts luxury products because much of the population cannot afford such brand luxuries. The hotel lacks a costly lifestyle as that of Hotel Indigo and Starwood.

Managing

It is important to note that the hotel looks ahead towards franchising except owning them. The company operates about 46% hotels in under management, 52% are in the context of under franchise agreements. Marriott has registered weak financial performance due to slow down economy and the lodging industry. Side by side, the operating income also decrease by 2009 taking into account that the hotel faces a loss of $76 million in 2006 because of high oil pricing.

Market Analysis

Taking into account the loyalty program through Starwood's portfolio of China, certain distinctive properties are found in the market. These properties highlight that Marriott's nineteen brands are highlighly indulged in “mid-market". It refers to selective services such as catering to price-conscious warriors because no less than 53% of the Marriott rooms are clustered in the range of limited service categories. It also highlights the provision of certain services such as costs, and selling blocks of rooms that are meant for conventions and management of loyalty programs such as Starwood Preferred Guests and Marriott Rewards. Franchising is another stance of marketing taking into account that Marriott acts as a sponsor for other service providers.

Primary Consumers

Major consumers of Marriott are Millennial because they are not more into traditional traveling norms, about 49% of population book trips at very last moment, while 58% book traditional traveling. It is also significant that China is an emerging market for Marriott. The deeply held convention is also one of the reasons that Sorenson engineered the transformative deal for the company, i.e., 13.6 billion acquisitions.

Marketing Strategies

Marriott is a worldwide franchise, licensors, operator of timeshare properties, hotel and residential under different brand names with different service and price points. However, the costs focus of the business is concerned with lodging properties. Company-operated properties also major concerns of business, taking into account the long term management with property owners. The aim of an organization is to train, hire and supervise employees and managers for purchasing supplies and operation of facilities that can represent a brand as well as the business itself. Residential faculties refer to saling of real estates involving hotel conjunction as well as third party. Sorenson’s ambitious growth plan has brought into insight the oversupply problem, inferring that there are few dilemmas that are necessary to address within the marketing and distribution plans of Marriott. Select service is Marriott's staple product. The stock pricing of Marriott is $114.74, taking into account a compact ratio of high profile businesses. Marriott International has a global distribution stance; taking into account that the global reservation centers have highlighted that Marriott communicates reservations to other branded hotels taking into account that individuals are made direct with online channels through communication channels. It has been brought into insight that Loyalty Programs and multi-channel reservation systems have brought Marriott at an edge of effective leverage system.

The stance of promotion has brought into insight that Marriott is acting as a guide and a tool for the sponsorship of different brands. The promotional services are working in coordination with national advertising with centralized services. The management of resources and franchise agreements have affirmed the properties that reimburse the cost of ongoing operations of Loyalty Programs. It is important to note that promotion is also inferred through several online management proceedings such as apps, pages, and channels. The recorded liability of the programs executed by Marriott International for maintenance of its products, services, and strategies totaled $4.940 million in the year 2017 as compared to $5,451 million at the end of the year 2016. (Savolainen, et, al. 2018).

Evaluation of Other Financial Areas

It would not be wrong to say that Marriott is an aggressive organization that has a number of plans in terms of financial areas. The focus on products, customers and service innovations highlights the vision of an organization. The Diluted earning per share of Marriott is $5.25 to $5.80 by the year 2019, adhering to a compound rate of 17 to 21 percent. The adjusted earnings before interest tax and depreciation are to increase by 7 to 10 percent compounded. The shareholders could see $1.4 to $1.5 billion in dividend by assuming a 30% payout ratio. According to the plan of year 2018, it has been affirmed that the hotel aims at opening a new hotel every 14 hours, taking into account security analysts and institutional investors. Marriott aims at accelerating its growth by adding 300,000 to 285,000 rooms worldwide by the year 2019. It is evident that there will be an increment in the leading loyalty programs. In the context of non-property related finances such as franchise fees branding fees and largely credit card spendings are assumed to increase by $100 MILLION in the next three years.

The HR analysis reveals that Marriott highlights internal development taking into account human capital review. Marriott aims at a building of leadership skills and the analysis of attributes that can infer better services to customers. One of the objectives behind aggressive HR is development, retention, and attraction of youth in order to provide a continuous supply of future and current talent needs for growth.

Giant Marriott uses technology as a tool to integrate and strengthen financial areas. It refers to the utilization of resources that can reflect the desires and needs of clients. The app of Marriott and processing of pages have added into the crux of business management by making direct contact with the customers.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis of Marriott identifies certain strengths and threats that are evaluated on the basis of exegetical analysis. (Marriott International SWOT Analysis Matrix, 2019)

Strengths

The strengths of Giant Marriott refer to the way that is adopted in order to carry out operational norms. The code of conduct of Marriott is designated as one of the top management for each employee. International standards have also added to the efficiency of the hotel, taking into account 1.2 million rooms. Innovation has also highlighted the operational philosophy that is centered on procedures and systems that can involve commitment and better services.

Weaknesses

The aggressive expansion is termed as one of the threats to services because it is hard to maintain the standards. The over-emphasis to serve standardization has stringent adherence to business values. (Marriott International SWOT Analysis Matrix, 2019). Considering Marriott as a family business is also a bit ineffective because there is an unwillingness to change.

Opportunities

There are several opportunities for Marriott to work on, such as shifting of consumer behavior as they travel and stay with the same family luxuries are required. In contradiction to the last record increase in global travel has emphasized the avenue of success and progression. (Marriott International SWOT Analysis Matrix, 2019). The hotel can also charge a premium for the personalized services that are rendered.

Threats

The economic recession is one of the major threats that can hit the hospitality of business, side by side; increasing competition is a fact that can compromise the adequacy of services. The threat of a terrorist attack is an undeniable section because of global incentives and conflicts.

Major Problems in Marriott

There are certain problems that Marriott is facing such as, slowing US economic growth. It has hampered the economic framework, taking into account that there is a 4% decrease in the customer's interest.

Political Unrest

Another major problem is political unrest and the threats to terrorism, taking into account that violence in places like Turkey and France had a negative impact on international RevPAR.

China’s review of Starwood merger

Merging between Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Marriott will beat Hilton by accessing highest ranking of largest hospitality service still there is a bidding war against Chinese Investment Company Anbang, affirming that Chinese government would reject to merge with China.

Development of Strategic Alternatives

Marriott has undergone development of strategic alternatives to maintance its perfection and satisfaction such as the launching of new brands in 2010, double presence in the realms of Europe by 2015 and adherence to incremental revenues by reducing costs at property levels. The company also aim at the provision of mid-level hotel segments to compete in the growing world of the population and utilizing low cost and high impact promotions.

Evaluation of Strategic Alternatives

Above mentioned strategic alternatives affirm that Marriott is trying to present itself strong and competent by approaching rapid growth through a tiny droplet of capital rather than huge investments. By the year 2015, the fees from Management and franchising have expanded to 31%. The management of stock is also admiring; a total annualization return is 23.1% that is much acceptable. Selected services have also added to the security of an organization.

Recommendation of the better Alternative

Marriott should try to infer “cloud compensate” because it will be a direct extension to the performance and sustainability of hotel. The extension of selective services is also a great tool to adapt to a competitive environment. Maintenance of technological aspects and mitigating danger of lack of bookings is also a best solution.

Implementation Techniques

The compensation for US slow down with a gigantic growth can make the hotel with fastest marketing. The segment of China can boom the market to about 15 or more cities addressing a population of about 4 billion. The provision of selective service to other hotels such as 100 hotels annually can maintain the repute. Evaluation of Expedia.com and Priceline.com can infer productivity and services in an organization. (Savolainen, et, al. 2018).

Control Procedures

There are certain initiatives that can be taken to keep the recommendations in synchronization such as “maintenance of cloud compensate’ in terms of investigations and reformations. The implication of selective services by restricting to certain services in all states is necessary to achieve the required goals. In order to promote technological advancements, adhering to technological features through proper evaluation of innovation is necessary to build up and remain consistent with mark.

References

Hotels & Resorts | Book your Hotel directly with Marriott. (2019). Marriott.com. Retrieved from https://www.Marriott.com/default.mi

http://fortune.com. (2019). Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2017/06/14/Marriott-arne-sorenson-starwood-acquisition-airbnb/

Marriott International SWOT Analysis Matrix [step by step] Weighted SWOT. (2019). Fern Fort University. Retrieved from http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/swot/1433/195-Marriott-international.php

Savolainen, J. (2018). HOTEL INDUSTRY COMPETITIVE RESPONSES AGAINST AIRBNB: A case study of hotels vs. Airbnb in Helsinki.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 8 Words: 2400

No Title Page, Use 1-2 Lines For Your Name, Course Number And Date

[Author’s name] [Course number] [Date]

Influence of Critical and Feminist Approaches on Media

Introduction

           A detailed and on-point understanding of different theories is an essential step to determine the significance of organizational communication. Proper awareness of different theories also helps to apply the most suitable processes and models in real-world situations according to the need for a specific situation. It is noteworthy to mention that critical and feminist theories are ranked as important approaches when it comes to evaluating the feature of power and the role of gender in different aspects of life. Both of these theoretical frameworks actively relate to the practical idea of organizational communication. This paper focuses to consider three main concepts of critical and feminist theories to determine their application on media. 

Discussion

           The desired form of organizational functioning is only possible through the application of appropriate theoretical concepts according to the need of the situation. Critical and feminist approaches are characterized as contemporary theoretical forms to establish the desired form of communication within the organizational context. It is important to briefly demonstrate both the concepts of critical and feminist theoretical approaches to better understand the main grounds for organizational practices. 

Critical Theory

           There are many diverse theoretical domains associated with the broad idea of critical theory. The main idea of critical theory, in the context of organizational communication, is based on the theory developed by Stanley Deetz. The focal point of this theoretical approach is to actively consider the possibility of open conversations of power. Mainly, it is established by the theorists that consideration of specific social structures and procedures can be characterized as the main reasons of imbalance power. Furthermore, different forms of power imbalance lead to the development of various social alliances and groups. There are different concepts associated with the broader development of the approach of critical theory. Understanding of these ideas is significant to determine the practical implications of this theory in case of organizational communication. 

           The Pervasiveness of Power

           The concept of power is categorized as the main concept related to the theoretical approach of critical theory. Power is established as the defining and global feature of every organizational setting. Additionally, this idea is linked to the perspective of decision-making (Miller & Barbour, 2014). It is relevant to domains of control and authority in case of any organizational setting. The concept of power is also closely linked with the practical form of various organizational outcomes, mainly in the forms of job satisfaction and performance level. 

           Ideology

           It considered as the idea of a proper collection of different attitudes and beliefs. It is established that the domain of ideology played a prominent role in successful development of different thoughts. This idea is relevant to the objectives of specific controls and interpretations of reality. Different philosophies and thoughts ultimately formed different actions and defines specific responsibilities for everyone.

Feminist Theory

           The theoretical idea of feminist theory is also closely linked with the practical spectrum of power in the organizational setting because gender is characterized as one important source of authority. It is important to recognize the positioning and operations of males and females within organizational settings to develop a connection between gender and the power roles in organizations. A critical concept of “glass ceiling” is one significant approach to determine the approach of feminist theory in the case of the workplace setting. The practical ideas such as the “glass ceiling” are recognized as problematic domains that eventually create a huge gap between powerful positions of men and women in organizations. The foundational idea of the feminist theoretical approach is that organizations are characterized under the domains of traditional and governmental forms with the consideration of male-dominance. Roles and responsibilities are defined for males and females by considering their conventional characteristics. 

           Women Emancipation

           Emancipation is another critical idea linked with the theoretical approach of critical theory considering the domain of organizational communication. It is established that the ultimate aim of the critical approach is to achieve the idea of emancipation that eventually ensures proper regulation of authority and power. The idea of emancipation is defined as the freedom of people from improper restrictions, assumptions, and power associations. In other words, the approach of emancipation can be defined as the systematic procedure to enhance the domain of communicative actions within the spectrum of organizations (Miller & Barbour, 2014). It is argued that the objective of female emancipation in the case of organizational operations is only possible when it comes to total separation of women from male-dominated working institutions. 

Application of Concepts of Critical and Feminist Theories in Media

           It is imperative to examine the application of different concepts of critical and feminist theories in the context of media. This specific approach is vital because different forms of media are defined as an important source of presenting the domain of power and gender roles in the organizational setting. There is a number of media examples that depict the domain of organizational communication considering different concepts and ideas relevant to critical and feminist theories. 

           A specific film documentary, “Miss Representation” considered as the specific case to defined and critically analyze the concepts of power, ideology, and emancipation in the context of the organizational setting. The consideration of a particular documentary as an example is also a vital approach to figure out the main portrayal of concepts of critical and feminist theories on media. The consideration of this specific documentary movie is also suitable to explain the role of media concerning the representation of women mainly in case workplace settings. This American documentary was written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom that initially released in 2011. The overall content of this movie represented the ugly side of media when it comes to the failure of representing women as strong entities within organizational settings. It is established that one failure of mainstream media is one major reason that causes the issue of under-representation of women specifically in case of powerful organizational positions. It is established that influential and false role of media is one critical drawback for women when it comes to achieving better and powerful working positions. It is important to discuss the main concepts of critical and feminist theoretical approaches to recognize the role of media in case of organizational communication. 

           The Implications of “The Pervasiveness of Power” in “Miss Representation”

           The idea of power with the consideration of gender roles is comprehensively discussed in the documentary. It is established that specific gender roles eventually determine different forms of power positions for both males and females. In other words, the approach of authority and dominance needs to be defined under the spectrum of gender difference. The difference in gender determines the position of decision-making for males and females. The depiction of women in “Miss Representation” revealed that media eventually presented women in case of defined goals that weaken their position as the powerful entity in the workplace setting. The wrong projection of women on media restricts their approach of power and authority for different working positions. The universality of power is appeared as the notion due to predefined gender roles and the portrayal of women by the media. 

           The Implications of “Ideology” in “Miss Representation”

           The concept of ideology in the form of critical theory is also evident when it comes to the depiction of women’s position in American society. The theoretical prospect of ideology associated with the domains of specific philosophical domains and thoughts that help to determine women’s position in society. This documentary explicitly revealed the negative role of media when it comes to selling specific and conventional thoughts about the roles of girls and women. It is established that women need to play their successful role in the forms of youth, beauty, and sexuality and they are not capable of decision-making. The paradigm of leadership is clearly rejected for women due to specific thoughts associated with the idea of women’s roles in society. The specific concept of ideology is established in the movie in the form of describing specific characteristics for men and women. It is established that currently, media is interested to define responsibilities for men and women according to their predefined gender roles. This specific approach established males as a suitable entity when it comes to dominance and applying for decision-making roles. 

The Implications of “Women Emancipation” in “Miss Representation”  

The feminist theoretical approach in the form of women emancipation is also present in case of the example of “Miss Representation.” The shocking facts about women illustrated in this documentary clearly indicate that there is a need for offering some immediate practical measures to alter the biased social structure. There is a need for offering better practical strategies to ensure a strong women’s position as a prominent decision-makers in different organizational contexts. 

Conclusion

           To conclude the discussion about the specific concepts of critical and feminist approaches, it is important that the platform of media needs to reconsider its position to ensure better social opportunities for women. The depiction of women as a sex symbol is the conventional ideology presented by media. This specific approach eventually weakens women’s position to consider them as successful decision-makers. 

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Miller, K., & Barbour, J. (2014). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=HOPKAgAAQBAJ

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 5 Words: 1500

Conducting A Job Analysis

MEMO

To: Supervisor

From: [Student’s Name]

Date: February 12, 2019

SUBJECT: Why Job Analysis is required for any recruitment

The assessment established that job analysis is essential for any recruitment process. As stated by Violik (2017), the process involve reviewing qualification and requirement of certain position, which the company would want to fill. It is done before engaging in the recruitment and selection process of a new employee. It helps in getting the best skills and traits, which are required for a certain job or position. And therefore, it is essential for Human Resource (HR) to engage in efficient job analysis prior to the selection and recruitment process. The job analysis also helps in having sense on what an organization is looking for in a candidate. For instance, in an organization setup, service job and sales vary from more from task oriented and therefore, sales and service skills are important. Therefore, without job analysis an organization cannot have a clear knowledge or idea of the type of an employee who would fit in a specific job position. It is therefore, likely to increase the recruitment success of the organization. The job analysis is also done to track the performance and the need in the market in each position offered by the company. It also helps the HR to safe guard the company against any lawsuit resulting from discrimination by either employees or any organization.

The assessment of job analysis of the regional sales representative position established that, the organization should focus on the skills and experience of employees since sales representative position requires a dynamic person who is also result oriented. In the process of recruitment, communications and interpersonal skills of each candidate should be evaluated and used as a yard stick for recruitment. This should account high in the assessment criteria because a sales representative should be able to network and relate well with employees and create a good network in the market.

Regional sales representatives would focus on studying the existing and potential dealers in the market, monitor competition and recommend change in product, provide historical information of customers and area sales, submit orders by referring to the existing price list and therefore, the organization focus during recruitment should be to get an employee who can efficiently carry out these responsibilities. However, the assessment establishes that the company should recruit an employee who can meet sales goals and can close deals and therefore, the focus of the recruitment team should be on the dynamic candidate, self confidence, a negotiator, and has the knowledge of the product. According to Kim (2015), an employee with a broad understanding of the product and the company strategies is capable of articulate issues and therefore, can be able to deliver on the task.

A candidate for the position of regional sales representative must have a bachelor degree in sales and marketing or any related business courses. A certification in sales and marketing and competency in computer skills especially in Microsoft office such as word, excel, database and PowerPoint will also be added advantage. It would also be important for the organization to recruit an individual with over five years experience in the field of sales and marketing. These requirements are necessary because a sale representative is the focal point of a company in every region and therefore, a candidate for this position should have a high qualification and understand the market as well.

However, the regional sales representative wage plan includes benefits and commission, which are paid based on the total sales made by each employee. The regional sales representatives would be paid annual salary of $250,000, plus commission to be tabulated based on the sales each employee achieved at the end of the each financial year. The employment terms should also be on contract basis of at least three years, with an option for renewal of the contract upon application by an employee. It is also important to highlight that employees in sales would be working for forty hours a week as the rest of the employees and any extra time would be compensated as it done by other employees. This means that regional sales representative are suppose to work under the same regulations as the rest of employees to deliver efficient services to the organization.

The organization therefore, should focus on some of the key competency of candidates and evaluate them based on the job requirement and responsibilities. And based on the assessment, the regional sales representative responsibilities include maintaining contact with clients, updating the organization, and negotiating on behalf of the organization and therefore, it is important to get a highly qualify individual for the position.

The process of recruitment should proceed by posting the position and calling for application from potential candidates. When posting the position, the duties, terms of employment, position and qualification would be indicated to ensure that the right and prospect candidates apply for the position advertised CITATION Pau14 \l 1033 (Petterson, 2014). These can only be complete with efficient job analysis and without job analysis the recruitment would based his or her decision on assumption on what it takes to succeed on job, which is not appropriate. It is therefore, important to note that the job analysis is a critical process of recruitment, which organizations should adhered to in order to get the right candidate for every position advertise because without conducting efficient job analysis it would be difficult for an organization to understand what it needs and the best way to get the best candidate for a position.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Kim, P. (2015). Recruitment and selection process of employees. Internationa Journal of Human Resource , 2-15.

Petterson, P. (2014). Employees Managament And Job Skills Evaluation. International Journal of Business Studies and Personel , 2-5.

Violink, N. (2017). Personal and Management - Case Study Tata . Management and recruitment Process , 2-15.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 3 Words: 900

Social Media Issues

Social Media Issues

[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

[Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address.]

Social Media Issues

Social media is becoming the fastest growing source of digital marketing, which helps you to connect with millions of customers worldwide, where they become aware of your brand, and boost your sales and targets may be achieved. In this world of communication, you are unable to make customers if people don't know about your business. Social media is a platform that increases your visibility among probable customers, allowing you to reach a variety of customers by using a valuable amount of time and effort. But by using social media accounts on different online channels, you can create a free business profile within no time CITATION Pis14 \l 1033 (Piskorski, 2014).

Social media is becoming one of the most important features of digital marketing, which provides unbelievable benefits that help to reach millions of customers worldwide. And if you are not utilizing this gainful source, then you are deprived off incredible marketing opportunity, as it makes easier to spread the expression about your product and mission.

The first impression of your business through social media can be attractive for customer, if it is reliable, well-informed, updated, accessible, and user friendly. Robust business accounts that are frequently updated, with relevant contents, may build your brand’s authority and displays a positive picture of your business in market. Social media marking is the most cost-effective and reasonable advertising strategy.

By using social media platforms, we can create almost all social accounts free of cost. Moreover, a cost-effective strategy for advertising helps to gain big profit on your investment and holds a handsome budget in business and marketing payments. On social media, just by investing small money and time, you can increase your sucess rates significantly and ultimately get a return on your primary investment. Through social media, we can interact easily with customers by getting attention and convey the brand message and feedback CITATION LiC13 \l 1033 (Li & Solis, 2013).

In conclusion, we cannot deny the advantages of starting, establishing brands, and gaining profits in business through social media marketing. Regular updates in the social media marketing strategy will result in increased accessibility, better customer satisfaction, better feedbacks, improved brand devotion, and much more.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Li, C., & Solis, B. (2013). The Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy. John Wiley & Sons.

Piskorski, M. J. (2014). A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media. Princeton University Press.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 1 Words: 300

21st Century Marketing

21st Century Marketing

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

21st Century Marketing

Introduction

Development of promotional activities and tactics of distribution of services and goods to businesses or the end users is known as marketing. Marketing is also publicizing of places and ideas etc. and is not limited to merchandises and amenities only. In order to perform any kind of marketing, knowledge, awareness and technicalities of the product or service being marketed is vital for marketers (Buttell, N.d). The selling concept or in other words marketing concept rely on in pushing buyers or users into buying of services and products, which under usual conditions they would not.

Discussion

Marketing in the 21st century is quite different from what it was before. With immense advancements in media and communication sector, marketers have numerous opportunities and choices. With the media progression and new modes of communication, marketers face much more opposition from diverse sources, especially the World Wide Web as it has made possible for businesses from around the world to participate virtually anywhere with any organization. Though traditional approaches and tools are still being used widely for marketing communication and products or services publicity for instance, Radio, Television and Newspapers, the 21st century has offered lots of new varieties for marketing communications such as social media (Revchun, 2014).

Another significant progress in the field is Word-of-Mouth. The advent of internet has given birth to social media, because of this new highly in demand medium of connectivity and communication consumers have the facility to network with millions of people and businesses thus effectively marketing strategies, rivalries and opportunities. 21st century technology has presented not only more alternatives to marketing but new selections for generating messages as well through using range of apparatuses to enrich communications through visuals, movements and sounds

Moreover, digital revolution such as smart phones, SMS, etc. has helped corporations take quicker decisions and implement plans more promptly. This 21st century revolution resulted in cost reductions and fine tuning the way of conducting marketing. Also, marketers can now build long lasting relationships with consumers from around the world.

Conclusions

21st century technology has presented not only more alternatives to marketing but also consumers have more choices now and therefore, more competition is involved in the marketing field. Advancements in marketing tactics and mediums have made businesses capable to establish themselves not just on regional level but also national and even international level.

References

Buttell, A. E. (4). Steps to an effective marketing plan. Journal of financial planning, 6-8.

Revchun, B. (2014). The Historic Evolution of the Science of Management: Organization Management.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 1 Words: 300

A Study On Female Veterans And How Issue Impact Their Life Outside Of The Military

A study on female veterans and their life after serving in the military

Submitted by

Anthony L. Robinson

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctorate of Education

(or) Doctorate of Philosophy

(or) Doctorate of Business Administration

Grand Canyon University

Phoenix, Arizona

[Insert Current Date Until Date of Dean’s Signature

GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY

A study on female veterans and their life after serving in the military

by

Anthony L. Robinson

Approved

March 21, 2018

DISSERTATION COMMITTEE:

Full Legal Name, Ed.D., DBA, or Ph.D., Dissertation Chair

Full Legal Name, Ed.D., DBA, or Ph.D., Committee Member

Full Legal Name, Ed.D., DBA, or Ph.D., Committee Member

ACCEPTED AND SIGNED:

________________________________________

Michael R. Berger, Ed.D.

Dean, College of Doctoral Studies

_________________________________________

Date

Dedication

An optional dedication may be included here. While a dissertation is an objective, scientific document, this is the place to use the first person and to be subjective. The dedication page is numbered with a Roman numeral, but the page number does not appear in the Table of Contents. It is only included in the final dissertation and is not part of the proposal. If this page is not to be included, delete the heading, the body text, and the page break below.

Contents

TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u List of Tables PAGEREF _Toc534764173 \h 3

List of Figures PAGEREF _Toc534764174 \h 4

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study PAGEREF _Toc534764175 \h 5

Introduction PAGEREF _Toc534764176 \h 5

Background of the Study PAGEREF _Toc534764180 \h 7

Problem Statement PAGEREF _Toc534764185 \h 9

Purpose of the Study PAGEREF _Toc534764194 \h 12

Research Questions and Hypotheses PAGEREF _Toc534764198 \h 14

Advancing Scientific Knowledge and Significance of the Study PAGEREF _Toc534764204 \h 15

Rationale for Methodology PAGEREF _Toc534764209 \h 17

Nature of the Research Design for the Study PAGEREF _Toc534764214 \h 19

Definition of Terms PAGEREF _Toc534764217 \h 22

Assumptions, Limitations, Delimitations PAGEREF _Toc534764228 \h 24

Summary and Organization of the Remainder of the Study PAGEREF _Toc534764235 \h 27

Chapter 2: Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc534764239 \h 29

Introduction to the Chapter and Background to the Problem PAGEREF _Toc534764240 \h 29

Identification of the Gap PAGEREF _Toc534764247 \h 33

Theoretical Foundations and/or Conceptual Framework PAGEREF _Toc534764252 \h 37

Schlossberg’s transition and the 4’S model. PAGEREF _Toc534764253 \h 40

Roles Theory PAGEREF _Toc534764254 \h 43

Review of the Literature PAGEREF _Toc534764255 \h 45

The transition back into society PAGEREF _Toc534764256 \h 50

Mitigating challenges PAGEREF _Toc534764257 \h 54

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PAGEREF _Toc534764258 \h 58

Military Sexual Trauma PAGEREF _Toc534764259 \h 63

Intimate Partner Violence PAGEREF _Toc534764260 \h 68

Substance Use Disorder PAGEREF _Toc534764261 \h 74

Veteran identity PAGEREF _Toc534764262 \h 80

Methodology PAGEREF _Toc534764263 \h 81

Instrumentation PAGEREF _Toc534764264 \h 85

Summary PAGEREF _Toc534764265 \h 86

Methodology PAGEREF _Toc534764266 \h 90

Instrumentation PAGEREF _Toc534764267 \h 94

Summary PAGEREF _Toc534764268 \h 95

Chapter 3: Methodology PAGEREF _Toc534764269 \h 99

Introduction PAGEREF _Toc534764270 \h 99

Problem Statement PAGEREF _Toc534764273 \h 100

Research Questions and/or Hypotheses PAGEREF _Toc534764280 \h 103

Research Methodology PAGEREF _Toc534764287 \h 105

Research Design PAGEREF _Toc534764288 \h 107

Population and Sample Selection PAGEREF _Toc534764292 \h 108

Sources of Data PAGEREF _Toc534764297 \h 111

Trustworthiness PAGEREF _Toc534764306 \h 115

Validity PAGEREF _Toc534764310 \h 117

Reliability PAGEREF _Toc534764312 \h 117

Data Collection and Management PAGEREF _Toc534764315 \h 118

Ethical Considerations PAGEREF _Toc534764337 \h 128

Limitations and Delimitations PAGEREF _Toc534764338 \h 130

Summary PAGEREF _Toc534764339 \h 132

References……………………………………………………………………………… PAGEREF _Toc534764340 \h 134

Appendix A Site Authorization Letter(s) PAGEREF _Toc534764341 \h 163

Appendix B. IRB Approval Letter PAGEREF _Toc534764342 \h 164

Appendix C. Infromed Constent PAGEREF _Toc534764343 \h 165

Appendix D. Interview Protocol PAGEREF _Toc534764344 \h 170

Appendix E. Power Analyses for Sample Size Calculation (Quantitative Only) PAGEREF _Toc534764345 \h 177

Appendix F. Additional Appendices PAGEREF _Toc534764346 \h 178

List of Tables

TOC \t "Table Title" \c "Table" Table 1. Correct Formatting for a Multiple Line Table Title is Single Spacing and Should Look Like this Example

Table 2. Equality of Emotional Intelligence Mean Scores by Gender

List of Figures

TOC \t "Caption" \c Figure 1. Correlation for SAT composite score and time spent on Facebook.

Figure 2. IRB alert. PAGEREF _Toc493185469 \h 127

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study

Introduction

The events of September 11, 2001, rocked this nation like never before. The event caught the United States and its government by surprise. That day led to a rapid increase in both male and female Americans joining the armed services. That day also led to one of the most substantial influxes of women within the armed services community, the outcome of which will be one of the most significant transitioning processes of female veterans back into society. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs (2013), females are now the fastest growing group within the veteran community. There is evidence that implies that veterans and other military personnel are at considerable risk of developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Haun et al., 2016). Female veterans are at the center of this topic because of their recent role in the war. Despite the harsh reality of war and combat, many of the veterans of the 9/11 era are struggling with the primary process of transitioning back into the civilian world. Today's female veterans are struggling more than they had in the past, because of their increased responsibility in combat operations, which has led to an increase in mental health issues (Sairsingh et al., 2018). These issues seem to be common side effects amongst the female veterans' community because of their significant exposure to trauma multiple exposures to war, during their participation in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF/OIF.

According to Haun et al. (2016), there is evidence that female veterans are at higher risk of experiencing PTSD in comparison to the male veterans. The issue here is how do they handle PTSD after being exposed to or experiencing this form of trauma after being in the military. Since their responsibilities have increased significantly after 9/11, what is the lasting effect this issue has on their ability to reconnect with society are they at higher risk for another long-term element that will influence their transition process. One study suggests that the high prevalence of combat exposure (CE) in both male (82%) and female veterans (73%) who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has increased the current body of knowledge that has shown that CE can impact the physical health of these veterans (Street et al., 2013; Buttner et al., 2017). The perception is that today’s female veterans are taking a more aggressive role in military operations, than the old traditional role of the past. According to Crompvoets (2011), the newest generation of female veterans may face growing professional challenges and unique threats to their mental health. One study suggests that female veterans who served are more than 1.5 times more likely than non-female veterans are to experience trauma (Dicteher, Cerulli, and Bossatre, 2011). The previous literature identifies the demand for individualized female-centric care that fits the unique demands of female veterans because of their substantial disability from mental health issues linked with military trauma (Haun et al., 2016). These issues are hitting the female veteran populations the hardest. Thus, in turn, is affecting their identity and ability to cope with stress and adapt to change when transitioning back into the civilian population.

According to Bean-Mayberry et al. (2011); and Painter et al. (2018), female veterans are the fastest growing utilizers of the Veteran Administration (VA) healthcare system. On that point, some unique request is in place to satisfy the demands of this growing population of female veterans that have developed PTSD related issues. However, while research is still emerging on the experience these female veterans faced, the gap remains intact. The gap in the literature comes from the lack of supports and studies that connects female veterans with life-altering events such as PTSD, which is affecting their lives after transitioning out of the military and back into society. No study has yet connected the issues developed from PTSD with the transition process out of the military for female veterans. Most of the studies have concentrated on male veterans have little to no insight into the reality that many female veterans are experiencing, and these studies do not provide an adequate approach to addressing or meeting the needs of the female veterans (Bastian et al., 2016). The evidence indicates that female veterans currently account for 8% of the veteran population, and this number is expected to reach as much as 14% by 2033 (Lehavort & Simpson, 2014; Yano et al., 2010). The current foundational principle for this study will be based on the evidence used in connection with Schlossberg's transition theory and the 4’S model (Anderson & Goodman, 2014). Also, the role theory as developed by J. L. Moreno, George Herbert Mead, Ralph Linton, and Leonard Cottrell. Role theory will be used to understand the interaction of human experience (Blanter, 1991). These theories will be employed to examine how female veterans describe their real-life experiences after suffering PTSD and how these matters will bear on their ability as they transition out of the military.

Background of the Study

Over the past century, the role of females in the military have increased to the point where women are now taking part in combat. Female members of the military are now considered to be equal to their male counterparts, as they can now fully engage in combat-connected events. The female population in the military has embraced their new role in combat; indeed, women veterans have increased their position in today's key combat situation that has allowed them to protect and defend the constitution of the United States in a different capacity than before.

While the number of women raising their hand to swear into the service has steadily increased over time, many female veterans have experienced some problematic setbacks regarding adapting and reconnecting into society after their service commitment is complete. In connection with the long-term effects of PTSD, have posed quite the enduring impact on the mental and physical aspects of these female veterans’ and their lives. The aftermath of war and combat has made it quite challenging for many female veterans, even though the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) that was implemented by Congress in the early 1990s is structured to support the veteran community as they transition to the civilian world (Cloud, 2012). Even with the TAP program, there is still not a suitable program that can fully assist female military veterans with the transition process to civilian society.

Female veterans have been labeled as a minority within the Armed Service, even though some female veterans have fully engaged in combat-related mission. This makes their transition process back into the modern world quite challenging, as most of the research in this area has primarily focused on the difficulties that male veterans experience. The limited body of literature that focuses on female veterans suggests that many female veterans are struggling with mental and physical health conditions such as PTSD (DeLucia, 2016; Dichter et al., 2017; Hoge et al., 2004; Tanielian & Jaycox, 2008; Painter, et al., 2018; Yalch et al., 2018) as they transition from the military back into society. What is missing from this body of knowledge is an examination of what will help female veterans who are transitioning from the military to veteran status that will assist them in adapting into their new role as a civilian (Robertson & Bott, 2013) as they cope with the effects of PTSD.

The scope of this study will be to address the real-life issues that many female veterans are experiencing as they deal with PTSD. Female veterans are dealing with many issues that follow them into their life outside the military, and many of these issues are often omitted (Szelwach et al., 2011). As such, this study is designed to examine how female veterans deal with issues that affect their mental and physical health as they transition out of the military.

Problem Statement

It is not known how being exposed to life-altering events such as PTSD has influenced female veterans lives as they transition out of the military and back into society. A successful transition process for female veterans consists of having their issues addressed before re-connecting back into society. Long-term effects of failure to address exposure to PTSD can have a negative impact on female veterans after they have served in the Armed Forces. Kintzle et al. (2015), suggests that female veterans should seek help during their transition phase as a way to provide a level of support if they have had PTSD. The ideas developed by Schlossberg (2011), which implies the 4'S are some of the coping resources of the transitioning process which are the situation, self, support, and strategies that helps determine a successful transition for female veterans. Female veterans that seek to reintegrate without support for exposure to PTSD often wind up dealing with mental and physical issues that hinder their lives from progressing after leaving the military.

A recent study showed that one in every four female veterans would suffer some form of trauma during their military service (Cichowski et al., 2017). While female veterans are the fastest growing segment of the military, they are also more likely than male veterans to suffer from the complex issues associated with PTSD (Cichowski et al., 2017; Creech et al., 2017; Kearns et al., 2016; Latta et al., 2016). What is missing from the body of research is any work that allows female veterans to tell their stories concerning how they cope with PTSD as civilians.

Previous researchers have noted how descriptive qualitative can provide the most authentic approach to capture the lived experiences of people through in-depth interviews that illustrate the phenomenon under examination. A descriptive qualitative study will be used in this study to help gather information that military and civilian leaders can use to design programs for female veterans that may have experienced PTSD.

The lack of services for the general population of female veterans underscores the need to examine current policies designed to address the mental and physical needs of female veterans as they transition out of the military. The findings from this study may provide military and civilian leaders with information that they can use to update future policies and procedures to prepare female veterans to better reclaim their civilian identity after being exposed to PTSD. Many prior studies only seem to be focused on the issues faced by male veterans (Brunger et al., 2013; Galily & Shimon, 2012; Gonzalez et al., 2014; Hammond, 2015; Robertson & Brott, 2013). This study adds to the body of knowledge by capturing first-hand experiences of the transition process from the general population of female veterans.

It is not known how being exposed to life-altering events such as PTSD has influenced female veterans lives as they transition out of the military and back into society. A successful transition process for female veterans consists of having their issues addressed before re-connecting back into society. Long-term effects of failure to address exposure to PTSD can have a negative impact on female veterans after they have served in the Armed Forces. Kintzle et al. (2015), suggests that female veterans should seek help during their transition phase as a way to provide a level of support if they have had PTSD. The ideas developed by Schlossberg (2011), which implies the 4'S are some of the coping resources of the transitioning process which are the situation, self, support, and strategies that helps determine a successful transition for female veterans. Female veterans that seek to reintegrate without support for exposure to PTSD often wind up dealing with mental and physical issues that hinder their lives from progressing after leaving the military.

A recent study showed that one in every four female veterans would suffer some form of trauma during their military service (Cichowski et al., 2017). While female veterans are the fastest growing segment of the military, they are also more likely than male veterans to suffer from the complex issues associated with PTSD (Cichowski et al., 2017; Creech et al., 2017; Kearns et al., 2016; Latta et al., 2016). What is missing from the body of research is any work that allows female veterans to tell their stories concerning how they cope with PTSD as civilians.

Previous researchers have noted how descriptive qualitative can provide the most authentic approach to capture the lived experiences of people through in-depth interviews that illustrate the phenomenon under examination. A descriptive qualitative study will be used in this study to help gather information that military and civilian leaders can use to design programs for female veterans that may have experienced PTSD.

The lack of services for the general population of female veterans underscores the need to examine current policies designed to address the mental and physical needs of female veterans as they transition out of the military. The findings from this study may provide military and civilian leaders with information that they can use to update future policies and procedures to prepare female veterans to better reclaim their civilian identity after being exposed to PTSD. Many prior studies only seem to be focused on the issues faced by male veterans (Brunger et al., 2013; Galily & Shimon, 2012; Gonzalez et al., 2014; Hammond, 2015; Robertson & Brott, 2013). This study adds to the body of knowledge by capturing first-hand experiences of the transition process from the general population of female veterans.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study is to explore and understand how female veterans described their life after being exposed to PTSD, which is influencing their transition process from the military and back into society within the state of Alaska. Through the ideas of Schlossberg’s transition theory and the 4'S model which was created by Schlossberg and other colleagues in later works, will explain how the transition process can lead to various changes such as roles, routines, and assumptions (Anderson & Goodman, 2014; Schlossberg, 2011). The transition for female veterans is much more challenging after experiencing traumatic issues in the military because of the emotional, physical, and social changes of being exposed to the trauma of PTSD (DeLucia, 2016). The significance of the study is to show how PTSD are factors that impact female veterans as they transition from military life to civilian life.

The target population for this study will be ten female veterans from Alaska from any branches of the military. Alaska is a centralized region that has a significant veteran present amongst the military service. The design utilized in this study will be a descriptive qualitative design because it allows the use of critical information to be processed and used to identify barriers and other related issues to capture the real life experience of the female veterans participating in this study (Cassidy et al., 2018). The primary goal of descriptive qualitative studies, in which discovery is often directed towards understanding the “who, what, and where of events or experiences, or their basic nature and shape” (Gutierrez et al., 2013; Sandelowski, 2000). In-depth interviews will allow the researcher to gather data while conducting this qualitative study quickly. The qualitative method is better suited for this study because there is a primary objective as well as a goal in mind to explore, which is the concepts that will assist in producing a comprehensive summary of the actual events that have taken place to show the impact that PTSD has on the female veterans’ community.

The study is limited and constrained by the use of a single geographical based location within the United States. The sample should still allow the researcher to capture information from female veterans who live in one specific region of the United States, which is the state of Alaska. The results of the research may discover the new insight that could assist in a future study that may impact both male and female veterans as they transition out of the military and return to society.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

The research questions provide direction in examining the issues of PTSD that female veterans are experiencing and the available resources that they have that will assist them in completing a successful transition back into society. This descriptive qualitative study is the design that will be used to examine the issues of PTSD. Extending the current body of knowledge towards the descriptive qualitative research approach will encourage future conversation about the current dilemma many female veterans are experiencing (Caeli et al., 2003). The framework developed in the descriptive qualitative research will assist the study in understanding the experience and events of these female veterans. Schlossberg's (2011) transition theory and the 4'S model will be used as the foundational framework to support RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3 to explain the process of transitioning from the military after dealing with the elements developed while in the service. In contrast, role theory will be used to provide a detailed background on the participants for RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3, providing a better empathetic understanding of the transition process. The following research questions will guide the current generic qualitative research study:

R1: How do female veterans describe the impact that PTSD has on their transition from military service?

R2: How do female veterans describe the traits of their military service relative to a positive transition?

R3: How do female veterans describe the traits of their military service relative to a negative transition?

There is limited research that examines how female veterans who are transitioning from the military to veteran status adapt to their new status in the civilian world as they cope with the effects of PTSD. Research has shown that the transition process is a significant change that impacts one's life (Anderson & Goodman, 2014). Female veterans make up an increasing proportion of the military, yet all of the previous studies in the area of transitioning from military to civilian life have only targeted the transition process of male veterans (Gutierrez et al., 2010; Robertson and Brott, 2013). The notable gap present in the body of knowledge suggests a need to examine the transition process of female veterans. Schlossberg’s transition theory and role theory will be used as the theoretical foundations to explain the importance of studying the issues that are impacting the lives of female veterans after their service commitments are over.

Advancing Scientific Knowledge and Significance of the Study

This studies on female veterans will show the agony, as well as the significant life-changing events that take place in the military, which is the resulting factor of the current in a gap in the literature (Kehle-Forbes et al. 2017). Trauma suggests that the stresses that female veterans have to overcome during the process of transition involve both mental and physical aspects due to the trauma of PTSD. The hope is to produce similar results of this similar phenomena project will bring light to the issues and concerns that female veterans experience.

The transition process has become a challenging ordeal for many female veterans that are suffering from conditions such as PTSD. Yalch et al., (2018) explain how female veteran are increasingly called upon to serve in both official and unofficial combat roles, and their service increases their chance of potential exposure to PTSD. Combat exposure is one of the strongest predictors of poor physical health in veterans (Floto et al., 2017; Maia et al., 2011,2011; Ramchand et al., 2015). In addition to the possibility of combat exposure, female veterans also fill many roles such as being a spouse, mother, friend, and student, thus creating an additional burden which puts them in a vulnerable position. The challenges that many female veterans have to overcome are numerous and are compounded to create pitfalls within their lives, making it difficult to re-enter society as civilians. Pierce, Pierce, and Pritchard (2016) suggested that the occurrence of these issues is additional stressors after exposure to traumatic events and that this can trigger avoidance, negative mood cognition symptoms, and altered arousal and reactivity on the part of the female veteran (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Thus an examination of this phenomenon will advance the body of scientific knowledge.

The focus of the study is to examine the real-life experiences that many female veterans have encountered during their transition to civilian status. The current study is base on a demographic projection which indicates an increase in the female veteran populations within the next 30 years of approximately 50% (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014). However, their issues are often overshadowed or downplayed because of the express interest or concern placed on male veterans. Society often forgets that female veterans play a role in the overall plan for creating peace throughout the world. This study is, therefore, necessary to fill a gap in the literature by providing a closer look at the experiences of female veterans. The value of this study is to raise awareness that there are some issues that female veterans face as they transition back into society.

The value of this research is to add information to the field of management by providing organizational leaders with the ability to be aware of many of the mental and physical setbacks that are keeping female veterans from succeeding outside of the military. In addition to raising awareness about the ongoing issues many female veterans encounter before leaving the service, this study will investigate how female veterans’ lives play out after experiencing PTSD as part of their military service. Female veterans that struggle with the transition process may be more prone to isolate themselves from potential social supports after PTSD, thus limiting their ability to transition back into a healthy lifestyle (DeLucia, 2016; Larson & Norman, 2014). This study will set to address the current transition theory process and explains how they will impact the various role that encompasses inside of the role theory. By, address and explains the different elements and how they are influencing the transition theory as well as how they will play a significant role in which way to align the individual specify the role. Each theory will focus on the current literature by add value to the current body of knowledge as well as the significance to the study that will focus on the issues at hand which is the elements that create barriers during the transition process. The theoretical foundations will explain the importance of the study by making some preliminary suggestion in the correct course of action in handling the issues at hand which is impacting the transition theory as well as the role theory. By, highlight the areas that need a closer looking in evaluating the transition process will help add value to the current study.

Rationale for Methodology

This study will use a qualitative methodology to explore the current issues that female veterans are experiencing after leaving the military. A qualitative methodology will allow for an exploration of the life experiences of female veterans. A qualitative methodology is used to gain knowledge and understanding by accessing individuals’ lived experiences and describing these experiences using rich and authentic language (Byrne, 2001; Brue & Brue, 2016; Moustakas, 1994). A qualitative approach can be used to address all aspects of the research question through in-depth interviews that explain the phenomenon in question.

A qualitative method will allow for the collection of data to answer the research questions that described their real-life experiences female veterans have when trying to transition from military service and deal with issues that are hindering their success in the civilian sector. A qualitative method focuses on the experienced and the phenomenon based on the involvement of the research subjects, as their perspective can be used to understand the nature of the issues under investigation (Sailakumar& Naachimuthu, 2017). The research questions are correctly aligned with the problem statement, as it is not known how a female veteran's life will be affected after serving in the military during their transition phase.

A quantitative study will not provide the best result in showing the real-life experience of female veterans, as this project is not concerned with collecting quantitative data to gather different variables to identify the problem. The exploration of quantitative research of veterans only hints at the internal stressors of combat exposure which has had some level of impact on the psychological well-being of the veteran (Gordon, 2014). A quantitative study would, therefore, be the incorrect study or method to use in this study because a quantitative method would be ill-suited to examine the personal issues that are consuming these female veteran’s lives. A quantitative approach has an emphasis on measuring relationships between distinct variables, and this approach never captures the true essence of the real-life experience. The study, therefore, calls for a more encompassing approach, which is why a quantitative study is not a correct fit to examine the needs of the female veteran after serving in the military.

A qualitative study will allow the researcher to learn how female veterans are affected by their service in the military. This study requires a qualitative method to align the research questions and the problem statement concerning how female veterans are handling the issues that transpired while they were in the military. Qualitative descriptive studies have as their goal a comprehensive summary of issues in the everyday terms of events (Gutierrez et al., 2013). A qualitative study accounts for free discussion based on personal experience, whereas a quantitative is more along the lines of a statistics driving method that shows the value of the study. A qualitative approach indeed is more suitable for this study as the focus is to gain in-depth access to female veterans as they explain their real-life events.

Nature of the Research Design for the Study

The design utilized in this study will be a descriptive qualitative design. According to (Caelli et al., 2003; Sa Sandelowski, 2000) suggests that basic or fundamental qualitative description is categorical, less interpretive, less abstract, and has the goal of a straight descriptive summary of the data. The descriptive qualitative studies tend to draw from naturalistic inquiry, which purports a commitment to studying something in its natural state to the extent that is possible within the context of the research arena (Lambert and Lambert, 2012). This descriptive qualitative design is used, because it provides a comprehensive summary as well as analysis, in the conventional terms or specific events experienced by the individuals or participating groups of individuals in the study. A descriptive qualitative design will be used to focuses on discovering the nature of the events as well as the experiences of female veterans in this study. The primary goal of descriptive qualitative is to be exploratory research that summarizes the data surrounding the study. The descriptive qualitative design will produce the best possible results regarding sharing a female veteran's real-life experiences after their time in the military based on the nature of that specific events. There were other designs up for consideration for this study. The designs were carefully considered to include, narrative design, phenomenology design, grounded theory, and a case study. The narrative design is geared to focus more on how a story is being transcribed instead of actual events that have taken place (Lee et al., 2016). Englander (2012) elucidate that phenomenological psychology, using a qualitative method, tries to identify the essential structure of a phenomenon. The grounded theory approach does not adequately account for the real-life expression, as grounded theory is an approach in which the inquirer generates a general explanation of a process, action, or interaction shaped by the views of a more substantial number of participants (Creswell, 2007; Johnson, 2015). The case study design did not align to support the purpose of the study, as the primary focus of a case study is to examine the boundaries of a given system. Ridder (2017) notes how a case study design is also used to analyze the respective contributions that data makes to a theory. Thus, the reasoning behind selecting a descriptive qualitative design is that this design allowed a straightforward description of the current phenomenon that is under investigation, it accounts for useful information by the researcher to regarding the events, it also, account for who, what, where, and how the event took place. The descriptive qualitative design to understand the motivations underlying volunteerism was used to gain this understanding (Lamb et al., 2018).

The target population for this study is female veterans from the state of Alaska and the sample population for this study will include ten female veterans who have encounter any form of PTSD from their time in the service. Semi-structured interviews will serve as the primary source of collecting data surrounding the transition process of female veterans, followed by document analysis, observation, and field notes. Seidman (2013) explains that the interview provides access to the context of people’s behavior and thereby provides a way for researchers to understand the meaning of that behavior. The semi-structured interview will be performed in a public setting such as the local library, Starbucks, Zoom, and other social media platform to ensure privacy to conduct a sixty-minutes interview. The semi-structured interview will all me to conduct the electronic or in-person interview to collect data and analysis the document observes the participant and take field note to capture the thematic data to support the study. The data analysis will consist of pure data which will allow me gathered new coding to look for an additional theme and new information that will imply addition research to be generated from this study. The interview protocol will be the key a primary data sources collection process utilized in this study. Before conducting an interview, a panel of experts must review the questions and establish a test run to develop a proper interview protocol. Based on their knowledge of the current body of literature, the experts will review the interview question for validation and offer suggestions and recommendations where needed to explore and summarize the data to carefully examine the assumptions they bear on the study.

Definition of Terms

The section includes the definitions and terms used throughout this study.

Intimate Partner Violence. Intimate Partner Violence. According to Heyman et al. (2015), one such danger is intimate partner violence (IPV), comprising physical, verbal/symbolic, or sexual acts that cause—or have reasonable potential to cause—harm to an intimate partner. Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes psychological, physical, or sexual aggression by a current or former intimate partner and is associated with a wide range of health and social impacts, especially for women (Dichter et al., 2017).

Military Sexual Trauma. The term military sexual trauma (MST), defined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as "experience of sexual assault or repeated, threatening acts of sexual harassment" that, according to U.S. Code (1720D of Title 38), involves "psychological trauma, which in the judgment of a VA mental health professional, resulted from a physical assault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which occurred while the Veteran was serving on active duty or active duty for training (Caplan, 2013) .

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), also termed partial, subclinical, or subsyndromal PTSD, is widely defined as having PTSD symptoms below the threshold for diagnosis (Zlotnick et al., 2002), as the result of failure to develop fully-threshold symptom levels or due to a partial remission of previously threshold symptoms (Franklin et al., 2015). Matheson (2016), suggest that the diagnosis of ‘core’ PTSD itself is a relatively recent inclusion in psychiatric manuals, appearing for the first time in 1980 (American Psychiatric Association), and was a response to the difficulties presented by veterans returning from the Vietnam war. PTSD and other trauma-related psychopathology in female veterans, other military-related stressors may also increase the risk for these outcomes among veterans (Kearns et al., 2016).

Self. The initial coping resource refers to an individual influence the ability to handle and move through the transition process. When considering the different varieties of the self we are looking at what the person brings to the transition, one must account for characteristics such as socioeconomic status, gender, state of health and mental health conditions and how it directly influences one's outlook on life (Anderson, Goodman, & Schlossberg, 2012).

Setback. A setback is an unfortunate event that happening that hinders or impedes setback an unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something that is thwarting or frustrating.

Situation. This coping resource represents different variables that may occur as related to specific situations. Key facets of the situation variable are the concepts of mastery and choice, which are a deliberate decision, or if people or circumstances forced the conclusion towards the transition process (Anderson, Goodman, & Schlossberg, 2012).

Strategies. The coping resource is considered a necessary tool or strategy that help veterans navigate their paths through transition or retirement. Policies related to purpose and meaning can be influential in influencing perceptions regarding how the transition is perceived (Anderson, Goodman, & Schlossberg, 2012).

Substance Use Disorder Substance use disorders (SUDs), commonly referred to addiction, have been extensively studied in the last decades and several lines of evidence suggest it consists in a neuroadaptive pathology (Hone-Blanchet & Fecteau, 2014). According to Hone-Blanchet & Fecteau (2014), the addiction is the behavioral result of pharmacological overstimulation and usurpation of neural mechanisms of reward, motivated learning and memory. Substance use disorders (SUD) are among the more chronic and costly mental health conditions treated in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (Painter et al. 2018).

Support The people, institutions, things encompass the coping resources of support, and abstract concepts such as faith and spirituality, that feel supportive to an individual. Support comes in many different forms and contexts and may be perceived as positive or negative, depending on the person’s culture (Anderson, Goodman, & Schlossberg, 2012).

Assumptions, Limitations, Delimitations

Assumptions. Within the study, there are various assumptions. Previous researchers explain that the assumption was gathered of the prior researcher based on the limited evidence gathered that leads to a fair assumption in the research, unwarranted assumptions about people in the military and military service, asked insensitive questions about veterans (Ahren et al., 2015).

1. It is assumed that during this process, the people that are included in this study to show the relevance of the study, this sets to address the problem statement of female veterans and retirees, which is not knowing how female veteran's lives are transformed after serving in the military and how this will influence transition process. The participants in a phenomenological study are expected to explain their real-life experience (Bryne, 2001). This study will exclude participants that are unfamiliar with the process of transitioning to civilian life.

2. It is assumed that the participants will answer the questions to the best their ability based on their real-life experience.

3. It is assumed that the data collected and gathered from the in-depth interviews will show the similarities and differences in the responses of the female veterans. This assumption is put in place to prevent biases from interfering withholding to the subject descriptions in the interpretative analysis (Maiocco & Smith, 2016).

Limitations. Limitations are the border and boundaries of the study that is out of the researcher control. The limitation is a notable weakness in the study has exceeded out of the control of the researcher. There has been some limitation discovered in this study which is common when conducting research or gathers fact about a specific study. The strengths and limitations of Qualitative research focusing on its shortcomings and how Quantitative analysis can overcome these shortcomings (Atieno, 2009). By, using a sample of convenience, instead of utilizing the random sample, the result of the study will not be geared to hand a larger population. Maicoo and Smith (2016) recognized that research is limited in scope due to several factors. The study is not geared to hand one set test; the study has developed vital detail that has been strategically placing within the study to gather the right information, which will be used to support the study Another limitation factor to considers time. Time is a factor that will alter the result of the study place a considerable limitation on the result gathered from the data. Two limitations of the study would be the small sample size and the location of the study since the study will only include ten female veterans in one region (i.e., Alaska). The limitations of the study explain why the only a small portion of the study may have experienced any of these issues and through the female experience will provide more information on the current gap in the literature. A detail explanation must be put into place to explain the process in how to deal with the current limitations of this study that has come to light in this study so that it cannot interfere or disrupt the current outcome of this study.

Delimitations. The delimitation is the boundaries of the study that have been created by the researcher. The delimitations are setback and hurdles created by researchers; these delimiting factors are the result of the research questions, the theory, and methodology which is set to view the current theoretical perspectives that will be adapted to support the ongoing investigation of the population. The delimitation process is choices that are a problem which is a direct indicator that they are tied to a series of other problem or rejection to support the study. This idea is to allow the purpose statement to explains the fact and the intent of the study in a transparent manner to recommend to the baseline ideas of the study and set a clear expectation of the study that will not be cover during this process. The delimitations of this study will illustrate the criteria based on the participants that will enroll in this current study based on the geographic region coved in this study such as female veterans in Alaska. The delimitations factors that take place in the study are required items constant control as the researchers, to explain the step-by-step instruction that provides insight into the study based on size and demographics. The philosophical framework will highlight the delimitation of the study. When developing the context for this study will also help explain the support details to study the methodology. By, selecting the method and design in the study also set a borderline on what the findings can establish. The delimitations factor in this study limited the about of participation of female veterans because of the size of the study and the number of female veterans that have experienced any of this issue here in the state of Alaska. Most of the literature related to understanding a woman’s experience (Baechtold & De Sawal, 2009).

Summary and Organization of the Remainder of the Study

In today military environment, the cooperation of male and female veterans is essential for working toward the common goal of protecting and defending the constitutes. The female veterans present have increased their contribution to the battlefield in recent years. Since September 11, 2001, female veterans have significantly increased their engagement in combat-related issues. Many of these veterans are struggling with the process of transitioning back into society. With a more active role in combat, there has been an increase in mental and physical issues for female veterans that are impacting their ability to have a successful transition. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), affecting their ability to transition back into society properly (Dichter et al., 2017; Roger et al., 2017; Sairsingh et al., 2018). Thus, making their transition process quite tricky and challenging to handle with the current situation at hand.

The service commitment is complete these veterans are suffering from challenges and setbacks that will hinder their progress in returning to society. There is a growing concern in connection to these issues have on the long-term effects affecting both the mental and physical conditions of the military veterans. According to Ahren et al. (2015), many veterans are experiencing challenging conditions and traumatic events while in the military. The body of knowledge explains the challenges many female veterans suffer during their time in the military. Previous researchers explained how specific issues that have taken place within the military compromised nearly 12% of female veterans after the service members deployed during the timeframe of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) (Sairsingh et al., 2018). Various issues related to combat exposure alters the transitioning process.

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study explains how these issues are impacting their process of transition. According to Painter et al., (2018); Bean-Mayberry et al., (2011), women veterans are the fastest growing utilizers of Veteran Administration (VA) care. The qualitative study will provide the best recalling memories and experience of their lives to explain the issues. The in-depth interviews offer the best course of action of data collection from the ten female veterans who are experiencing problems after 9/11. To ensure the validation process of the support and record the events, transcripts of each participant will tell their own real-life story to support the study. Chapter 2 a synthesis of the literature based on the response from the female veterans and similar research. Chapter 3 explains the methodology of the study and the design and the implementation for this study. Chapter 4 describes the findings and other information gathered through visual and written results. Chapter 5 is the interpretation of the conclusions that relate to the current body knowledge. I have expected to have all the proposal review by November 6, 2018, IRB completed December 1, 2018, and all the data collection done by December 30, 2018, and I expected to have my dissertation done by January 31, 2019.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction to the Chapter and Background to the Problem

Over the year's there has been an increase in the studies regarding veterans and some of the issues they faced during their time in the service which has impacted their ability to have a successful transition out of the military. However, there has not been enough evidence to support the current literature that ties these issues together to show how anyone symptom influences the transition process for female veterans. First, this review will explain the challenges that female veterans are experiencing while serving in combat-related environments, which have possibly altered their life after their time in the military is over. Secondly, there will be a close examination of the current theoretical foundation used in this study to show how the long-term effects of military service effect female veterans through the Schlossberg theory transition and the 4'S model (2011) and role theory model (Blanter, 1991). Each of these models will be used to explain the various roles of the female veterans both on and off duty, to help support and identify the theoretical foundation, to address the research questions and the data collection process for the current study. Thirdly, part of the review will be put in place to examine the contemporary themes that have appeared from the existing literature to explain the issues that female veterans are experiencing before they begin their transition process back into society. The developing themes involve a significant amount of trauma which would impact the mental capacity of these female veterans influencing their ability to adapt outside the military environment. The primary focal point of this study is geared toward explaining the effect that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has on female veterans, and the additional traits that will be used in the study will be sub-topic, which will help support the study is Military Sexual Trauma (MST), Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and Substance Use Disorder (SUD). All of these issues have a different impact on how these issues influence the female veteran’s ability to adapt to change as they begin the process to reintegrate back into society. Lastly, this chapter will end with an overall summary or conclusion of the literature that is surrounding the current phenomenon which is the ongoing issues that are influencing these female veterans as they begin their transition process back into society.

In the current study, there is a significant amount of data within current publications surrounding female veterans', which is altering lives after they transition out of the military. The bulk of the current information and literature was introduced from earlier studies and various scholarly and scientific researching databases. Most of the current quires where captured from the most recent publication within the suggested timeframe of the past five years. All the searches pinpointed toward the issues that female veterans are experiencing that influencing their life after their service and during their transition process. In addition to the overall impact, the military has on female veterans’ lives that is leading to long-term setback after leaving the service. The primary focus of the researcher will be to use the various alert techniques to process the step by step procedures of the recently published peer-review article by EBSCOhost and Google Scholar by setting parameters using keywords based on female veteran's experience. The searches were based on a qualitative study that will include keywords that focuses on the current study, words such as female veterans, military veterans, women veterans, military sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, intimate partner violence, substance use disorder, transition theory, 4'S model and role theory.

The current influx of female veterans within the past decade has raised attention to current literature to assist and reduce the current gap where the concern of the female veterans who have experience or suffered in recent encounters. The developing growth of the current literature suggests that service members have severe emotional distress or trauma after sexual assault victimization (Rosellini et al. 2018). Thus, further indicating the current gap in the literature explaining the ordeal female veterans face before transitioning back into society to take on typical roles outside the military. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive qualitative study will explain and explore how female veteran's lives are being influenced by their lived experiences in the military which altered their transition phase back into society. It is believed that female veterans from all branches of service struggle with some form of PTSD, which is impacting their ability to have a successful transition process back into society, because of what has happened to them before leaving the service.

In recent years female veterans are making up a more significant percentage of the of the United States armed forces, this shift has developed dramatically within the past two decades. In 1973, women made up only 2.5 percent of the total active-duty force, but by 2005 the number had increased fourfold, bringing the total to approximately 14 percent (Baechtold & De Sawal 2009; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007). Today’s female veterans aren't sitting behind a desk or only participating in war to provide medical support, today female veterans serve in the same capacity as the male veterans in a combat zone. Female veterans are entering the military to serve in the same capacity as male veterans, in addition to that their area also expects to adopt the same roles as male veterans and deal with the same issues that come along with serving the country. This increased responsibility has also increased their chance of being exposed to stressors that can lead to PTSD down the line that has the capability of impacts their transition process. Rosellni et al. (2018), explains how earlier qualitative researchers have shown that females are more likely to join the military and serve their country than their male counterparts for various reasons.

On the other end of the spectrum are some of the same reasons why women decide to join the military will also, be some of the same reasons why they decide to depart the military. The honor of being assigned to a unit that supports the frontline battle has a significant impact on female veterans lives, which is causing them to walk away from the service with issues associated with mental and physical issues such as PTSD, which can lead to or stressors such as sexual assault, gender issues, and identity issues which all have some significant influences on these female veterans' abilities to have a successful transition process. The conflict of war and trauma has a unique way of impacting individuals differently especially when it comes with such a prohibitive cost in the long run for many of these female veterans (Herman, 1997; Westwood et al.,2010). The human costs are significantly higher for military personnel, and their families because they are at substantial risk of developing PTSD and other issues that may impact their family’s dynamics, but also creates severe psychiatric disorders that led can to health and social problems. The impact of these issues is serious and shows up almost simultaneous when the female veterans return home. Thus, requiring a more precise understanding of the real-life experiences female veterans are subjected to during their time in the military that carries over into their personal lives, impacting their ability to transition appropriately out of the military.

The outcome of trauma both mental and physical has led to some troubling ordeals for many female veterans. The veteran female population is in dire need of an effective process that will aid them in their transition process after experiencing the various stage of PSTD that was developed within the military. It is vital to develop a clearer understanding of military culture to help them with the transition process back into society (Reppert et al., 2014). These factors of combat-related issues and PTSD all have different side effects on female veterans, which pose a different threat in their lives. Putting them in the category of overcoming barriers to feel accepted by society. There is still further research that needs to take place to develop a comprehensive understanding and snapshot of female veterans and then they are issues experiencing, which is are affecting their ability to have a successful transition back into society.

Identification of the Gap

Since, September 11, 2001, more women have entered the military at an alarming rate, which has increased the overall strength of the military and its ability to win wars, conflicts, and battles. However, with the considerable increase of female veterans present now than in recent years has subjected them to becoming victims of certain outliners brought on because of the stressor of war and combat. Thus, placing them in a predicament of being a victim to specific combat-related issues that lead to the mental and physical setbacks that have been connected to PTSD, which is creating a significant barrier on their lives and placing a strain on their transition process back into society. Now female veterans have the capability of serving in every role within the military spectrum, thus eliminating the gender bias mindset. Nevertheless, this increased responsibility comes with a hefty price and burden. Many of these female veteran’s struggle with adapting a healthy life after serving. Putting them and their family at risk of being a victim of mental and physical setbacks. The statistical data shows that many female veterans are at risk of suffering a mental or physical setback that will derail their transition back into the civilian world. The study has shown that US combat Veterans, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD has been found to range from 6% to 31%, with a current prevalence of 2%–17% (Ketchesonet al., 2018). The imprint of war and combat-related issues are sitting with female veterans much longer than their male counterparts. Resulting in female veterans experiencing higher rates of divorce, homelessness, and are more likely to be single parents in comparison to their male counterparts (Mulhall, 2009; Reppert et al., 2014(Zinzow et al., 2007)

A gap was determined after a careful review of the literature which is there is an unknown element of PTSD, which is influencing female veterans’ lives after they begin the transition process back into society. The developing issues of PTSD have made it quite difficult for these female veterans to transition back into home as well as to their family and friends without re-living some of the events caused by PTSD (Mulhall, 2009). Although female veterans are still one of the steadiest growing segments within the military structure, there is little to no evidence of supporting their transition process after being exposed to an issue that led to PTSD issues, which is affecting their transition process back into society. Like earlier wars and conflicts, female veterans are finding it hard to reconnect with society after completing their service obligation. The most recent available research has exposed the notable gap in the literature that has led to the development of the problem statement for this study. Not being able to cope or adjust back into society has led to some significant many life-altering events such as unemployment due to the setbacks developed inside the military. According to Duggan & Jurgens, 2007; Reppert et al., 2014) the unemployment rate for female veterans 8.2% is higher in comparison to the rate for male veterans at 4.7%. The female veteran might be the fastest growing segment in the active duty department as well as the fastest growing within the veteran community. Meanwhile, there is no clear guideline to address their needs and issues that impact their ability to have a successful transition.

According to Blias et al. (2018), further explains how there are so many consistent challenges within the female veteran community that does not get addressed because of the difference in culture environments and real-life experience for these female veterans. Female veterans consume many roles inside and outside the military making them have a multi-layered life in every manner in both a personal and professional setting, which is still not properly geared toward addressing and answering the current issues at hand. Thus, resulting in the assumption that female veterans do not have the self-efficacy about their ability to comprise a successful career outside of the military. The ongoing issue within the literature shows all forms of the gap in the transition process for female veterans concerning the effects that PTSD has on the female veteran’s community, which is resulting into some unfavorable outcomes for these female veterans. The statistical evidence has shown a significant downshift with the number of surrounding less fortunate female veterans has increased in recent years (Baechtold & De Sawal, 2009; Reppert et al., 2014). While the role of female veterans has evolved so, have the issues that they experience while in service.

The literature explains the current gap in this present study, which shows the significant impact these issues have on these female veterans and the problems they are faced with as they are trying to return to back to a normal life after dealing with PTSD which has been connected to their military career. Returning to a normal life is quite a challenge for these female veterans. The impact of war has a different overall effect on their life because these incidents sometimes carry over into their life after the military. The harsh reality is these mental and physical issues are staying with these veterans for a lifetime if they are not adequately treated. Lack of evidence in the current literature is another sign of how female veterans have often been overlooked due to the masculinity of the military. Previous qualitative studies on female veterans did not address some of the present issues such as PTSD, which is hindering the transition process for female veterans. According to Maiocco and Smith (2016), the mental health issues are a growing concern amongst female veterans’ community and the presents themes are becoming a growing concern amongst this veteran’s community. PTSD is a severe setback for female veterans, which will be shown in the current body of knowledge. The notable gap is set to show the real-life experience, and address some of these issues that are hindering these female veterans and provided some recommendations to this study that will help expand on the current body of knowledge, in how to properly reintegrate as well as transitions these female veterans back into the society. Exploring all of the needed research to provide a clearer understanding to expand on the current body of knowledge to help bridge the gap in the existing research that is often overlooking these issue that these female veterans are experiencing. Research statistics explicitly indicate the chronic prevalence of the issue of PTSD in female veterans that ultimately appears in many different traumatic forms. It is reported that there are almost 81% to 93% female veterans who suffer from different forms of trauma that look in their operations and approach of lifestyle. Adult sexual assault is another major concern indicating through the statistics referring to the domain of 30% to 45% (Dobie et al., 2004). The increasing rate of the different forms of traumatic events demands to critically and carefully observe the entire phenomenon concerning the related concerns.

Theoretical Foundations and/or Conceptual Framework

The researcher is set to explore all options and provide a more precise understanding how the female veterans are suffering from PTSD and explain their real-life events as they are trying to begin a new chapter in their lives as they transition back into society. Early researchers and other studies only targeted specific research questions to capture the correct theoretical framework to describe the real-life experience of these female veterans. Green (2014), points out that a theoretical foundation is a tool that can be used to supply clarity and give direction to this study or that can be viewed as an outcome. The theoretical foundation in this study is set to serve as a building block to support the foundation to address the current problems within the literature, by using the correct research approaches in determining which models and theories will be appropriate to address the issues in this study, in addition to the transition process.

Female veterans will have the ability to adopt any specific skill set or knowledge-based agenda developed within the military. However, this process is often overlooked, because of their roles, gender, and status within the military. Many leaders are now female veterans, where they hold a prominent leadership role within their organizational setting; the demoralized factor is that many of these leaders will or have experienced some form of real-life issues such as PTSD, which will affect their lives as well as their military career. While the number of the female veterans continues to increase, many of these female veterans are still experiencing challenges and issues that are disturbing their ability to capitalize on their full potential as civilians and affecting their transition process out of the military. With the advancement of knowledge and research has yet to prepare these female veterans to face some of the interpersonal stresses of being exposed to more combat-related issues of war, which is crippling their process of having a successful life after the military (Fox et al., 2016).

Serving in the military has the capability of opening many doors for female veterans from all branches of services, which is a direct reflection on their disciple and training developed from their time in service. However, many of these female veterans are still a large number of these veterans struggling to find employment in the civilian sector, because of their education level, lack of training, versatile, and some the issues developed in the military. These issues can be considered as game changers for many of these veterans, because of the problems with PTSD and other elements that may represent an additional hurdle to overcome which is a difficult task to tackle resulting into some unfavorable outcome for these veterans. According to Mobbs & Bonanno (2018), female veterans are experiencing issues at such a prominent level, which interferes with their transition process back into society. The transition process is not easy by any means for these female veterans because of the mental and physical hurdles they must overcome to feel accepted by society again. There have been some difficulties with their experienced when they are trying to reconnect with society, as well as gain their identity back, which has been taken away from them because of some of the issues that have taken place in the military. The study is set to enhance the body of work to show some of the challenges and problems that are creating a certain level of concerns, which has made the transition process quite challenging for these female veterans.

By, taking that leap of faith and leaving the military is never an easy task nor decision to make for these female veterans because of the doubt and uncertainty of their future. Sometimes, their story and outcome are altered because of real-life issues or events developed in the military which is having a more significant impact on their progress to have a successful life. Although the transition process is complicated and difficult for these female veterans, the reality is that these numbers will continually grow based on the needs of the military. The constant engagement of war and other conflict has developed some serious mental issues such as PTSD which is undoubtedly taking place during their time in service. Whereas, these issues of PTSD are causing some significant drawbacks within these female veterans’ lives, making it quite difficult to get their lives back on track. The transition process is not an easy task to tackle without the proper aid; various factors influence the individual’s behavior, which is impacting their ability to manage the transition process properly (Griffin & Gilbert, 2015). Besides the hesitation towards the transition process, female veterans are experiencing different emotional symptoms, which is altering their ability to reconnect with society because of the mental and physical issues they are suffering due to the stressors of the military. Since, the conflict of wars brings on various side-effects within female veterans’ community, which can destroy their sense of purpose, as well as their will and their confidence in their ability to be regaining a normal life again. The various setbacks and dilemmas that transpire within the female veteran’s community, the past models, and theories from previous studies were also set to examine the veteran female population. However, with Schlossberg’s (2011) transition theory and the 4’S model, as well as Blanter’s (1991) role theory are set to align the current study with previous studies to capture the purpose of this study, therefore explaining and exploring a clearer understating in how female veterans are describing their real-life experience and how they are impacting their ability to have a successful transition back into society.

Schlossberg’s transition and the 4’S model.

All the current literature that involves transition process uses the expertise of Schlossberg’s to expand on the existing body of knowledge regarding adults’ transitions from various facets in life. The transition process is where a series of events that comes together to supply a framework that leads toward a convenient outlet or strategy that can determine the correct course of action in helping the basic need and ideas that connects the transition process. Schlossberg and other colleagues have viewed the transition process as an event or non-event that is the outcome that results to or led to change (Goldman & Anderson, 2012). The transition process can be a scary thought for most uniform veterans, especially female veterans because of the unknown factors that may lay in wait for them once they leave the service. The transition process is a challenging task to conquer because everyone experience leads to different results and experiences regarding the transition process. Thus, making the transition process unpredictable for these female veterans because of some the issues they must face after leaving the service. Schlossberg's approach towards the transition process and the handling of individual behavior present quite a challenge. At times is processed can be tough to tackle because the transition process does not have a clear step-by-step process that can account for all of the previous issues, develop by these female veterans that need to be addressed before transition out of the service. The value of the 4-S model which is situation, self, social, and strategies will explain the basic identity of transitioning. The essential parts of the 4’S model will pave the way in addressing the current issue of PTSD and how it impacts these female veterans lives as they try to transition out of the military and re-enter society. Schlossberg (2009) model is set to instill the value of hope in the veteran and provide them a set guideline that will increase their potential, provide options, and develop strategies that allow them to focus as well as being able to cope with change. The average female veterans’ career in the service will experience some form of change that will result into the transition phase, which may cause some doubt in some case, however, through the 4-S model will assist them in this process. The issues that transpired in the military such as PTSD and other combat-related elements are unexpected events that may alter their outcome in life which will influence their transition process. Anderson et al. (2014), confirmed that female veterans are in need of some help, which will focus on both the practical and psychological aspects of their lives to support their basic ideas which will lead to a successful transition process back into society.

Coping is not normal nor natural traits acquired by female veterans. The essential part of the transition process is requiring the necessary tools that will assist them as they being to exit the service. Every individual needs a different approach towards the transition process because each person brings new experiences, where the results will vary based on their overall assessment during their transition process. Female veteran’s struggle with the essential details that allows them to cope with society and reconnect with others because of some of the issues struggle with after leaving the military. Anderson et al. (2014), goals are to enlighten the process, which will show how the transition process will focus on the coping mechanism of having a successful life through the Scholssberg theory and the 4'S model. It looks in various ways to the encourage ability to be adept and to provide the necessary strength in assisting the female veterans with their transition process. A coping mechanism is a tool for mitigating the doubt that comes with change. The fundamental principle is a direct reflection of the 4-S model and how it suppose to work to incorporate change into their lives, so that they can strive to have a favorable outcome, despite the many side effect of PTSD that has been developed within the service.

The 4-S model is the focal point for these individuals because it allows the basic needs of the individual to be highlighted to explain their story. The foundational development her can lead to a successful transition story instead of the opposite spectrum of a successful outcome. A successful transition process will depend on the veterans and how they handle the issues connected to PTSD. Further research concludes that Schlossberg and her colleagues discovered three additional transition barriers, and those are anticipated, not anticipated, and nonevent (DiRamio et al., 2008). The developer of this method had led to a development which touches on one of the researcher's questions regarding: How do female veterans describe the impact that PTSD has on their transition from the military service? The coping skills require a delicate approach when it comes to mental and physical barriers created by unforeseen events such as PTSD.

Developing a strategy that directly relates to coping responses in the Schlossberg transition model is one of the key elements in dealing with critical issues or concerns that take place in the military (Anderson et al., 2014). Assessing the situation is a crucial component for female veterans that are returning home and trying to adjust back into a routine in life before and after the service. However, there are some transitional issues that veterans are being brought home with them as they exist in the military. These issues are affecting their character and ability to accept changes and developed into their new roles outside of the military. The transition role of female veterans is about letting go of past issues of oneself, cutting ties with former positions, and developing a new identity and learning new characters; however, this cannot transpire until they address the growing concerns of PTSD.

Roles Theory

A vital component of adjusting to a new role for female veterans is to overcome past issues of PTSD and accept their new position, according to plan; the real-life experience is a critical part in who they are as a person. The long-term effects that have transpired in the military can impact the overall mental and physical state of these female veterans, which is affecting their roles on the outside of the military. Thus, placing a burden on the overall health and behavior of these female veterans as they take on new positions. Role theory has been known as an efficient way of describing the various part of the female veterans identify the multiple functions they take on during their time in the service by explaining how these different roles are connected to a much more significant issues in the with the growing fields of veterans which is impacting their psychology, social psychology, sociology, organization behavior, and human resource management (Yau & Han Jan 2010). The role theory for female veterans is about adapting to change in their new roles and developed into previous parts and work to establish a new identity instead of living with issues such as PTSD and work through the setbacks and challenges that have been designed from the military. Female veteran's status is robust to regain, after suffering a mental or physical setback, which is impacting their character and role, thus, affecting their social skills and behavior which makes it difficult to transition back into society.

The role of the military has always assumed the perception of being masculine, within the past two decades that role has shifted to their counterpart, as female veterans have taken on more responsibility and positions in the military. Female veterans will consume multiple roles inside and outside the military, which has a significant impact on their decision-making process. The researchers will acknowledge the surrounding factors, which will impact their identity and roles as they begin the transition process. Miles & Petty (1975) suggest that role theory requirements relate to the organizational behavior based on the level of the employee, through the instrumentation differences process, and which may vary based on the probable differences within the corporate design. The military is a unique organization that requires an exceptional individual to meet those demands and roles of the military.

The study is set to extend past the body of knowledge to explain how these roles, will affect these female veterans' lives, which is a direct alignment with the research question of How do female veterans describe the impact that PTSD has on their transition from the military service? The real-life experience will explain what these female veterans have considered being an important issue in their lives that they are struggling with and the various roles they consume which are influencing their beliefs and their decision-making process. The various roles these female veterans take on which has created a gap between themselves, their families, the military, as well as their military families, have begun to be to addresses to devise a correct course of action to tackle these issues of PTSD, and dealing with other issues of combat-related exposure (Canfield & Weiss, 2015). The Schlossberg's (2014) transition theory and the 4’S model can be added to provide clarity in the direction that will generate a response to the study and aligned the survey to match the research question to show the notable gap in the literature surrounding the transition process for female veterans after experiencing issues of PTSD.

Review of the Literature

During the earliest wars, females were responsible for tasks such as cooking and medical services. There were nursing corps that were created for these services. They were not allowed to become part of armed forces. Then in 1948, under theWomen’s Armed Services Integration Act, women were given the official status in the military. They were then allowed to become part of all branches of military service as well as receive veterans. In 1980, Veterans’ Affairs centers formally started integrating gender-specific services. Due to this profession, these female veterans have different issues. With the increased number of women in the military, there is also an increase in their level of stress due to the nature of their job. During the wars, they become part of both combat arms units and noncombat missions (Huynh-Hohnbaum et al., 2003). They are thus also required to attack as frontline units. There is a bulk of research related to these veterans, and the focus had been on PTSD. It can be defined as a mental disorder as a result of some traumatic event leading to reexperiencing of the occasion, or memories. This can be in the form of avoidance of memories, insomnia as well as frighten response. Female veterans suffer from PTSD that is linked with different mental health difficulties such as poor psychiatric, substance abuse and comorbid psychiatric diagnosis (Zinzow et al., 2007). These also suffer from nightmares, sleep disturbances, worse physical health as well as physical limitations. Research has also conducted to check the reoccurrence of different diseases ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"5GqGhGRT","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Huynh-Hohnbaum et al., 2003)","plainCitation":"(Huynh-Hohnbaum et al., 2003)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1116,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/UyQ0lT1S/items/IPLIE65M"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/UyQ0lT1S/items/IPLIE65M"],"itemData":{"id":1116,"type":"article-journal","title":"Exploring the diversity of women veterans' identity to improve the delivery of veterans' health services","container-title":"Affilia","page":"165-176","volume":"18","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Huynh-Hohnbaum","given":"Anh-Luu T."},{"family":"Damron-Rodriguez","given":"JoAnn"},{"family":"Washington","given":"Donna L."},{"family":"Villa","given":"Valentine"},{"family":"Harada","given":"Nancy"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2003"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Huynh-Hohnbaum et al., 2003).

The phenomenon of PTSD influences the lives of female veterans in many different aspects. It is worthy to mention that different researchers consider different paradigms related to the negative impact of PTSD on the living approach of female veterans. Consideration of these various prospects is crucial to identify the fundamental issues and offer better intervention plans to deal with the problem. Dobie et al., (2004) critically identify different forms of health concerns that ultimately leads to different functional impairment in the case of female veterans. The health concerns explained in the way of posttraumatic stress disorder. Researchers of this study indicate that the approach of self-reported health problems and different impairment firmly and positively associated with the facet of PTSD. It is stated that female veterans as targeted population group recognized as the group who is immensely exposed to the high level of trauma. The research work conducted by Dobie et al., (2004) also focused to critically assess other psychological concerns closely associated with the primary health issue in the form of PTSD. Common physical symptoms were also identified and evaluated under the domains of stomach pain, back pain, joint pain, dizziness, etc. Consideration of these symptoms sometimes associated with other psychological concerns for female veterans. Proper identification of the general association between PTSD and other different psychological concerns is essential to make better inferences about the magnitude of the health concerns and functional impairment in the case of females working as veterans. The issue of drug abuse is also closely related to the paradigm of the psychological concerns for female veterans. Researchers come up with the idea that sometimes it becomes difficult for the female veterans to deal with the physical and psychological exertion that ultimately appears in the form of their disbalance life approach outside their responsibilities in the military (Dobie et al., 2004).

High prevalence of different symptoms of PTSD in female veterans ultimately negatively affect their approach of functioning in both forms of professional and personal lives. This particular phenomenon can observe in many different styles refer to the overall functioning of female veterans. Various symptoms of PTSD ultimately lead to other health concerns that affect the performance level of females as veterans.

A valid approach to examine the literature has indicated that female military veterans are suffering from issues such as PTSD, which is hindering their ability to transition back into society. The transition process for many veterans is a complex and challenging ordeal that requires unique processes that can lead to a successful outcome for these female veterans. A veteran that suffers from PTSD will show a significant sign of emotional distress, involving often relatively passive feelings of sadness and frustration (Murphy et al., 2017). The researchers’ review scholarly articles comprised of both qualitative and quantitative studies, resulting in emerging trends, issues, and themes that led to this study. According to Ketcheson et al. (2018), the military population is at a much higher risk than the civilian population for developing mental health conditions such as PTSD. The developing idea that included problems arising after transitioning back into society, unemployment, overcoming challenges, and issues related to PTSD and other elements such as MST, IPV, and SUD are some of the alarming issues that are concerning and interfering in these female veterans lives as they try to develop into their new roles and identity outside the military.

The literature will explain the constant challenges that female veterans are experiencing during and after returning home from combat and beginning the process to transition back into society. Today's military is a volunteer force, so the demand is different from the earlier decades, resulting in a different outcome for these female veterans, experience as a much different result than before. The reality is that war has become a more significant event than before which has an entirely different outcome for female veterans than male veterans. The myriad of studies and literature have arrived at the same conclusion that mental and physical issues developed from PTSD take place in the military, placing these veterans at a disadvantage as they try to re-establish an identity outside of the military. PTSD is one of the issues amongst military personnel and veterans and emphasizes the need for conscientious screening for several commonly associated conditions (Ketcheson et al., 2018). By developing techniques to examine the various issues of PTSD and concerns to capture their real-life experience.

To raise awareness and acknowledge that there is a pressing issue of concerns amongst the veteran female community in regards to effects of PTSD. According to Verlezza (2015), PTSD has become the signature wound of recent conflicts as soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq has faced many reintegration challenges. Previous researchers have concluded that are some internal and external problems within the female veterans' community, which has developed over some time which is impacting their transition out the military. Lastly, setback by cause PTSD has impacted these female veterans to such a point where they are struggling to regain their lives after the mental and physical setback caused by PTSD, which they have been to subjected while serving their country. According to Morin (2011), veterans have a challenging time readjusting to civilian life while others make the transition with little or no difficulty. Through the real-life experience has shown to be the likely course of action for these female veterans to share their constant battle with PTSD, and create a haven that focuses on beginning the healing process for these veterans.

Reestablishing the female veteran’s identity is the primary focus of this research. Female veteran's social status is one of the critical issues that are to begin restoring. In addition to recounting their life after experiencing PTSD and though the participants of other veterans will allow this study to be a direct reflection on how the reintegration process should transpire for these female veterans. There are several unique challenges to overcome when it comes to transitioning and adjusting to the back into civilian life because it is never easy to overcome barrier and pitfalls that are related to PTSD, which is hindering the transition process for these veterans as they seek employment outside of the military (Gillums, 2016). The current literature review will determine as well as align the justification accordingly to meet the current methodology and instrumentation utilized in this study.

The team gathered will represent the theoretical foundation for the content that is developed from the current literature review to discuss the issues of PTSD and show how they are impacting the female veterans' community and adopt a process that leads to a successful transition back into society. A female veteran that has a recent transition or veterans that are currently serving were also found to be at higher risk for PTSD, depression, or panic disorder (Reberia, Grootendost, & Coyte, 2017). The direct influence that combat experiences on female veterans have been tied to the various measures of combat exposure that is developed during deployment process has previously been demonstrated to be a consistent ingredient in these veterans’ lives that correlated with PTSD.

The transition back into society

Since September 11, 2001 women veterans have become the largest growing segment of the military. There has never been an era throughout history where there have been so many females joining the army and later becoming veterans, which make it quite tough to compare this current century of veterans to the previous era of the history for the military. The Transition Assistance Program (TAP) is required for all existing military personnel and currently focuses on the practical elements of obtaining work (Keeling, 2018). Nonetheless, the TAP should concentrate on the needed prerequisite in providing the further data regarding the truths about the cultural variances of civilian society, the importance of finding meaning, and the importance of getting in contact with other veterans. The conversion from military service to civilian life requires navigation of a series of modifications, such as changing roles, reference groups, friendship networks, and individuality (Keeling, 2018).

The challenges that many female veterans are experiencing now are different from what female veterans 40 years ago where experience, because of the direct involvement in combat operations has increased over time. The other literature suggests or implies that there will be a significant increase of veterans trying to transition back into society in the next upcoming decade. However, they are suffering from stresses such as PTSD, which the main mental setback for these veterans or stresses such as MST, IPV, and SUD, which have all been directly connected to their time in the military. The transition from military to civilian life can be difficult for a female veteran (Hawkins & Crowe, 2018).

Transition to civilian life can be a hard adaptation for some individuals, especially those experiencing psychological or physical health issues (Hachery et al., 2016). The veterans that suffer the most is the one that appears to be having a problem or difficulty with the transition experiences where they feel the most socially isolated, connect with other veterans helps. However, reintegration typically presents some challenges for military families with a standard set of tensions that can bear on their physical, emotional, cognitive, and societal areas (Marek & Moore, 2015). The procedure of having any success at the transition experiences is somewhat complicated, and ensure any degree of success in transition process involves a multidisciplinary method to address potential risk and protective components that come with the modulation procedure. According to Hachery et al. (2016), since the transition from military to civilian life is challenging for some, individual resources, such as a sense of control, may help veterans to navigate through this potentially stressful time.

The research reports suggest that more than 1.7 million of the 2.6 million soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have transitioned back into social life with a possibility of an additional one million is expected transition as well within the next five years (Mobbs & Bonanno, 2018; Zoli, Maury, & Fay, 2015). The review of the current literature will explain the emerging trends that are connecting these current issues of PTSD and other elements to the present concerns of the female veteran community. According to Keeling (2018), military culture is central to transition because adapting to civilian life requires the evolution of new cultural understanding and accomplishments. Female veterans who serve now will be faced with a greater risk of experiencing PTSD and other element developed in this current era than in previous years. The substantial difference of the war and how they are conducted through the various war tactics is the resulting factors in how the thing must be done to win battles and conflict, increasingly being exposed to PTSD.

This sudden increase in war tactics has created such a burden in these female veterans' lives where are eager to leave the military after their service obligation is complete. In retrospect, the current wars and conflict are creating a significant strain on the men and women of the armed forces, where they have no other options to step away from the service and become veterans, despite the issue they may face after leaving the service. If these prospective issues of PTSD remain unaddressed, these current issues will not only stay the same but continue to get worse for these female veterans, as they begin the reintegration process (Hazle et al., 2012). Therefore, within this current section of literature, there will be evidence that suggests there will be some form setback during the transition process, which will impede on the progress of these veterans as they transition back into society.

These setbacks are leading to an increase in unemployment, an increase in mental and physical issues that are connected to PTSD and other elements. The issues surrounding these health concerns of these female veterans are calling for additional studies take place an examine the current needs of these female veterans and further explore the options that will lead to a solid program. It will provide a proper treatment program for these veterans that are experiencing or suffering from PTSD or other elements in the correct manner, to a have a successful transition. According to Cooper et al. (2017), three key elements are determining the transition journey: military and combat history, personal resilience, and whether the journey toward and through transition has been a positive or negative experience. The idea behind discussing this topic was to provide a unique perspective to this study and highlights some of the unknown issues and concerns of PTSD and the other elements that are present in these female veterans' lives, which had led to some unfavorable outcomes for these female veteran’s. It is clear that many issues are surrounding PTSD and the other present element, which is represented a current challenge within this study as well as in the lives of these female veterans, which is impacting their progress to create a successful life outside of the service. Female veterans are suffering which is the main points of this study and previous studies, to show that there is a huge burden placed on the transitional aspect of these veterans' lives that create doubt in their future.

The agenda of this study is to address the current gap in the literature surrounding issues of PTSD and the other element experience of female veterans. It is impacting their transition process, by evaluating the problem at hand will allow all of the other elements to be addressed to create a process that will lead to a successful life outside the military. According to Cooper et al. (2017), life events experienced in the military may cause difficulty for some in the transition process for many veterans. By, utilizing the correct procedure is vital in examining the many issues that may be unforeseen, which has the possibility of resurfacing after leaving the military service is one of the critical points that is being developed in this study. Since the transition process often focuses on the practical function that supports a successful conversion process by seeking out the job and understanding the individual condition. This will allow these female veterans the due process in having a successful transition process back into society after handling the issues of PTSD and other elements developed inside the military.

Mitigating challenges

The skill sets developed inside the military are unique and is not like any other training the average person will ever experience without joining the military. Family life in the armed forces has been qualified by a unique confluence of stressors (Tam-Seto et al., 2018). However, the knowledge that is gained is not like no other, which can lead to some unique opportunities in the civilian sector. The average female veteran will develop some extraordinary skill set and develop a unique knowledge-based that was created during their time in service. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), the Air Force Officer Qualification Test (AFOQT) and the Aviation Standard Test Battery (ASTB), are some of the determining factors that align the qualification factors with opportunities or choosing a career path within the military.

Hawley et al. (2016), explains how these specialized training and education provided by the military will assist them in their vocational and psychosocial rehabilitation process to address the needs of veterans as they try to reintegrate back into society. Besides training, the mental and physical barriers that female veterans must overcome. The primary contributing factor to securing an adequate job is not because of the lack of trying or the means of choosing the correct positions to align their current skill gained in the military or having the right options to secure employment once they transition out of the service. The existing literature will examine how these female veterans possess the needed education level as well as training to direct match or compare to their civilian counterparts, which may translate into a higher salary job after leaving the military (Mulhall, 2009; Reppert et al., 2014).

Female veterans who are choosing to stay in school before reentering the workforce and leaving the military possible will have a better chance of securing employment. There are over 7,000 assigned tasks and jobs that directly align military members to and the civilian sectors (Curtis, 2012). Even with the extensive amount of employment within the military, there are still some challenges to overcome. For female veterans, because of some of the one-dimensional training many of these veterans received in the military, which steamrolls their ability to have multiple skill sets that are always transferable, which will meet the demand of the civilian sector. Thus, making it tougher for organizations to hiring process of veterans because of a lack of transferable skills developed in the military.

Therefore, the military has recently developed a method and system geared towards hiring veterans, called Veterans preference, and with this process allows all veterans a much higher chance of receiving a job over their civilian counterpart, who is being considered for the same position. The lack of understating of the military posts sometimes limits the organization of hiring because of the unknown criteria or uncertain of military jobs. Thus, creating a detrimental factor that will decrease their chances of adequately securing employment outside of the military. According to Keeling (2018), veterans' who transition to civilian life after military service have tended to center on the experiences of those with mental or physical health difficulties or employment challenges and homelessness. The findings indicate that there is a need for better training for veterans so that they are the potential possibility of employment outside the military. By, potential aligns their current job and to their educational level, which was developed in the military give them a chance of seeking the correct civilian occupations.

The hesitancy to hire veterans is one of the most challenging factors for veterans things to overcome for because of the difficulty in transcribing the military training into specific, doable jobs outside of the military. Previous research indicated that there is a noticeable gap in the literature that align military training with civilian careers, which also, creating an additional barrier within the female veteran community. DiRamio et al. (2015), suggests that the average veteran will be transitioning from the military service into the classroom setting instead of the workforce, while the study also showed that many of these veterans have to participate or supporting in some manner of the ongoing conflict that is taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. Further indicating that more and more veterans, who are more likely to pursue their education options before re-establishing their present back into society. The reality is that the significance of military jobs, training, and language is strict for prospective employers to understand, this is creating an additional setback inside this struggling community of female veterans.

Most veterans do not adequately align their skill set, and their abilities highlight their level of understanding when it comes to finding job opportunities jobs outside the military, which is limiting their opportunity of finding a job is also quite challenging when it comes to an understanding their resume. Veterans have suggested that engagement is a strong causal factor of health and life satisfaction, recent evidence suggests that job quality is too significant (MacLean, VanTil, Sweet, Poirier & McKinnon, 2018). Some findings indicate that commissioned officers might not have to face the same challenges as enlisted personnel because of their level of education which can transition over into the civilian sector. However, many commission officers also, with the struggle of finding a job or employment the same way as the enlisted personnel. The commissioned officer has a clear advantage concerning finding a job on the outside because of the advanced military training and leadership courses that prepare them for life outside of the military. The skill set developed by some of the commission officers will align as well as match to their current position, to their place after leaving the service.

The development and leadership training allow commissioned officers a better chance of seeking employment on the outside of the military because of the assumed level of training and leadership developed gathered over the years. These increased responsibilities have been in place, to see if they can handle the managerial level type issues, such as budgeting, finance, personnel, mentors and leadership and other forms of leadership, which is a direct alignment to administrative positions on the outside. The development of doctrine, organization, practice leads to growth and development as a leader (Daniels, 2016). Commissioned officers are considered administrative managers regardless of the career, while the enlisted personnel is viewed as the blue-collar work performing more of a hand on approach to ensure that the daily tasks required are met and keep on track to ensure organizational efficiency. The findings within the current literature all suggest overcoming these obstacle of finding adequate employment these veteran needs to address the issues of PTSD and the other elements, which is impacting their employment status as well as there transition process. These experiences are affecting their ability to acquire a job outside of the military based on their training and education developed by the army to align and match the r skills with the civilian sector.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The current literature suggests that there has been a wide range of PTSD symptoms that have targeted many veterans, both male and female. According to Williams et al. (2017), a broader range of rates of probable PTSD has been reported, with 12 to 39% of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) /Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) /Operation New Dawn (OND) Veterans either enrolled in or actively sought VA health care after screening positive for PTSD. PTSD is a severe matter than many veterans do not take seriously. If not treated promptly many veterans find it challenging to readjust back into society, putting them at a higher risk of having long-lasting health issues. Foremost, we included both male and female participants because research indicates that adult males and women may have different PTSD symptom profiles (Fullerton et al., 2001; Green, 2003; Zlotnick, Zimmerman, &Wolfsdorf, 2001), proposing that the diagnostic usefulness of each PTSD symptom may vary by gender ( Green et al., 2017). PTSD has been linked with severe impairments in social functioning, including disrupted family relationships (Harris et al. 2017). This disruption to the family dynamic can lead to unforeseen issues down the road if gone unaddressed.

War has a significant way of altering the reality of the brain, changing the narrative of the story, leaving a avoid in the veteran's mind, which forces them to relive or react the tragic event never genuinely going the real-life loop experience. This reality's so right for these female veterans reliving the tragic events never coming out of the loop. Harris et al. (2017), explain how the current literature has explained how marital/partner relationships indicate that many veterans with PTSD experience high degrees of marital conflict and negative communication with a spouse. Female veterans are stuck in a closed loop system because of the onset of the military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq estimated incidence of PTSD among military personnel is at 9% before deployment and between 12 and 18 percent in the post-deployment stage (Hoge, Castro, Messer, McGurk, Cotting, & Koffman, 2004; Vasterling, Proctor, Amoroso, Kane, Heeren, & White, 2006; Stana et al., 2017). The role of the female veterans has become more of a universal role in a modern era of conflicts, female veterans roles and responsibilities have increased resulting in a more increasing presence of female veterans being heavily involved in the conflict.

Combat veterans suffer the most from PTSD because they are not given the proper health care to address their physical and mental needs (Yehuda et al. 2014). It is possible that both men and women in the military may delay or never seek medical treatment for PTSD because they are trying to uphold the masculine military stigma. Most veterans avoided medical treatment for PTSD because it indicates a sign of weakness within a culture which will impact the current traditions. Veterans suffering from combat-related issues of war have risen to 13%, the highest it has been since the Vietnam era (Jain et al. 2016). The demographics of war has shifted, resulting in more female veterans having a direct path to more combat-related issues.

The veteran female population is increasing; however, there are understudied risks associated with being exposed to long-term combat-related issues. Pierce & Pritchard (2016), implies that PTSD symptoms can develop after exposure to a traumatic event and include intrusion, avoidance, negative mood and cognitive symptoms, and altered arousal and reactivity (American Psychiatric Association,2013). The operational stress can lead to higher rates of long-term effects that are the result of not properly managing the issue of PTSD. Dysregulated basal cortisol levels may be a risk factor in the development of PTSD common to a female veteran (Pierce & Pritchard, 2016). The method indicated that PTSD affects each person differently and is based on the tragic event that transpired.

The literature provides little to no information about the issues at hand, or that gender roles play a considerable role among the female combat veterans. C’de et al. (2016), suggest that there are higher levels of trauma exposure taking place during the time of conflict which has joined with various other issues that are developing during combat, leading to more severe forms of PTSD. The findings in other studies suggest that PTSD is just as much a life-altering issue as much as MST. Both are having a long-term impact on the future survival of these veterans, creating a wall for their potential growth as they begin to transition back into society. Managing PTSD through spiritual connection is one tonality that has been relatively neglected in the scientific literature (Harris et al. 2017).

Female veterans in the United States being diagnosed with PTSD or MST require a unique medical approach to address their needs and concerns. With the adult population of women utilizing the VHA, it has become extremely vital that these veterans receive the same attention as their male counterparts when it comes to addressing PTSD related issues. Kehle et al. (2017), highlighted that PTSD is one of the most common conditions for which women veterans receive service-connected disability, and about one-quarter of women who use VHA outpatient services have a history of military sexual assault (MSA). These findings were consistent with recent studies that indicated a significant challenge to overcome when trying to transition back into society. PTSD related injuries hinder the civilian sector from offering the opportunity to come aboard and work for the organization.

The physical and mental health challenges that are presently studied can influence the quality of life for many of these female veterans. PTSD is a general psychological condition that has the qualities of being distressed in intimate partners of people living with these symptoms. Various scholars indicate that PTSD has been reported to be a higher level of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Female veterans seeking help for this mental illness can improve their overall health and safety of others by reaching out and creating a level of trust that will lead to a successful transition process. This current scholarly research indicates that some of this treatment receive can increase the PTSD symptoms during this phase of recovery (Story & Beck, 2017).

Dealing with combat, sexual, and physical trauma creates an experience that forces them to relive the same issue continuously after the event is ceased to exist. Story & Beck (2017) created an environment where female veterans in this study can include their new perspective, enhanced coping, improved mood and quality of life. While these female veterans receive health care at no cost from the VHA, they are hesitating in seeking medical attention although many female veterans are trying to establish a baseline to overcome the challenges of combat to reconnect with society.

However, like the physical challenges the mental challenges are even more desperate to handle or overcome because of the constant mental reminders. This section notes that current female veterans can now be treated through the PTSD specialized outpatient care process, which has a significant impact on the feminine veteran quality of life. The social support and relationship difficulties contribute factors to the risk of developing PTSD (Cloitre et al. 2016). The impact on relationships and adapting to life after a war zone is somewhat challenging for many female veterans, and their return home has been affected which has a significant impact on their lives after service amongst the female veteran's community, because of the struggles that come with the issues develop from PTSD (Gerlock et al. 2016). The ability to maintain and efficiently cope is stopped because of the transitional elements that bring combat-related stresses, destroying the process of transitioning from the military to civilian life. The data suggest that some individuals join the army at an early age and that is to escape the abusive and dysfunctional household.

PTSD is a severe roadblock amongst the female veteran community, which lead to the various form of depression. According to Sairsingh et al. (2018), Depression is currently one of the most prominent health conditions among female veterans. Therefore, these outcries of depression lead to behavioral concerns as well as health concerns within this subgroup of individuals within the military. The overall impact of these symptoms are followed by a history of different element and variable such as anxiety, PTSD, alcohol misuse, and drug abuse are some of the significant issues inside the female veteran community. The mental factor is a tough symptom to overcome without being the previous diagnosis because of each sign that on its own identity that leads to some unfavorable outcome.

According to Pierce & Pritchard (2016), female have an account for around 14.6% of all US troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan (Department of Defense, 2012). This mindblowing fact has lead researcher to believe that the chance of experience PTSD, sexual assault, and combat trauma is significantly more likely to happen to female veterans than a civilian, which will lead to developing symptoms of PTSD because of the prolonged exposure. Combat Veterans are facing exponential increases in symptoms associated with PTSD (Gehrke et al., 2018). Female veterans are some of the victims for this limited exposure which puts them at risk for MST, IPV, and SUD.

Military Sexual Trauma

The tactical and operational roles have been completely overhauled during the current conflict to support Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Goldstein et al. (2017), there has been a significant increase in the number of women serving in the military, and women currently comprise about 15% of the Department of Defense Active Duty force (Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, 2014). The increase in female veterans has been on a steady incline since 9/11, putting more and more female veterans in the frontline to participate in combat. Military-related stressors have been a predominant topic within the veteran male population, and it is no longer an issue that only haunts the male veteran, now the problems have become a known factor in the female veteran community. Rogers et al. (2017) suggest that female veterans who are survivors of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) often face an increased burden of chronic pain, including a broad range of pain conditions independent of the psychological effects of military sexual trauma. The devastating factor is that these issues are getting less attention because of the minority role that women fill me the Armed. Military trauma is exceptionally high in the female veteran’s population.

The severity of being exposed to military relates stressors is the side-effect of being associated continuously with combat-related issues. Military sexual trauma (MST) is another form of stressor that is plaguing the female veterans across the board, by being subjected to sexual assault or sexual harassment (Kimerling et al., 2007). The results from this mind-blowing ordeal are placing female veterans at a considerable disadvantage when trying to develop a new identity outside of the military. According to Eichler & Evans (2018), sexual harassment and/or assault during service can result in MST, with potential long-term consequences for a Veteran's transition to civilian life. It is quite challenging to secure employment after being impacted by combated related issues that lead to the possibility of being subjected to military sexual trauma.

The emotional scars left behind from being sexually assaulted can be far worst to overcome than the loss of a loved one, because of the constant reminder of being a victim. A recent review of research on MST indicated that between 9.5% and 33% of women report experiencing an attempted or completed rape during military service (Kintzle et al., 2015). While service commitments continue to increase the results are devastating that female veterans have a high chance of being sexually assaulted or harassed based on the present literature. Moreover, experiencing MST presents a significant challenge when trying to reestablish an identity back in society. MST is an issue that targets all branches of service from all demographic regions. However, the primary victims seem to be female veterans both officers and enlisted. Research suggests that are some contributing factors that are overwhelming to the military culture that is spreading like a virus amongst the female veteran's population.

The physical and mental abuse impacts the female veterans in such a manner that they are becoming prey to perpetrators within the military structure where they have lost their faith and confidence in the system. The current issues have destroyed unit cohesion and destroyed the trust amongst members within the organization. The Veteran's Health Administration implies that with the growing rate of female veterans that 1 in 4 women will experience some form of MST throughout their time in the service. The history of sexual trauma can result in chronic pain conditions amongst female veterans. The literature explains that a history of sexual abuse may increase the chances of developing pelvic pain (Cichowski et al. 2017). A clinical study has indicated that physical abuse mixed with sexual abuse can result in female veteran's experiencing and unsuccessful lifestyle after transitioning back into society. There has been a definite connection that MST can be linked to a variety of problems that involve chronic pain conditions in the veteran female population.

In addition to the physical barriers that MST imposes on female veterans, they are also suffering from a psychological effect of MST. According to William & Bernstein (2011), the indication of a comprehensive description of MST among U.S. female veterans is needed to better understand its impact on these individuals' lives and current treatment strategies. The physical health concerns are impacting these female veterans in various ways which leads to mental setbacks that are causing depression among the veteran female population. William & Bernstein (2011) highlighted women reporting a history of sexual assault while in the military, 26% endorsed 12 of 24 symptoms/conditions of self-administered, mailed survey information about a spectrum of physical symptoms and medical conditions, compared with 11% of women with no reported sexual assault while in the military.

The majority of these issues seem to be addressed or made aware after the female veteran returns home from combat or after suffering a near-death experience that has lead to combination of various side effects such as sleeplessness, nightmares, bursts of temper, flashbacks, panic attacks, fear, and an inability to cope with everyday life. According to Hawkins & Crowe (2018), there is a growing body of literature has reported the prevalence of MST amongst female veterans as well, with approximately 6% of active-duty female veterans reporting unwanted sexual contact in the past year. These issues are tough to overcome because they associated with the mental setbacks that transpire amongst the veteran female population. MST remains a persistent problem despite increasing focus throughout the DoD and the Federal Government (Hickey et al. 2017). Female veterans are always in danger because of the broad issues that transpire in the military that pose a challenge to their lives as they try to transition back into society. Many of these veterans that are serving in this present conflict find it quite challenging to return home and reintegrate back into civilian life after experiencing MST.

The previous literature has suggested that with the rapid increase of the female veteran’s population that MST issues will only continue to rise as well within the female veteran’s community. It is estimated that only 5% of female veterans will report any form of MST (Hickey et al. 2017). In spite of the unexpected increase in opportunities for many female veterans, many of these women are reluctant to pursue any combat-related assignments in fear of being taken advantage of or abused by their counterparts while doing their assigned job or task, thus affecting their chance of reintegrating back into society. Monteitih et al., (2016) provides information that indicates the issues suffered from military sexual trauma can be linked to the problems surrounding suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts. The physical injuries that are sustained are far more severe than many people understand.

Sexual trauma is prevalent through the Armed Services resulting in a life-altering experience for many female veterans. Military sexual trauma itself is a particular situation where there are robust risk factors for suicidal thoughts that would further underline the importance of assessing for suicide risk when Veterans screen positive for military sexual trauma (Monteitih et al., 2016). MST is a subcategory that coexists with the current factors of PTSD. Inquiry shows that female veterans who have experienced MST are more potential to acquire mental health conditions, including PTSD, depression, and substance use disorders, all of which can cause an impact on reintegration (Hawkins & Crowe, 2018). While these factors share some of the same background based on the various types of trauma, compounded by experiences of sexual assault can place female veterans at an increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) both during and after their military service (Surís, Lind, Kashner, & Borman, 2007).

The skills that female veterans acquired during their time in the service is considered to be more transferable then their male veterans. However, one of the most critical pitfalls for these female veterans is that their talent often gets overlooked by civilian employers. Civilian employers limit the female veterans community because they do not recognize and value their military-acquired leadership skills or their Veteran status, mainly if they have not served in combat roles (Eichler & Evans, 2018). These issues seem to be an ongoing challenge for these female veterans because of their gender, and these are of MST among female veterans community is carrying which has some influence on their civilian employment. According to Eichler & Evans (2018), hence implying that having experienced MST within the military work setting may lead to interpersonal and functional challenges when transitioning to civilian careers, letting in a more significant potential for being re-victimized.

However, unlike the issues taking place on the battlefield, MST is something that can be prevented if all the accurate measures were in place to eliminate this stigma that the military carries regarding female veterans. MST is an experience that bridges issues related to mental, physical, spiritual, wellness, and socioeconomic factors (Eichler & Evans 2018). While there is proper training put in, to place surrounding these issues, many female veterans are still being targeted by males. The fear of being ostracized is always in the back of their mind creating a barrier of fear that leads to them not being able to discuss these issues with the correct people to seek help. The impact of reporting MST can lead to further consequences which may result in shame and fear of stigmatization. The long-term exposure to sexual and physical trauma during military service is associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes (Gison et al., 2016). Due to the growth of current issues, the complexity of health concerns may not adequately be addressed resulting in female veterans experiencing problems after the transition process has begun.

Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate Partner Violence is a form of domestic violence that many female veterans are experiencing throughout their various relationships resulting in symptoms that mimic PTSD. According to Breilding et al. (2014); Bartlett et al. (2018), IPV affects approximately one in three women and one in four men in their lifetime. IPV, including physical, psychological, and sexual aggression from a past or current intimate partner, has been recognized to be a significant public health problem in the United States (Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, & Mahendra, 2015; Maskin et al., 2019). IPV is the result of interpersonal violence that is the result of either abuse physically, verbally or both depending on the circumstance. According to Latta et al. (2016), the study found that women veterans reported significantly higher lifetime rates of IPV than non-veteran women (Dichter et al.2011). The current literature implies that females who have had experience with IPV were more likely to be divorced or separated than those who had not experienced IPV. Compared with their nonmilitary peers, military members and veterans have a higher occurrence of IPV (Maskin et al., 2018). These violent acts cause PTSD and other forms of mental health disorder, thus limiting the veterans transition process. Therefore, this present study is set to address the notable gap in the current literature to explain the real-life experience of female veterans after dealing with issues caused by IPV.

Although studies should address the data with caution as there is a need to find out the overall risk factors of IPV amongst the female veterans and how these issues plague their current growth as they begin the healing process of being a victim to marital problems. According to Maskin et al. (2018), stated that approximately 29% of women and 10% of men had experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner. Female veterans that suffer from IPV are often reluctant to seek help or receive advice on how to accurately cope or handle domestic violence. The IPV aspect has a very significant range that seems to impact the psychological, physical, or sexual aggression by a current or previous intimate partner and is affiliated with a broad scope of health and social impacts, particularly for adult females (Dichter et al. 2017). According to Dicthter et al. (2017), current studies show that the statistical data estimated 5.3 million U.S. women experience IPV each year, and nearly 42.4 million women experience IPV in the form of rape, physical violence, or stalking in their lifetime. According to Maskin et al. (2018), female veterans are 1.6 times more probable to experience IPV victimization than women who have not worked in the military. This is an alarming number because, with the constant increase of female veterans each year, the data will only increase to show how many female veterans are accurately impacted by this abuse, which has a lasting impact on their future growth as ordinary civilians.

IPV seems to influence the female veterans lives the most because of the harsh reality of being married or dating their perpetrator, which elevated the depression rate and destroys the home life of these veterans. IPV is not just about physical abuse it is the mental destruction that hurts the most for more female veterans, verbal abuse can cause more harm than physical abuse. Acute and chronic physical and psychological health effects of IPV, which are easily documented, ranging from symptoms of chronic pain to sign of PTSD (Maskin, Iverson, Vogt, & Smith, 2018). Female veterans who bear from any form of MST may develop symptomatology and coping symptoms that are a direct response to the increased risk of IPV exposure or have shared risk factors for both experiences. The previous research concludes a severe issue with IPV that has its limitation to address the ongoing problems that transpire amongst the female veteran community. Physical, sexual, or psychological aggression and stalking from a past or current intimate partner is what most of these female veterans are reliving after transitioning out of the military (Dardis, Amosro, & Iverson 2017).

According to Dardis et al. (2017), advocation for the importance of IPV and showing how these issues will affect the female veteran community and how these issues can lead to adverse consequences which have the capability of influencing the overall mindset of these female veterans. The misuse and coercion have a strongly associated with mental health symptoms, such as depression, for female IPV victims (Ditcher et al., 2013; Maskin et al., 2018). A veterans overall physical and mental behavior will be affected because of the issues brought about from IPV. They are limiting their ability to function appropriately or handle and cope with things such as sleep impairment, depression, anxiety, and substance use. The transitioning process is limited by as well as affected by the issues surrounding intimate partner stalking, which is one of the unique side effects of PTSD, many female veterans are experiencing these symptoms after being a victim of IPV. To better aid as well as help the growing female veteran population, health care professionals must become better acquainted with the side effect of IPV.

This familiarity will assist in the education process to better understand the issues at hand and provide a better platform to meet the needs of these female veterans both mentally and physically. Victims of IPV may find it challenging to secure employment because of the restriction set forth by their abuser, which undermine their functional outcome. According to Crowne et al. (2011), & Maskin et al. (2018), evidence suggests that female veterans experiencing IPV were at greater danger of unstable employment both concurrently and 6 to 8 years following victimization. With the right treatment program in place for these female veterans will meet the needs of the public and address the health concerns surrounding IPV. By showing the side effects of both of their physical and mental needs, the reality of this current issue will need to be addressed to discuss the certainty of dealing with such violent acts suffered by many female veterans.

Developing the right coping techniques can allow the veteran to handle the stresses efficiently as they begin the process of transitioning back into the civilian life. The physical, sexual, and psychological forms of IPV lead to and impair many mental health conditions amongst the female veterans' community which leads to issues to included depression, substance use disorders, suicidality, and posttraumatic stress disorder (Bartlett et al., 2108). The complexity of transitioning from the military to civilian life as a female veteran is quite challenging because there is no way to prepare for the unknown because of the harsh reality of reentering society without addressing the issues developed. According to Creech et al. (2017), cognitive–behavioral group treatment explicitly designed to help military populations reduce and which will aid in ending their use of Intimate Partner Assault (IPA), which can lead to a successful transformation that results in the ideal transition process for female veterans.

A successful transition examined by studying the phenomenon of the military which will align all the necessary factors to better prepare the female veteran to ensure they can create a successful outcome despite, the reality of being a victim to specific traumatic events that have happened needs to be addressed so they can develop a technique to overcome IPV. According to Maskin et al. (2018), the evidence is supporting and suggest that IPV victimization is associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and functioning, and that gender plays a substantial role in these associations. IPV is a crime that targets some but affects everyone, and the real-life experience impacts everyone in the narrative, these issues create doubt, uncertainty, hopelessness amongst the female veteran's community. Female veterans are more likely than nonveteran women to experience IPV, with one in three female veterans experiencing lifetime IPV (Iverson et al. 2016).

There is no manuscript currently in circulation or developments in hand to describe the real-life experience many of these female veterans are experiencing. Strategic planning is one of the critical factors to overcome when addressing these issues that are developed in the military, regarding IPV, it is not a bad option to plan to seek help until it is time to solve the problems at hand. The military is comprised of countless rough rides, which have a lot of twists and turns that take the individual in every direction. Thus, implying the need to require an individual with a sound mind to handle the planned and unplanned events that take place in the military that creates change. Seeking help is the first step in addressing the current dilemma that hinders a successful transition process. Meredith et al. (2017), suggest that initiatives to improve comprehensive care for women veterans have experienced a positive effect on at least one indicator of excellent gender-specific care screening of women who has experience in some form of MST and IPV.

The current trends have implied that a fine design painting will excellent capture the picture in preparation to create a smooth transition process for veterans, especially female veterans and none of those images involved the harsh reality that most of the female veteran community will be an IPV victim. Although high levels of IPV are documented among both women, who are actively serving in the military and those who are veterans (Mercado et al. 2015), the value of the army is about demonstrating self-control, being humble, and disciplined, many female veterans are striving for those values to be restored into the military structure to help eliminate the ongoing issues of trauma. The research shows that if these issues are addressed, could lead to many of these female veterans regaining their relationship with their loved ones and having a positive outcome to such a sad ending. This positive outlook can rewrite the story for so many lost female veterans and allow them to concentrate on what counts the most and aid them with obtaining their life in society and will enable them to get their spirit back on the right route.

Substance Use Disorder

Substance use disorders (SUD) are among the more chronic and costly mental health conditions treated in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (Painter et al. 2018). According to Giannitripani et al. (2018), SUD is a component that consists of abuse or dependence on alcohol or other drugs, which is damaging to women’s wellness and tone of liveliness. These issues are developed after suffering a form of PTSD or other traumatic events which will lead to the overusing or overdosing on prescription drugs. The rate of co-occurrence of SUD and PTSD among women veterans is estimated at between 30%, and 59%, 10 and women Veterans with SUD may be as much as ten times more probable to have comorbid PTSD than those without SUD (Giannitapani et al., 2018). The side effect of being subjected to SUD is experienced psychosocial concerns such as homelessness and unemployment.

The current literature examines the gender differences when it comes to utilizing the VA treatment facility to restore the veteran female community into society without any lasting effect of SUD. Recent studies indicate that female veterans may be more vulnerable to substance use disorders than women in the general population due to their vulnerability risk factors related to assisting in the US military (Gobin et al., 2015). According to Painter et al. (2018), the results show that the acute treatment types, 34.5% of OEF/OIF/OND VA patients used the ED, 4% used residential mental health treatment, 6.9% used residential addiction treatment, and 23.6% used psychiatric inpatient treatment at least once in the first year of VA care. The increase in women's exposure to military stressors corresponds to an increase in women diagnosed with PTS and SUD (Conard and Sauls, 2014, Fontana et al., 2010; Yalch et al., 2018). SUD can potentially lead to more adverse actions, which will completely alter or stop the transition process for many of these female veterans as they try to return to society.

SUD is the onset, development of Severe mental illness (SMI), which is another side effect PTSD. Many female veterans become addicted to opiate medications for several reasons to mask the pain or overcome the trauma. According to Yalch et al. (2018), the effects of MSA and other military stressors on symptoms of SUD and PTSD way heavy amongst the female veterans community. Those issues are limiting the ability of the female veterans forcing them into rehab to rediscover their identity and address the issues at hand, which is a game changer of been addicted to opiates. According to Cucciare et al., (2013) and Gobin et al. (2015), one of the standout factors is that there is a growing health issue experienced by a significant proportion of female veterans is alcohol misuse and/or alcohol-related problems. Pain has been linked to being a leading cause of not being able to adapt to society because of the constant obsession with opiate medications. According to Lovejory et al. (2016), several studies have identified specific patient demographics and clinical characteristics associated with prescription short-term opioid therapy (SOT) and long-term opioid therapy (LOT) among various samples of Veterans with and without SUD histories. SUD is recognized as the one primary form of the PTSD that become the reason of the diminishing approach of military and other functioning for the women. Proper identification of the element of SUD make it easy for the assessors to figure out the prevailing psychological concerns that influence the approach of veteran operations and other functions feature by the women veterans outside the military services.

A better understanding of differences among alcohol user groups can help target limited health care resources in a way that best meets the needs of the patients (Pedersen et al. 2018). According to Ditcher et a. (2011) and Gobin et al. (2015) found higher rates of lifetime IPV exposure among female Veterans compared to non-Veterans (33.0% vs. 23.8%) and documented associations between IPV exposure and employment in heavy drinking. The present study is set-up to develop a process that targets the active and lifetime users of the SUD history to align with the proper treatment regime to create a meaningful diagnostic that will add value to the current literature to change the overall outcome for female veterans who are in the process of transitioning out of the military. Gobin et al. (2015), implies that the interpersonal alcohol-related concerns have been associated with a history of MST and higher rates of adulthood physical assault. Giannitrapani et al. (2018), explains that female veterans with SUD, many of whom possess a story of violence, injury, and PTSD, women-only SUD care may not be equally successful if it is only provided in a mixed-gender clinic or course of study because of psychological safety concerns.

SUD is still one of the remaining medical and mental health burdens that take place in the medical treatment facility which has a long-term effect on both individuals and society, because of the adverse outcome that comes from the result of being addicted to various medications — creating an issue within the family structure and the military atmosphere, resulting in the military member being discharged from the service. Female veterans that pose an unusual combination of SUD and PTSD may benefit from gender-specific programs designed to address conditions simultaneously (Giannitrapri et al., 2018). With SUD there are some adverse outcomes after entering a substance use treatment facility, which is essential to designing the correct measure to address the issues of using a substance treatment facility, to help reduce the burden of morbidity and mortality resulting from these disorders (Decker et al. 2017). The proper handling of the substance use disorder can contribute to a successful life outside of the military with the appropriate direction and coaching to develop a procedure that promotes rehabilitation inside of the various other outcomes which are the ethical decisions made after being a victim of substance use disorder.

Personality traits predict variation in important SUD treatment outcomes. These personal traits stem to form at an early age for female veterans in particular during their childhood is where most of the violence form which leads to a lasting and damaging effect on their life, which involved long-term consequences for adult women, including increased vulnerability for alcohol misuse. SUD has been on the uprise within the military, especially in female veterans' community. According to Gobin et al. (2015) found amongst female veterans that childhood sexual abuse was related to increased likelihood of binge drinking and both childhood physical and childhood sexual abuse were predictive of drinking until intoxicated. Thus, resulting in a particularly vulnerable sub-group of veterans that are struggling with the transition process. It allows the veterans to reach an achievable goal to get help through this process. Blognien et al. (2016), explains the method of the present work was grounded on a sample of U.S. military vets who were observed throughout their stays in a residential treatment program, to find out if their lives change so that they could feel accepted in society.

The current focal point should be on increasing access to SUD treatment, and wellness care system administrators. This could help form awareness that increased access to care of many veterans, could result in short-term cost offset and result in increased usage of both outpatient mental health and non-mental health facility (Hagenorn et al. 2017). According to Pedersen et al. (2018), it is clear that efforts need to be made to engage veterans that are struggling with alcoholism, these current users need to reach out to the service provided to them to address the ongoing issues developed from addiction. The focal point of this study is getting veterans in this program as quickly as possible to get them the needed help which has been assumed to be one of the many issues that are altering their lives after service. These female veterans are suffering from countless near-death experiences because of the over usage of medication or being a victim to some form of assault.

Many veterans allow their pride to get in the way of creating a new personality or adapting to change, which pushes them away from the needed help, instead of running towards the required support, the military does not allow the member to be pushed to the limits where most people would turn around and leave. According to Chapman & Wu (2014), veterans in poor mental health had increased odds of suicide mortality; women with a SUD had a higher risk ratio of completed suicide than men with a SUD. The reality is that SUD is often overlooked doing the screening process amongst female veteran home for combat, since 9/11, to the point where the symptoms usually go undiagnosed amongst the female veterans' community. Chapman and Wu (2014), indicate that Studies show an association between substance use, alcohol, opiates, and inhalants have an increased odd of suicidal behaviors amongst the female veteran community.

According to Pedersen et al. (2018), the research literature on substance use and treatment utilization among veterans with schizophrenia by studying patients in this population with different layers of substance use concerning patient characteristics and service use. SUD program is one of the most significant quality improvement processes to get these military veterans' lives back on the right track after being addicted to alcohol or other opioid medication. According to Chapman & Wu (2014), implies that substance use being triggering factor that can lead to increased odds of suicide ideation attempted suicide, or completed suicide, interventions on substance use might improve mental health, reduce suicide ideation, and help prevent or reduce suicide attempt and completion. Referable to the restriction of the study it is not clear on how the real-life experience can present a quality insight in establishing a positive future timeline. Without a strict time, frame to re-address the current issues to ensure if the veterans turn their life around to reach a successful conversion process, also, to examine if the current issues will go up or down later on in the future. The future of the military is the brightest it has ever been, though further research and current literature some clear guidelines will instill trust back into the military and its veterans. While the female veterans continue to increase in size, it is time to get them some help, so they will have the ability to cope with society and let go of the past and focus on the future. According to (Friedman et al.,2011; Chapman & Wu, 2014) VA is committed to identifying and serving female veteran's unique health care needs.

Veteran identity

This section was developed to understand better the true identity of the female veterans and the roles they play in protecting the constitution of the United States and how these roles create conflict with the current process of having a successful career outside the service which will hopefully lead to a successful transition process. According to Firmin et al. (2016), multiple role identities, specifically ones that may be more valued than a mental illness identify, may be protective against the effects of stigma. Female veterans in several health care backgrounds and for existing transition programs, including a consideration of the function of identity (Keeling, 2018). The primary focus is providing a professional environment while gathering the necessary insight to promote the value of the military and increase the current body of knowledge on the emphasis on why female join the army and later on become veterans.

The shock of a veteran role identity on their recovery and how these perceptions differ from non-veterans. According to Keeling (2018), the female veteran transition is considered that includes psychological considerations of the impact on identity and the potential for existential crisis. Female veterans have been recognized as a group of individuals with a unique identity, life history, and experience. According to Di Leone et al. (2016), to women in these cohorts, the exposure of sexual harassment may also be linked to their identity as service members and veteran. Outside organizations struggle to accept and understand the roles of the military because of the language barriers and the strict discipline in the army. Transition threatened their military identity; letting go of their military identity might create emptiness and an existential crisis (Keeling, 2018). The individuality of the military member is like a mysterious agent, only a small snippet of who a person is let out, thus applying the various theories to arise a clear image is required in interpreting the differences in military life and civilian life. Female veterans are leaving the military as well as going their identity previously tied to a career and pursuing a different having the freedom to be an individual requires individuals to reconcile who, as mortals, they are. The female veteran transition process is immediately connected to Scholsberg’s theory and the 4’s model as well as the role theory, which is a very fascinating connect to the individual identity that will bear on their cultural behavior.

Methodology

The study used qualitative methods to reach a fuller apprehension of the real-life experience of female veterans. There are some research studies that focus on the approach of PTSD referring to the role of women as veterans. It is important to mention that the qualitative research method refers to the one popular research method to identify the concerning issues linked with the working and health paradigm of females as veterans considering the issue of PTSD. The research study conducted by Sayer and Freindmann-Sanchez (2009) is one significant example of the research work that focused on the idea of the PTSD treatment concerning the approach of veterans. The research method in the form of a qualitative technique is utilized by the researchers to assess the actual phenomenon and the feature of attention (Sayer et al., 2009). The particular procedure of qualitative research work is adopted by the researchers to identify the approach of PTSD treatment concerning the functioning of veterans in both forms of males and females. This approach is viable referring to the primary objective of the study that focused on providing better intervention plan and recommendation regarding the treatment of the issue related to PTSD. The qualitative research work presents the effective options to conduct interviews with the participants to develop better ideas about the problems of PTSD they faced as veterans. The approach of direct conversations helps researchers to carefully observe the specific symptoms and concerns associated with different forms of psychological concerns.

The veteran participants will be based on recruited through the university and surrounding community through flyers and e-mail communications this method will be employed to properly screen the veteran to meet the study qualification (Pierce & Pritchard, 2018). This qualitative approach allows the researcher the ability to assess the best form of action to examine the publication at hand that is impacting these female veterans and how these issues affect their experiences before and subsequently after leaving the military. According to Sandelowski (2002) and Gutierrez et al., (2013) the qualitative descriptive studies have as their goal and agenda to reach a comprehensive summary based on the issues at hand depending on their everyday struggle of the terms of the actual events. All female veterans that participants in this study with military experience had a current active duty status or had been active duty within the past five years. The thoughts of the qualitative designs one conducts interviews until reaching saturation, which occurs when subsequent discussions do not yield new information (Rubin & Rubin, 1995; Gutierrez et al., 2013). The qualitative study will explore all the options and avenues through the data aggregation procedure and interviews to understand the life experience of female veterans which they are compelled to speak. The findings in this study have been geared toward the importance of the clinical implications such that interventions aimed at reducing the sexual satisfaction and function concerns experienced by MST survivors should focus on specific components of PTSD (Bias et al., 2018).

The qualitative study will furnish the best possible solution in addressing current issues through the problem statement. According to MacGregor et al., (2011) to developments and evidence of emerging innovations in VA women’s mental health maintenance, we conducted a qualitative work to investigate approaches to women’s mental health care delivery in the area. The qualitative work offers a window into the complexities and dynamics of how VA facilities and their providers are approaching arrangements for their care, in the hopes of informing ongoing policy and practice (MacGregor et al., 2011). The qualitative study seeks to attain knowledge and understanding by accessing individuals’ lived experiences and describes these experiences using rich and authentic language (Byrne, 2001; Brue & Brue, 2016; Moustakas, 1994). The qualitative approach addresses all the relevant concerns of the research question, through in-depth interviews that explain the phenomenon.

The qualitative work will produce the best possible instrument to accumulate data to serve the inquiry questions that described their real-life experience when trying to transition and deal with topics that are blocking their success in the civilian sector — the qualitative study to investigate approaches to women’s mental health care delivery in the field (MacGregor et al., 2011). The qualitative method focuses on the experience, the phenomenon explains the actual life experience and is by far the best method to determine the nature of concern surrounding female veterans (Sailakumar& Naachimuthu, 2017). The research questions are aligned with the problem statement, as it is not known how a female veteran's life will be affected after serving in the military and during their transition phase. The qualitative study among female veterans of recent conflicts was conducted to explore the women's experiences and potential suicide risk factors, according to the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide, including burdensomeness, failed belongings and acquired ability (Gutierrez et al., 2013). Not being able to cope or adjust back into civilian life will play the critical role that will impact the transition process which will lead unforeseen scenarios that is results of setback that has been developed within the military environment. According to Haun et al. (2016), this work is unique in that it qualitatively examined the experiences of female veterans from their perspective to realize the impact of PTSD. The qualitative methods have been valuable as the better-suited process to meet the goal of this study.

The quantitative study will not provide the best solution in reading the real-life experience of female veterans, by applying the corrected data collecting technique or routine to assemble all the facts by using different variables to distinguish the trouble. According to Gutierrez et al. (2013), qualitative and quantitative methods are likely to provide stakeholders with the complete characterization. The exploration of quantitative research of veterans only indicates a little tip of internal strains of combat exposure which had some degree of shock on the psychological welfare of the veteran (Gordon, 2014). The quantitative study will be the incorrect study or method utilized in this field because it will be difficult to address the personal issues of the subject that are consuming these female veteran’s lives. Quantitative approaches have a significant emphasis on building, and measure relationships between two discrete variables are never capturing the genuine substance of the real-life experience. The study calls for a more encompassed approach, and a quantitative survey was not a correct fit to examine the demands of the female veteran after serving in the military.

The qualitative work will ascertain the value of the research, by reading how they are measured differently used to play an essential function to support the field, by demonstrating how the effects of the military may transform individually to use the female veterans' lives in the hereafter. This work takes a qualitative method to align the research questions and the problem statement in how female veterans are handling the matters that transpired in the military, which introduce challenges as they commence the transition process out of the military. Qualitative descriptive studies have as their goal a comprehensive summary of issues in the everyday terms of those events (Gutierrez et al., 2013). The qualitative research accounts for free discussion based on personal experience, whereas the measure is more along the creases of a statistical driving method that show the value of the field. A qualitative approach indeed is more suited for this field to gain in-depth access to female veterans as they explain their real-life consequences.

Instrumentation

The various tools to collect qualitative data. The current collection of data was gathered by using a qualitative approach in explaining the collection process through collecting articles and reading the materials to support the present study, unstructured techniques to develop and add on to the existing theme through the interview process (Carter et al. 2014). To describe the real-life experience female veterans will go through a series of unstructured interview questions followed by casual conversation to ease the tension in the room. Then conduct a semi-structured interview process that will allow the female veterans to address the problem in a different interview protocol. The phenomenological interview questions are set to interact with the member to uncover any missed information that will provide some essential detail to the study Roberts (2013).

Conducting in-depth research on female veterans transitioning back into society captures prominent strength in the study using the fundamental principle of the semi-secured interview process to achieve the comprehensive unattainable response through the data collection process: Vance (2015), the advantage of using interview accounts for a more flexible approach to gathering the information. The additional interview process provides a variety of effective collection processes that focus on collecting data from the female veteran community.

The process concludes to explain the military transition process through interview and field notes. This gives the best possible way to accurately developed results during the interview process to capture real-life experience, achieved through verbal clues and body language. The interview process will be the foundation of discovering the hidden messages in the dialogue captured from the interview and transcribed to explain the real-life experience of these female veterans (Naphan & Elliot, 2015).

Summary

Through Chapter 2, the researcher performed an extensive review of the literature describing the ongoing development through the research and the issues that are limiting the growth inside of the female veteran community. Each year female veterans are faced with the harsh reality of transitioning out of the military to pursue different goals and dreams. However, most of those goals and visions are impacted by the lifestyle of being in the military. The growing concerns are that the veteran female population continually outgrows their male counterparts. Thus, making it quite challenging for them to transition out the military without any issues, it is almost entirely impossible to come about because of the constant development of war and conflict. Through the fundamental structure of the Schlossberg (2011) transition theory and 4’S model and Blanter (1991), role theory will examine the techniques required to limit the issues that may alter the future for many female veterans

The current influx of female veterans within the past decade has brought some needed attention to the existing literature, reducing the current gap in the literature of the overwhelming experience female veterans have suffered in recent years. Rosellini et al., (2018), implies with the growing rate of service members especially the female veteran the onset of war is going to create issues the direct have a severe emotional setback for these veterans after experiencing sexual assault, which may directly lead to PTSD. Today female veterans take on the same combative role as a male veteran, and now serve in the same capacity in every aspect of war, which is a direct comparison to their male counterpart. Today’s military is about evolution and change that all started to transpire right after 9/11, where female has made a significant generational shift amongst the gender category, where they are now viewable in the same context as the male veterans. However, these new roles in the combat zone have also placed them in some dangerous situation, where this is following them after leaving the military. The vitality is evident provide a unique approach to understand the feature of military culture better to offer better assistance which will help them through their transition phase back into society (Reppert et al., 2014).

The researcher implies a gap in the literature that has gone too long not to address now and that is female veterans are suffering in more ways than imagined to transition back home to family and friends without re-living the trauma. Per, (Duggan & Jurgens, 2007; Reppert et al., 2014) the unemployment rate for female veterans (8.2%) is higher in comparison to the rate for male veterans (4.7%). The ongoing issue within the literature shows all forms of the gap in the transition process for female veterans, which results in some unfavorable outcomes for these veterans.

The theoretical foundation in this study is set to serve as a building block to the foundation to address the current problem within the literature, by using the correct research approach to determine which model and theories will be appropriate to address the issues in the study as well as the transition process. Taking a leap of faith to leave the military is never an easy decision for many female veterans because of the uncertainty of their future. A future made more uneasy because of the main issues of PTSD, which can bring on other side effects such as MST, IPV, and SUD.

Schlossberg’s theory both the transitional factor and the 4’S model is set to instill the value of hope within the female veterans’ community. By, providing the proper guidance which allows them to capitalize on their life after the military, this method assists them in overcoming challenges and set back. The transitional theory use by Schlossberg has considered the theory is that it provides the most clarity for veterans. It is evidence that there is a growing epidemic taking place in the military that is influence these female veterans live outside of the service. Coping and handling change is never easy for the average person, now imaging has to deal with change after experiencing PTSD, or other issues such as MST, IPV, and SUD all issue are a potential setback in their transition process. Therefore, placing a burden on their role inside and outside of the service. However, the role theory is put into place to help to identify the specifics at hand, which has been hindering the process of transitioning out of the military correctly — the developing idea that included problems arising after transitioning back into society, overcoming challenges, and issues related to PTSD and another issue such as MST, IPV, and SUD. These are some of all the alarming problems that are interfering with female veterans, developing their new roles and identity.

The skill sets developed in the military are not like any other training the average person will ever experience, the knowledge gained from this experience can open up unique opportunities in the civilian sector. However, unlike the issues taking place on the battlefield, PTSD is something that cannot yet be adequately prevented if all the correct measures are in place to provide help to these female veterans. However, trying to address this issue is quite challenging as well to eliminate this stigma within the military that is cripple the female veterans’ community. Thus, it is possible that both men and women in the military may delay or never seek medical treatment for PTSD is true because of trying to uphold the masculine standards. The current literature implies that females who have experience MST will also suffer or have a higher chance of experience IPV were more likely to be divorced or separated than those who had not experienced IPV. The side effect of being subjected to SUD is experiencing psychosocial concerns such as homelessness and unemployment. A qualitative approach is indeed and is more suited for this field to gain in-depth access to female veterans as they explain their real-life consequences. The current collection of data was gathered by using a qualitative approach in describing the collection process through collecting articles and reading articles to support the present study, unstructured techniques to develop and add on to the current theme through the interview process (Carter et al. 2014). This provides the best possible way to accurately developed results during the interview process, capturing real-life experience through verbal clues and body language. In chapter 3 will be a detailed analysis which will involve a discussion for the design process as well as the data collection process.

Methodology

The study used qualitative methods to reach a fuller apprehension of the real-life experience of female veterans. There is a number of research studies that focus on the approach of PTSD referring to the role of women as veterans. It is important to mention that the qualitative research method refer to the one popular research method to identify the concerning issues linked with the working and health paradigm of females as veterans considering the issue of PTSD. The research study conducted by Sayer and Freindmann-Sanchez (2009) is one significant example of the research work that focused on the idea of the PTSD treatment concerning the approach of veterans. The research method in the form of qualitative technique is utilized by the researchers to assess the actual phenomenon and the feature of attention (Sayer et al., 2009). The particular technique of qualitative research work is adopted by the researchers to identify the approach of PTSD treatment concerning the functioning of veterans in both forms of males and females. This approach is viable referring to the main objective of the study that focused on providing better intervention plan and recommendation regarding the treatment of the issue related to PTSD. The qualitative research work provides effective options to conduct interviews with the participants to develop better ideas about the issues of PTSD they faced as veterans. The approach of direct interviews helps researchers to closely observe the specific symptoms and concerns associated with different forms of psychological concerns.

The veteran participants will be based on recruited through the university and surrounding community through flyers and e-mail communications this method will be employed to properly screen the veteran to meet the study qualification (Pierce & Pritchard, 2018). This qualitative approach allows the researcher the ability to assess the best form of action to examine the publication at hand that is impacting these female veterans and how these issues affect their experiences before and subsequently after leaving the military. According to Sandelowski (2002) and Gutierrez et al., (2013) the qualitative descriptive studies have as their goal and agenda to reach a comprehensive summary based on the issues at hand depending on their everyday struggle of the terms of the actual events. All female veterans that participants in this study with military experience had a current active duty status or had been active duty within the past five years. The thoughts of the qualitative designs one conducts interviews until reaching saturation, which occurs when subsequent interviews do not yield new information (Rubin & Rubin, 1995; Gutierrez et al., 2013). The qualitative study will explore all the options and avenues through the data aggregation procedure and interviews to understand the life experience of female veterans which they are compelled to speak. The findings in this study have been geared toward the importance of the clinical implications such that interventions aimed at reducing the sexual satisfaction and function concerns experienced by MST survivors should focus on certain components of PTSD (Bias et al., 2018).

The qualitative study will furnish the best possible solution in addressing current issues through the problem statement. According to MacGregor et al., (2011) to developments and evidence of emerging innovations in VA women’s mental health maintenance, we conducted a qualitative work to investigate approaches to women’s mental health care delivery in the area. The qualitative work offers a window into the complexities and dynamics of how VA facilities and their providers are approaching arrangements for their care, in the hopes of informing ongoing policy and practice (MacGregor et al., 2011). The qualitative study seeks to attain knowledge and understanding by accessing individuals’ lived experiences and describes these experiences using rich and authentic language (Byrne, 2001; Brue & Brue, 2016; Moustakas, 1994). The qualitative approach addresses all the relevant concerns of the research question, through in-depth interviews that explain the phenomenon.

The qualitative work will produce the best possible instrument to accumulate data to serve the inquiry questions that described their real-life experience when trying to transition and deal with topics that are blocking their success in the civilian sector. The qualitative study to investigate approaches to women’s mental health care delivery in the field (MacGregor et al., 2011). The qualitative method focuses on the experience, the phenomenon explains the actual life experience and is by far the best method to determine the nature of concern surrounding female veterans (Sailakumar& Naachimuthu, 2017). The research questions are aligned with the problem statement, as it is not known how a female veteran's life will be affected after serving in the military and during their transition phase. The qualitative study among female veterans of recent conflicts was conducted to explore the women’s experiences and potential suicide risk factors, according to the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide, including burdensomeness, failed belongings and acquired ability (Gutierrez et al., 2013). Not being able to cope or adjust back into civilian life will play a critical role that will impact the transition process which will lead unforeseen scenarios that is results of setback that has been developed within the military environment. According to Haun et al. (2016), this work is unique in that it qualitatively examined the experiences of female veterans from their perspective to realize the impact of PTSD. The qualitative methods have value as the better-suited process to meet the goal of this study.

The quantitative study will not provide the best solution in reading the real-life experience of female veterans, by applying the corrected data collecting technique or routine to assemble all the facts by using different variables to distinguish the trouble. According to Gutierrez et al. (2013), qualitative and quantitative methods are likely to provide stakeholders with the most complete characterization. The exploration of quantitative research of veterans only indicates a little tip of internal strains of combat exposure which had some degree of shock on the psychological welfare of the veteran (Gordon, 2014). The quantitative study will be the incorrect study or method utilized in this field because it will be difficult to address the personal issues of the subject that are consuming these female veteran’s lives. Quantitative approach's have a significant emphasis building, and measure relationships between two discrete variables are never capturing the genuine substance of the real-life experience. The study calls for a more encompassed approach, and a quantitative survey was not a correct fit to examine the demands of the female veteran after serving in the military.

The qualitative work will ascertain the value of the research, by reading how they are measured differently used to play an essential function to support the field, by demonstrating how the effects of the military may transform individually to use the female veterans' lives in the hereafter. This work takes a qualitative method to align the research questions and the problem statement in how female veterans are handling the matters that transpired in the military, which introduce challenges as they commence the transition process out of the military. Qualitative descriptive studies have as their goal a comprehensive summary of issues in the everyday terms of those events (Gutierrez et al., 2013). The qualitative research accounts for free discussion based on personal experience, whereas the measure is more along the creases of a statistical driving method that show the value of the field. A qualitative approach indeed is more suited for this field to gain in-depth access to female veterans as they explain their real-life consequences.

Instrumentation

The various tools to collect qualitative data. The current collection of data was gathered by using a qualitative approach in explaining the collection process through collecting articles and reading the articles to support the present study, unstructured techniques to develop and add on to the existing theme through the interview process (Carter et al. 2014). To describe the real-life experience female veterans will go through a series of unstructured interview questions followed by casual conversation to ease the tension in the room. Then conduct a semi-structured interview process that will allow the female veterans to address the problem in a different interview protocol. The phenomenological interview questions are set to interact with the member to uncover any missed information that will provide some essential detail to the study Roberts (2013).

Conducting in-depth research on female veterans transitioning back into society captures prominent strength in the study using the fundamental principle of the semi-secured interview process to achieve the comprehensive unattainable response through the data collection process. Vance (2015), the advantage of using interview accounts for a more flexible approach to gathering the information. The additional interview process provides a variety of effective collection processes that focus on collecting data from the female veteran community.

The process concludes to explain the military transition process through interview and field notes. This gives the best possible way to accurately developed results during the interview process to capture real-life experience, captured through verbal clues and body language. The interview process will be the foundation of discovering the hidden messages in the dialogue captured from the interview and transcribed to explain the real-life experience of these female veterans (Naphan & Elliot, 2015).

Summary

Through Chapter 2, the researcher performed an extensive review of the literature describing the ongoing development through the research and the issues that are limiting the growth inside of the female veteran community. Each year female veterans are faced with the harsh reality of transitioning out of the military to pursue different goals and dreams. However, most of those goals and visions are impacted by the lifestyle of being in the military. The growing concerns are that the veteran female population continually outgrows their male counterparts. Thus, making it quite challenging for them to transition out the military without any issues, it is almost entirely impossible to come about because of the constant development of war and conflict. Through the fundamental structure of the Schlossberg (2011) transition theory and 4’S model and Blanter (1991), role theory will examine the techniques required to limit the issues that may alter the future for many female veterans

The current influx of female veterans within the past decade has brought some needed attention to the current literature, reducing the current gap in the literature of the overwhelming experience female veterans have suffered in recent years. Rosellini et al., (2018), implies with the growing rate of service members especially the female veteran the onset of war is going to create issues the direct have a severe emotional setback for these veterans after experiencing sexual assault, which may directly lead to PTSD. Today female veterans take on the same combative role as a male veteran, and now serve in the same capacity in every aspect of war, which is a direct comparison to their male counterpart. Today’s military is about evolution and change that all started to transpire right after 9/11, where female has made a significant generational shift amongst the gender category, where they are now viewable in the same context as the male veterans. However, this new role in the combat zone has also placed them in some dangerous situation, where this is are following them after leaving the military. The vitality is clear provide a unique approach to understand the feature of military culture better to provide better assistance which will help them through their transition phase back into society (Reppert et al., 2014).

The researcher implies a gap in the literature that has gone too long not to address now and that is female veterans are suffering in more ways than imagined to transition back home to family and friends without re-living the trauma. Per, (Duggan & Jurgens, 2007; Reppert et al., 2014) the unemployment rate for female veterans (8.2%) is higher in comparison to the rate for male veterans (4.7%). The ongoing issue within the literature shows all forms of the gap in the transition process for female veterans, which results in some unfavorable outcomes for these veterans.

The theoretical foundation in this study is set to serve as a building block to the foundation to address the current problem within the literature, by using the correct research approach to determine which model and theories will be appropriate to address the issues in the study as well as the transition process. Leaping faith to leave the military is never an easy decision for many female veterans because of the uncertainty of their future. A future made more uneasy because of the main issues of PTSD, which can bring on other side effects such as MST, IPV, and SUD.

Schlossberg’s theory both the transitional factor and the 4’S model is set to instill the value of hope within the female veterans community. By, providing the proper guidance which allow them to capitalize on their life after the military, this method assists them in overcoming challenges and set back. The transitional theory use by Schlossberg is considered the theory is that provide the most clarity for veterans. It is evidence that there is a growing epidemic taking place in the military that is influence these female veterans live outside of the service. Coping and handling change is never easy for the average person, now imaging has to cope with change after experiencing PTSD, or other issues such as MST, IPV, and SUD all issue are a potential setback in their transition process. Therefore, placing a burden on their role inside and outside of the service. However, the role theory is put into place to help to identify the specifics at hand, which has been hindering the process of transitioning out of the military correctly. The developing idea that included problems arising after transitioning back into society, overcoming challenges, and issues related to PTSD and another issue such as MST, IPV, and SUD are some of the all alarming issues that are interfering with female veterans, developing their new roles and identity.

The skill sets developed in the military are not like any other training the average person will ever experience, the knowledge gained from this experience can open up unique opportunities in the civilian sector. However, unlike the issues taking place on the battlefield, PTSD is something that cannot yet be properly prevented if all the correct measurements is in place to provide help to these female veterans. However, trying to address this issue is quite challenging as well to eliminate this stigma within the military that is cripple the female veterans community. Thus, it is possible that both men and women in the military may delay or never seek medical treatment for PTSD is true because of trying to uphold the masculine standards. The current literature implies that females who have experience MST will also suffer or have a higher chance of experience IPV were more likely to be divorced or separated than those who had not experienced IPV. The side effect of being subjected to SUD is experiencing psychosocial concerns such as homelessness and unemployment. A qualitative approach is indeed and is more suited for this field to gain in-depth access to female veterans as they explain their real-life consequences. The current collection of data was gathered by using a qualitative approach in explaining the collection process through collecting articles and reading articles to support the current study, unstructured techniques to develop and add on to the current theme through the interview process (Carter et al. 2014). This provides the best possible way to accurately developed results during the interview process, capturing real-life experience through verbal clues and body language. In chapter 3 will be a detailed analysis which will involve a discussion for the design process as well as the data collection process.

Chapter 3: Methodology

Introduction

The process of transitioning out of the military is quite challenging for so many veterans; it is tough to develop a plan that will be custom tailored to every veteran. Schlossberg theory is set to explain the true meaning of the transitioning process which will examine the road to transition and how it has a certain level of difficulty transitioning events that result in change, thus having an impact on relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles (Goodman & Anderson 2012; Schlossberg 1981). Even though recent studies do not truly capture the surrounding environment of the transition process or examine the transition experience of a military veteran, there is a gap in the literature examining the real-life experiences of female veterans as they transition out of the service (Flowers et al. 2014). Hereafter, the purpose of this qualitative method and descriptive qualitative design is to describe, examine, and explore the various outcomes to understand better how female veterans described their real-life experiences. To better understand how their lives are altered after they are transitioning out of the military with issues developed in the service and how they are coping with these issues to create a successful transition process back into society after leaving the service in Alaska.

The information gathered in this chapter will include a complete cross-examination of the research questions that will address a specific ongoing problem that is developed in this research — secondly, the development of the solid ideas that will lead to the correct method and design that will best support and align to the purpose of this study and explain in detail. The development of this chapter will cover a wide range of information which will cover the sample population, source data, and support the validity and reliability of the data-collection strategies. Afterward, the researcher outlines the systematic process and procedures used to analyze the results of the data. This chapter will include the correct method to take when using the ethical consideration methods, so each participants identity is safeguarded and identify the potentially limiting factor of this study. To conclude, in this chapter there will be a summary to explain the key points, and immediately followed-up with data analysis, additional findings, and newly developed trends outlined in Chapter 4.

Problem Statement

It is not known how being exposed to life-altering events such as PTSD has influenced female veterans lives as they transition out of the military and back into society. A successful transition process for female veterans consists of having their issues addressed before re-connecting back into society. Long-term effects of failure to address exposure to PTSD can have a negative impact on female veterans after they have served in the Armed Forces. Kintzle et al. (2015), suggests that female veterans should seek help during their transition phase as a way to provide a level of support if they have had PTSD. The ideas developed by Schlossberg (2011), which implies the 4'S are some of the coping resources of the transitioning process which are the situation, self, support, and strategies that helps determine a successful transition for female veterans. Female veterans that seek to reintegrate without support for exposure to PTSD often wind up dealing with mental and physical issues that hinder their lives from progressing after leaving the military.

A recent study showed that one in every four female veterans would suffer some form of trauma during their military service (Cichowski et al., 2017). While female veterans are the fastest growing segment of the military, they are also more likely than male veterans to suffer from the complex issues associated with PTSD (Cichowski et al., 2017; Creech et al., 2017; Kearns et al., 2016; Latta et al., 2016). What is missing from the body of research is any work that allows female veterans to tell their stories concerning how they cope with PTSD as civilians.

Previous researchers have noted how descriptive qualitative can provide the most authentic approach to capture the lived experiences of people through in-depth interviews that illustrate the phenomenon under examination. A descriptive qualitative study will be used in this study to help gather information that military and civilian leaders can use to design programs for female veterans that may have experienced PTSD.

The lack of services for the general population of female veterans underscores the need to examine current policies designed to address the mental and physical needs of female veterans as they transition out of the military. The findings from this study may provide military and civilian leaders with information that they can use to update future policies and procedures to prepare female veterans to better reclaim their civilian identity after being exposed to PTSD. Many prior studies only seem to be focused on the issues faced by male veterans (Brunger et al., 2013; Galily & Shimon, 2012; Gonzalez et al., 2014; Hammond, 2015; Robertson & Brott, 2013). This study adds to the body of knowledge by capturing first-hand experiences of the transition process from the general population of female veterans.

It was not certain how female veteran's lives will be influenced or altered after experiencing PTSD while serving in the military, which has created a setback within their lives that may have an impact on their role as they begin the transition process which the purpose of this study. These compound issues will play a vital role in providing the necessary coping tools and resources that will assist during their transitioning phase back int to the society in the state of Alaska. According to Kearn et al., (2016), implies that female veterans will face multiple issues, challenges, and setbacks that will create such a dilemma in their life outside of the military affecting their physical and mental capability. These are the same critical issues that are affecting a vast population of female veterans around the world. According to Sellers (2017), female veterans are facing unique challenges when it comes to transitioning back to civilian life; reintegration is a different experience for them than it is for men, which creates a gap in services. To develop a clearer understanding of the issues and factors that have transpired, which has created related challenges that are influencing the transitioning process. The evidence-based of previous research explains the real-life approach and experience which we allow female veterans the ability to tell their story (Ditcher and True, 2014).

The veteran female population has grown over time due to the increase of war as well as conflict, and all the evidence consistently implies that it is not known how the female veterans will describe their real-life experiences after suffering a setback during their time in the military, which could influence their transition process. The overwhelming transformation of the present military has created this growing concern amongst research, indicating that the majority of the prior studies solely focus heavily on the male veterans instead of focusing the veteran's population as a whole (Blaauw-Hara, 2016; Johnston et al., 2010; Kranke et al., 2015). However, the contrast of this study will include the participation of 10 female veterans. The in-depth interview protocol is set to understand how PTSD has influenced the real-life experience of these female veterans as they begin the transition process out of the military. Many of these ongoing issues are impacting their mental and physical attributes which are subduing many of these female veterans' lives on a long-term basis( Blias et al., 2018). There is a need to address some of these overlooked issues that many female veterans are experiencing during their time in service, which is haunting them in their new roles and life outside of the military. This is the reasoning for this study, to add to the current body of knowledge to address the gap in the literature surrounding the transitional experience of many female veterans after being exposed to certain symptoms that are directly connected to PTSD, which is creating set back within their reintegrating process back into society.

Research Questions and/or Hypotheses

The research questions in this descriptive qualitative study are set to guide this process to an examination of female veterans' lives as they explain their real-life experience suffered during their time in the service which is influencing their transition process. According to Englander (2012), it is through openness and reflection on one’s previous phenomenological interviews that one can get a better interviewer, in a sensation very similar to the phenomenological training from one individual's point of view to show their empathic ability. The research questions will address the connection to the problem statement since it has yet to be known how female veterans described their real-life experience based on the situation that transpired during their time in the service that will influence a successful transition back to into their civilian life as they reintegrate back into society in the state of Alaska.

The current body of knowledge surrounding the topic suggests that the theories and the existing literature which are put in place is directly related to the current descriptive qualitative, indicating the complexity of transitioning out of the military. The transitional theory used by Schlossberg's (2011) will assist in providing the initial framework for RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3. The Schlossberg theory and the 4’S model is set to explore the resources that deal with the situation, self, support and the strategies that surround transitioning. The value of the 4S' has been explaining in various forms another researcher to indicate the theory conclude to a successful transition (Flowers et al. 2014; Griffen and Gilbert, 2015). Blanter's (1991) role theory explains the critical attribute to providing a vital foundation platform for the RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3. The theory developed by Blanter (1991), highlights as well as explains the contributing factors that are used in their theory to explore the interaction of the human experience based on their role in the military. The prestigious honor of serving in such a structure and organization as the military has put a strain on many of these female veterans' lives creating a significant impact as they transition out of the military. The study of female veterans often has been underexposed because of the masculinity of the military, placing a barrier within their lives which limited their ability to reach their full potential. The following research questions will guide the current descriptive qualitative study:

R1: How do female veterans describe the impact that PTSD has on their transition from the military service?

R2: How do female veterans describe the traits of their military service relative to a positive transition?

R3: How do female veterans describe the traits of their military service relative to a negative transition?

The primary source of data will consist of semi-structured interviews. Since female veterans make up a significant portion of the military this rapidly growing segment of today's population has been a huge contributor to the notable gap in the current body of knowledge. A suggestive recommendation will add to future studies to analyze the transition process with all of the related issues to settle if they impact only targeted female veterans. The Schlossberg transition theory and the role theory will show the different variations of the theoretical foundations to explain the importance of reading and provide some suggestions on managing the current topics that are affecting the lives of female veterans after their service commitment has ended. Female veterans in the military setting have subjected them to unforeseen issues that may have altered their transition process, which may be explained by their real-life experience and may enhance the body of knowledge surrounding the descriptive analysis of female veterans.

Research Methodology

This study will use a qualitative approach to examine the descriptive qualitative study that focuses on military transition and how these issues influence the future for many female veterans. The qualitative research focuses more on the in-depth study of people’s lives or the issues in their natural settings without resorting to standardized, pre-regulated categories of analytic thinking in the same capacity as the quantitative study (Yilmaz, 2013). The role of the qualitative study will help in getting the correct technique used to better interpret the burden of the participant and their lived experience in association with the current phenomenon. The qualitative study will explore all the options and avenues through the data aggregation procedure and interviews to understand the life experience of female veterans which they are impelled to speak. With the semi-structured interview format, the goal is to use a qualitative interview that is defined by a pre-set question guideline which is set to gather information. The qualitative research will provide the best possible result in addressing current issues through the problem statement, which is exploring the unknown of how the female veteran's life is transformed after serving in the military.

This study is not suited for the quantitative methodology because of the necessary real-life experience needed to examine and explore the behavior of these female veterans. According to Watson et al. (2014), the current study also provided a fuller investigation of satisfaction often inaccessible through a traditional quantitative method by using a multimethod approach. This method does not create the accurate reenactment of the real-life experience of these female veterans. The study sought to examine the personal connection to the veterans' through a similarity process to account for the issues that are brought about during their time in the military as they begin the transitional process phase.

The researcher in this study indicated that the mix-method approach is not an improved method that will provide any insight to the study. The current mix-method studies are comprised of both the qualitative and quantitative data which does not indicate a direct approach to the study. The mixed-method approach is inappropriate for this study; previous researchers acknowledge the collection process qualitative and quantitative data is not suitable for this current study. According to Kiessling and Harvey (2005), the mixed-method technique will offer a means to address the multifaceted problems more effectively due to flexibility and unconstrained view.

The previous studies employed various methods to evaluate the veteran population — the current researcher participants of qualitative studies which will explain how these real-life experiences will allow them to the ability to express freely their knowledge which is the meaning of this growing phenomenon ( Ditcher and True, 2014). The real-life experience will examine the overall performance of the veterans based on the information gathered. There is a gap in the literature directly aligning with the qualitative approach which is the best approach for this study. The qualitative study will best explore their real-life experience which will examine their military experience as they begin the process to transition out of the military back into society.

Research Design

The descriptive qualitative design will be used to examine the current fundamental qualitative description of the military transition process of female veterans. Gregg et al. (2016) conclude that the descriptions insights from the lived experience of student veteran's transitions and how practitioners and educators can address veterans’ needs in occupations in which meaning is shared. The descriptive qualitative study approach will allow the researcher the ability to understand better the detailed process of the military transition based on a summary of the data in conjunction with their real-life experience of female veterans. The pattern employed in this study will be descriptive qualitative design because the basic idea of the invention is applied to get the real-life experience of the female veterans, which will be taking part in the study. The research design is used to describe and explain individual experiences of the female veterans.

The use of the descriptive qualitative design will be put in to help highlight the similarities and differences of the study. The primary goal of the descriptive qualitative design is to understand the motivations underlying volunteerisms used to gain this understanding of the study (Lamb et al., 2018). However, there were other designs up for consideration, but for this study, the descriptive qualitative design will produce the best possible result in sharing the female veteran's real-life experiences after their time in the military. The descriptive qualitative design is the most appropriate approach to address the research question surrounding that which will explain the real-life experience of female veterans through a comprehensive summary of data to connect their experience.

The descriptive qualitative approach is a direct design to explore the authentic approach which explains the real-life experience through an in-depth examination that aligns the phenomenon correctly with the female veteran's transitional theory (Latham, 2014). The study provided a pivotal platform that will display the female veterans real-life experience through shared moments that will highlight their experience through the roadmap of transitioning out of the military back into society. For this study, there could be various designs utilized to such as case studies, grounded theory, and ethnography the qualitative process that will support the descriptive design of this research. The descriptive qualitative design was the correct course of action for this study because it provides a comprehensive point-of-view that links as well as aligns the real-life experience of these female veterans.

Population and Sample Selection

The general population for this descriptive qualitative study will consist of female veterans, both enlisted and officers who have experienced some PTSD. The sample population for this study is female veterans from the nation of Alaska who has felt some form of PTSD and the sample population for this study will include ten female vets who have gone through some form of PTSD, from the target population located within the central part of Alaska. The sample population will be female veterans who have begun the transition out of the military within the past desevereor who have severed since September 11, 2001. The location for this study will be concluded in the western geographic region of the United States with those who reside in the state of Alaska. The study expects to recruit 10 participants who are willing to tell their real-life experience based on the setback they experienced during their time in the military. The public data source such as advertisement board, flyers and handouts will be used as potential recruitment for participants to reach a target population to support the study.

This study will be advertised through various social media outlets through a recruitment statement made on Facebook and LinkedIn. Recruitment may also come through word of mouth in the local veteran community. By, targeting both platforms will account for enough participants to replace someone if they decided not to participate or feel uncomfortable. The only outlier in requires of doing social media data collection is the protection of the participating private and the proper handling of their information and how it is stored in a secure location. The growth of this sample size for this study meet a minimum needed for fulfillment for a sample using a qualitative project, which is influenced by both theoretical and practical consideration many of these female veterans will come across these requirements based on their earlier experience (Robinson 2014). For this part of the study, random selection will provide a much more valid observation of the study.

According to Serra et al., (2018), using purposive sampling for this study, strategies is quite different from those of probabilistic sampling, seeming not a generalization or randomness, but the well-informed selection of very specific cases, capable of maximizing the chances of observing phenomena of interest, will allow the participants to be selected purposively based on the criteria identified from the target population of veterans that are willing to participate in this study. The target population goal is to capture female veterans that served in this current century, who have transitioned within the past five years from all branches of service that currently reside in the state of Alaska. The target population will only be geared towards assembling the specific information or details from female veterans in one specific region, the state of Alaska, to examine the impact PTSD has on their life after stepping aside from the military. The target must have experience or have been medically diagnosed with PTSD, during or after their time in the military. They must have transition within the last five years to ensure the validity of the data.

During this study, the sample size of this study will employ the target population size where most of the information will be gathered to indicate the current issues at hand for female veterans. There is an assessment of the known problem of female veterans to explain the events that take place and set off by addressing the problems at hand that many female veterans are feeling after leaving the service. Despite the study being limited to conclude one specific region in the United States, the study will be limited because of its geographical locations which make the selection process much more selective when it comes to the participants. If the required participant is not reachable for the study, there is a plan put into place to reach out to another participant, by expanding the time frame as well as expand on recruitment venues to maximize on the target population size to reach the anticipated sample size or until data saturation to collect the necessary data. This study is direct, align with the fundamental principle of the purposive because the goal is to directly screen and identify certain criteria that will help support and screening device to select and screen participants. By, utilizing the basic process, which will account for all demographic requires, the body of knowledge, and all of the experience to align with the purposefulness of study. Also, align the sample to the study to identify the needed element to implement within this process to focus on sampling model and also focus on the particular context characteristic that will support the current process and contribute to the study. There will be limited to how many people can fully participate in this study and the number of individuals who want to contribute a current body of knowledge.

Sources of Data

The instruments utilized to collect the information for this qualitative work will be linked up through the diverse operations of data collecting procedures through many kinds of data gathering techniques, such as interviews and field notes. The female veterans and the issues they face in the military was the phenomenon under examination to explore and add to the body of knowledge to better understand the issues that are influencing their transition process out of the military. According to Kivelitz et al. (2018), furthermore, the implementation and analysis of semi-structured qualitative interviews involves multiple subjective decisions, which is the correct approach to direct the issues of PTSD in this subject, and by bringing in the correct data, the best options will be in-depth interviews to show their similarities and differences in their real-life experiences.. The information surrounding the real-life experiences of the participant will be developed through open-end questions used in the semi-structured interview process. The primary data source that will be used is the semi- interviews; then the second method will be done by collecting information through an electronic recording device. This will aid in accumulating the needed data to illustrated the participant's responses to the inquiry and to paint a brilliant photograph of their response to locating the common courses or events that these female veterans are going through.

Nonetheless, no data collection procedure can commence without the approval of Grand Canyon University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Before beginning the protocol of the interview procedures, the content must be reviewed by the expert panel to evaluate the validity of the question, which will lead to a more semi-structured interview protocol, then apply the input, suggestion, and recommendation given by the panel. Video chat and video recording is another source that may be utilized to reach the participants throughout the state of Alaska as another source of data collecting if they do not have time for an in-depth interview. The value of this method is instrumental for the researcher-practitioners to get in touch with their reveries in interviews because they may convey truths about participants’ experiences and the research relationship that are otherwise inaccessible (McVey et al. 2015).

The interview protocol will consist of a demographic question that will be provided in Appendix D when created to provide a quick background of the participant to explain as well as examine the finding collected to support the study, which will be in the Appendix section. The interview protocol will be placed in the Appendix D section once the documentation before it receives the approval of AQR and IRB. The coding is a process of the material into chunks or segments of text before bringing meaning to information (Rossman & Rallis, 1998). This section is only explained the basic scores of data used to develop the validity of this study, which is through the interview process, observation, and electronic recording. Through the data collection process and source of data will this segment be used to break them into the segment to create different categories and labeling to look for key term and themes.

Also, using the process of vivo coding to look for any unforeseen theme or term that are outliers of the researcher control. Therefore, by utilizing the validity and reliability of the data will help support the finding of the study. The validity of this study is to add strength to the qualitative research and based it on the finding of determining and look for accuracy. Procedures were carefully designed to meet all aspects of the study to create a data collection process, including the sample frame and selection, preparations, informed consent, processes to conduct the semi-structured interviews to including the collection. The validity at this juncture in the study is put into place not only to support the current finding in the study but employ a certain procedure that is founded on trust and honesty. This process is a direct reflection on the approach of the study and consistent across the project, which accounts for the reliability of the data. The collection procedures will be used to decide the quantity of the result, not the quality. The demographic questions will target specific questions to draw vital information to support the study by providing, age, the branch of service; years served and date of separation, education level, and current job status.

The semi-structured interview will provide an interpersonal connection to understand better the real-life experience many of these female veterans have encountered through their time in the military. By using a semi-structured interview will provide a closer look at the real-life experience that is taking place. The data collection instrument will be based on an interview platform that focuses on the issue at hand to explain these issues affection the overall demographic inside of the military which is interfering with the transition process. The qualitative interview process accounts for those face to face meeting which allows the participant to feel comfortable answering those open-ended questions to collect data and search for themes and trends. Very often data collecting takes place in a specified period, and qualitative data analysis is viewed as a next step in the research process after all data have been gathered and transcribed.

The use of descriptive qualitative design creates an environment that leans heavily on real-lived events. Capturing the lived experience will allow an opportune to learn from the current experience to help other people and organizations that may be facing that same issues and experiences. The interview process accounts for the real-life experience to come forth to collect valid data and give accurate documentation in what truly has transpired in their lives. Utilizing the proper technique to conduct comprehensive qualitative research will offer a huge advantage in the interview process when trying to collect data that will be vital to the study. The strength of the study will come from the semi-structured interview that will capture the in-depth response of the participant to add value to the study.

The structure data collection instrument and data sources that will provide the best overall assessment and observations will be the semi-structured interview. The facts that are gathered from this process will capture the issues at hand that is impacting the underlying process that will lead to a successful transition. The interview protocol will guide the responses that will be collected during the interview, which will be transcribed in a journal to explain the real-life experience these female veterans have to encounter during their time in the military service. The interview protocol will explain the informed consent. The next process in the will be to request permission to begin the recording of the interview.

This process will initiate the rapport building method with some simple and basic icebreaking question. The goals of this process are developing a rapport that will encourage a certain level of trust to gather information based on the semi-structured interview to uncover issues or concerns when it comes to elicit peoples own view and descriptions — followed by, the semi-structured interview question that will be geared to answering a series of the open-ended question based on the date and time of the interviewer and the interviewee. The next step will be to initiate probe question that will further the current study. The complexity of the interview required comprehensive and efficient protocols for all data collection tasks. The last step will be to summarize and recap the current themes and traits, with a conclusion of the interview with a wrap-up. Then once that has been established an ice breaker session, then the interview question, and then the probing question, the researcher will be in the gathering data via of notes and other recording devices that will be transcribed later and to check for validity and reliability of the information. The documentation will explain each one of the research searches questions utilized to capture the various condition military, which military which is carrying over into their life after transitioning out of the military.

Trustworthiness

From a researcher's point of view, many methods can be employed to establish the trustworthiness of this study to create a strong conclusion based on the information gathered from the participant to establish the validity of a study. Qualitative research is the best possible way to define and support the meaning of the study by having quality information that will reflect on the study at hand. Instead of relying on the quantitative study to set the tone of the study, the qualitative study provides the best source in connecting with the credibility. Ngozwana (2018), the qualitative research approach employed in this study was deemed appropriate for the sample size and the phenomena under investigation. The specification used in this study will be put in place to address the multiple criteria of the graphic design to capture the credibility in addition to the trustworthiness of this study.

The goal of the researcher is to play a vital role in collecting information that will add to the current body of knowledge as well as the current descriptive qualitative study. The end goal of this study is to develop certain level trustworthiness that is captured through this qualitative research (Cope, 2014). By expanding the current body of knowledge through preexisting studies and research by examining the previous descriptive design to support the real-life experience these veterans are experiencing during their time in the military by conducting an in-depth interview.

The interview protocol will guide the examination process of these lived experiences many female veterans are transitioning with as they leave the military. The interviews protocol will be a series of events that will target multiple demographics of female veterans to explains their lived experience. Strategies performed at each stage of the research process not merely achieve the standards but also enrich the credibility and trustworthiness of the study (Polit & Beck, 2012). The interview design is utilized to explain the free flow of ideas and response of each participant, the result of the flexibility of the study is to coexist with the interview protocol. The use of open-ended questions will encourage all the participants to think outside the box in addition to probing questions which will extract additional response to help support the findings of the study. Hunter (2012), the researcher will attempt to document the interpretations held by the research participant. The interview protocol will establish the tone for the study that will lead to substantial evidence gathered from the response to support the study. The interview protocol will be outlined in the Appendix section once the documentation has been approved by the IRB and the AQR panel.

Validity

This section describes and defends the procedures used to determine the validity of the data collected. Validity refers to the degree to which a study accurately reflects or assesses the specific concept that the researcher is attempting to measure. Ask if what is being measured is what was set out to be measured. Researchers must be concerned with both external and internal validity. External validity refers to the extent to which the results of the study are generalizable (quantitative) or transferable (qualitative) to the population. Internal validity refers to the rigor with which the study was conducted (study design, theory instrumentation, measurements, etc.). For this section, provide specific validity statistics for quantitative instruments, identifying how they were developed. Explain specific approaches on how validity will be addressed for qualitative data collection approaches.

Reliability

The trustworthiness of the study is put in place to develop as well as ensure the reliability of a study which is paramount. The dependability of the study will depend on the result of the response gathered from the participants that will use in this study. The qualitative research study will help support the reliability in addition to the validity of the study by incorporating the interview protocol that will yield consist result. Darawsheh (2014), implies that the qualitative methods will be utilized to increase the credibility and robustness of findings capture from the reaction of the female veterans as they explain their real-life experience. The investigating process will support the validity as well as the reliability of the study which is developed through the real-life experience of the female veterans.

A lived experience that embodies a rich description of the study is a primary goal of descriptive qualitative study (Maiocco and Smith, 2016). The semi-structured interview protocol will connect the lived experience with the reliability factor which is an extension of the study. Also, interviewing protocol and careful examination of the transcript serve as a time factor which will ask the question, what statements from the participants about coming back from war are particularly revealing about the phenomenon of coming back. Semi-structured interviews were directed to capture the lived experiences of a female veteran. The purpose of an interview protocol yielded consistent results by ensuring all interview questions are asked to each participant in a readable and concise way. Dependability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure is applicable and yields the same effect with repeated trials.

Data Collection and Management

During this process, the people included in this study show the relevance of the study is set to address the problem statement of female veterans that have transitioned within the past years, which is not knowing how female veteran's with PTSD lives are transformed after serving in the military and how this will influence transition process. The researcher will use the data collection process as the primary instrument of choice to gather the appropriate information. Before beginning the data collection process, the researcher must receive IRB approval from Grand Canyon University. The data collected from the qualitative this study will use purposive sampling to justify the target and sample population of female veterans that have experienced some form of PTSD, which will be the parameter of the study. According to Serra et al. (2018), purposive sampling, for exploring the complex relationships between urban contextual characteristics and other variables of interest.

The evidence that is collected and gathered from the in-depth interviews, to show the connection of the similarities and differences in the response of the female veterans used to gather the appropriate information to formulate meaningful results to show the strategy, and the importance of the situation, which is transitioning female veterans. The interview process will be used to gather an excess of information from many of the female veterans that cannot participate in the in-depth interviews. First, the Pilot studies had to be present before the initial finding can lead off, therefore by using a pilot work will represent the central principle to proceed with the inquiry process. The purpose of this is to devise a timeline the focus on the big picture of the study. By, introducing the roles and limitation will allow the pilot studies to be applied to judge the feasibility of recruitment, randomization, retention, assessment procedures, new methods, and implementation of the new intervention — the pilot study all the researchers to be subjective and objective when choosing participants. A pilot study can better research in their effort in directing or control the goals of this study and through the descriptive qualitative study account for the best options for controlling the narrative. The process will begin by defining the interview protocol, which will be in Appendix C. The next step will be to the introduction of the study to the participant. Followed by an informed consent process and then acknowledgment of the recording. From a researcher's standpoint, the philosophy here is to take on the evidence further through the data collection methods, which the semi-structured, interviews to generate large amounts of data to provide valuable information.

The next step will be to initiate the interview protocol by opening up with an icebreaker, then followed by a series of semi-structured question. Then the necessary probing question to gather additional information, then a quick recap or the conclusion of the interview. While this process is taking place, raw data will be collected from the interviewee and then be transcribed will be run through a computer-generated program to check for facts or other traits, new themes, or trends. This process will be used to gather addition, evidence, as well as a variety of study used to support the methodologies. The field note will be used for later transcription to understand the participant's responses to the research to paint a vivid picture of their response to finding the common traits and trend of PTSD, which these female veterans are experiencing after their time in the military service. The value of this method is instrumental for the researcher-practitioners to get in touch with their reveries in interviews because they may convey truths about participants’ experiences and the research relationship that are otherwise inaccessible (McVey et al., 2015).

The data collection process expects to use only the sample population to collect the needed information from all participating female veterans. The data instrument must be put in place to show how the tools will be used in conjunction with the IRB review process, to protect the rights and well being of the participant and protect the identity of the participant through the data collection instrument. During, these processes there are different methods used to interview to gather information via video recording or auto-recording. Sources of data for this phenomenological study involved the use of a 20-demographic questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a researcher’s journal. The researcher interviewed ten female veterans found in the state of Alaska. Morse, (2015) and Seidman (2013), explain how earlier study and researchers will highlight qualitative studies produce significant quantities of data to support the tales; and therefore, recommended researchers maintain a sample size.

On that point are several approaches to collecting qualitative information. The data collection process steps will include current setting and boundaries of the study, by collecting information from a semi-structured interview platform based on the interview protocol. This process will help identify the purposive of the study of pre-selecting individual who meet the criteria of the study. The researcher will also utilize field notes to support the gesture and body languages to complement the audio-recording, interview, also, the field notes will allow the researcher the ability clue in on the environmental contexts, behaviors, and nonverbal cues that may not be adequately captured through the audio-recording. This purposeful selection process will help the researcher understand the problem and the research question. The face-to-face in-person interview generates a solid foundation between the interviewer and the interviewee, it allows the participant to fill a timeline gap and replacing them historical data or information on what transpired and how did it transpire.

The informed consent will be drafted and sent to have the commitment and IRB for approval before disturbing. The researcher will use audio or video recording data collection, and then the recordings will be transcribed verbatim before data analysis can begin. However, the informed content must be the first thing on the agenda before any piece of information has been released or discuss, without the consent, the information cannot be utilized in any manner. Also, the protection of individual privacy is a huge concern when discussing some past; a document will be drawn up specifying the specific detail on how the individual privacy will be safeguarded and store away in a locked room inside of lock cabinet and will be shed after a seven years' time frame. The subject field will rely heavily on semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to elicit information surrounding their real-life experiences as female veterans who hold to begin the transition process out of the military to back into society.

The previous study noted the most effective qualitative study that will necessitate the use of interviews because of interviews allow for the capture of in-depth responses that may go unattainable via other information collection schemes. MAXqda and QSR NVivo will be two transcribing software programs use to assist in the coding process to assist in the categories and thematic analysis. Afterward, the information would be bracketed based on the research question and others from the information gathered. Notes field will be used to provide important details and context that will support the audio recording to assist in the reminder for later assessment. The information collected both on paper-based and electronic-based will be properly safeguarded and stored in a locked room with top-notched firewall and safe protocol surrounding the information gathered. And, will be store and keep for seven years' in a locked cabinet, inside of a locked office, inside of my home and when the to destroy the information, it will be properly sheltered and then burned.

Data Analysis Procedures

The data that is developed from this descriptive qualitative study is about walking a mile in these female veteran shoes to see the issues from their perspective. By, using the qualitative approach is one of the key factors and issues will align the information to match the data analysis to the management aspect that will provide a true snapshot of the participant history. These issues of PTSD have a significant impact on the female veteran’s community, which is displayed during the data analysis process. The thematic analysis approach of collecting data, provide a clear guideline as well as guidance to search for themes and patterns in finding the current descriptive study. The data is ready to be exhibited or displayed in the correct manner that will use a researching tool used in this qualitative study to account for the proper use and analysis of the techniques used that will highlight to the inquiry and the query of the participant of this study. The thematic analysis is the best possible solutions for this data analysis process that will align descriptive qualitative study to the current research and address each research question.

Using quality data will help produce a descriptive statistical summary to highlight the implication of the work. According to Braun and Clarke (2006), thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within the data. In this in-depth interview process will allow their voice to be heard and shed some light on the issues that create barriers and roadblock in their lives and search of current patterns and themes that will create an analysis that can be used in the future study. The information will be devised and trained for the interpretation of the data for analysis that will be exhibited during the findings. Then the transcribing of the statistical data will be run to check for common motifs and events taking place in this field.

Interpreting between the lines will explain the events at hand and used the coding techniques to generate a standard theme used to direct the research questions. The semi-structured interview will suffice as the main sources of collecting data surrounding the conversion process of female vets. Seidman (2013) explains that the interviewing provides access to the context of people’s behavior and thereby offers a means for researchers to interpret the significance of that conduct.

The information, analysis process required an extended interrogation of the findings surrounding the lived experiences of female veteran and how they are making out with the current resources that enable a successful changeover from the military back into society after experiencing issues developed in the military. When developing a descriptive qualitative study, there are many suggested made to support the research questions should seek to explore a phenomenon from the individual’s period of opinion (Englander, 2012). The following research questions addressed the problem statement since it is not known how female veteran to describe their real-life experiences as they military transition out of the service and back into society and acquire techniques that will enable a successful changeover to the local community in Alaska.

The following research questions will guide the current descriptive qualitative study:

R1: How do female veterans describe the impact that PTSD has on their transition from the military service?

R2: How do female veterans describe the traits of their military service relative to a positive transition?

R3: How do female veterans describe the traits of their military service relative to a negative transition?

The process for interview will consist of predetermine location that both parties agree pounded followed by a recitation of the informed consent and receiving a signature before proceeding and then start the interview protocol call by begin with an icebreaker followed by a series of research inquiry, observed by digging into questions and then a recapitulation and a summary. After all, these events have taken place in sequential order the events; the researcher will thank the participant and end the recording and begin the transcription will begin after the interview process has concluded. The only note will be transcribed on paper and then run, the information into a MAXqda and QRR NVivo for further transcriptions. The research questions, as considerably as the interview questions, will guide the direction of the data aggregation operation for this descriptive qualitative study. The current step-by-step procedure is based on the rigorous methodology of the material that will be analyzed.

The element discovers in the data collection category will be based on the theme which is identified in the current literature. The method of the analysis will consist of the following 8 steps: preparation of data, defining the theme of analysis, developing categories and coding theme, pre-testing the coding scheme on a sample, coding all the text, assessing the consistency of coding employed, drawing inferences on the basis of coding or themes and presentation of results. The preparation of the data will begin the process to identify the several ways to collect the qualitative data and then examine the content analysis, this process will allow the data to be transformed to help support the current research and researchers by clarifying the needs through the content and the collection process to justify the current data that will be transcribed during the analysis process. The next step will be to define the current thematic analysis based on keyword, phrase or a sentence, provided by the female veterans to explain the content of the study.

The current theme of analysis should match the current literature to align the theme with the present idea and with the current theme it should be based on the current study. The step in the data collection and analysis process will be to develop a category or coding scheme that will use to analyze the data by using three sources that will consist of the primary data, theories of the topic and empirical study. For the qualitative content analysis can be based on both inductive and deductive approaches, the categories and codes need to be developed based on the approach adopted (Datt, 2014). The qualitative study is designed to link the important details together to provide an accurate interpretation of current theories with existing theories to draw any conclusion that will help develop new theories to ensure a consistent coding process. The next step will be the pre-testing, coding scheme which will be used in conjunction with the qualitative data, but to ensure the consistency will be important, the goals are creating a research process that will be used to create a simple process that will use existing data.

The coding process is all text the will consist of important details that will be applied to the current coding process that is connected with the data. The assessing consistency will be based on the coding process, by, using a whole data proves which will use the proper valid and dependability process that will be checked according to the IRB. After conducting an extensive validation process is where the researcher can draw a conclusion basis on the coding and categories generated, by, the current theme generated to explore the various properties, dimension developed, which will be used the use to uncover current patterns that will. The current presentation will be the consequences of all of the ideas which are the conclusion of the field that will help undercover the developing procedure from the theme to increase interpretations based on the raw data which is set to create new themes. The interview guide supports consistency in the interviews and functions as a tool that relates to the research problem, research questions and recent relevant literature (Pedersen et al. 2016).

The evidence used in this study could have utilized many different designs and method, however, to carefully gather the correct information needed to support the research question and help identify the problem the best approach to this study was to use the descriptive design and analysis to help analysis all of the evidence and facts that will be gathered throughout this study, with the assistant of the thematic analysis. The real-life experience approach with the assistance of thematic analysis will highlight the issues that many of these female veterans are struggling to overcome. The justification for using the statistical data to support the study is because the study solely focuses on female veterans and is geared to explaining the current problem and issues amongst the veteran female population and non-statistical data analysis will be female that are not yet veterans or never served or the male population both active, veterans, and never served population. At this time, this study is geared toward the veteran female population and will have to be further expanded in the future to account for both male and female veterans. The data analysis will not change because the presence of antlers will interfere with the study and the overall message of the study.

Ethical Considerations

This descriptive qualitative study will discuss the anticipated ethical issues surrounding the research, including how human subjects and this data will protect the identity of the participants. Before continuing with the study, the researcher must complete extensive ethical training. This section should also reference necessary guidelines of the IRB and in addition to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) provides researchers with basic knowledge of the requirements needed to adhere to consistent ethical standards throughout the research process before receiving the approval(s) before conducting these styles of research. According to Seidman (2013), the Belmont Report system is the preferred method or requirement to fulfill the researchers involving human participants to endure by the ethical rules of justice, respect, and beneficence. The participating recruits and subject must sign a consent form before any initial contact has been established or process, in addition to explaining how site authorization will be held if it is necessary for this study. If there is some potential life or death situation, excepted to treat the issues according, with the idea of protecting the participant identity, regardless of the position the participant identity is the main concern of this survey. Lastly, permission must be secured from the Grand Canyon University IRB before starting the data collection process.

The current bias of this study will bring a new lasting impact to the current body of knowledge as well as to the scientific approach to the literature. By warding off the overarching appearance of prejudice based on gender, female veteran personality was not employed in this work. An extra step required by the researcher to address the perceptual experience of bias was the practicing of the concept of bracketing. Moustakas (1994) will explain the importance of the bracketing system in how the initial measure was needed to alleviate biases because it involves the power to abstain from developing judgment based on real-life experience of these female veterans and how this issue bears on their lives even after the warfare is over, or their commitment is down.

Before submitting any transcription of the interview session, the researcher obtained a non-disclosure agreement from the company rendering services. Planning to protect the privacy of the topics must be included to ensure the documents such as consent forms and demographic questionnaires in a filing cabinet that will only be accessible to the current researcher. The electronic data and journal notes will also remain secured in the researcher's password-protected computer. The data will be retained for seven years, after which all electronic copies will be permanently deleted from a computer’s hard drive and all hardcopy documentation it will be destroyed by crosscutting shredding.

IRB Alert

Please be aware that GCU doctoral learners may not screen, recruit, or collect any data until they receive Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and obtain a signed D-50 form. IRB review occurs after the proposal is approved by AQR and the proposal defense is completed. Learners are responsible for knowing, understanding, and following the IRB submission and review processes. Screening, recruiting participants, and collecting data in advance of IRB approval is a serious research ethical violation, with legal and federal regulatory implications to the University. If a learner chooses to screen or recruit study participants, or collects data in advance of obtaining IRB approval (IRB approval letter and D-50 form), s/he will be subject to serious academic disciplinary action by the Institutional Review Board and Code of Conduct committee. This may include collecting new data or requiring the learner to start over with a new research study. In addition, the Code of Conduct committee will issue a disciplinary action that may include warning, suspension, or dismissal from the program.

Note: Learners should NEVER proceed with any aspect of participant screening, recruiting, interacting with participants, or collecting data in advance of receiving the IRB approval letter and the signed D-50 form. The chairs and committee members are trained on these requirements; however, the learner is ultimately responsible for understanding and adhering to all IRB requirements as outlined in the University Policy Handbook and Dissertation Milestone Guide.

IRB Alert

Please be aware that GCU doctoral learners may not screen, recruit, or collect any data until they receive Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and obtain a signed D-50 form. IRB review occurs after the proposal is approved by AQR and the proposal defense is completed. Learners are responsible for knowing, understanding, and following the IRB submission and review processes. Screening, recruiting participants, and collecting data in advance of IRB approval is a serious research ethical violation, with legal and federal regulatory implications to the University. If a learner chooses to screen or recruit study participants, or collects data in advance of obtaining IRB approval (IRB approval letter and D-50 form), s/he will be subject to serious academic disciplinary action by the Institutional Review Board and Code of Conduct committee. This may include collecting new data or requiring the learner to start over with a new research study. In addition, the Code of Conduct committee will issue a disciplinary action that may include warning, suspension, or dismissal from the program.

Note: Learners should NEVER proceed with any aspect of participant screening, recruiting, interacting with participants, or collecting data in advance of receiving the IRB approval letter and the signed D-50 form. The chairs and committee members are trained on these requirements; however, the learner is ultimately responsible for understanding and adhering to all IRB requirements as outlined in the University Policy Handbook and Dissertation Milestone Guide.

Figure 2. IRB alert.

Limitations and Delimitations

Chapter 3 will address the broad, overall limitations and delimitations of the field, this segment discusses, in detail, the limitations and delimitations related to the research methodology and design and potential impacts along the outcomes. The section also describes any limitations and delimitations related to the methods, sample, instrumentation, data collection process and analysis. At that place were several limitations presented in this current qualitative phenomenological study. Other methodological limitations and delimitations of the study may include issues regarding the study design, sample regarding size, population and procedure, instrumentation, data collection processes, and data analysis. Maiccao & Smith (2016), recognized that the inquiry is limited despite this fact, study participants readily remembered their experiences. Limitations factors of this study might suggest a limiting factor in the field.

The restriction of the subject would be the smallest size and the emplacement of the subject since the subject is only distributed ten female veterans in one general area. With such a limited sample size the study may create a further gap in the field. The information collection process expects to use the sample size and the prey population to pick up the needed info from all participating female veterans; the researcher has no control over, such as bias develop from the response gathered through the consultation procedure. Those who lack knowledge of, or acquaintance with military help, may not fully understand this subject. This section also contains an explanation of why the existing limitations are unavoidable and are not expected to affect the results negatively.

The delimitations factors that take place in the study are required items constant control as the researchers, to explain the step-by-step instruction that provides insight into the study based on size and demographics. The descriptive qualitative study presented a delimitation factor to this study because the sample population was just restricted to female veteran instead of both male and female veterans. The journals will be used to transcribe the participant's responses to the research to paint a vivid picture of their response to locating the common trends or issues that these female veterans have experienced things over which the researcher has control, such as the location of the study. In accession to the delimited facts of this study female veteran issue became a famous gap in the current literature because there is no evidence showing how these events are impacting the larger growing the segment in the veteran community — most of the literature related to understanding a woman’s experience (Baechtold & De Sawal, 2009).

Summary

Chapter 3 provided an extensive overview of the current methodology of this descriptive qualitative study. This study aimed to describes the experience that PTSD has on the female veteran community and how it will impact their ability to have a successful transition out of the military. The transition process varies from person to person and having the correct coping skill in place to reintegrate back into society has yet to be incorporated into the transition process for many of these female veterans. Thus, hindering their process to cope with society in the state of Alaska. The qualitative phenomenological will be correctly aligned with the ten strategic points, which will help explore the real-life experience of female vets who are suffering from various issues developed in the military.

The developmental issues discovered during the initial study are set to explore the unknown which is how female veterans' lives are altered after leaving the service after suffering from the issue created by the military. The research question aligned with the problem statement, as it was not known how female veteran describe their real-life experiences of the military and how that influences them out of the military to maintain a successful life outside of the service.

Dichter and True (2014) resisted participants of qualitative studies could take into account the female veterans the opportunity to speak without restrictions express because of the shared experiences versus the constraints of predetermined categories developed by using the quantitative methods. Therefore, the phenomenological design was the best approach to explain real-life experiences for these female veterans. The descriptive qualitative design was appropriate because the first effort of a descriptive qualitative study is to provide a broad description of the real-life experience of these female veterans. The semi-structured interviews will align correctly with the research questions to capture need responses surrounding the real-life experiences of the female veterans. The researcher-maintained adherence to ethical standards while leading this survey. Additionally, to protect participants’ identity, the researcher codes to all identifiable pieces of data. Chapter 4 includes an explanation of the predominant themes that come forth from rich descriptions of the real-life experiences of a female veteran.

References

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Appendix ASite Authorization Letter(s)

This is a required Appendix for Level 2 and Level 5 Reviews.

For purposes of confidentiality, this will be removed prior to Dean’s signature and the following text will be inserted:

Site authorization(s) on file at Grand Canyon University.

Appendix B.IRB Approval Letter

Appendix C.Infromed Constent

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

A study on female veterans and their life after serving in the military

INTRODUCTION

The purposes of this form are to provide you (as a prospective research study participant) information that may affect your decision as to whether or not to participate in this research and to record the consent of those who agree to be involved in the study.

RESEARCH

Anthony L. Robinson Doctoral student College of Principal Investigator has invited your participation in a research study.

I am completing this research as part of my doctoral degree in Management

STUDY PURPOSE

The purpose of the research is to add to the current body of knowledge in direct connection to female veterans and their life after serving in the military.

ELIGIBILITY

You are eligible to participate in this research if you:

1.Female veterans who served since September 11, 2001

2.All branch of service in Alaska

You are not eligible to participate in this research if you:

1.Male veterans

2.Veterans outside the state of Alaska

DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY

If you decide to participate, then as a study participant you will be asked to:

1.There will be a series of interview conduct in private setting such as a library or private office to safeguard the participant identity.

2. Each section will last about an hour to capture the real-life experience of these veterans.

3. The activity will consist of icebreaker section follow by open-ended question with a summary of the interview to discuss the critical point and followed by an open forum to discuss issues that were not discussed during the open-ended session.

Approximately (10) of subjects will be participating in this research study.

RISKS

If you decide to participate in this research study, then you may face some risks such as some of the risks that may transpire is opening up an old wound or reliving events that have altered their life after leaving the service.

To decrease the impact of these risks, you can:

I will allow the participants to skip any question they are not conformable discussing, all the participant to stop at any time and provide outside counseling if required.

If additional counseling is needed, I will refer them to the locate VA treatment facility for emotional stress if necessary.

BENEFITS

If you decide to participate direct benefits to you are: It will assist in female veterans feeling more comfortable about sharing their experience inside and outside the military. It will add value to the growing female veterans’ community; it will also add to the current body of knowledge that many of these female a veterans are afraid to discuss.

If you decide to participate indirect benefits to you are: The indirect benefits is to raise awareness to the overlook issues that are taking place in America amongst the female veterans community. All the female veterans voice to be heard without judgment or reprisal. To capture the attention of military as well as civilian leader that there are an issue that are often overlooked inside the female veterans community.

CONFIDENTIALITY

All information obtained in this study is strictly confidential unless disclosure is required by law. The results of this research study may be used in reports, presentations, and publications, but the researchers will not identify you. To maintain the confidentiality of your records, Anthony L. Robinson will keep the name of the participants confidential and will not be discussed with anyone without the participant consent. The confidentiality will be maintained throughout this process.

The people who will have access to your information are: myself, and, my dissertation chair, and/or, other researchers, and/or, my dissertation committee.

Audio recording:

I would like to use a voice recorder to record your responses. You (can, or, cannot) still participate if you do not wish to be recorded. Briefly describe how the participants’ identity will be protected. The participant identity will be kept confidential because of the sensitivity of the study the participants will only be identified by the interview number and the primary demographic characteristic.

Video recording: N/A

I will secure your information with these steps: By locking my office and filing cabinet and will provide a triple layer of securing to my office and computer by using encryption password and pin number to gain access to the information in my office as well as my computer.

I will keep your data for 3 years. Then, I will delete electronic data and destroy paper data.

WITHDRAWAL PRIVILEGE

It is okay for you to decline to participate in this research study. Even if you say yes now, you are free to say no later and stop participating at any time, there will be no penalty to you.

If you decide to stop participation, you may do so by: If the participation decides not to complete the interview or would like to withdrawal from the study. I will give them the opportunity to do without any hesitation, and I would say ask them if they would like me to use there if it acceptable for the study.If the participant grants me permission to used their information I may or may utilize the information if it does not support the study and if the information is not useful, it will adequately safeguard inside of my office for 3 years.

Your decision will not affect your relationship with Grand Canyon University or otherwise cause a loss of benefits to which you might otherwise be entitled.

No member of my current inner circle will be a participant in this study.

I may stop your participation, even if you did not ask me to if the participant show sign of emotional break down from the question or sign of distress will I conclude the interview process to eliminate any potential discomfort or emotional setback.

COSTS AND PAYMENTS

There is no financial cost to you as a participant in this study, nor is their payment for your participation.

-Alternatively,-

There is no financial cost to you as a study participant, however, as a thank you for your willingness to participate, you will be given I will provide participants 25 dollar gift card for participants in this interview.

COMPENSATION FOR ILLNESS AND INJURY

If you agree to participate in the study, then your consent does not waive any of your legal rights. However, no funds have been set aside to compensate you in the event of injury. If more than minimal risk of foreseeable injury is anticipated, describe the facilities, medical treatment or services which will be made available in the event of injury or illness to a subject. Description may include on and off-campus services.

VOLUNTARY CONSENT

Any questions you have concerning the research study or your participation in the study, before or after your consent, will be answered by (Anthony L. Robinson, ARobinson96@my.gcu.edu, 773-648-9006

If you have questions about your rights as a subject/participant in this research, or if you feel you have been placed at risk, you can contact the Chair of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, through the College of Doctoral Studies at IRB@gcu.edu; (602) 639-7804.

This form explains the nature, demands, benefits and any risk of the research study. By signing this form you agree knowingly to assume any risks involved. Remember, your participation is voluntary. You may choose not to participate or to withdraw your consent and discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefit. In signing this consent form, you are not waiving any legal claims, rights, or remedies. A copy of this consent form will be given (offered) to you.

Your signature below indicates that you consent to participate in the above study.

________________________________________________________________

Subject's SignaturePrinted NameDate

____________________________________________________ ____________

Other SignaturePrinted NameDate

(if appropriate)

INVESTIGATOR’S STATEMENT

"I certify that I have explained to the above individual the nature and purpose, the potential benefits and possible risks associated with participation in this research study, have answered any questions that have been raised, and have witnessed the above signature. These elements of Informed Consent conform to the Assurance given by Grand Canyon University to the Office for Human Research Protections to protect the rights of human subjects. I have provided (offered) the subject/participant a copy of this signed consent document."

(Your signature indicates that you have ensured the participant has read, understood, and has had the opportunity to ask questions regarding their participation).

Signature of Investigator______________________________________ Date_____________

Appendix D.Interview Protocol

A study on female veterans and their life after serving in the military

Introductory Information

First off, I would like to take this time and say thank you for participating in this research. At your request, I would like for you to take part in this pre-doctoral research study. The purpose of this study is to examine and understand the transitional military experience of female veterans and their life after serving in the military. Your involvement in this study will strictly be a random selection of participants who have volunteered through the advertisement solicitation process of social media and local networking outreach. Your participation is extremely vital to this study and greatly appreciated in assisting with future studies. This study is set to investigate the common traits and themes that may be perceived to be relevant to this study, which will help identify issues that are impacting female veterans after they leave the services. This study is voluntary based, which will be conducted by the researcher. For your privacy and concerns, your identity will not be revealed and will remain confidential. At any moment doing this interview, you may choose to stop the interview at any time and if you choose to stop all information gathered will be discarded. This study will be led by Anthony Robinson, a DBA candidate at Grand Canyon University.

During this process, I read some basic information to about this study and will request your consent for participation prior to the beginning of this interview. If you decide to the participant on this interview, you will be asked to take part in completing an assessment, followed by a series of demographic, and subject matter question relating to this current study. This interview process will take approximately 30-60 minutes.

The participation for this research study will be strictly on a voluntary basis. This interview will be recorded by the researcher for future review and analysis and may be utilized at a later date and time, this information gathered will be published as raw data. During this process, please do not use your name or other specific names during this interview to maintain full anonymity throughout this study. If there are any questions that you do not feel comfortable with please let me know, in addition to that for any reason you can terminate the interview at any time.

-Do you have any question at this point about the interview protocol before we begin?

Statement of Consent

-Will, the participant, read and agreed to the Informed Consent Waiver before consent to a voluntary based participation process to take part in this interview? [Yes or No] If no, there will a waiver form available.

Description of Participant

The participant for this interview must meet certain and specific qualification factors and prerequisites.

-The military member must be a female veteran;

-The military member much have Served on active duty or in the Reserves or National Guard on or After September 11, 2001;

-AND Have begun the process of transition or have transitioned out of the service;

-AND Have they ever been a medical diagnosis or firmly believe that diagnosis is a need warranted of PTSD;

-AND their experience with the Transition Airmen Program (TAP), where it was a positive or negative experience.

The verification process of the participant prerequisites has occurred? [Yes or No] If no, the verification process will begin after the participant has signed the Informed Consent Waiver.

Transcript Outline

-Begin the recording

Introduction to Interview

Researcher: First, off hello and good morning/afternoon. My name is Anthony L. Robinson. I am currently a doctoral candidate at Grand Canyon University. I am currently conducting a study on the impact military service has on female veterans lives after serving in the military. This interview process is being conducted at _______AM/PM on ________(date) at/near ___________(location). This interview is being captured and recorded by an approved device by the researcher, in addition to the recording field notes will be taken; and both forms of data may be used for future analysis and published as raw data.

In order, to protect the identity of the current participant, no name or personally identifiable markers will be used nor requested at any point during the interview process, unless the participant voluntarily requested that their information is used. For this study, the participant will be labeled and identified by the researcher only as “Participant.”

Participant, have you previously received or agreed to the informed consent form to provide information for this research study?

Participant: [Yes/No]. If yes, will begin or continue with the interview. If no, we must complete the statement of consent before we proceed.

Researcher: At this point, we have recorded your consent, I will begin the interview. Remember at any time; you may end this interview without any consequence. All the questions are voluntary and may be skipped by the participant if requested. The beginning process of the interview will be conducted to gather some demographics protocol. Then the next step of the interview process will be used to an analyze a possible connection with demographics with the subject matter of the research study.

Demographics

Researcher: Participant, What is your current age?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What branch of service did you sever in before leaving the military?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What is the highest rank did you achieve in the military?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: How long did your service before for leaving the military?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What made you decide to join the military

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Describe your transitional experience from the military back into society after leaving the military?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: During your military service, if you ever deploy to combat or dangerous area?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What issues did you experience while serving in the military that will prepare for your transition back into society?

Participant:[Answer]

Researcher: Please describe what challenges that you faced during your transition from the military?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: During your military service, did you suffer medical issues such as PTSD from combat or other dangerous areas within the service?

(A). If so how are your coping with the issues and what resource do you have available to ensure your transition back into society successful?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What has been your sources or outlets during your transition process from the military service?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: During your time in the military, did your PTSD impact your work performance?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Thank you for responding to the question, this will conclude the section on the demographic portion of the interview. The following question asked will assist in connecting key concepts that is directly related to the study. These question will be open-ended and will allow you to express your concerns and share any information that will be valuable to the study. If any question is not clear, please asked for clarification of the question. We can begin whenever you are ready to continue?

Participant: [Yes/No] If no, please let me know when you are comfortable and ready to continue.

Subject Matter (Probing question listed)

Researcher: Do you consider or identify your as veterans?

(A) If so, what does that mean to you as a veteran?

(B) If not, can you please explain why?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Has the PTSD affected your relationship with family and friends?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Has PTSD impact your social life where it difficult to interact with the public.?

Participant:[Answer]

Researcher: What are the some of the positive thing that has transpired during your transition phase?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What are the some of the negative thing that has transpired during your transition phase?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: What are something you have learns about yourself after experiencing PTSD or any other form of trauma that has taken during your time in the service?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Have you reached out for help to assist in coping with some of the issues that PTSD has brought into your life?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: As female veterans have you notice a difference in treatment based on your gender compare to male veterans who have experienced the same issue of PTSD?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Being a female do you believe it made it easier to seek treatment for PTSD or harder?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: If any what suggestion would you give female veterans that are transitioning from the military who suffer from PTSD/

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Is there any other information you like to share that you believe that will be valuable to this study of future study in connection with PSTD and transition process for female veterans as they re-enter society?

Participant: [Answer]

Conclusion

Researcher: This will conclude the scheduled interview question portion of this study. As of right now do you have any question, comments, or concerns for me at this time and if not we will end the interview process?

Participant: [Answer]

Researcher: Alrighty. I want to be the first to say thank you again for your participation in this interview process. The information you provide will only be used for this study and you be provided with contact information for the researcher and the Institutional Review Board for Grand Canyon University, just in case you have any question or concerns during this research process. At this point will we conclude the interview process and now I will stop the recording device.

-Turn off the recorder

Review Field Notes and Member Checking

I will now do a quick recap of the information that was collected to ensure accurate and clarity of the data gathered for exact interpretation.

[Conduct review of field note for clarity and ensure accurate interperation]

Wrap-up

This will conclude the interview portion of the reaches study. The researcher, Anthony L.Robinson, I would like to extend my thank you for assisting me in this study to better understand the life of female veterans as after serving in the military.

Researcher: Anthony L. Robinson

Captain, United States Air Force

Please feel free to contact me at Arob0982@gmail.com, if you have any questions or concerns that may arise at the end of this study. Also as a reminder, you may also contact Grand Canyon University IRB Chair Dr. Christopher M. Linski III at Linski3@hotmail.com for any issues in regards to ethical concerns. Once again thank you, for your time and dedication to participation in this study it was greatly appreciated.

This is a required Appendix.

Appendix E.Power Analyses for Sample Size Calculation (Quantitative Only)

Required for both proposal and dissertation:

Proposal must include the a priori computation of the sample size;

The dissertation must include the a priori computation of sample size, and, if the recruited sample size is smaller than the a priori sample size, it must also include a post hoc computation of the effect size at power level 0.80.

Include a screen shot (graphic image) of the G*Power output.

Appendix F.Additional Appendices

Additional appendices may include statistical results, interview transcripts, raw data (as appropriate), or other critical information pertinent to the dissertation. Consult with the chair on additional appendices appropriate for the dissertation.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 70 Words: 21000

Article Critique

International Marketing Strategy in Emerging-Market Exporting Firms.

Authors: Samiee, SaeedChirapanda, Suthawan

(Review)

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Introduction

Emerging market firms rely mainly on themes of export as their central international marketing strategy rising from their developing market status to a developed one. The efficacy and success of certain markets are directly proportional to the levels of understanding of international marketing strategy, the limit to resources and a clear understanding of related information involved for a suitable international market strategy. The authors of the paper undertake the international market strategy for exporters in Thailand and the influence of their strategy on the market. The authors reflect upon the difference in environment andmarket processes that condition the Thai exporters. They further comprehend how the adoption of local marketing strategies by the Thai exporters into their international marketing strategy plan has made them successfully launch in local markets abroad. Exporting firms from emerging markets that match the marketing strategy abroad hence provide a suggestive successful ratio with superior performance with a three-dimensional structure of sales, finances and consumer outcome. The co-alignment between the international market strategy and environment bring positive results for the economy. The findings provide a shred of extensive empirical evidence that Thai exporters concurrently emerged successful by acknowledging gaps between their marketing strategy and the local markets abroad.

Discussion

I think although adapting to the environments may be one of the successful features of the emerging firm'sinternational market strategy, however, sometimes the host countries markets/governments hinder the smooth process of incorporating local market process into a firms marketing strategy. Exporting firms from emerging markets usually belong to small income markets; therefore, they cannot always cater to the needs of a targeted market just by adapting to their local environments CITATION Hos00 \l 1033 (Hoskisson, 2000). This might become a point of contention between the exporting firms and receiving markets CITATION Wal06 \l 1033 (Street, 2006). Moreover, policies by home governments to access foreign markets regarding resources, training, and information encourage prosperous economic activity. The degree of regulation and implementation of organizational culture can be vividly hindered by exporting firms and the intermediaries involved hence making it difficult to manage for them. In a broader perspective, the international marketing strategy shall be neutral of political and socio-economic themes.Some of these issues, hint at how emerging markets undertake international marketing strategy. It may be very different from what is perceived and known about developed markets, to gain a better understanding of market strategies through export, we should also comprehend how to deal with pre-existing issues in a potential market such like monopolies, consumers response to the commodity and resources involved.Despite the author's high focus on the local environment of the market, there are still other external factors which affect local markets have not been explored or yet identified as to what makes an international market strategy successful. Moreover managerial, political, economic and consumer factors also limit an international marketing strategy’s adaption in specific settings. However, it concludes that though it is possible but rapid transitions are difficult to keep up with especially by the emerging firms.

Conclusion

Marketing strategies are perpetually coaligned with market orientation due to the presence of marketing assets in the market orientation. The market orientation is inclusive of consumers, product design, consumer demands, sales value and strategic marketing along with the competitive advantage. Market orientation defines the ideals of marketing design and execution for an effective marketing strategy. The local market orientations aids in developing a constructive and successful international market strategy. The strategic interface of the firm upholds the market orientation and the required resources to be involved in achieving fruitful gains against to achieve competitive advantage. Market orientation helps to attune the market strategy with the environment of the market.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hoskisson, R. L. (2000). Strategy in emerging economies. Academy of Management Journal, 43(3), 249-267.

Street, W. (2006). IPO outlook. The Wall Street Journal, C26.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 2 Words: 600

Assessment Task 1: Individual Case Study Analysis

To: ABC

From: Name of the Student

Date: XX/XX/XX

Subject: Lack of Diversity at the Workplace

One of the major issues that is being faced by the organizations these days is that how they are going to be making sure that they bring enough diversity on board. Especially when it comes to the gender ratio, the organizations these days are expected to make sure that they take steps in this regard. Despite this fact, there are many organizations that has not done enough when it comes to making sure that they deal with the issue of the diversity in an appropriate manner and the strides are needed to be made in this regard. The other aspect in terms of the way diversity is needed to be taken care off is that how serious are the organizations when they are expected to be dealing with the issues of diversity. Both the selected articles provide plenty of insight about how important it is for the managers to make sure that they take care of the diversity but also some of the issues that are faced by the organizations when they are trying to make their workplace more diversified. There is lot of resistance that is faced by the businesses when it comes to the way diversity program are needed to be managed. The problem is that despite all the goodwill that is created when it comes to the way diversity is needed to be dealt with, the major problem that the organizational stakeholder’s are needed to be taking care off is that there is always going to be resistance if there is an effort to make sure that the much more diversified workplace is needed to be created. The other problem is the underlying approach that is being used by the organizations when they are trying to be more diverse. What it means is that despite the lip service that is being made in this regard, the fact remains that there is a need to make sure that the much more effort is needed to be put in as far as the way diversity is needed to be managed at the level of the organization. As the organizations are not sincere most of the times, they are unable to implement the diversity programs in an effective manner to get things done at the broader level to say the least. Then there is major issue of how consistency is missing from the range of initiatives that are needed to be taken by the organizations as far as the way they are supposed to be taking care of the diversity. What it means that despite all the lip service that one gets to see with regards to the gender diversity and removal of the pay gap, the perception is that him the long run, there is lot of effort and the intention of the part of the organization is to make sure that they make the most benefit out of the diversity programs instead of doing something meaningful out of it. The other thing that disrupts the original intent of the program is that how the whole program is disrupted is due to the fact is that the leadership at the level of the organization is not really committed to the way this whole issue is needed to be addressed at the first place and how the broader issues are needed to be brought in to make sure that the issue is being resolved in an appropriate manner to say the least. So much greater effort is needed to be put in this regard.

These are some of the issues that are faced by women, but the situation is much more difficult when it comes to some of the other alternative communities. What happens is that they have to face much more difficulties as far as the way broader social challenges are needed to be adopted to. The challenge that they face is that most of the times, the funding outlet that they need to be working upon as well as some other particulars are not provided to them. As the required level of support is not being provided to them, they have a hard time gaining support and gaining acceptance at the broader level. The realization is needed to be made by the organizational stakeholders that the leaders and the people who are advocating for the cause of the alternative communities deserve to be provided support with. One of the ways through which their level of support can be increased is that they should be provided funding in a much more apt manner. Not only that, effort is needed to be made to make sure that the all the promised financial support hat is up in the charter of the organizations and educations support. By allowing the participation in a much more natural manner and making sure that these communities is one of the key things that is needed to be done. The diversity is an important aspect in the organizations these days. One of the most common conundrums that organizations face is why their diversity and inclusion (D&I) programs are ineffective. D&I is an oft-used buzzword that companies are now starting to invest a lot of time and resources into, but many companies struggle with creating training programs and implementing systems that produce real changes. Despite the popularity of D&I, organizations grapple with how to overcome “diversity fatigue,” a term coined to mean diversity efforts that are lip-service and simply for face value.

References

Benson, J., Yuasa, M. and Debroux, P., 2017. The prospect for gender diversity in Japanese employment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(5), pp.890-907.

Blau, F.D. and Kahn, L.M., 2017. The gender pay gap: Have women gone as far as they can?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(1), pp.7-23.

Blau, F.D., Brinton, M.C. and Grusky, D.B. eds., 2016. The declining significance of gender?. Russell Sage Foundation.

Dobbin, F. and Jung, J., 2018. Corporate board gender diversity and stock performance: The competence gap or institutional investor bias. NCL Rev., 89, p.809.

Gregory‐Smith, I., Main, B.G. and O’Reilly III, C.A., 2014. Appointments, pay and performance in UK boardrooms by gender. The Economic Journal, 124(574), pp.F109-F128.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2019/03/31/5-reasons-why-diversity-programs-fail/#4452e947637d

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/4/2/student-criticizes-gsas-lack-of-diversity-funding/

Ledwith, S. and Colgan, F., 2018. 1 Tackling gender, diversity and trade union democracy. Gender, Diversity and Trade Unions—International Perspectives.

Leslie, L. M., Manchester, C. F., & Dahm, P. C. (2017). Why and when does the gender gap reverse? Diversity goals and the pay premium for high potential women. Academy of Management Journal, 60(2), 402-432.

Pinar, M., McCuddy, M.K., Birkan, I. and Kozak, M., 2018. Gender diversity in the hospitality industry: An empirical study in Turkey. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(1), pp.73-81.

Reskin, B.F. and Bielby, D.D., 2016. A sociological perspective on gender and career outcomes. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1), pp.71-86.

Sallop, L.J. and Kirby, S.L., 2017. The Role of Gender and Work Experience on Career and Work Force Diversity Expectations. Journal of behavioral & applied management, 8(2).

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 3 Words: 900

Ethical Case Study And Discussion 3

Academic Institution

Ethical Case Study

Purpose Statement

By

Name

Location

Date

Ethical Case Study

The way of determining the wage of the CEO as well as the average employee does not seem to be ethical, as the ethical decisions create the win-win situation for both the parties. In the current US business corporations, there is a huge gap between the average pay scale and that of CEO. The gap between the CEO to average pay is higher. The average pay of CEO's has grown by 1000% which reveals that CEO's are the only ones enjoying the high profitability of the business. In my opinion, the income and profits must be distributed fairly between the CEO and other employees. According to the utility approach of ethical reasoning, the cost-benefit analysis determines the right or the fair decision . It determines that the final outcome is one which brings more benefits and fewer costs. As the case reveals, consumers are getting conscious about the ethical responsibilities of business, less CEO and average pay will result in the good business reputation and at the end more profitability which will be enjoyed by both parties.

The other ethical reasoning approach, Human rights is used as the base of ethical decision making. Protection of human rights is the prime responsibility of every business organization, and therefore rights of average employees must be protected as they make a major contribution in the success of a company. In addition, according to another ethical reasoning approach, justice is considered as the foundation of ethical decisions. Justice demands the fair distributions of costs and burdens and the key to social justice is the fair distribution of wealth. According to this approach, average employee bears most of the cost of company success and benefits are mostly enjoyed by the high authorities and people in power. Based on all the three approaches, the pay ratio and gap must be reduced and ensure fairness in distribution.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY Lawrence, A. T., & Weber, J. "Ethics and Ethical Reasoning." In Business and Society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy, by A. T., & Weber, J Lawrence. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 2 Words: 600

Ethics And Creating A Mission Statement

McDonald's in the last 15 years

By XXX

McDonald's is a well-known fast food restaurant chain, which has been serving to its customers for 79 years. It started dealing with its customers in 1940 when Mac and Dick started first McDonald's franchise in California, United States. With the passage of time, McDonald's started serving to more customers by starting several other franchises in other regions of the United States. Soon, it became famous for its quality, cheap, and quickly delivered food items and then the founders decided to make an investment in the International market. In 1967, McDonald's started its franchise in Canada and then gradually invested in different countries all across the world CITATION Fat96 \l 1033 (Fatehi, 1996). It has always focused to provide quality products to its customers in order to gain their loyalty and satisfaction. Due to its effective strategies, it has now become able to earn billions of dollars (approx $25 billion) annually CITATION Dor17 \l 1033 (Wang, 2017).

McDonald's vision and mission are to keep the customers satisfied by the provision of quality food products and to make its franchises the most desirable place all across the world. For this purpose, it has been working so hard. Its code of ethics is established to maintain the quality of the food products and to serve only healthy food items to the customers. They are also devoted to providing a healthy and peaceful environment for their customers where they can enjoy their meal pleasantly CITATION kim08 \l 1033 (Warren, 2008).

When concerned to analyze how McDonald's have changed its strategies in the last 15 years, a list of struggles becomes evidence of its hard work and success. The very first challenge faced by McDonald's was a selection of food items, as every country has a different culture, religion, and taste. For example, India may not like to buy beef items from McDonald's for which they introduced vegetable and chicken items. Similarly, McDonald's updated its food lists and food taste according to the people, to whom they are serving. Now it deals with the customers in different countries with different food items, all according to their taste and desire. Also, it introduces self-ordering kiosks to increase its sales and to guide the customers regarding new food items and attractive deals.

Ethically concerned, McDonald's have been facing several ethical challenges in different countries. Initially, McDonald's used to employee American employees, for their better training and provision of services. However, this brought several ethical and social challenges for the employees, such as language issues. Also, some countries raised objection for hiring American people while serving to other nations and called it as an act of racism. However, Now McDonald's hires the local employees and train them to deal with the requirements of the customers CITATION Sye14 \l 1033 (Atif, 2014). Also, McDonald’s has banned in different countries, including Bermuda, Iceland, Iran, Korea, and others, for causing obesity amongst its customers CITATION Hug16 \l 1033 (Morris, 2016). Most of its products are assumed to be the real cause of obesity amongst its customers, and thus McDonald’s was blamed for serving unhealthy junk food to the nations. However, now McDonald’s have made some changes in its menu and changed the ‘fast food’ with ‘good food served fast.’ In 2014, McDonald’s held a dinner in New York, where it served the food with fruits and egg-white McMuffins instead of junk items CITATION ASS14 \l 1033 (PRESS, 2014).

McDonald’s has been struggling hard to keep its customers satisfied and healthy. It is only the hard work and better strategic management which have always kept McDonald’s in top most known fast food franchises all across the world.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Atif, S. (2014). Report on McDonald's HR Management. SlideShare. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from https://www.slideshare.net/ibnirshad9/report-on-mcdonalds-hr-management

Fatehi, K. (1996). International Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Morris, H. (2016). 10 countries where McDonald's is not welcome. The Telegraph.

PRESS, A. (2014). McDonald's tries to change its image from 'fast food' to 'good food served fast' with fruit, egg-white McMuffins and its first menu item ever to contain cucumber. Mail Online.

Wang, D. (2017). SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK. Tiny Plus.

Warren, k. (2008). Strategic Management Dynamics. John Wiley & Sons.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 2 Words: 600

Forum: Unit VIII Discussion Board

Discussion Board

Javier

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

[Include any grant/funding information and a complete correspondence address.]

Discussion Board

Response one

Every subject has its significance, while each student expects to learn more, acquire skills, and gain knowledge from what she is subjected to study. In response to Javier’s discussion, this course helped to meet her expectations. Javier's concerns and expectations were that she should not be limited to only theories, she needs exposure to business market to analyze top market requirements, so that, she may be able to learn and acquire skills accordingly.

In response to Javier, best thing about this course is that, this has let her get exposure with business-oriented professionals, advisors, and peers, above all meeting people having similar thoughts lets you enter into networking opportunities. This course has also enabled Javier, to improve team working skills and she can work with teams as a member and sometimes as a leader effectively. Individuals may boost their communication and understanding skills by working with groups.

In response to Javier, she suggests that, there should be internship opportunities rather than giving students homework and assignments. Internships will help students to analyze their skills and they will be able to improve and acquire new skills. This course may improve, if it is not limited to class boundaries, there has to be some practical work to ensure quality in learning.

Pygmalion Effect

A teacher may influence their students to meet their expectations during learning processes. Pygmalion effect is a positive effect, which increases teachers' expectations from their students which develops their performances, so for teachers and students, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"iD3YwXKP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Niari et al., 2016)","plainCitation":"(Niari et al., 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":405,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/smYQhi21/items/LRKAY522"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/smYQhi21/items/LRKAY522"],"itemData":{"id":405,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Pygmalion Effect in Distance Learning: A Case Study at the Hellenic Open University","container-title":"European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning","volume":"19","source":"ResearchGate","abstract":"The Pygmalion Effect is the positive form of self-fulfilling prophecy and shows how teacher expectations influence student performance. According to this phenomenon, higher expectations can lead to an increase in performance. In this research qualitative methodology was adopted both in data collection, and in analysis, in order to investigate the impact of the Pygmalion Effect in distance adult learning. Observation was held in two Contact Sessions of the Postgraduate Module for Open and Distance Education (EKP65) of the School of Humanities at the Hellenic Open University (HOU). Also, 22 interviews were conducted, 6 with Tutors/Advisors and 16 with students of the same Postgraduate Module. The data analysis indicates that both Tutors/Advisors and postgraduate students shape form their expectations based on the behaviour as reflected in their first contact (telephone contact, face-to-face contact, written contact through the CV). Expectations originally are positive, though this could change due to mismatched following behaviour. Tutor’s expectations are expressed in verbal and non-verbal ways both in written and face-to-face communication. However, it is the non-verbal behaviour - and mainly the encouragement and the support towards the students - that influences their positive mood and attitude towards the learning object and distance learning itself. In conclusion, not to reject the educational trend according to which the adult learner has developed selfmotivation, we accept that Tutor’s expectations reflected in encouragement and support towards the student may influence the learning process.","DOI":"10.1515/eurodl-2016-0003","title-short":"The Pygmalion Effect in Distance Learning","journalAbbreviation":"European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning","author":[{"family":"Niari","given":"Maria"},{"family":"Manousou","given":"Evaggelia"},{"family":"Lionarakis","given":"Antonis"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,26]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Niari et al., 2016).

First Mover Advantage

A first-mover advantage is a provision, which helps to gain a competitive advantage in the market, being in first position and helps to introduce new brands and services ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"VfVGVnAD","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Sammut-Bonnici & Channon, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Sammut-Bonnici & Channon, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":408,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/smYQhi21/items/32TVABAI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/smYQhi21/items/32TVABAI"],"itemData":{"id":408,"type":"chapter","title":"First Mover Advantage","source":"ResearchGate","abstract":"First mover advantage is derived from a firm's ability to gain early entry into a new market. Significant payoffs exist when barriers to entry are created. In the early days of the PC industry, Microsoft created high barriers to entry by collaborating with Intel. Today, Microsoft still holds a dominant position with 90% market share of the PC operating system market. Lockheed Martin's early technological and partnership advantage with Russian aerospace companies allowed it to secure a leadership position in the global market for commercial space launches, servicing the satellite industry. The timing of strategic moves into international markets may be critical for success as a result of the positive advantages accruing to first movers. The set of advantages to be gained are costs advantages, preemption of geographic space, technological advantages, differentiation advantages, and political advantages. For first mover advantage, to materialize, it is necessary to create high barriers for competitors to enter the market, be the first to introduce new systems and to, exploit first mover advantage to achieve customer loyalty. There is no first mover advantage where there are low or zero barriers to entry by competitors. Indeed, it may involve much greater risk than being an early follower.","ISBN":"978-1-118-78531-7","note":"DOI: 10.1002/9781118785317.weom060085","author":[{"family":"Sammut-Bonnici","given":"Tanya"},{"family":"Channon","given":"Derek"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",1,21]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Sammut-Bonnici & Channon, 2015). This benefits firms and companies for establishing strong branding recognition due to which customer loyalty increases as compared to other companies competing in market.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Niari, M., Manousou, E., & Lionarakis, A. (2016). The Pygmalion Effect in Distance Learning: A Case Study at the Hellenic Open University. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 19. https://doi.org/10.1515/eurodl-2016-0003

Sammut-Bonnici, T., & Channon, D. (2015). First Mover Advantage. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118785317.weom060085

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 1 Words: 300

Issues On The Global Environment,

Kason Akbarov

Issues on the global environment

26th Sept, 2019

1. Introduction

“Title: The World’s Oceans Are in Danger, Major Climate Change Report Warns”

Author: Brad Plumer

Media source: “https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/climate/climate-change-oceans-united-nations.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront”

Publication date Sept. 25, 2019

This article focused on a very current issue, which is the World’s oceans are in danger. The article Covenant can provide an opportunity to renew and modernize international environmental law, in particular by learning from the movements associated with major climate change while serving as a driver for improving the effectiveness of already existing instruments.

2. Statement

 According to the report, “Earth’s oceans are under severe strain from climate change, a major new United Nations report warns, which threatens everything from the ability to harvest seafood to the well-being of hundreds of millions of people living along the coasts”.

3. Primary and Secondary issues

 According to the report, moreover, rising temperatures, ocean acidification, increased water salinity, increased heat waves, rising sea levels are all upheavals that should impact marine ecosystems. The fall of marine resources has already damaged by overfishing or new distributions of these resources, to the detriment of some countries. The sea-level rise is a growing threat to small island countries and exposed coastal communities, but will also have a significant impact on world economic powers. In advance of the forthcoming publication of a much anticipated UN report on oceans and climate change, of which AFP has obtained an exclusive copy, here is an overview of what lies ahead for China, the United States, European Union and India if nothing is done, as well as a reminder of their respective contributions in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

According to the report shows that the "drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is essential if we want to avoid room for maneuver to fight the impacts of climate change, continues Valerie Masson-Demotte. She also stressed that for the oceans and the cry sphere, adaptation to climate change is not an option but a necessity.  

4. Facts

Oceans are heat sinks that run at full speed in these times of global warming. "They have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat" that causes the rapid increase of greenhouse gases, said Brett Veerhusen. They have also captured between 20 and 30% of greenhouse gases emitted by men since the 1980s. But these services are not without consequences on the composition of these large bodies of water. The oceans are more acidic and their oxygen concentration has dropped by 2% in half a century, says this new publication. 

The global level of the seas is increasing, a process that has accelerated in recent decades," also notes the Gien. Between 1901 and 1990, the average increase was 1.4 mm each year. It has grown to “3.6 mm per year over the period 2006-2015”. The first fact is the increase in the average temperature of the water of the oceans, which causes their dilatation. The second is the significant loss of ice and ice sheet mass, particularly in Greenland and the Antarctic ice floe. It is this second factor that contributes most today to the acceleration of the rise in sea levels. This rise in sea level will continue regardless of the scenario of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions retained. The rise would be 43 cm in 2100 in the most optimistic scenario taken into account by the Gien, which limits global warming to + 2 ° C by the end of the century. 

5. Conclusion

Differences between projections come from different model sensitivities for greenhouse gas concentrations and different future emission scenarios. Most studies have chosen 2100 as a horizon, but the warming is expected to continue beyond that because, even if emissions stopped, the oceans have already stored a lot of heat, carbon sinks are to be restored, and the duration of life of Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is long.

6. Personal opinion 

This report provides a positive message despite very disturbing impact projections if greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically reduced." It shows that an emission scenario consistent with the Paris Agreement can stabilize or the state of the future ocean is therefore in our hands, “tempers Jean-Pierre Gattuso, oceanographer, and author of the report.

In my opinion, Devastated by climate change and man-made pollution, the oceans are preparing to unleash their power over humanity that cannot live without them, warns a UN draft report to be adopted on September 25th. Some of the consequences of climate change on the oceans and icy regions of the planet are irreversible and humanity must be prepared, warn experts.

This report is very important for management students due to the oceans change quickly, could suffer significant damage and cause rapid warming in the coming years. Financial mechanisms are needed to save the oceans. According to the report, asset managers, especially pension funds that are slow to appreciate the threat of climate change, may see the value of their investments in energy or electricity companies decline as investors become aware of the risks associated with industries producing large amounts of carbon. Yet opportunities are emerging for financial services to reduce or protect against risk, or even contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the destabilization of the Earth's climate and weather systems.

References

Brad Plumer, 2019. The World’s Oceans Are in Danger, Major Climate Change Report Warns” Online available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/climate/climate-change-oceans-united nations.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Kellogg, W. W. (2019). Climate change and society: consequences of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Routledge.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 3 Words: 900

Leadership/Followership Paper

Team Project: Inputs

Team 6

MGT310

October 3rd, 2019

1. Describe the members of the team, including any applicable surface-level and deep-level characteristics.

Patagonia is a very humble brand with noble beginnings. There is not one person who claims the limelight for the brand, and the culture of Patagonia workplace is unconditionally collaborative. These ideals and expectations were set in place by founder Yvon Chouinard. Born in Southern California, Yvon fostered a passion for rock climbing. He, while climbing, realized that the equipment that was available back in the 1960’s was made of soft iron and was designed to be used once and left in place. This inspired him to forge his own steel and sell climbing rappels from the back of his car. The equipment sale started to grow because of the high quality of the equipment and Chouinard equipment became the highest seller of climbing gear of the United states by 1970. by forging his own steel to make and sell climbing rappels. Afterwards, coming from his trip to Scotland, he bought a rugby shirt which he saw fit for climbing. It was bright blue in color, which surprised everyone. His friends demanded that he brings some more. He thus bought another pile of shirts which got sold very quickly and thus, Patagonia clothing line was found. His desire was not business but making utility-based equipment for climbing. This inspired him to create his own equipment. This was his true passion and despite the fact his profits were initially very slim, he continued this pursuit living on less than $1.00 a day. This set the tone for the amount of dedication all leaders in Patagonia would possess. The collaborative aspect of the team comes from Patagonia’s ability to recognize all the people who are a part of what makes them successful. On their home website, there is a balanced representation of devout ambassadors and employees of the brand from high-level purchasers, to part-time product shippers. Employees of Patagonia all share a few similar deep-level characteristics: passion, dedication, drive, and an undying sense of community.

2. What evidence do you see of diversity or non-diversity on the team? How did this affect the team?

Each team member who contributed to the beginning of Patagonia was similar in their interest for outdoor activity, which made their common goals very clear. They also established their love of outdoor activities by projecting and establishing common values for protecting the environment. These commonalities allowed for easily established team norms and priorities. The leader of the team and creator of Patagonia Yvon Chouinard began the company by creating pitons, and later added aeronautical engineer Tom Frost to the team. Chouinard believed that he could contribute by bringing in a more innovative design perspective (“History of Patagonia - A Company Created by Yvon Chouinard.”). Their recruiting website states, “We're always looking for motivated people to join us in our retail stores; at our Ventura, California headquarters; Reno, Nevada Service Center; and occasionally in our overseas offices. We're especially interested in people who share our love of the outdoors, our passion for quality and our desire to make a difference.” (Patagonia, 2019) This proves Patagonia wholeheartedly has the desire to empower people of all colors, ages, races, religions, and backgrounds, so long as these individuals can aid in maintaining their common goal of truly making an impact on society and the globe. What is a better way to reach several parts of the nation than by having representation from every corner within their workforce?

3. Choose three of the following and describe. How did they affect the team?

1- Working support for the team: Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. A big part of Patagonia’s mission involves support for the team and huge engagement. They give the opportunity to share their ideas and experience with the biggest business community, colleges and universities, activists, designers and policymakers. By having support, it developed their skills with high confidence. The increase in support helped in establishing high-performance standards for the founding team. Patagonia has been able to establish a name for itself, not only for their environmentally conscious products, but also having one of the best work-life cultures of any company in the US. Yvon Chouinard made sure to make himself available to all members of the company. His legacy still lives on.

2- Norms within the team: The norm or what you may call as the common trait within Patagonia’s founding team was its passion for climbing. The main goal of the founding team was to create cloths that could improve the climbing experience for climbers. This, however did not restrict their market, as they were able to separate Patagonia from Chouinard equipment. This passion made them the brand that they are today.

3- Structure of the team: their values reflected those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted. The approach that they took to design the product demonstrates a bias for utility and simplicity. Their structure for the best product rests on how it works, its repairability and durability. One of the important structures for Patagonia’s team was to use this business to protect nature.

4. How was the team launched? Was it a successful or unsuccessful launch? Why or why not?

The Patagonia team was launched in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard as an offshoot of the Chouinard Equipment company. Chouinard was originally worried that Patagonia would fail due to lack of brand recognition, but eventually Patagonia launched when Chouinard decided that his new brand should be distinguished from his equipment line. This choice paid off in the end as Patagonia was able to access a new customer base of average consumers while maintaining its original Chouinard Equipment clientele. Patagonia carried on the legacy of Chouinard Equipment at launch, which led to successful store openings and a quick return on investments. One tradition that Patagonia inherited from Chouinard Equipment, was the constant need for innovation in both design quality and material strength. This led to the innovative use of polypropylene and a unique mix of bright colors into the company's outdoor apparel. These new innovations were often pulled from already existing products, which caused Patagonia to significantly increase its research and development budget. Patagonia also had a strong starting manufacturing team, as Malden Mills had greater access to capital and the business knowledge to help Patagonia fulfill its unique vision. Yvon Chouinard also used catalogs to highlight new Patagonia clothing apparel, this helped the company establish a reputation. This form of advertising attracted both outdoor enthusiasts and fashion seekers alike, but it was originally used by Chouinard Equipment to sell its new mountain climbing gear. Part of Patagonia’s success at launch also came from its family-oriented business practices. At the insistence of Malinda Chouinard, Yvon Chouinard's wife, childcare facilities were set up at Patagonia offices. These facilities were some of the first in the country and helped paint a family image of the company as employees and their children ate together at lunch. The final thing that helped set Patagonia apart, was its environmental friendly focus, as Yvon Chouinard had a deep respect for the environment. This led the company to develop sustainable business practices and to take on their corporate responsibility by donating to small environmental protection groups.

5. Based on your analysis of the team’s inputs and reading of course material, what could have been done differently in this team to make it successful and/or what made the team successful and why? Provide at least 2 examples.

Patagonia experienced great successes due to the culture they established early on. On the Patagonia website, they explain the values that the first few in Patagonia ingrained into the culture writing “we must defend the place we all call home”. Chouinard built the company on the idea of sustainability even when they were a small team of individuals. This created a clear basis for what their team was working for and the standard their work would be held to regarding sustainability (“Patagonia Mission Statement - Our Reason for Being.”). Chouinard has also established great respect and concern for the well-being of his fellow employees even very early on. Chouinard never wanted to confine himself or fellow team members to a desk and took on the “open-office” concept. Establishing freedom for team members to express and choose to work where they feel most comfortable. Without limiting the space Chouinard has never limited ideas and kept diversity and innovation at the forefront of his brand (“Yvon Chouinard”).

Works Cited:

Bauck, Whitney. “Patagonia's CEO on How Saving the Planet Has Been Good for Business.” Fashionista, 17 Jan. 2019, https://fashionista.com/2019/01/patagonia-politics-ceo-rose-marcario-interview

“Patagonia Mission Statement - Our Reason For Being.” Patagonia Mission Statement - Our Reason For Being, https://www.patagonia.com/company-info.html.

Patagonia Mission Statement - Our Reason For Being. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.patagonia.com/company-info.html.

“Yvon Chouinard.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, https://www.forbes.com/profile/yvon-chouinard/#3e5a1d9c4fb5.

“History of Patagonia - A Company Created by Yvon Chouinard.” History of Patagonia - A Company Created by Yvon Chouinard, https://www.patagonia.com/company-history.html

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 4 Words: 1200

Module 04 Course Project - Presenting Your Technology Choices

Technology choices

The two technologies required for attaining the goal of enhancing customer experience include location-based computing and artificial intelligence. Location-based computing is used for improving customers interaction with the company. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an effective tool that can have a significant impact on customer experience. Digital technologies are linked to increased productivity and efficiency. It is thus crucial for organizational growth and success CITATION Tar15 \l 1033 (Fenwick & Edwards, 2015).

Location-based computing involves location-based promos and navigation services. Location-based promos allow companies to use these services for reaching out customers of specific geo-location. Navigation service is an app that permits customers to navigate warehouse-like stores assisting them in finding products faster and with convenience. The customer uses the app for making the right purchases. Some common artificial intelligence features include voice to text features, sales, e-commerce, and business forecasting. Through e-commerce, the company will provide an online platform to the customers where they can view the features of the product. Placing an order through an online website and making payment is cost-effective and time-saving CITATION NIB17 \l 1033 (NIB, 2017).

The strengths of e-commerce include offering smart services with relevant features. It is cost-effective and time-saving. It allows enhancement in communications that are effective for building customer loyalty and focus on customer segmentation. Location bases computing also include many strengths such as the company can target the right customer's rate CITATION Sér13 \l 1033 (Cavalcante, 2013).

It also has some weaknesses such as an error in navigation services that affects the continuity and accuracy of the data. Tracking logistics and GPS also involve the probability of errors. There is also some weakness of AI techniques such as loss of data generated can lead to confusion. Another weakness that it does not support creativity. Irrespective of the weaknesses the technologies offer many benefits to the company.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Cavalcante, S. A. (2013). Understanding the impact of technology on firms' business models. European Journal of Innovation Management, 16 (3), 285-300.

Fenwick, T., & Edwards, R. (2015). Exploring the impact of digital technologies on professional responsibilities and education. European Educational Research Journal.

NIB. (2017). Artificial intelligence in business. Retrieved 03 10, 2019, from https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/examples-artificial-intelligence-use-business

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 1 Words: 300

Planning An Organization's Staffing Needs



Planning an Organization's Staffing Needs

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

CapraTek

Memo

To:

VP of Operations

From:

[Your Name Here]

CC:

Date:

January 29, 2019

Re:

Planning an Organization's Staffing Needs

Introduction

CapraTek is a high-end technology company, which has been playing a leading role in the manufacturing and designing of computers, computer servers, and computer server parts. CapraTek has always kept quality and customer satisfaction at its top priority so that it can still provide the best to its customers and keep winning their trust. CapraTek always tries to remain ahead of its competitors and bring innovation in its products by using the high-end technology and production techniques.

In order to expand its business and increase its customer base, CapraTek is planning to step into a new area where it would be launching a new product in the market. The new product comprises of a wireless system that will provide seamless integration of more modern home electronics and appliances capable of being controlled electronically by a single device. Our valued customers will be able to control multiple electronics and accessories by using the combination of only one device and a simple web-based interface. For instance, this device will control the systems of security, heating and cooling, lights, locks, telephone, home entertainment, computers, and gaming devices.

The manufacturing of the newly planned wireless system, Alfred, which is going to hit the markets very soon, is intended to be manufactured in a new plant that is in the planning phase and going to get operational in almost next six months. In order to meet the objectives and goals of the organization and fulfill the strategic growth needs of the company, I, as Head of Human Resource department, presenting a hiring plan keeping in mind the new manufacturing facility. This hiring plan will be beneficial for the company both in the area of cost efficiency and hiring of the competent staff for CapraTek, which will definitely take the manufacturing level higher and allow the company to focus on more strategic goals like increasing the sales.

Discussion

As the tech giant, CapraTek is planning to step into a new area and preparing to launch an entirely new product, which is a different from its normal area of operations it would require a new location for establishing a manufacturing plant of the products. In my opinion, the best site for such a manufacturing plant would be Silicon Valley in California.

The recruitment for the employees in the new manufacturing plant is planned to be carried out in the following three phases:

Phase I

Phase II

Phase III

Phase I:

In the first phase of recruitment and selection, the Human Resource Department of CapraTek is planning to recruit 100 employees. In order to achieve this objective, applications from 300 to 500 applicants, are scheduled to be invited, out of which, a total of 150 to 200 will be deemed appropriate and fit of the job. The training phase will follow after the selection stage, in which it is expected that only 100 to 120 employees will stay (Clarke, 2018). In this way, this will be the number of employees will be completed in the first phase of recruitment.

Phase II:

The second phase of the recruitment will be initiated after three months once the manufacturing plant resumes its operations. The same procedure will be followed as Phase I, only the number of employees finalized in this phase will be decreased to 75-80.

Phase III:

The third phase of recruitment in the newly developed manufacturing plant will start once six months have passed since the plant has started working. Same practices will be followed as in Phase I and Phase II. The number of recruited employees will depend on the number of employees already working in the plant and the number of workers required. The number of employees needed for this phase will be decided after a careful analysis and assessment (Phillips, & Gully, 2015).

The locations selected for the establishment of the manufacturing plant for this product is an ideal one for carrying on the manufacturing operations of such kinds. Silicon Valley is a place flooded with the tech giants, and many tech companies have their head offices in this area. Silicon Valley is also the best choice for such a manufacturing plant because the company can easily find the highly qualified and competent staff very easily (Pitti, 2018). The workforce found form this region will also have a plus point that they will bring high experience with them as well, which will add to the value of the company.

CapraTek plans to make its organizational culture more employee friendly and welcoming by making the policies more humanly which can connect more to the employees and give them maximum benefits. In order to attract more and more qualified, competent and experienced workforce, the Human resource department of CapraTek plans to keep the culture of the company as much diverse and healthy as it can. CapraTek will carry on its legacy of being an equal opportunity employer and would love to provide equal opportunities to both male and females to apply and work for the company. The company will also maintain a diverse culture in the manufacturing plant just like in its other offices and will recruit the employees without making any biases on the basis of gender, nationality, caste, color, creed or religion (Wong et al., 2016). The only preferred factor while recruiting any employee for the new manufacturing plant would be qualification and competence. In this way, CapraTek will fulfill its objective of becoming the employer of choice.

References

Clarke, J. H. (2018). Recruiting a Diverse LIS Workforce.

Phillips, J. M., & Gully, S. M. (2015). Multilevel and strategic recruiting: Where have we been, where can we go from here?. Journal of Management, 41(5), 1416-1445.

Pitti, S. J. (2018). The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican Americans. Princeton University Press.

Wong, C. K., Horn-Ross, P. L., Gee, G. C., Shariff-Marco, S., Quach, T., Allen, L., ... & Clarke, C. A. (2016). Strategies for recruiting representative samples of Asian Americans for a population-based case–control study. J Epidemiol Community Health, Jech-2015.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 3 Words: 900

Portfolio #3

Name

Course

Tutor

Date

Message 1: Recommendations Memo

FROM: (Name)

TO: Gary Schumacher

SUBJECT: The Best Point of Sale (POS) Systems

I am writing this memo to propose three Point of Sale (POS) systems best for your business. These POS systems will empower online business and increase customer experience. I feel that the current POS system is outdated, non-responsive and incapable of improving our online presence. For a business to remain competitive especially in the online presence, it must have strong, highly functional and efficient POS. This not only improves sales and increases revenue but also revamps the entire system navigability and enhance the customer experience. 

There are vital aspects considered when choosing the best POS for small businesses. As you choose POS for your business, I feel you must consider these aspects as they are integral in ensuring that business gets the best POS. Choosing POS you are required to assess the cost, functionality, ease of use and integration. Good customer support, employee management, inventory management, payment processing, and customer relationship management are equally important aspects. Given the nature of your business, I advise you to choose all the above factors, however, you must first consider the cost, customer support, ease of use and integration. The cost remains a fundamental factor when choosing POS for small business, you have to examine upfront hardware purchase, cost of add-on features, and monthly subscriptions. The upfront cost together with running costs should be manageable. As a burgeoning business in terms of its online presence, the POS you choose should have good customer support and easy to use. It should improve customer’s experience, ease the process of purchase items while answer questions and meeting their needs. Similarly, choose a POS software that integrates all operations of the business from marketing to bookkeeping. It should empower you to manage all operations of the business. 

Having explored all considerations when choosing POS, I want to suggest three POS Systems that fit the bill and suitable for your business. I suggest square POS, Shopify POS, and ShopKeep POS systems. These POS systems are the best options for your business as they are easy to use, integrates business operations and relatively cheaper to use. To start with, Shopify POS has the best features, which are crucial for your business. Part of its fundamental features and capabilities including 24 hours customer support, in-built payment processing, built-in commerce shop, and accepts mobile payments. Importantly, it has built-in E-commerce, easy to use and integrates all aspects of the business. Like Shopify, ShopKeep POS has 24 hours phone support, use of mobile payments, built-in payment processing, and good integration of business operations. However, it lacks a built-in E-commerce shop, and built-in email campaigns. 

Square POS another good option for your business. Worthily, Square POS is recommended for small businesses since it does not have to start up fees and its free system comes with in-built business management tools and payment processing. In terms of pricing, Square POS does not have a monthly fee unless the user wants to input add-features. Its add-features are inexpensive compared to other options. Other capabilities of Square POS include inventory management, employee management, and reporting as well as paid add-ons. The only disadvantage of Square POS is its lack of in-built E-commerce, you have to install E-commerce and integrate it with the POS. I recommend you intently consider the above recommendations since they are best options for your business

Sincerely 

(Name)

Quails Creations 

 

 

Message 2: Employee Performance Memo

FROM: Vendor Integration Manager PrinTech

TO: David Federro 

CC: Amanda Paik, Vice President of Client Services 

Dear David Federro

I write this Memo to you following a successful meeting that we held together where we highlighted different issues and made several recommendations. I must start by mentioning your outstanding and reputable work especially in developing Application Program Interfaces (APIs). Our clients are satisfied with your work and many highly rate your work. Your skills, capabilities and innovative ideas have made this organization competitive. While I agree that your contributions and brilliant performance in your duties in this company are unmatched, your pattern of behavior and cooperation with other employees has not been brilliant. Your behavior towards other members in your department has remained a hindrance to the progress of the business. Your mates have reported you as surly and non-responsive while consistently delaying your part of the project. You have also failed to meet important deadlines hence jeopardizing projects. Your performance, particularly, in the past few months has not been fruitful as your actions have been unpredictable. I must mention that on one occasion you missed work for one week, and later claimed that you were working at home. Besides, I had to reassign your project to the different programmers when it was clear to me that you will not deliver within the stipulated deadline. 

In our meeting, you mentioned that you get uninspired by projects in our company, and this has made you lose your focus. You stated that you are passionate about volunteer work, and you despise working with other employees since their lack of imaginations and skill deficiencies hold you back. As I agree with you in some of your opinions, I feel that there are many more things that you can do to improve your performance. During our meeting, we made important commitments as follows: First, we agreed that you will meet all deadlines on your projects, and failure to do so may not only leave you ineligible for the year-end bonus but also the termination of your service. Secondly, report all issues that may prevent you from reporting to work such as illness or emergencies. Besides, in case you want to work at home, you must seek prior permission. Thirdly, behave collegially towards both your teammates and those work in other departments, and promptly respond to all emails and voice messages. Importantly, regular check-in with me for close monitoring of projects and asses every step of your project deadlines. Lastly, I am giving you greater responsibility to influence projects, you will be part of every project origination meeting, to allow you to suggest alternative and innovative solutions, and influence the scope of projects. 

I must mention that your contributions to this organization are highly regarded, and your commitment is important in the continuity of this organization. I also value your cooperation and consider you as our best developer. Your work is integral in bringing customers to our company and ensuring loyalty to the existing customers. Your improvement in the issues made above and commitment to the agreements we made during our meeting will be a great turning point for both your career and the performance of our company. Lastly, I suggest that you meditate our commitments aspire to meet them, and I promise you my uncensored support. 

Yours sincerely,

Vendor Integration Manager PrinTech 

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 4 Words: 1200

Portfolio #3 Assignment

Surname

Course

Professor

Date

Portfolio Assignment

For the growth of the business, it requires critical management skills. It should be in a position of adapting to different changes in the society. New trends such as systems of payments should be considered, respective to the type of business.

System of payments

Cloud Point of sale is a new system of client-server software. It is considered to be a wireless network that does not need wires to be connected. The cloud POS makes the flow of traffic to be much more comfortable because it transferred to a specific datacenter (Van Horn 67). The Cloud POS differs from the traditional-server POS in that the use of a network that was used and managed the rate of traffic low is no longer needed. The Cloud POS does not require any network gear to carry and control the flow of traffic, which consisted of the use of wires and networking gears. The Cloud POS has replaced the traditional POS by using the provider's data center in the cloud. Initially, everything is connected to wires, whereby the servers and networking team operated with headquarters who ran all types of tests.

The Cloud POS does not require an upfront hardware purchase that is expensive. This is different from the traditional POS, whereby the hardware upfront was costly to acquire, a license requirement to any software together with supporting fee (Jenkins, Wyn, and Dave 34). It's much easier to use Cloud POS because one only requires downloading the app. The updates are automatically made, making it to be less time consuming and to manage. Depending on the need and financial capability of the server, the Cloud POS can offer the opportunity to make changes. Several factors considered when it comes to choosing POS software. The rate at which it functions is worth considering. The software should be produced sure that it is written in a programming language; this is because some providers come up with wrap legacy code, which is outdated. Negatively the functionality will not work because of a lack of compatibility with the old POS systems.

It is worth to choose cloud POS solutions that work even when the internet outrage is low. This can only be supported by apps that have back-up data, which makes the connectivity of the devices to re-sync (Van Horn 38). It's good to note that different cloud POS work differently because some solutions are triggered when the internet goes down. A cloud POS that provides real-time analytics and several entrepreneur intelligence insights and access to information and alerts from anything is a factor to consider for any merchant.

Small business owners can make payments and also manage their business in different ways with the help of point of sale systems. Several factors need to be considered when evaluating POS systems for small businesses, such as the value of price and the mode of payment (Van Horn 46). If these factors are considered and put into place, then the Square POA becomes the appropriate systems for small businesses. Gary should, therefore, choose this system for his small business since it's free to use and can be easily accessed. Also, the startup fee charged is exempted and has business management tools that assist Gray in managing the business. The square is appropriate for Gray because it's a free POA app that does not require any monthly fee. Payments can be made offline if one is selling, and there is no internet service. They are making it the best POS system for small businesses.

The Point of Sale System is one of its kind cash registers. This is because it can work mutually work together with mobile devices, cloud services, and at the same time, satisfy both the software and hardware necessities of servers (Van Horn, 2019). With the use of POS, it is unnecessary to have a physical back-end server in many different locations. The new payment system has been installed in the POS software, whereby customers can make more than one payment.

Business management

 I have realized that David Federer is one of the brilliant programmers the company has ever had. Despite this, David has become unreliable because he fails to meet deadlines, ignore phone calls, and fails to notify his colleges when he is not available for meetings (Bear et al. 132)). It came to my attention from the team members that he is challenging to work with since he is a non-responsive and that his project portions are always behind schedule. It is also imperative to note that one of the programmers recently departed the institution because he knowingly left her hanging on an ongoing program and rather publicly demeaned her when she approached. The quality of his work is widely known to a point where different clients ask their projects to be given to him, despite the fact, he makes several excuses for not meeting the deadlines. For the past few months, he missed his work in one week and went out of contact. He instead gave an excuse for working at home, even without being given permission.

At one point, I was forced to assign a vital client's project to a different programmer after realizing that David could not complete the job. I have concluded that David is on trajectory since the problems he creates will, in due time, outweigh the value he brings to the company (Jenkins, Wyn, and Dave 46). However, after Amanda Palk agreed, he permitted me to retain David in his job because of the skills and talents he portrays. This is evident from the fact that David takes pride in his past actions. When David lucks the enthusiasm by a project, he finds it hard to work. He is a passionate person because of his voluntary work, where he has severally helped in finding out the different agency locations.

When asked about his unreliability, he suggested that he does not like working together with his fellow workmates. This is because he feels that they do don't have the capability to put up the task (Bear et al. 121). He also explained that a friend of mine had died the reason why he never showed up for one week at work. Both David and I agreed that his ability is of great importance and the strength of the company to be successful. Still, he should consider unity and teamwork from others for the company to succeed. For him to allow given a chance in the company, we both came up with several strategies on how to maintain the right terms. He should be available at all times to support his workmates. In case he decides working from home or an emergency arises, then he should ask for permission. Also, I will keep on checking his progress frequently, and this is to ensure that he meets every deadline made to him.

Conclusion

Because of the above provision, it can be seen that the business portfolio depends significantly on the performance of the employees and the cooperation of the employees. Systems payment is employed to ensure that the operations of the business are conducted from the system perspective. Business growth should be focused on system development and maintenance.

Work cited

Bear, Mary EG, et al. "System for business portfolio modeling and analysis." U.S. Patent No. 9,424,536. 23 Aug. 2016.

Jenkins, Wyn, and Dave Williamson. Strategic management and business analysis. Routledge, 2015.

Van Horn, Erik, et al. "Multifunction point of sale system." U.S. Patent No. 10,366,380. 30 Jul. 2019.

 

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 4 Words: 1200

Quick Trip Case Study

Quick Trip Case Study

Ida (First M. Last)

School or Institution Name (University at Place or Town, State)

Introduction

QuickTrip commenced its business in 1958 in Tulsa, Oklahoma by the two friends. One of them, Cadieux wanted to start his own business and after finding his right partner in Burt Holmes he started his business. Initially Quick Trip only sold few groceries and Cadieux used to work alone in the night shift. Under his leadership, the company went through massive expansion into other cities of the United States. After a few decades, QuickTrip became the best convenience, gasoline, and food retailer in the community. The success of the company can be attributed to many factors such as their core values, labor practices, effective strategies, leadership, and effective decision making of leadership. This paper seeks to analyze some of the strategies of QuickTrip and their effectiveness for maintaining sustainable growth and a large base of satisfied customers. The effective strategies adopted by QT has assisted the company to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and enabled it to increase customer satisfaction, value creation, and enhancement of quality in the services it provides.

QuickTrip operations strategy and the way organization seeks to gain a competitive advantage in terms of sustainability

An operational strategy is a plan of action, which guides the ways in which an organization will spend its resources in order to support its infrastructure and growth (Ton, 2011). It is typically driven by the overall strategy of an organization, which is aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of its operations and minimizing cost. QT analyzed the opportunity of growth in and scope in the operations as US-based seven to eleven stores operated about 32000 stores in different states, some of them selling the fresh food items while some of them also offered dining facilities, and shared space with other retailers. QT had the vision to become one of the best gasoline retailer selling good food (Ton, 2011).

QT was focused at its long-term goals and due to this; it was ready to take the burden of short-term financial losses and took small and big investment decision as well. Realizing the factor, that clean bathroom is something that will attract most of the customers it invested about $12million over three years for the sake of making them innovative. It also maintained the "family environment" by eliminating the keeping of pornographic magazines (Ton, 2011). Before 1990 the company sensed that it is not achieving the operational excellence and in 1995 it launched a major effort to re-engineer. Jeffers, director of operations at QT worked with 13 store managers to reevaluate QT processes and policies. All the store operations were mapped and standardized after talking to customers about what they valued. In addition, standards were also made regarding the looks of store managers. To achieve the operational excellence QT established new policies and procedures related to storing appearance and layout, employees' appearance and daily activities worksheet, and customer services as well.

One of the major parts of this reengineering effort was to integrate employees in process improvement. Resource groups were created for every position whose members were designated to discuss and improve issues in stores and tap improvement opportunities. The redesigning of business operations helped QT achieve sustainable competitive advantage as all of its reengineering efforts were aimed at satisfying the needs of customers (Ton, 2011). QT believes that it was best in choosing the store locations and its people that evaluated the demographics, crime rate and vehicle traffic of a location. Customer service at QT is also one of the sources of its competitive advantage. Fast and quick service, friendliness, cleanliness, and product offerings distinguished QT from other convenience retail stores and store layout was also designed to assist customers in finding products very easily (Ton, 2011).

Daily activity worksheet was also introduced to aid managers in making sure that everything is done on time. In addition, to assess the customer feedbacks company employed mystery shoppers to evaluate every element of customer service. Each store was managed by a store manager assisted by three other managers to achieve efficiency according to the customer traffic at stores. Effective employee management resulted in making QT one of the best places to work among the Fortune 100 best companies (Ton, 2011). Another strategy that has helped the company in achieving sustainable growth is its investment in the Phoenix-area and Dallas area markets.

operation management activities affect on customer experience and operation management challenges with the solutions for confronting them

The operation management activities play a key role in increasing the operational performance of organizations and ultimately enhancing the customer’s experience. Some of the operations management activities such as operations scheduling, service delivery and processes and logistics capabilities have a direct impact on a company's efficiency. In today's competitive business environment, it is essential for the top management of different companies to pay attention to operations management activities. For service organizations, it is imperative to manage the service process in order to achieve operational efficiency. OM related activities are a better predictor of quality and efficiency in service organizations (Prajogo & Goh, 2005).

From the case of QT, it is witnessed that operation management activities such as reengineering of processes and procedures were helpful in achieving customer satisfaction as observed by the mystery shoppers. Clean bathrooms, quick and fast services, ease for a customer in finding the right products, entering fresh foods market, and friendly staff are some of the operations management activities that have helped QT in boosting customers’ experience at QT stores and ultimately enhancing customers’ satisfaction (Ton, 2011). One of the company’s policy, “Three to one stand” is also an excellent example of enhancing customer’s experience via improving operations efficiency.

Operations management nowadays several challenges and these challenges, two of them are maintaining sustainability and maintaining ethical conduct. Sustainability is the process of maintaining continuous growth without putting future resources at a risk. The challenge is not to achieve growth but sustainable growth, and the operations managers can achieve sustainable growth by considering all the three pillars of sustainability that are economic, environmental, and social. By implementing the best practices for all three pillars, sustainable growth can be assured. Another challenge is to ensure that the business activities are not damaging to the society and community. Unethical behavior is the reason for the demise of many successful corporations and it must be eliminated. Operations managers must ensure that the business operations are safe for the environment, community, and people.

Examine the QuickTrip value chain and evaluate its effectiveness to operations in terms of quality, value creation, and customer satisfaction.

The value chain of an organization comprises of activities that are necessary to perform the business operations. It consists of all the activities which help in providing the customer with the end product or service of an organization. A value chain consists of some primary activities and some support activities, including inbound and outbound logistics, technology, procurement, Human resource, service, and marketing and sales (Ton, 2011). The value chain activities of QT consist of all those activities, which help, in providing the end service to customers. The products at the stores arrive from their distribution centers and QT kitchens, kitchens are made to deliver fresh food in the stores. QT has focused on the store and employees' appearance, and it has also focused on quick customers. All of its activities are aimed at providing its customers with quality products, value creation, and customer satisfaction (Ton, 2011).

The company closed the stores that failed to support the pumping stations and it earned a reputation as a brand selling high-quality gasoline at very low prices. The human resource of the company on making investments in hiring, training, and management of employees that could offer quality customer service. The division manager was involved in the hiring of people and employees were evaluated on the basis of predictors of exemplary service. Once hired, employees were trained in about six training sessions (Ton, 2011). Employees were also trained after promotion to a new post. Being a service organization, QT put a lot of emphasis on offering the benefits and benefits to the employees so that they can provide exceptional service to the customers coming at QT stores. The benefits included financial benefits, vacation benefits, insurance benefits, and many others. Delivering fast and quality customer service is the crucial responsibility of every employee (Ton, 2011).

The services at a store such as parking and innovative bathrooms, very quick service to customers, aimed at creating value and quality in its service to satisfy all the customers who visit QT store. It has more focus on its human resource because they have a direct influence on good and poor quality service provided to the customers. The staff is very quick and they do not rely on the whole process of scanning the products and wasting the time of customers who are always on the go. Instead, they focused on fresh and quick food to save customers time.

Different types of performance measurements that can be used to measure QuickTrip service-delivery system design.

The service delivery system is the set of processes and procedures, which guides the employees in delivering consistent customer experience to a set of customers. Measuring the QuickTrip service-delivery system is to assess the quality of the service provided to its customers. The performance measurement of the service-delivery system can be assessed using the standards that have already been developed in order to maintain the quality of service provided to customers. Objective measures can be used to determine the quality of service when the staff is delivering it. QT has already developed some standards such as “Three to one standard”, standardized mystery shoppers’ questionnaires, based on the wants of hundreds of customers’ expectations. Its standards include the customer service delivery evaluation based on eye contact, charging correct prices and a proper thank you etc. (Ton, 2011).

Managerial Observation is another technique that can be applied to assess the service quality, and it can simply be done by looking around what is happening. A model has been developed by A. Parasuraman to measure the quality of services provided to its customers. This model is known as SERVQUAL, which measures the quality of service on five different dimensions i.e. tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy (Seth, Deshmukh, & Vrat, 2005). One more way to assess the quality of the QuickTrip service-delivery system is to monitor customer experiences when it is taking place. It can help in identifying and improving the system failures, which can affect the quality of service, delivered in a negative way. The strategy of mystery shoppers of QT is also very beneficial in measuring the service delivery system of the company.

Two best ways that can be the most beneficial in determining the quality of the service is the use of the SERVQUAL model and measurement against the delivery standards that have been determined by the company. The SERVQUAL model offers evaluation from many dimensions and can be helpful in assessing quality from different perspectives; in addition, this model has also obtained support from various researchers (Seth, Deshmukh, & Vrat, 2005). Measuring against the performance standards is also a good practice because standards are developed based on customers’ expectations, and it can determine if the service quality is according to customer expectations or not.

The different types of technologies applied to QuickTrip service operations and the ways technologies strengthen the value chain.

Technology plays a key role in increasing the quality of service operations. QT ensures that the equipment' used at its gas stations and stores are working properly and for this purpose, they have their own support staff. The case does not reveal the use of innovative technologies in their service operations, instead, the staff believes in mental math. They are more focused on the quick customer experience, which is of three to four minutes between entering the store to the departure. Stores were aimed at few products but enhanced customer experience in the form of quick service, friendly staff. However, they have focused on clean and innovative bathrooms, which is the key point of attraction for most of the customers (Ton, 2011).

Technology plays a vital role in improving the quality of the work done and it enhances the efficiency of business processes. The value chain activities can also be enhanced by making use of the right technology. Technology allows the business to have a direct link with the customers and reduce errors in record keeping and inventory management. The staff at QT tried to reduce the customer waiting time by eliminating the scanning process and use speed keys, however, bar code scanning reduced the chances of inefficiency and improves the accuracy of records (Ton, 2011). To increase the speed of service, technology can help well. Advancement in technology has enabled the employees to communicate with each other and produce better outcomes for the patients.

Technology is one of the primary activities in Porter's value chain model, and it affects almost every other activity of the value chain. Changes in technology can also influence the value chain activities and possible configurations can be made to achieve a competitive advantage. Technology can be used in material handling, transportation of goods, and implementation of information systems, order processing, designing operations, communication, marketing, and advertising, in-store promotions, customer loyalty programs, and enhanced and improved customers management. Moreover, technology makes a connection between all the value chain activities that cannot be performed in isolation. Service organizations must make use of technology to enhance their competitive advantage by employing technology in their operations.

Conclusion

To sum up, the operations management strategy plays a vital role in the success of a company and assists it in achieving a competitive advantage. QT started in 1958 in Tulsa by two buddies and it went through a massive expansion in a few decades. QT became the best convenience, gasoline, and food retailer in the community and its success is attributed to their core values, labor practices, effective strategies, leadership, and its effective OM strategies and activities. Companies also face some challenges such as attaining sustainable competitive advantage and putting ethics at the heart of operations management activities, however, operations managers can tackle these challenges by adopting some simple strategies. The value chain activities of QT also makes a contribution to its service quality, value creation, and customer satisfaction. Implementation of technology can enhance the effectiveness of value chain activities of QT.

References

Prajogo, D. I., & Goh, M. (2005). Impact of Operations Management Activities on Operational Performance in Service Organisations. Department of Management, Monash University.

Seth, N., Deshmukh, S. G., & Vrat, P. (2005). Service quality models: a review. International journal of quality & reliability management, 22(9), 913-949.

Ton, Zeynep. "QuikTrip." Harvard Business School Case 611-045, March 2011. (Revised June 2011.)

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 8 Words: 2400

Strategic Analysis

Strategic analysis

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Red Robin is a fast foods company that focuses on expanding its boundaries to other regions across the world. Marketing strategies used by the company are numerous. Differentiation is one of the most popular ways through which the company gets to win new clients. Though it does not function like the other normal fast food joints that many people know, to some extent it has the same operating procedure. The only difference is that it has a service strategy where the clients take the drinks without having to carry them like in other companies (John, 1986). In most cases, the company does not do deliveries like the other fast food joints. The company should come up with specific products that are meant to address the needs of different types of clients. The company needs to research on the characteristics of different market segments that can help to increase revenue for the company.

For Red Robin, the company has failed to note the importance of differentiation in marketing. A big company like Red Robin should be able to study the clients with a view of understanding what they like. The company has failed to differentiate the market based on different factors. Though it might appear to be an expensive process, it is likely to make the clients to feel more satisfied by creating a small market segment where they fit. The company is currently marketing its products without considering the fact that there are many market segments that should be attended to. Currently, there are many small companies that are trying to fill the small market segments. The fact that this is a big company does not mean that it should only focus on the large market segments. The growth of the small companies starts with the small market segments and this reduces the number of clients who opt to buy the company’s products. Differentiation helps such big companies to address the smaller market segments that are always increasing in number. The reason why this company might experience reduction on revenue is the fact that they continue to assume the small market segments (Sharp et al., 2001).

Marketing strategies can either make a company to be successful or to fail. A company that aims to address the needs of every client in the market has the ability to increase sales. Once the clients notice that the company is always striving to satisfy them, they will also refer other clients to the company. For example, when it comes to pricing, the company can come up with convenient packaging and prices based in the regions they wish to sell such products. There are clients who may not be able to afford the large packages. The company should strategize with an intention of ensuring that they understand the market well.

The internal environment of this company supports such a strategy. The company is always involved in research with the aim of satisfying the clients. The same amount of energy should be focused on researching how to use differentiation in marketing with the aim of increasing the market share. The external environment is also conducive for such a strategy. Currently, different people have their own definition of how they wish to have their food. When the company carries out a research to define the different types of clients and what they like, the company will definitely come up with a comprehensive way of addressing the issues. This can be a good long-term strategy that can help to win more and more clients over time. Continued research will continue to define new market segments that can be addressed by coming up with products that are mainly meant to satisfy such a group of people (John, 1986). The revenue collected from sales will also increase in the long run.

References

Sharp, Byron; Dawes, John (2001), "What is Differentiation and How Does it Work?," Journal of Marketing Management, 17, 739-59. doi:10.1362/026725701323366809

 Sutton, John (May 1986). "Vertical Product Differentiation: Some Basic Themes". The American Economic Review. 76, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Ninety-Eighth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1986), pp. 393-398 (American Economic Association): 393–398. JSTOR 1818803.

Subject: Business and Management

Pages: 2 Words: 600

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