The Importance of Keeping Documents

 

Introduction

There are papers and documents that are of great importance to individuals and organizations, they need to be kept in safe and secured place. Documents are important for proving the certain events and actions that occur such as daily actions and events, important activities and financial operations. Documentation and keeping records usually require time in order to save documents correctly and safely. There are many types of documents and records such as paper documents, books, films and digital document. There are many benefits for keeping documents such as proving information, providing specific data about people, places and events, obtaining authorizations, providing indications for different activities and events. Keeping documents and records is important for helping people and organizations obtain papers and information at any time easily and perfectly. There are many methods for keeping documents and there should be a plan for doing this. The current paper is discussing the importance of keeping documents, different methods for keeping them and the benefits gained from keeping documents in addition to presenting the history of keeping documents and the updated techniques for keeping documents by individuals and different organizations in both public and private sectors. (LUBKIN AND Porter, 2013)

 Discussion

History of keeping documents

Keeping documents began since human being knew writing and reading as in ancient Egypt, they used papyrus for keeping records and filing them and in ancient civilizations such as the Roman, they also used records for keeping legal documents, military papers and archaeological records. Documents developed then within time to include many different types of means and methods for keeping records and documents till it reached digital storage and digital documentation systems.

Documents' types and needs

During people's lives, they are in need to keep different certificates and important papers such as their birth certificates, marriage papers, licenses, financial papers such as those of transactions, insurance policies and social security records. Keeping documents need specific planning and techniques because there are many different systems for documentation and keeping records. Papers that are valuable for individuals and organizations can be classified into two main types which are daily needed papers and occasionally needed ones. Valuable papers that can be needed occasionally include schools and universities papers marriage papers, bank statements, credit card papers, blood analysis papers, health documentations, and health insurance cards. Papers that may be needed daily include identification cards, credit cards, driving licenses and birth certificates. These papers are difficult to be replaced, updated or changed when lost as there are many procedures for making this so they are in need for being kept safe and in areas where people can reach them easily and fast while other strangers can't reach them. There are many conditions that should be there in a place for keeping documents such as being fire-proofed, water proofed and accessible only by people who own them. Papers that are needed for medical purposes may be needed daily so they also should be kept safe and secured and accessible. Files can also be kept in electronic records that are easy for access and are put on specific electronic systems for storage such as hard of computer, portable storage devices, portable memories, files and CDs. (American Psychological Association, 2007). Paper records and documents yet should be kept in lock boxes, cupboards, roofs, purses, desks, wallets or libraries that are also water and fire proofed in order to be safe and away from harm. Regular review as well as documents filing are very important for keeping documents because it makes the person who keeps them or the organization is well aware of the papers that need to be replaced or updated via the governments or controlling authorities, it is also important for recognizing those documents that need to be discard. There should be limitation periods for those stored digital documentations in order to be readable and accessible till needed ant at any time. There should be hard copies of them and other stored on portable devices in order to avoid loss by different malfunction computer systems and storage devices. Documents need t be reviewed from time to time in order to be renewed and updated. Charts, spreadsheets, big files and large documents should be kept safe in specific areas organized with letters and dates in order to make it easier for reaching them. Dangers of thefts may be put into consideration when keeping documents. Documents should be classified before storage according to their type and the needs used for them, for example, there are identity papers, medical records, schools papers, jobs papers and identity papers. Organizing the papers and filing them is a good process for managing documents keeping and reaching them easily and correctly as this process saves time and effort. Keeping documents is necessary for many reasons because it can help people reach data easily, facilitates continuity in business organizations, enhance effective guidance and providing needed information for different relevant institutions. They can also help in helping researchers and agencies that seek information and guide them towards the right types of documents.

 (Pryor, 2017)    

Keeping documents safe     

Financial transcripts, legal documents, important papers, medical records are all very important papers that are liable for loss and they are in need to be protected, they can be viewed and checked by managers and officials so they have to be accessed easily and they have to be protected from loss. Schools also keep their records and documents and should protect them safe. People may keep their important papers in drawers, cupboards or on shelves, organizations may keep them in large storing rooms or on computers and there should be specific means for keeping documents safe. Planning for keeping documents is very important to make them safe because many people see storing information as a haphazard process that takes a lot of time and effort and requires high efficiency so planning for it before doing it protects the documents from being lost or be at a mess. Planning should include dividing the documents into groups based on time, importance and type and then to classify them in spaces prepared for each category. Protection of documents should include different damage and loss elements such as floods, fires, theft, frauds and others and then preparations should be put into consideration within planning. They should be kept in places away from children, animals and thieves.

It is important to archive and back up the documents and photos and other relevant records as archiving them makes it better to reach them and easier. Photos and documents need to be scanned and kept as digital files that are also stored where people can access them when needed but in a way that ensures not being stolen by strangers or thieves. There should be safety measures and protecting tools such as safes, keys and numbers for each file. This can help reduce the time consumed for looking for files and documents. Digital files should be kept into folders that are organized and named according to the needs of the users and the types of files themselves. (Suter, 2003)  

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to focus on the need for keeping documents and records as it is important for both individuals and organizations. People can get the required information as soon as they are organizing their records and preparing their documents to be reachable and accessible at any time. Records and documents should be kept safe away from children reach and they have to be well protected from thieves and malfunctions. It is important for organizations and individuals to keep their documents organized according to their types and times in order to make the process of reaching them easier and more effective. Keeping documents has been important since early times of history such as the Egyptian and the Romans. This means that it is very necessary for people and organizations to keep documents whether they are for daily use or for occasionally use. (Marinic, 2015)

Recommendations

It is recommended that people and organizations organize the process of keeping documents, they also have to make planning for it before starting keeping the documents. It is important to have copies of the important documents and keep them in safe places where they can't be reached by thieves and children. It is important to classify documents and date them in order to make it effective and easy. Organizations are recommended to scan all documents and keep digital copies of them in case of loss or fires or floods. There should be protective methods for keeping documents safe and ready for use. Individuals also are recommended to recopy documents and scan digital copies of them in order to avoid loss or return them in cases of loss. Business organizations can set plans for keeping and identifying and classifying documents in order to have access to them by managers and employees. This can improve the process of keeping documents and make it effective in order to let people gain the best benefits from keeping their documents, save time and effort consumed in looking for documents and trying to get them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

1.      American Psychological Association. (2007). 'Record Keeping Guidelines.' http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/record-keeping.pdf

2.      Marinic, M. (2015). ' The Importance of Health Records.' http://file.scirp.org/pdf/Health_2015052017531331.pdf

3.      Porter, N. Kubin, L. (2013). ' Your Important Papers: What, Why, and How Long to Keep.' https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10217/185125/AEXT_091652013.pdf?sequence=1

4.      Pryor, L. (2017). 'What’s the point of documentation?.' https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1011/1011.1021.pdf

5.      Suter, J. (2003). 'Documentation Basics.' http://www.archives.nysed.gov/common/archives/files/mr_pub79.pdf

 

 

 

A Study on the Effects of Sales Training on Sales

 

Introduction

There are many changes that occurred in the sales field and they affected the function of selling in the past decades and years. This happened due to the increasing amounts of information customers gained and higher needs and demands of customers related to customer service and expectation about the services and products in addition to the high competition with different companies resulting from online sales and globalization. These changes need business organizations to innovate and improve their skills and experiences via many ways such as sales training. Manrai et al, (2015) The current paper is discussing the Effects of Sales Training on Sales Force Activity through many research methods. 

Research Objective

The current paper has an objective which is to analyze the effects of sales training on sales force performance and customer orientation. 

Literature Review

According to Jobber et al, (2004) personal selling has become very important in today's competitive marketplace, it can help raise sales and improve the organization's performance and profits, it can also enhance the performance of salespersons. Salespersons has great role in improving the sales' activity of the company so they need effective and condense training in order to help them implement many sales strategies and techniques such as building effective relationships with customers, solving their problems and adding value to the sales process within time. Customer oriented selling is according to Donaldson, (1998) very necessary to enhance the salespersons performance and develop the sales activity. 

Lee, (2010) confirmed that training in a main development component and any company that needs success should invest in training its salespersons as it can improve their performance and their customer orientation activity. The salespersons should receive training by the company where they work in order to improve their performance and skills with customers and products, there are many sales training methods such as individual training, on-the-job training, external courses and high-tech methods. Roman et al, (2002) added that these types of training can be divided based on the purpose of training employees such as product training, sales skill training and sales methodology training. Sales managers also need training for supporting salespeople and managing their performance.  

Seidman, (2012) discussed sales training methods let salesmen realize the problems of customers and find effective and fast solutions for them. Training can also improve their relationship skills that include two main parallel processes which are the personal relationship process and the sales transaction process. This involves many stages such as pre-interaction stage, interaction stage and the post interaction stage. Interaction is meant to improve the communicative skills of salespersons and sales managers in order to find out new communicative ways with customers that enable them to understand the needs of customers and meet them. Trainees should actively participate in the involved activities within training in order to make effective results.

Sunardi et al, (2012) stressed the need for training employees in order to improve their sales behaviors and this can be done via main sales training methodologies that can be under two main categories which are the self -study category that includes pre-workshop assignment, readings and programmed instructions in addition to the category of workshops that includes lectures, case studies, discussions, on-the-job training, role play and real life experiences. They suggest that business organizations have to combine the two categories of training in order to help employees and sales managers, George, (2008) also referred to the need to train employees on different selling techniques and preparing sales training programs that may vary depending on the way they are standardized such as general programs for all salespeople, top down sales activities and mandated activities that are formal and centralized, other activities are courses that are given to salespeople either in the organization or outside it by special experts in selling.

Mikula, (2004) asserted that when the organization train salespeople, a deep analysis for the organization should be made before starting training as it helps understand the needs of training in the organization, reasons for it, benefits that can be gained from it and different methods for implementing it as this can raise the chances of the success of sales training which in turn enhances the organization's performance and profits. This analysis can also find out the differences of trainees and the characteristics of the different jobs they each should perform and then to decide the best method for training them.

Research Philosophy, approach and strategy

The research philosophy is the development of the research background, nature and knowledge and it is also this framework that includes within different theories, practices and perceptions used for conducting a research. It can also be those procedures that involves the different steps the researcher uses to relate the research question to its objectives. The research philosophy can be pragmatism, positivism, post positivism,  realism, phenomonology or interpretivism. The current paper depends on the positivism research philosophy because according to Crossan, (2002) positivism is a research method that depends on the quantifiable observation that can lead to statistical analysis, it is said to support knowledge that results from human experiences.  It has an atomistic, ontological view of the world as comprising discrete, observable elements and events that interact in an observable, determined and regular manner.  (Mkansi and Acheampong, 2012)

The research approach is plan or the procedures used and applied for research and it decides the steps from different  assumptions for many methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. This plan involves some decisions that specify the decisions to be taken in writing the research. (Teherani et al, 2015)

The inductive approach which is also referred to as the inductive reasoning is a research approach that begins with theories and observations that are presented in the research to its process end and resulting from the observations. It involves searching for pattern from the observation and explanation development. ( Thomas, 2006)

The research strategy is the general plan of the research that the researcher uses in order to reach reasonable answers for the research questions. The current paper is using the survey research strategy. (Badke, 2011)

Ethical implications in this research

Research ethics ensures the protection of rights and information related to the research. During evaluation of this research, some ethical implications are set into considerations such as informed consent from the participants in the research questionnaire, voluntary participation is ensured, participants are ensured to participate in the research with no harm, confidentiality of information is also ensured and the research only assesses relevant components. 

Research Methodology

1.      Research Design

The research design depends on some methods and procedures for data collection and on some analysis measures used for measuring the different variables that are specified within the research paper and relevant to the research problem. The current study type is the inductive approach as it is descriptive basically and semi-experimental. Data collection methods depend on the journals relevant to the topic, books and internet articles that are trustworthy. Analysis plan depends on a questionnaire presented for people working in Napier Healthcare.

2.      Sampling

Sampling depends on collecting answers of questionnaire from 100 employees in Napier Healthcare which is a health care company in Oman. Participants were all agreeing and consents were taken from them before starting the questionnaire. Samples were randomly chosen from different types of employees in the company. Systematic random sampling techniques were used mainly.

3.      Data Collection Methods

Data was collected from different resources, mainly primary data was gained from the questionnaires that were delivered to employees of Napier Healthcare company as questionnaires were delivered to them after their consent. Secondary data was got from books, journals that are relevant to the topic and online sites as well. Data was too much and then it was analyzed in order to choose the most relevant data to be used in the research, most recent and evidence based data were chosen.

4.      Tools used for Analysis: Percentage Analysis

For analysis, tools are chosen carefully, percentage analysis is used and applied in order to know the real percentages of answers of the questionnaire. Analysis is applied in order to know real answers related to the sales training of salespersons and sales managers and how far the sales training is important to sales activity development. 

5.      Structure for Questionnaire

Five questions were set in the questionnaire in order to be delivered for participants. There are four questions for quantitative analysis and they are close ended and there is one question which is open ended for qualitative analysis.