Aquinas College America’s Infrastructure Discussion

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Aquinas College

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It’s time to develop your tentative thesis statement and subtopics for the body of your research.

You’ll need to develop a solid thesis statement.The thesis statement is typically the last sentence of your introduction.A thesis statement is not your opinion or a matter of fact, it is a clear and concise statement (argument) that you support in your paper (examples ):

Topic: America’s Infrastructure

Disciplines: (Government and Engineering)

Problem Statement: According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (2017), there hasn’t been improvement in the state of America’s transportation, water, energy, education and waste management programs in four years.

Research Question: How can the government get a better report card on America’s infrastructure?

Thesis Statement: The government must increase spending to improve the nation’s infrastructure to strengthen business productivity and the gross domestic product in order to restore the countries global competitive advantage.

Topic: Preventable Diseases

Disciplines: (Business and Health)

Problem Statement: Heart disease kills over a half million people each year in the United States, but 80% of Americans do not get the recommended amount of exercise for reducing the risk of heart disease (CDC, 2018).

Research Question: How would an exercise program affect a company’s bottom line?

Thesis Statement: Businesses should allow employees to exercise during work hours because companies make more money in healthcare cost savings than they lose in production due to an exercise program.

Topic: Juvenile Offenders

Disciplines: (Criminal Justice and Psychology)

Problem Statement: There are over 2,100 child offenders serving life sentences without possibility for parole in Untied States and over 16% were under the age of 15 when they committed their crimes (Rovner, 2018).

Research Question: Why should life sentencing of juveniles be different than the sentencing of adults for severe crimes?

Thesis Statement: Adolescents should be sentenced differently than adults for severe crimes because the juvenile mind is more susceptible to peer pressure, less able to assess consequences and more able to grow and be rehabilitated.

Subtopics are the headings that identify the main body of your research. You need to create 3-5 subheadings based on the research you have done. For example, a student studying the effects of overtime on nursing staff burnout might have collected research that leads to three subheadings: Statistics of Nursing Overtime, Causes of Nursing Burnout, and Psychological Effects of Burnout.

Note** The subheadings in your research do not include your conclusions or inferences, they simply synthesize and present the information from the research you have collected into coherent sections.Do not present results in your subheading sections.

Criteria for Thesis & Subheadings:

Title

Introduction (this may come from week 1) – include your tentative thesis statement

3-5 subheadings - include topic sentences that describe what is covered under each subheading and transition sentences that lead to the next subheading

References – Include references used in this paper

Your completed assignment should be written third person and should be 5 pages in length (not including title page and references). Your assignment should use APA style formatting.

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1 The Effects of Employee Fitness Programs on Organizational Performance Student Name RESEARCH PROPOSAL 2 The Effects of Employee Fitness Programs on Organizational Performance Maintaining high levels of employee performance in the workplace is of fundamental concern to human resource managers in many companies. The present high-market pressure requires the effort of highly satisfied and motivated employees. Healthy employees are happier at work, and they promote organizational performance. Most organizations are, therefore turning to the development of exercise programs in the workplace to boost the productivity of their workforce. The scope of the employee fitness activities varies between organizations with some companies paying the full fee at a private exercising club for their employees while others have complete onsite facilities. Organizations that support employee fitness programs reap benefits including increased employee satisfaction and positive attitude towards work, an increased ability to attract new talent, and increased workplace productivity (Falkenberg, 1987). Businesses should allow employees to exercise during work hours because companies make more money in healthcare cost savings than they lose in production due to an exercise program. Statement of the Problem Most businesses fail to succeed because of the high rate of heart diseases prevalent among their workforce, leading to reduced productivity. About thirty per cent of the world population dies from cardiovascular diseases, and the prevalence is expected to rise to over forty percent by the year 2030 (Song et al., 2015). The economic burden of cardiovascular diseases is substantial, and it consists of both direct and indirect costs. The direct costs are associated with the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, while the indirect costs are those that affect organizational productivity due to absenteeism. According to Baicker, Cutler and Song (2010), other costs associated with the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the workplace include RESEARCH PROPOSAL 3 the high cost of treatment that organizations have to pay in the form of health insurance for their employees. The Centers for Disease and Prevention Control states that heart disease kills over a half million people each year in the United States, but 80% of Americans do not get the recommended amount of exercise for reducing the risk of heart disease (Wright, Fogle, Welch and Frechette, 2018). Many employees consider the positive relationship between employee health and productivity and therefore invest in the well-being of their employees. Organizations engage in exercise activities that reduce the incidence of diseases associated with sedentary behavior within the workplace and in the end, increase productivity. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to determine the contribution of physical exercise programs in the workplace to organizational performance. Through the lenses of business and health, the research will consider recent qualitative and quantitative studies concerning the benefits of workplace exercise programs and their contribution to the overall organizational success. Since the topic of healthcare is broad, the research will narrow to cardiovascular illness. Research Questions Cardiovascular diseases are associated with a sedentary lifestyle where employees’ lifestyles revolve around driving to work and back home. This kind of lifestyle has led to an increase in the cases of obesity and placed many people at risk of heart diseases. Understanding the benefits of exercise programs in the workplace is necessary for helping employers to adopt similar strategies to allow employees to exercise at the workplace because it reduces the costs associated with healthcare that companies have to incur. Q1. How would an exercise program affect a company’s bottom line? RESEARCH PROPOSAL 4 Q2. What forms of exercise activities should companies engage in to improve the health of their employees? Study Significance The results of this study will be helpful to employers who may be willing to save on healthcare costs associated with the treatment and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease among employees. At the same time, they will learn to increase the participation of their workforce so that they can boost morale and employee satisfaction. Although many employers understand the effects of cardiovascular disease on employee performance, existing literature does not provide sufficient information concerning the indirect costs of cardiovascular diseases in the United States and how they continue to affect the productivity of organizations (Marques, Balle and Curado, 2018; Mills, Kessler, Cooper and Sullivan, 2007). Past studies have laid emphasis on the cost of cardiovascular illnesses on the employer through lost work productivity, but very few studies have put emphasis on the impact of absenteeism and how it can be reduced through physical exercise. The study will provide additional support for the effectiveness of exercise programs in the workplace to improve the health of the workforce and increase overall productivity. Conclusion Workplace exercise programs play a critical role in promoting employee health and eventually increasing workplace productivity. Managers understand the benefits of maintaining a healthy workforce because it will save them thousands of dollar that they spend annually in terms of insurance premiums toward the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The benefits of workplace physical exercise programs include the ability of the firm to attract key talent and RESEARCH PROPOSAL 5 retain their employees for an extended period, increased employee satisfaction, and increased organizational output (Jundt, Shoss and Huang, 2015). Physical exercise programs may be expensive for organizations because they include purchasing the necessary equipment to keep employees engaged while at the same time, they consume valuable organization’s time. However, employers understand the associated benefits, and they are ready to spend these costs that will save healthcare costs as well as increase organizational productivity in the long-run. RESEARCH PROPOSAL 6 References Baicker, K., Cutler, D., & Song, Z. (2010). Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health affairs, 29(2), 304-311. Falkenberg, L. E. (1987). Employee fitness programs: Their impact on the employee and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 12(3), 511-522. Jundt, D. K., Shoss, M. K., & Huang, J. L. (2015). Individual adaptive performance in organizations: A review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(S1), S53-S71. Marques, I., Balle, A. R., & Curado, C. (2018). The contribution of physical exercise to organizational performance. European Journal of Management Studies, 23(2), 101-121. Mills, P. R., Kessler, R. C., Cooper, J., & Sullivan, S. (2007). Impact of a health promotion program on employee health risks and work productivity. American Journal of Health Promotion, 22(1), 45-53. Song, X., Quek, R. G., Gandra, S. R., Cappell, K. A., Fowler, R., & Cong, Z. (2015). Productivity loss and indirect costs associated with cardiovascular events and related clinical procedures. BMC health services research, 15(1), 245. Wright, J. S., Fogle, C. C., Welch, T., & Frechette, K. (2018). Preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes.
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Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research Proposal- Thesis and Subtopics
Institutional Affiliation
Date

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
The Effects of Employee Fitness Programs on Organizational Performance
Introduction
Employees’ fitness in the workplace emerged in the 1990s, as a serious concern for
organizations especially in the United States, marking a shift from the traditional focus on
industrial safety, health and disease or injury prevention (Gebhardt & Crump, 1990). Currently,
about 80-90 per cent of the large and medium-size organizations in the United States workplace
have designed programs for promoting employee fitness, health and general well-being. Most
employers are motivated by the prospect of lowering or managing the increasing cost of
healthcare benefits, cut downs in benefits coverage as the alternative. Some companies also
perceive these programs as significant in cultivating a supportive culture among employees, thus
improving organizational performance. Fitness programs work to promote good health
maintenance rather than correct poor health in the workplace. Workplace fitness programs
therefore significantly impact on organizational performance by lowering absenteeism for health
reasons, among the workforce. Organizations should develop fitness programs in their
workplace, to cut down healthcare costs, reduce absenteeism, lower employee job turnover, and
enhance employee motivation; thus increasing the overall organizational performance.
Employees’ Fitness and Wellness Programs in the Workplace
These are corporate initiated and sponsored programs, focused on improving and
promoting the health and well-being of workers. Employee fitness programs aim at mitigating
certain health risk factors and behaviors; including physical inactivity, obesity, poor nutrition,
stress, smoking, fatigue, depression, alcohol consumption, chronic diseases and lifestyle issues.
These unhealthy living styles increase the vulnerability of workers to chronic diseases, including

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL

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cancer, diabetes, chronic pulmonary condition, asthma and heart diseases, which are expensive to
treat. Employers, therefore, end up incurring a lot of treatment costs on such diseases. Such
diseases lower the quality of life, lead to disability and premature death, and negatively affect
employees’ performance as a factor of absenteeism and job turnover (Bertera, 1990).
Employee fitness or wellness programs seek to change and modify unhealthy behavior
and health risks. As a result, fitne...