Guillermo Furniture Store

Guillermo Furniture Store For many years, Guillermo Navallez has owned and operated a small and profitable wood furniture making company in beautiful Sonora, Mexico. He has enjoyed an abundance of raw materials, low labor costs, and limited competition. This has recently changed due to a few significant events (1) new competitors from overseas, using high-tech automation manufacturing processes, resulting in exact furniture specifications at rock bottom prices and (2) Sonora, Mexico labor cost have dramatically increased due to emerging new industries and companies. Guillermo Furniture has been forced to reconsider his current business model and implement a change in strategy to remain in business and competitive (ACC561, Guillermo, 2009). Guillermo Furniture SWOT Analysis Prior to addressing the outlined questions we must understand Guillermo Furniture Store’s current; Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). Managers use accounting information for many different types of decisions. Information uncovered in accounting provides; scorekeeping, attention directing and/or problem solving, but we first need to understand our current environment (Horngren, 2008). The first course of action for Guillermo Furniture is to have an objective SWOT analysis performed in order to have a clear picture of the company’s current position in the market and among the competition. Of course, a more detailed SWOT analysis would be needed for a more specific focus and direction. Strengths: Strengths identified during the SWOT analysis is an abundant supply of raw materials, inexpensive labor, and a market that allowed a price premium for quality. Weaknesses: The Guillermo Furniture Company was shown to be weak in manufacturing process and technology when a larger competitor started operations in direct competition. This made the company’s market position uncompetitive due to lack of manufacturing automation and labor costs. Guillermo also would like to remain independent, thus he would not benefit from the strengths of merging or having his small company acquired to facilitate growth. Opportunities: Guillermo has multiple opportunities to improve his company’s future. First, the company could expand the selection of furniture produced through new manufacturing processes. Second, the patented furniture coating product, could easily become the driving force behind Guillermo growth and competitive advantage. And finally, Guillermo could develop a new business unit division, and combine it with an investment in technology for the coating manufacturing to further improve his unique selling proposition. Threats: The Guillermo Furniture Company faces a myriad of threats. A new and large competitor that uses advanced technology and automation. Rising labor costs, declining sales due to competition, eroding margins, and declining revenues with sales losses. The current climate of mergers and acquisitions in the furniture industry is producing stronger competition with more economies of scale and leveraging of power in the marketplace. Budgets and Performance Reports The basic purpose of accounting information is to help make strategic decisions. Regardless of who is making the decisions, understanding accounting information allows for a more informed, and better decision (Horngren, 2008). Accounting reports are classified into two types; Accounting and Financial reports. Budgets and performance reports are vital information for a company that is looking to survive, compete and expand in their marketplace. Guillermo would benefit immensely by using these reports to see data trends in different business segments. For example, a performance report showing real versus budgeted sales would identify the most viable and profitable business segments in both short and long-term. Guillermo could then use these data trends to build a 5-10 year forecast for individual business segment manufacturing viability. Guillermo must evaluate each business unit taking into account fixed and variable costs associated with the fixed assets required for operation. Once this evaluation is completed, business models for revenue, costs, profit margin, and resource investment could be compared for each of the proposed business units. †¢ Manufacturing as currently in place †¢ Manufacturing with investment in new technology †¢ Broker Business Segment Product Coatings Business Segment Lastly, Guillermo could use performance reports to identify growth segments for immediate and future resource investment. He could identify declining segments and begin to diversify or limit future investment in these segments. For example, demand for moderate furniture is growing while the demand for high-end furniture is on the decline. While limiting further investments in declining segments, use them as sources of income for the higher profit margins they do produce. The proceeds from this could be re-invested in the growing market segments. Ethics and Accounting Decisions Regulation of accounting systems seeks to ensure the reliability of the information that accounts provide. â€Å"However, no regulation can be as effective in ensuring liability as holding accountants to high ethical standards† (Horngren, 2008). Organizational and individual ethics influence critical decision-making processes, with potentially negative results affecting the bottom line. Ethics are based in part on core values imparted on individuals throughout a lifetime. Each person perceives right and wrong based upon ethics and consequently his or her actions will follow these parameters. Technology also promotes organizational ethics; however, ethical and moral conflicts will increase work-related stress amongst employees. This behavior negatively influences organizational behavior. Guillermo must decide whether to transition from manufacturing to distribution, and if he does remain in manufacturing, are there potential ethical violations if he continues to broker as well. This author believes Guillermo would have the personal ethical dilemma of continuing to employ human labor from his city, or transition to a more automated production thus saving him money from his bottom line, and making the company more efficient and effective. The current economy has been shaped with bad ethical decisions in accounting practices. One only needs to look as far as Tyco, Enron and WorldCom to understand how pressure to perform and expand can corrupt a company. The bottom line for Guillermo Furniture Company will be how Guillermo responds to the competition and how his desire to remain ndependent affects his decision making process. Relevant Accounting Information and Decision Making The most relevant accounting information for Guillermo to consider would be the following examples. †¢ Short and Long-Term Demand Forecasts, Revenue Generation, Pricing, Cost, and Profit Margin for each Business Segment. †¢ ROI in months / break even when determining the ROI on New Technology Investment †¢ Compare Expected Revenue, Margins and Net Income from all three business opportunities. Forecasting demand for each segment, pricing and production costs for each opportunity †¢ Assets Management†¦. Develop a plan to support assets that are profitable, and a plan to divest the underperforming. Conclusion The Guillermo Furniture Company has enjoyed years of profitability without constructing a business dynamic plan. With the larger direct competition moving in, this has shown the weaknesses in the Guillermo Furniture Company. Guillermo must immediately change the course of direction in order to remain solvent in the current marketplace. The statistics available through accounting practices will give him the necessary tools to make both short and long-term decisions to remain a viable company in today’s global economy. References ACC 561 Course handout: Scenario: The Guillermo Furniture Store. Retrieved July 19, 2009 from the material section of the course description page. Brealey, R. ., Myers, S. . & Marcus, A. J. (2007). Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (5th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Horngren; Sundem; Stratton. (2008). Introduction to Management Accounting (14th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson / Prentice Hall.

Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research Essay

The first question asked by any researcher with a new topic to study is: ‘What sort of research should I use?’ Reference to the literature can be confusing: so much research has been done, so many questions asked and sometimes answered, and so many conclusions have been drawn that it can be difficult to sort out one research technique from another. The decision most beginners to research find taxing is: ‘Should I use quantitative or qualitative methods?’At the most basic level, quantitative research methods are used when something needs to be measured, while qualitative methods are used when a question needs to be described and investigated in some depth. Often, the two methods are used in tandem to provide measurements for comparison and evaluation and to give an in-depth explanation of the meaning of an idea. Quantitative researchThe words themselves hold the clues. Quantitative research includes so-called benchtop science (where experimental tests are carried out), drug trials (where the effects of drugs are measured), epidemiology (where rates of illnesses in populations are calculated), intervention studies (where one technique is used and its effects compared with another), and so on. Quantitative research usually contains numbers, proportions and statistics, and is invaluable for measuring people’s attitudes, their emotional and behavioural states and their ways of thinking. In one section of a study on child care in hospitals, I asked a group of parents to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to a range of questions on their attitudes to paediatric hospital care (Shields 1999). I then measured the number of ‘yes’ answers and compared them with responses from nurses and doctors to the same questions. The study showed differences in attitude between parents and staff that could have affected communication between them and influenced the delivery of care. In another example, a researcher in Iceland measured the most important needs of parents during their children’s admission to hospital and found that they rated emotional needs as more important than physical requirements, such as rest and food (Kristjansdà ¶ttir 1995). Qualitative researchQualitative methods are used when the meaning of  something needs to be found. Exploring the question: ‘Who owns a child in hospital?’ (Shields et al 2003), or examining the meaning of an experience, illness, or condition, for example, of what it means to be a mother whose child has died (Laakso and Paunonen-Ilmonen 2001), are all forms of qualitative research. Qualitative research usually has no measurements or statistics but uses words, descriptions and quotes to explore meaning. It can even use arts techniques, such as dance (Picard 2000). The question to ask when planning a research project, therefore, is: ‘Do I want to count or measure something, or do I want to find the meaning of something, and describe it?’ Which comes first? This is sometimes a chicken-and-egg question but if no one has investigated the topic before, qualitative research is used first to try to tease out ideas, which can then be turned into questions — that can be tested quantitatively REFERENCES Kristjansdà ¶ttir G (1995) Perceived importance of needs expressed by parents of hospitalized two-to-six-year-olds. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences. 9, 2, 95-103. Laakso H, Paunonen-Ilmonen M (2001) Mothers’ grief following the death of a child. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 36, 1, 69-77. Picard C (2000) Pattern of expanding consciousness in midlife women: creative movement and the narrative as modes of expression. Nursing Science Quarterly. 13, 2, 150-157. Shields L (1999) A Comparative Study of the Care of Hospitalized Children in Developed and Developing Countries. Doctoral thesis. Brisbane, University of Queensland. Shields L et al (2003) Who owns the child in hospital? A preliminary discussion. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 41, 3, 1-9.

Basel Iii, Solvency Ii

It was first published in 2009 and will be start implement on 1 January 2013. To make sure the banks have sufficient capital, Basel III has some new regulatory on bank leverage and also its liquidity. Solvency II Solvency II is a basic review of adequacy of capital for the European insurance industry. It aims to revise a set of EU-wide capital requirements and risk management standards that will replace the current solvency requirements. For instance, most European insurers are obliged to implement the full Solvency II requirements by January 2013. As such, it will be a major driver for the development and embedding of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for the insurance industry. Difference between Basel III and Basel I II Basel III varies from Basel I and Basel II. Basel I is create and used to strengthen the stability of global banking system while standardize capital requirement by using regulatory control. The weakness of Basel I is banks are expose to excessive risk because of the freedom in giving loan. Basel II develops from Basel I, it makes improvement on standardize the capital regulation and increase the risk management between the banks. Unlike Basel I, Basel II required banks to make analyze on the ability of corporate in pay back the loan before they decided to lending money out. Basel III replace for Basel II which the capital requirement is stricter, so that they can handle the capital fluctuate during financial crisis. Difference between Solvency I and Solvency II The difference between Solvency I and Solvency II is their fundamental based. Solvency II is principle based, whereas Solvency I is rule based. This means Solvency II knows less rules, instead of introduces principles which have to be adopted by the insurers, they all involved actions and decisions. They can no longer hide behind rules, nor is it easy to find holes in the law. Therefore, in order to process these principles into company will be tough therefore time is ticking since it is questionable when all is implemented sufficiently. While for the Solvency II is to protect customers from taking unacceptable risks. This is done by demanding insurers to manage their risks better and be transparent on their financial position and risk. Hence it shows more holistic approach in comparison to Solvency I. Who should comply to Basel III The Basel accords are a range of mutual agreements that are voluntarily given by various global banking authorities. The countries which have signed these agreements would have set it as a common standard. However, some countries which are not the member state may also implement these policies. Besides, in United States of America, the government set the Basel II as a mandatory standard for banks. The banks which have a higher-risk profiles are instead imposed higher and stricter standard under the same accords. Next, Basel III required banks must keep a minimum common equity of 7% of their assets and this percentage covers a capital conservation buffer of 2. %. The countries which have approved Basel III must impose and put the standard. Who should comply Solvency II Solvency II is needed for all the insurance companies and financial institution. Solvency II’s regulation will be control by the respective financial supervisor. Besides, the best practice for insurers is to embed qualitative and quantitative risk management throughout their organization. A process-based risk approach is the be st foundation for risk management of market, credit, liquidity, insurance and all operational risks. Solvency II regulates companies according to the risk inherent in the business. Every company must define that the risk profile is in line with the appropriate governance and risk management processes to meet this risk. Why Basel III is needed? Basel III is needed because it strengthens bank capital requirements by introduces new regulatory requirements on bank liquidity and bank leverage. It help the Bank directors to know the market liquidity conditions for major asset holdings and strengthen accountability for any major losses. Why Solvency II is needed? Solvency II is needed because it can supervise the insurance company and strengthen the power of group supervisor, in order to ensure the wide risks of the group are not overlooked. By having Solvency II, a greater cooperation between supervisors can be made. Besides, Solvency II plays an active role in the development in insurance, risk management, and financial reporting. Objective for Basel III There are three objective of Basel III. Firstly, Basel III enhance the ability of banking sectors in handle stress that arise during financial crisis and economic strain. Secondly, Basel III used to improve risk management and also its governance. Lastly, Basel III reinforces the transparency and exposure of the banks. Objective for Solvency II These are some objectives for Solvency II. Firstly, it improved consumer protection by standardized level of policyholder protection in EU. Secondly, Solvency II transfers compliance in supervise into making evaluation on insurers’ risk profiles and the quality of their risk management and also their controlling systems. Lastly, Solvency II used to raise the international competitiveness of EU insurers. What are the challenges that encounter by the Basel III and Solvency II? The challenges that encounter by the Basel III and Solvency II is there is a mutual relationship between the new capital and the liquidity rules for bank and insurance companies that set by Basel III and Solvency II. Besides that, Solvency II had changed the way of allocate the capital for insurance companies. In example, fair value will be calculated by the risk that insurer take on their investing activities. Solvency II also offered a privileged treatment to bond with short tenure. It impress stricter capital requirement for bond that determined by the investment’s maturity, and credit rating due to the volatility of investment. Lastly, there is an inverse relationship between Basel III and Solvency II. Basel III requires all the financial institution to establish more stable, long term source of funding. In example, Basel III require bank to place their funding in a more stable and long term investment, means they will issue more long term bond. While for the Solvency II, the regulation gives shorter preferential treatment to the bank bond. ? Basel Iii, Solvency Ii It was first published in 2009 and will be start implement on 1 January 2013. To make sure the banks have sufficient capital, Basel III has some new regulatory on bank leverage and also its liquidity. Solvency II Solvency II is a basic review of adequacy of capital for the European insurance industry. It aims to revise a set of EU-wide capital requirements and risk management standards that will replace the current solvency requirements. For instance, most European insurers are obliged to implement the full Solvency II requirements by January 2013. As such, it will be a major driver for the development and embedding of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for the insurance industry. Difference between Basel III and Basel I II Basel III varies from Basel I and Basel II. Basel I is create and used to strengthen the stability of global banking system while standardize capital requirement by using regulatory control. The weakness of Basel I is banks are expose to excessive risk because of the freedom in giving loan. Basel II develops from Basel I, it makes improvement on standardize the capital regulation and increase the risk management between the banks. Unlike Basel I, Basel II required banks to make analyze on the ability of corporate in pay back the loan before they decided to lending money out. Basel III replace for Basel II which the capital requirement is stricter, so that they can handle the capital fluctuate during financial crisis. Difference between Solvency I and Solvency II The difference between Solvency I and Solvency II is their fundamental based. Solvency II is principle based, whereas Solvency I is rule based. This means Solvency II knows less rules, instead of introduces principles which have to be adopted by the insurers, they all involved actions and decisions. They can no longer hide behind rules, nor is it easy to find holes in the law. Therefore, in order to process these principles into company will be tough therefore time is ticking since it is questionable when all is implemented sufficiently. While for the Solvency II is to protect customers from taking unacceptable risks. This is done by demanding insurers to manage their risks better and be transparent on their financial position and risk. Hence it shows more holistic approach in comparison to Solvency I. Who should comply to Basel III The Basel accords are a range of mutual agreements that are voluntarily given by various global banking authorities. The countries which have signed these agreements would have set it as a common standard. However, some countries which are not the member state may also implement these policies. Besides, in United States of America, the government set the Basel II as a mandatory standard for banks. The banks which have a higher-risk profiles are instead imposed higher and stricter standard under the same accords. Next, Basel III required banks must keep a minimum common equity of 7% of their assets and this percentage covers a capital conservation buffer of 2. %. The countries which have approved Basel III must impose and put the standard. Who should comply Solvency II Solvency II is needed for all the insurance companies and financial institution. Solvency II’s regulation will be control by the respective financial supervisor. Besides, the best practice for insurers is to embed qualitative and quantitative risk management throughout their organization. A process-based risk approach is the be st foundation for risk management of market, credit, liquidity, insurance and all operational risks. Solvency II regulates companies according to the risk inherent in the business. Every company must define that the risk profile is in line with the appropriate governance and risk management processes to meet this risk. Why Basel III is needed? Basel III is needed because it strengthens bank capital requirements by introduces new regulatory requirements on bank liquidity and bank leverage. It help the Bank directors to know the market liquidity conditions for major asset holdings and strengthen accountability for any major losses. Why Solvency II is needed? Solvency II is needed because it can supervise the insurance company and strengthen the power of group supervisor, in order to ensure the wide risks of the group are not overlooked. By having Solvency II, a greater cooperation between supervisors can be made. Besides, Solvency II plays an active role in the development in insurance, risk management, and financial reporting. Objective for Basel III There are three objective of Basel III. Firstly, Basel III enhance the ability of banking sectors in handle stress that arise during financial crisis and economic strain. Secondly, Basel III used to improve risk management and also its governance. Lastly, Basel III reinforces the transparency and exposure of the banks. Objective for Solvency II These are some objectives for Solvency II. Firstly, it improved consumer protection by standardized level of policyholder protection in EU. Secondly, Solvency II transfers compliance in supervise into making evaluation on insurers’ risk profiles and the quality of their risk management and also their controlling systems. Lastly, Solvency II used to raise the international competitiveness of EU insurers. What are the challenges that encounter by the Basel III and Solvency II? The challenges that encounter by the Basel III and Solvency II is there is a mutual relationship between the new capital and the liquidity rules for bank and insurance companies that set by Basel III and Solvency II. Besides that, Solvency II had changed the way of allocate the capital for insurance companies. In example, fair value will be calculated by the risk that insurer take on their investing activities. Solvency II also offered a privileged treatment to bond with short tenure. It impress stricter capital requirement for bond that determined by the investment’s maturity, and credit rating due to the volatility of investment. Lastly, there is an inverse relationship between Basel III and Solvency II. Basel III requires all the financial institution to establish more stable, long term source of funding. In example, Basel III require bank to place their funding in a more stable and long term investment, means they will issue more long term bond. While for the Solvency II, the regulation gives shorter preferential treatment to the bank bond. ?

Socially constructed (i.e. ideologies and mindsets) nature of the Essay

Socially constructed (i.e. ideologies and mindsets) nature of the current economic recession - Essay Example One of the biggest problems the U.K. economy is facing is the rise in the unemployment rate. The current unemployment rate of the United Kingdom is 7.9%. The unemployment epidemic is occurring throughout the entire world. There are approximately 115 nations that have an unemployment rate that is as high or worst than the United Kingdom with Zimbabwe being the worst victim with an astronomical unemployment rate of 95% (Cia, 2011). Zimbabwe is also facing hyperinflation. When people don’t have a job there are not able to cover their living expenses. There are other problems the British economy is facing. There are millions of British people living in extreme poverty. For instance the amount of homeless people is huge. There are approximately 400,000 people in the United Kingdom that do not have a roof over their heads. Extreme poverty is not just occurring in emerging economies. It is also a reality of a developed nation such as the United Kingdom. These figures do not make sens e to me since the gross domestic product per capita in the United Kingdom is one of the highest in the world at ?22,241 (CultureGrams, 2011). The government has not done an adequate job to ensure British wealth is distributed more evenly. The government should raise the tax rates to 50% for any person that has an income above ?1,000,000 a year; also people who make between ?200,000 and ?999,999 should pay a higher rate of between 40-45%. The added revenues should be used to help out the poor people in the United Kingdom. The world has become a harsher place to live for underdeveloped countries since the global recession. More than half the world’s population is living with a daily income of ?1.60. The global recession hurt the developed countries which caused a chain reaction that lowered the donation money and other economic assistance that underdeveloped countries used to receive from the private citizens and governmental institutions of developed countries around the world . The United Kingdom is also facing other economic issues that are hurting the quality of life of the population. The prices of basic need items such as food and medicine are on the rise. When British citizens go to the supermarket or grocery stores they are paying more money to buy vegetables, milk, bread, and meats among other food products. The poor and lower middle class in the United Kingdom are paying the consequences of food inflation. The rise in food prices has affected the global population severely. Things have gotten so bad that nearly 25,000 people are dying everyday of hunger and hunger related causes (Poverty, 2011). The children are the biggest victims of this epidemic since there is nearly one billion children globally that are suffering from malnutrition. Another sector that is facing major inflationary forces is healthcare. The annual cost of healthcare per capita in the United Kingdom is ?1483. The added money that the government is spending in healthcare cost du e to inflation could be used more effectively to help the poor people living in the United Kingdom A factor that is lowering the quality of life of British people is the rising cost of fuel. Gasoline is necessary to be able commute to work and to get from one place to another. The price of gasoline has gone down a little in 2011, but it is still way too expensive. The United Nations should impose

Team Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Team Assignment - Essay Example This person can make extra orders of items he keeps for himself. The current accountant can alter the shipping invoices to hide his scam. â€Å"Employees who have authority to purchase assets and services for the company are in a unique position to take advantage of their authority to enrich themselves or their friend† (Louwers, Ramsay, Sinason, Strawser, 2007). An internal control that would prevent the purchasing manager is by having the controller performed trimester internal audits of the purchasing department. Another internal control that can help minimize the effects of frauds is by requiring the signature of the controller for purchases above $50,000. A third internal control mechanism is to have cameras in the warehouse where the goods are stored after arrival to the store. One of the largest expenses of any organizations is the payroll. Payroll is an important accounting function that must be monitored closely to prevent fraudulent activity. One of the most common pa yroll frauds is the use of phantom employees. A phantom employee is an employee that does not exist, but who is on the payroll of the company. The corrupt employee in charge of the fraud keeps the money being paid to the phantom employees. On many occasions the unethical employees running such as scam often have many phantom employees on payroll. A way to prevent phantom employees is by auditing the documentation of all the employees on a monthly basis. Another type of scam that can occur is deducting payroll taxes from the employees and failing to pay them to the government. Governments are bureaucratic entities that often lack the resources to properly audit these types of transactions. The controller of the company should cross check the payroll tax deduction with the payments made to the government every three months. The board of directors of a company should establish bylaws that place a cap on the amount of salary and bonuses a CEO is eligible to receive. References Louwers, T., Ramsay, R., Sinason, D., Strawser, J. (2007). Auditing & Assurance Services: A look beneath the surface. (2nd ed.). New York:

Budget cuts on education in california Research Paper

Budget cuts on education in california - Research Paper Example Now one might ask why this would be caused. Budgets cuts are affecting students the most. They are paying for less and because of the cuts campuses are stretching their resources. As the state continues to reduce funding levels, the system will most likely continue to raise fees for the operational costs of the schools. (Newell) The combination of rising unemployment, declining consumer spending, declining asset values, and foreclosures has led to declining state revenues. And the number of people in poverty is growing, adding costs to state budgets for programs such as Medicaid and social services. Education is by far the largest component of state budgets. Some 46 percent of all state general fund expenditures is devoted to elementary, secondary, and higher education.(Johnson) According to Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, California is reducing funds towards K-12 education as well as reducing the length of the school year. Doing this is thought to lower the misfortunes of the recession, as well as giving us a kick start in improving our debt. Now this is an argument for why cutting school will be beneficial to the state of California. Unfortunately, what also goes along cutting education is the money given to students who are unable to fully pay tuition. Therefore, the state of California has also decided to cut grants which in turn will lower the chances of many intelligent individuals who suffer from poverty to enroll in a well known University. Both of Californias public college systems raised their fees recently. California State University trustees approved a 5 percent increase for next semester, and University of California regents passed an 8 percent increase for fall 2011.Those hikes are on top of repeated increases over the past few years (Guerra). With all these cuts and rising tuition this will cause a major downfall in the uprising of many intelligent individuals. California will fall back on education and this will

We Should Pull Our Troops from Afghanistan Research Paper

We Should Pull Our Troops from Afghanistan - Research Paper Example Taliban continue its encouragement to Afghanistan for preventing Western invasion. Many ethnic groups and political pressure groups strengthen their independence struggle against Western invasion. It is relevant to connect the issue of Afghanistan to Vietnam. David Halberstam and Daniel Joseph Singal obsesrve similar cases in Vietnam. As they comment; â€Å"Bright, sophisticated people traditional warriors they have never accepted the rule of the outsiders† (Halberstam & Singal 8). Even though U.S. troops continue their operations in Afghan regions, various terrorist groups and extremists including Al-Qaeda keep control in majority of the Afghan region. U.S administers are not react seriously towards the crisis which happened in Afghanistan. Similar attitude they had followed in Vietnam War. â€Å"In those days, American were not unaware of the difficulties ahead† (Halberstam & Singal 12) Therefore, U.S. Troops face severe problems in handling conflicts that emerged fro m the urban areas. Here one can feel withdrawal of U.S. troops is an essential one. Examining the existing social, religious and political scenario that laid in Afghanistan, one can see that the country has been rapidly destabilizing.

Ethical values of transactional and transformational leaders Research Paper

Ethical values of transactional and transformational leaders - Research Paper Example For leadership to occur there needs to be some leader-follower relationship ­ without followers, there is no leader (Hay & Hodgkinson, 2006). Though a leader might be chosen as part of a formal system, a person can be a leader without official authorization. The actual leader of a group might not be the "assigned" manager, and in reality, the roles of leader and follower may be ever-changing, as needs and circumstances change (Burns, 1978, 2003). Leaders are a means toward change (Bass, 1981). Burns (1978, 2003) points-out that the primary, driving force for leadership is change, and leaders/followers have a dynamic interdependency. They succeed or fail, based on how well they work through change. According to Bolman and Terrence (2003), although leaders may share some common qualities (i.e., vision), a major factor in making leaders is the situation or environment in which they lead and/or develop. Kouzes and Posner (1995) state that job assignments, relationships/contacts with ot her people, as well as formal training and education can help develop leadership. Integrity and Moral Leadership Merriam- Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines integrity as "firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values; an unimpaired condition; the quality or state of being complete or undivided." But integrity is more complicated than these simple definitions. Persons of integrity must be independent enough to choose freely the values by which they will guide their lives. They must have an awareness and understanding of both their strengths and weaknesses and the capacity to evaluate themselves in a realistic fashion without self-deception (Spencer, 1996). Integrity may be seen as related to the desires with which we identify in order to act effectively in our lives. This identification signifies our capability to focus on reasons for carrying out certain actions other than our simple desire to do so. We therefore possess values relevant to our behavior and not just desires. We can be said to value something provided the identifications are sufficiently consistent and derived through practical reasoning and a sense of responsibility to act according to them. Integrity is displayed through self ­ awareness and self-control in acknowledging these values (Taylor, 1985). According to Ciulla (1995), in defining "good" leaders, consideration must be given of their ethics, as well as their effectiveness. It is a leader's character that really matters (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999). Leadership quality can't be considered without evaluating character, and core values are more critical than anything else (e.g., expertise, techniques, knowledge) (Sankar 2003). "Moral literacy is as important as computer literacy to a leader's effectiveness" (Sankar, 2003, p. 52). Ethical leadership in an organization can be heavily influenced by its senior leadership. Hood (2003) found that, in order to understand an organization's ethical practices, it is significant to understand the moral orientation of its CEO. Even the most ethical supervisors will have difficulty if their own upper management is unethical. For there to be an ethical organization, along with top management support, there needs to be a corporate-wide ethics policy, and, most importantly, there is a need for individual leaders who practice ethical behavior (i.e., integrity, honesty, trustworthiness) (Carlson & Perrewe, 1995).

Dwarf planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dwarf planet - Essay Example sume the spherical shape and secondly, they have not yet established a debris free orbit in their solar system and thirdly, they must not be satellites for other planets. Further, if the celestial object in question is too small to take the rounded spherical shape, it would probably be classified as a comet or an asteroid. In our own solar system, there are several objects that fall under this category of planets. The introduction of this new category of celestial objects was prompted by the recent discovery of Eris – a disc shaped cluster of debris that was located far beyond the orbit of Pluto. The other notable dwarf planets in our solar system are Ceres and Pluto. Ceres was for previously recognized as the largest asteroid and Pluto is demoted to dwarf planet status considering that its orbit is not as well established as other planets. It is interesting to note that these three are only the most prominent dwarf planets in our solar system. There could be as many as 200 orbiting in the outer reaches of our solar

LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

LAW - Essay Example They were convicted and sentenced for felony murder in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for New York County. Judgment was affirmed without opinion in the Appellate Division. A motion to reargue was denied by the New York Court of Appeals on June 15, 1976. Victory was tried for felony murder (N.Y.Penal L. Â § 125.25(3) predicated upon the crime of escape in the second degree (id. Â § 205.10(2)). To convict Victory the jury had to find that Bornholdt and he escaped from custody after Officer Varecha had arrested them for a felony and that the policeman was shot in the course of or in furtherance of this escape. In charging the jury, the trial judge explained several times that it was necessary for them to find that an escape was being committed at the time Varecha was shot in order to convict Victory of felony murder. http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F2/570/66/3893 For example, "the prosecution must show that during the commission or attempted commission of the crime of escape in the second degree, and in the course of and in furtherance of that crime, or the immediate flight there from, a defendant caused the death of a person other than one of the participants." Both the crime of felony murder and the crime of escape in the second degree were submitted. After retiring, the jury asked for a re-reading of the law of escape, and twice for a re-reading of testimony about events prior to the shooting. "As a matter of law, does the fact of flight after the shooting itself establish escape in the second degree after an arrest has been made for felony assault?" The judge indicated that there was no "categorical" answer to the question posed, carefully stated what the jury would be required to find for a conviction of escape in the second degree, then re-read the statutory definition of felony murder which, as the jury had often heard, requires death be caused in the course of or in furtherance of a predicate

Gerardo Madrigal Essay Example for Free

Gerardo Madrigal Essay East Los Angeles College (Los Angeles) Experience: Secondary Mathematics Teacher (Nov 2008-Present) Teacher for the Jaime Escalante Mathematics Program. Technical competence in the use of the technology in the classroom. Developed a remedial curriculum using innovative and alternative teaching techniques. Knowledgeable in the use of differentiated curriculum for instructing multiple modalities. Helped English as a Second Language students, at risk students, and gifted high school students. Developed curriculum for Middle School Mathematics Enrichment program. Santa Barbara High School (Santa Barbara, CA) (Sept 2006-Apr 2007) Huntington Park High School (Los Angeles, CA) (Feb 2005-Jun 2005) Student Teacher Helped students with English as a Second Language in successfully comprehending Algebra 1 and 2, as well as Geometry lessons Effectively motivated underrepresented students and students with troubled backgrounds to maximize their academic potential and perform to their abilities and beyond. Helped the teacher in charge in correcting and grading homework, quizzes, and examinations. Contributed in composing for curricula in Geometry and Algebra 1 and 2 according to California standards. Delivered effective formal instruction under supervision. Initiated computer technology in presenting content and introducing activities.

The Effect Of Intercultural Communication Cultural Studies Essay

The Effect Of Intercultural Communication Cultural Studies Essay As the world is becoming a global village, Intercultural communication or cross-culture communication is becoming necessary for a successful multicultural society such as Australia. For e.g. nature of the relationship between professional communication and other forms of organisational communication; the relationship between professional communication and organisational outcomes such as employees job satisfaction;  and  the consistency of these communication relationships across cultures. In a contemporary world intercultural communication is used to share ideas, views, technological innovations, resources locally and around the globe. The essay examines five questions concerning  the significance of Australia intercultural communication in viewpoint of the world, intercultural communication purpose of social media such as Facebook, intercultural communication effects on communication proficiency, outcomes on social, political and culture values by intercultural communication a nd finally effect of various type of communication like verbal, non-verbal, written and visual on intercultural communication. INTRODUCTION Intercultural communication is defined the wide range of problems in communicating different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. It is also synonymous with cross culture which means how different cultural background communicates is similar and how efforts they put in communicating across different cultures. Nowadays the world is on a path of becoming a global village. Hence, Intercultural communication in Australia is playing a vital role in sharing technologies, ideologies, thoughts etc. In this topic we will discuss the five key components of intercultural communication which are global view, social media such as Facebook, communication competence, social, political and cultural values and various type of communication like verbal, non-verbal, written and visual. SECTION With the development of globalization in the world it is becoming global village. Intercultural communication has played a big part in international summit by sharing views, business and economic activities, social, political and technologies innovations, resources locally and globally. However, with national societies becoming more diverse and international contacts becoming common, communication researchers can no longer assume a cultural or a uni-cultural stance. People are more frequently involved in situations where intercultural communication is required, and when intercultural communication is neglected, its difficult to recognize. In this essay we will focus on some creative perspectives and discussions on several aspects of intercultural communication. There are five components of intercultural communication need to be highlighted. Firstly, importance of Intercultural Communication in the global view of the world are (a) The situation of communication itself, e.g. the social ly conventionalized roles adopted by participants, their expected norms of interactions and interpretation, the way they construct a shared sense of reality, (b) The stereotypes they entertain of each other, as individuals and as members of a social group, (c) Their non-verbal and para-verbal behavior is improved locally and globally through intercultural communication, (d) The way they save their own and each others face, (e) The way they structure their discourse to meet their communicative goals, (f) The attitudes, values and beliefs (called also discourses) they share with the social group they belong to which might also encourage them to improve their ethic as individual or society or culture, (g) The way their language reflects these deeper discourses, (h) They way members of different groups realize various speech acts (like making compliments requests or apologies). In Australia intercultural communication core importance of understanding other cultures is because the word i n which we are is global village and we are interacting different culture people them in person or through technology. Another reason would be that Australia is the most multicultural society in the world. However, many of us are unaware of our own unique cultural background when we communicate ourselves, but when other people break particular rules, disappoint us or even offend us then we are aware of them. We believe that intercultural communication would inspire corporate culture, educational staff, human rights officers, employment equity managers, government policy makers and politicians to develop and maintain global organization. It is vital that each individual and group promotes intercultural communication events and encounters, only after they have undertaken a critical self-reflection of their own stereotypes and prejudices. Second to discuss the role of social media such as Facebook in Intercultural Communication, with its distinctive features social media made human society to a highly interconnected and complex level, but at the same time, it challenges the very existence of human Communication in the traditional sense. Social media not only influences the form and content of information/messages, but it also affects how people understand each other in the process of human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups. Facebook have enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a particular way and stay connected in cyberspace. It is obvious that the flexibility of information presented and shared in the social media will directly affect, either positively or negatively, the development of intercultural relationships in the virtual community through the creation of a network of personal connection. Educational potential of social network in int ercultural communication, the use of Facebook as a social tool to aid the social aspects of the transition from school to university (Madge et al., 2009), the difficulties and benefits of social media for university students (Thelwall, 2008) and the identity-work students do on Facebook as they negotiate the expectations of peers, tutors and the university as an institution (Selwyn, 2009). Content analysis revealed that Facebook mainly used for two purposes. Firstly, for human contact (like chatting and banter) and second purpose is to seek advices, mentor and gather information from the practical experiences of others from groups or site. Mostly professionals would agree that social network such as Facebook has enabled us to communicate easily with our professional colleagues, both locally and overseas. Moreover, these social networks convenience have revolutionized in our business practice. On the one hand, intrinsically, the new culture emerged from social media because its creat ing a continuity gap between traditions and innovations within a culture. Before the social media arises, according to Bagdasaryan (2011), traditions and innovations in society co-existed vigorously, but the effect of the social media resulted in the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values produced by interacting with different culture through social media. This cultural gap has caused difficulty in understanding or communication between generations and among people in the same culture. Third aspect to discuss the impact of Intercultural communication on the communication competence, there is no denying that the various cultures of the world are far more accessible than ever before, and that the peoples of these cultures are coming into contact increasing day by day. These contacts ultimately developed based on interpersonal relationship. Whether it is the negotiation of an arms treaty, or the settlement of a business contract, class lectures, cultures do not interact, people do. Therefore, Communication competence is considered very broadly as an impression that behavior is appropriate and effective in a given context. Normally, competence is considered ability or a set of skilled behaviors. Competence cannot inhere in the behavior or ability itself. It must instead be viewed as a social evaluation of behavior. This social evaluation is composed of the two primary criteria of appropriateness and effectiveness. Appropriateness means that the valued rules, norms, and expectancies of the relationship are not violated significantly. Effectiveness is the accomplishment of valued goals or rewards relative to costs and alternatives. In figure 1 we can see the model of communication competence. Figure 1 Impact of intercultural communication on communication competence can be divided into three levels of analysis (1) individual system, (2) episodic system and (3) relation system. The individual system possess those qualities as an individual that are competent in normative social sense such as communicator confidence increases, efficacy beliefs increases, approach dispositions increase, the relative cost/benefit ratio of a situation increases, communicator motivation increases. Communicative knowledge increases, communicative competence increases, task-relevant procedural knowledge increases, mastery of knowledge-acquisition strategies increases, identity and role diversity increases, knowledge dispositions increase, communicator knowledge increases. Communicator skills increase, conversational altercentrism increases, conversational coordination increases, conversational composure, adaptation and expressiveness increases. The episodic system includes those features of actor which sh ow a competence impression over a specific part of cofactor in specific episode of interaction. Actors communicative status, motivation, knowledge, skills increases, contextual obstruction of Actors performance increases, Actors normative violation of Coactors negative expectancies increases, Coactors impression of Actors competence is a function of Actors fulfilment of Coactors expectancies, Actors fulfilment of Coactors competence prototype expectancies increases, Coactors impression of Actors competence increases, Actors receipt of valued outcomes increases, main impression of Actors competence increases. Actors extant-attributed communicative status increases. The relational system assessed a person competence across the entire relationship rather than a given episode of interaction. As mutual fulfilment of autonomy and intimacy needs increases, mutual attraction increases, mutual trust increases, access to social support increases, relational network integration increases, rela tional competence increases. Fourth aspect to discuss is the effect of Intercultural Communication on social, political and cultural values. The political, economic, cultural, social changes caused by globalization have made an impact on communication in general and on communication among different groups of people in particular. Nowadays, globalization means openness to cultural changes, to new opportunities for a cultural (and inter-cultural) dialogue. But globalization also threatens the survival of cultural traditions which should be strengthened with the objective to safeguard national culture and especially the possibility for national culture, national identity to survive in the world of globalization. In order to carry out efficient intercultural communication, people should understand and focus on cultural identity more. Jameson stated that cultural identity which refers to a persons status in a group includes six components: vocation, class, geography, philosophy, language, and biology. Jameson found t hat economic, social and educational classes often define groups of people who share common values, behaviour, and attitudes; these cultural groups also cut across national and ethnic lines (Jameson, 2007, p.212).   CONCLUSION In summary, the increase in international business requires the operator to grasp the knowledge of multicultural and cross-cultural communication skills. Obviously, cultural identity, as an important part of intercultural business communication, is a key factor that enterprises have to consider when they conduct the market development and business negotiation. Thus, the components of cultural identity, like the class, geography vocation has been attracted more and more attention by the companies.  

Factors When Planning Recruitment In Health And Socialcare Nursing Essay

Factors When Planning Recruitment In Health And Socialcare Nursing Essay Introduction Employment of individuals in health and social care organisations is a challenge given the complex nature of the goals of quality patient care and efficient utilisation of the resources, variety of professionals working in such organisations and different motivation needs of the employees (Benson-Dundis, 2003). Appropriate Human Resources (HR) strategies and leadership and management style can address the issues of staff recruitment and retention in the health and social care organisations (Price, 2003). The following essay aims to critically analyse these factors which should be taken into consideration to recruit and retain individuals in these organisations. The essay begins by understanding the process of recruitment and the HR strategies which can ensure that appropriate individuals are employed for the job position. This is followed by a discussion on team working in the health and social care organisations and the manner in which effective team working can be achieved. Next, the essay will discuss the manner in which the organisations can address the staff’s needs of learning and professional development and the final section of the essay will discuss the role of appropriate form of leadership and management style in retaining the employees and ensuring their job satisfaction. Recruitment in Health and Social Care Recruitment in the health and social care is the process of identifying and engaging appropriate individuals who can help the organisation to meet the health and social care needs of quality and efficiency (Buchan, 2000). However, Eaton (2011) argues that organisations which only focus on developing better recruitment and filtering strategies adopt a very constricted view of Human Resources Management (HR). He mentioned that the organisations should be also concerned about retention of these individuals who were selected, hired, trained and imparted the crucial experiential knowledge. This understanding guides the discussion to value the two pillars of recruitment and retention in health and social care HRM. The aspects of retention and meeting the motivational needs of the staff will be discussed later in the essay. At this point, it is essential to consider the factors which are indispensable while employing individuals in the health and social care organisations. The relevant literature supports that the job vacancy should be sufficiently advertised through appropriate sources which will inform the target set of individuals with desirable skills and knowledge about the prospects of potential employment (Den Adel et al, 2004). However, Price (2003) mentioned that the recruitment officials should be able to respond to the fast-paced nature of the Information Technology (IT). He mentioned that along with advertisements in newspapers, healthcare magazines, agencies and recruitment consultants, the HR staff should also demonstrate the ability to engage the potential employees through e-recruiting. For instance, recent graduates could be informed about the vacancy through their preferred means of communication, such as social networking and e-mails (Truss et al, 2012). Job advertisement should be able to provide concise and comprehensive form of information to the candidates by appropriately describing the role, job description and person specification. Michie and West (2004) supported that this form of information is helpful for the organisations, HR teams and the candidates and should include duties and responsibilities, job purpose, location, type of contract, working hours, wages and benefits. At the same time, Kabene et al (2006) highlighted the importance of skill matching the candidate with the responsibilities of the job position. For instance, Buchan (2000) mentioned that while recruiting health and social care managers, the recruiters should ensure that the candidate is aware of the national health and social care policies legislations and national targets. Similarly, while recruiting nurses, the recruiters should ensure that the candidate is equipped with the 6Cs principle comprising of nursing skills of care, compassion, courage, communication, competence and commitment (O’Brien-Pallas et al, 2001). However, Buchan (2000) highlighted the aspect of the recruiters own knowledge and awareness of the recruitment policies and fair practice. He mentioned that the recruiters should demonstrate adherence to the national employment laws which lay the foundation of equality and diversity at workplaces. Dubois et al (2006) also supported that the recruiters should be able to explicitly demonstrate the fairness and transparency of the recruitment process and any practices of favouritism should be appropriately addressed with immediate actions. The legislative and policy frameworks act as the common reference of guidance for the recruiters in health and social care organisations. The Equality law consisting of the Equality Act 2010, The Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 and Work and Families Act 2006 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality and marital status (Truss et al, 2012). The National Health Services (NHS) organisation in the UK has set out its mission statement of aiming to employ a diverse workforce who reflects the communities and groups using the NHS services (Price, 2003). Health and social care organisations in the UK aim to utilise the Individual Merit Principle which directs the recruiters to employ candidates only on the basis of their knowledge, skills and experience (Truss et al, 2012). However, the recruiters also have to consider the factors which ensure adherence to the ethical HR practices such as protection of the information of the employees and candidates. The Data Protection Act 1998 guides the HR staff to maintain the confidentiality of the information of the employees and candidates (Truss et al, 2012). Employees’ and candidates’ personal data should be obtained only for the lawful purposes relevant to the employment (Price, 2003). Similarly, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 guides the recruiters to maintain transparency of the process of recruitment (Truss et al, 2012). The recruitment of the overseas nationals should be undertaken while adhering to the UK immigration policies of right to work in the UK (Price, 2003). The trio of paper or online application, interview and references is the most common framework followed by the recruiters of the health and social care organisations (Hongoro et al, 2004). However, it is argued that in order to ensure that the most appropriate individuals are employed in the health and social care organisations, the recruiters should aim to use a mix of various recruitment approaches (O’Brien-Pallas et al, 2001). These approaches are online questionnaires, aptitude tests, interview performance, assessment centre performance, personality profiles, appraisals for internal candidates and references (Michie West, 2004). Some authors (Hongoro et al, 2004) mentioned that candidate selection on the basis of interview can be misleading as the candidates are highly likely to provide biased responses which might not necessarily reflect the actual thoughts and personality of the candidate. Despite this criticism of interview-based selection, interviews still remain one of the most popular, feasible and economic form of candidate selection (Michie West, 2004). Eaton (2011) supported interviews as the means of providing information to the candidate, addressing the candidates’ queries related to the job position and verifying the assumptions made by the recruiters when they evaluated the candidates’ application and Curriculum Vitae (CV). Similarly, recruiters in the recent years are also acknowledging the importance of the psychometric tests in order to identify any attitude or behaviour-related differences between the candidates and in order to predict their future behaviours while working in the organisation (Hongoro et al, 2004). The recruiters should then undertake the procedure of candidate assessment and comparison. Candidate assessment is the procedure where each candidate is evaluated for the specified job and comparison is the practice of identifying the individual whose skill, knowledge and experience meet the job specification (Truss et al, 2012). Team Working in Health and Social Care In order to understand the manner in which teams work in health and social care, it is first essential to identify the importance of group interaction. Atwal and Caldwell (2005) supported that in a typical health and social care organisation, the groups perform the five important roles of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. In the forming stage, individuals within a team start the process of knowing each other which is followed by storming where these individuals start understanding each other in order to develop a bond and a feeling of mutuality. In the norming stage, the individuals attempt to relate themselves with the internal group values, beliefs and norms and focus on the aim of the team. In the performing stage, these individuals act in order to meet the team goals by following the relationship-oriented leadership style and in the final stage of adjourning, the team members address the issues of closure after achieving the team goals. These five stages of team interaction provide a general overview of the team relationships in health and social care; however Baker et al (2006) argued that team interaction is a highly complex subject and any single theory cannot capture the level of this complexity. They supported this argument by highlighting the different types of leadership and its impact of the motivation levels of the team members. Teams are comprised of leaders and followers who perform in their respective roles in order to meet the overall goals of the team (Nishii-Ozbilgin, 2007). In health and social care, leadership is defined as an organisational role responsible for achieving a structured form of relationship amongst the team members and is able to exert influence in order to derive expected employee performance (Mullins, 2007). Another definition of leadership supported that leadership is an entity which is responsible for removal of the social barriers and is able to meet the highest level of the members’ motivational needs (Mullins, 2007). These two definitions show the two most prominent styles of leadership, the first definition is reflecting an autocratic form of leadership and the second definition is describing a democratic view of leadership. Followership is a more recently studied phenomenon and the two types of followers are described as active or passive followers where the former believes in creative thinking and the latter likes to follow the provided instructions (Nishii-Ozbilgin, 2007). The types of leadership and followership add to the complexity of team interaction which makes every team in the health and social care organisations unique in their functioning and team relationships. Health and social care organisations have a variety of teams with their unique set of knowledge, skills, relationship and experience (Cadman-Brewer, 2001). Some of the common teams are patient handling teams, representatives, carers, campaigning teams, teams of doctors and nurses, management teams and health and hygiene awareness promoters and caterers (Baker et al, 2006). However, Atwal and Caldwell (2005) argued that despite the variety of teams in health and social care, there are certain common factors which should be addressed in order to allow these teams to work effectively. These factors are team collaboration, stability, composition, leadership, senior leadership support, clinical specialist leadership and the members’ knowledge and experience of quality improvement (Nishii-Ozbilgin, 2007). Effective team working in health and social care can be developed by allowing the members to present their diversity of skills, developing inter-team understanding and bonds and maintaining an honest approach (Mullins, 2007). Similarly, Atwal and Caldwell (2005) highlighted the importance of communication between the team members by mentioning that the diversity of skills would not be appropriately utilised in the absence of communication. Many authors (Buchan, 2000; Mullins, 2007; Price, 2003) have identified leadership as the catalyst for effective team working in health and social care and Baker et al (2006) supported that the organisations should invest in leadership development sessions. At the same time, Atwal and Caldwell (2005) mentioned that effective team working can be developed by identifying the individuals’ training and development needs of the members. Staff Training and Development Eaton (2011) mentioned that the team members’ training needs can be identified by collection of feedback from individuals through one-on-one and group discussions. Similarly, Adams and Bond (2000) support that along with discussion-based feedback collection, the organisations should also aim to obtain objective data in the form of questionnaires and information on skills and knowledge provided by the employee on their CV. On the other hand, Benson and Dundis (2003) supported that the data on staff’s learning needs and development can be collected through observation of their performance. The use of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat) analysis framework is supported by other authors (Mullins, 2007) for specifically identifying the future learning needs of the employees. The role of staff brainstorming sessions on the subject of future skill acquisition and development is supported by Benson and Dundis (2003). Following the identification of the training needs, the health and social care managers should undertake measures for continuous professional and personal development of the employees. The organisations can promote academic knowledge acquisition of the experienced staff by funding their advanced academic programmes, such as post-graduation (Buchan, 2000). Similarly, Adams and Bond (2000) mentioned that the organisations should also aim to organise regular staff training and education sessions. The role of the external educators is highlighted by Dussault and Dubois (2003) as they mentioned that often external educators are able to deliver a newer perspective on the quality improvement issues. Benson and Dundis (2003) further mentioned that the organisations can ensure staff learning and development by providing them access to the library resources where the staff can consult the journals in order to update their clinical knowledge and competency. This also allows the staff to reflect on their performance and identify future action-plans (Eaton, 2011). Reflection is a crucial component of nursing professional development and therefore organisations should promote this practice (Benson-Dundis, 2003). In addition to reflection-based learning, the junior and relatively less experienced members of the staff should be guided by a practice-based mentor who can identify the various learning needs of these employees (Eaton, 2011). Based on these strategies and identification of the staff’s learning and professional development needs, the organisations should implement the Staff Development Programme (SDP) which will enable the employees to become competent practitioners. The managers should gather the information of the number of staff members to be enrolled in the programme and this knowledge can be obtained by requesting the target group of staff to submit the SDP application form (Eaton, 2011). Thereafter, the nature of the programme should be taken into consideration; SDP should be feasible, economical and comprehensive in nature (Eaton, 2011). The delivery of the SDP should be meticulously planned so that it meets the initial aims of staff development and learning (Price, 2003). The SDP should also include the assessment system so that the effectiveness of the programme can be evaluated and future SDP improvement goals can be identified (Benson-Dundis, 2003). Most importantly, Adams and Bond (2000) supported that the staff should be adequately informed and engaged during the planning and delivery of the SDP so that the programme can gain from the staff feedback. Based on this understanding, I will attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the Staff Nurse Development Programme (SNDP). The programme lacked a comprehensive approach in its design as the programme did not include the development of additional competencies. However, the programme adequately informed the staff by providing a set of guidelines for the staff and the assessors, structure of the programme, core competencies, assessment framework, literature on the source of evidence, implementation, review forms and personal development plan. The staff’s feedback was collected after the completion of the programme and most of the members of the staff expressed that the programme was effective and helped them to identify areas of competency development. Leadership in Health and Social Care Organisations As mentioned previously, there are two principle forms of leadership, autocratic and democratic. The present health and social care organisations understand the importance of using democratic form of leadership as the way of promoting strong organisational culture and staff engagement (RCN, 2005). Based on these two forms of leadership, the literature on leadership has identified the relevant styles of leadership, transactional and transformational (Mullins, 2007). A transactional leader believes in reprimanding sub-standard results and rewarding good performance (Sullivan-Decker, 2009). Similarly, a transformational leader concentrates on staff relationships as the means of collectively addressing the organisational goals (Sullivan-Decker, 2009). A transformational leader utilises his/her exceptional communication skills in order to encourage the staff to engage in the decision-making process and express their concerns (White, 2012). On the basis of these characteristics and traits, a transformational leader is supported as more suitable for leading staff in health and social care. This is because a transformational leader will be able to derive better collaborative working amongst different professional groups, such as doctors and nurses (RCN, 2005). Working relationships in health and social care organisations can be managed by change in the organisational culture (White, 2012). Organisational culture is a form of umbrella term which includes the perceptions, behaviours and actions of individuals in an organisation (Michie-West, 2004). In order to achieve an effective Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) working , the leadership roles should address the issues of employee job dissatisfaction, lack of staff communication and knowledge sharing (Atwal-Caldwell, 2005). A transformational leader should organise interactive sessions where the employees should be motivated to express these aspects (Mullins, 2007). The management should respond to these concerns and change its existing autocratic style of managing the employees and develop a participative and collaborative organisational culture (RCN, 2005). The understanding of the different management approaches has contributed to my professional and personal development. I have observed that in the bottom-up management practices, the employees are included in the decision-making process and feel valued by the organisation. On the other hand, in the top-down management approach the staff is not included in the crucial organisational decisions and feels more concerned about their own position rather than the organisational goals of quality and efficiency in health and social care. Conclusion The essay critically discussed the factors to be considered for planning recruitment in health and social care organisations. The essay discussed that the job vacancies should be adequately advertised and should include concise and comprehensive form of information on job description and person specification. The HR recruiters should have updated knowledge on the UK employment and other relevant laws such as the Equality Act 2010, Data Protection Act 1998, Work and Families Act 2006 and Freedom of Information Act 2000. The recruiters should utilise the different recruitment approaches such as personality profiles, aptitude tests, online questionnaires, interviews, assessment centre performance appraisals for internal candidates and reference to select the most suitable candidates. Thereafter, the relevant theories of effective team working such as the five stages of team interaction and leadership and followership were discussed. Some of the common teams in the health and social care organisations are patient handling teams, representatives, carers, campaigning teams, teams of doctors and nurses, management teams, health and hygiene awareness promoters and caterers. Effective team working can be achieved by addressing the factors of team collaboration, stability, composition, leadership, senior leadership support, clinical specialist leadership and the members’ knowledge and experience of quality improvement. The staff training needs can be identified through workplace observations, collection of feedback and SWOT analysis. Employees’ continued professional development can be ensured by funding for their advanced education, providing access to library resources, conducting education sessions and providing practice-based mentors for the junior staffs’ learning needs. A transformational leader is more suitable for leading the staff in health and social care because a transformational leader will be able to derive better collaborative working amongst the different professional groups, such as doctors and nurses. My own understanding and experience support that a bottom-up management style is more successful in achieving a better staff participation and commitment towards the organisational goals. References Adams, A., Bond, S. (2000) â€Å"Hospital nurses’ job satisfaction, individual and organizational characteristics.† Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 32 (3) pp: 536–543. Atwal, A., Caldwell, K. (2005) â€Å"Do all health and social care professionals interact equally: a study of interactions in multidisciplinary teams in the United Kingdom.† Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, Vol. 19 (3) pp: 268–273. Baker, D. P., Day, R., Salas, E. (2006) â€Å"Teamwork as an Essential Component of High-Reliability Organizations.† Health Services Research, Vol.41 (4p2) pp: 1576–1598. Benson, S. G., Dundis, S. P. (2003) â€Å"Understanding and motivating health care employees: integrating Maslows hierarchy of needs, training and technology.† Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 11(5) pp: 315–320 Buchan, J. (2000) â€Å"Health sector reform and human resources: lessons from the United Kingdom† Health Policy and Planning. Vol. 15 (3) pp:319-325 Cadman, C., Brewer, J. (2001) â€Å"Emotional intelligence: a vital prerequisite for recruitment in nursing.† Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 9 (6) pp: 321–324. Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., Schaufeli, W. B. (2000) â€Å"A model of burnout and life satisfaction amongst nurses.† Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol.32 (2) pp: 454–464. Den Adel, M., Blauw, W., Dobson, J., Hoesch, K., Salt, J (2004) â€Å"Recruitment and the Migration of Foreign Workers in Health and Social Care†. IMIS-Beitrage Vol.25 pp: 201 230. Dubois, C. A., Nolte, E., McKee, M. (2006) â€Å"Human resources for health in Europe.† In Dubois, C.A., McKee, M., Nolte, E (eds.) Human Resources for Health in Europe eds. Maidenhead: World Health Organization, Open University Press. pp. 1–14. Dussault, G., Dubois, C.A. (2003) â€Å"Human resources for health policies: a critical component in health policies† Human Resources for Health. Vol. 1 pp: 1-16 Eaton, S.C. (2011) â€Å"Beyond ‘unloving care’: linking human resource management and patient care quality in nursing homes† The International Journal of Human Resource Management. Vol. 11 (3) pp:591-616 Hongoro, C., McPake, B. (2004) â€Å"How to bridge the gap in human resources for health† The Lancet. Vol. 364 (9443) pp:1451-1456 Kabene, S.M., Orchard, C., Howard, J.M., Sorianol, M.A., Leduc, R. (2006) â€Å"The importance of human resources management in health care: a global context† BioMed Central. Vol. 4 pp:1-7 Michie, S., West, M. A. (2004) â€Å"Managing people and performance: an evidence based framework applied to health service organizations.† International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 5 (2) pp: 91–111. Mullins, L.J. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th Edition. Great Britain: Financial Times Pitman Publishing Imprint Nishii, L.H., Ozbilgin, M. (2007) â€Å"Global Diversity Management: A Conceptual Framework†, International Journal of HRM. Vol.18 (11). Pp: 1993-1894. O’Brien-Pallas, L., Baumann, A., Donner, G., Murphy, G. T., Lochhaas-Gerlach, J., Luba, M. (2001), â€Å"Forecasting models for human resources in health care.† Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 33 (1) pp: 120–129 Price, A. (2003) Human Resource Management in a Business Context (2nd edn.) , London: International Thomson Business Press. RCN (2005) RCN Clinical Leadership Programme: Transforming Clinical Leaders to become Agents of Positive Change. Royal College of Nursing. 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Physical And Spiritual Effects Of Abortion :: Persuasive Essay, Argumentative

Physical And Spiritual Effects Of Abortion    Abortion is the knowing destruction of the life of an unborn child. But this is only part of the story as abortion also hurts the woman involved. Abortion affects women physically, emotionally, and spiritually.    When an abortion is performed on a woman, she becomes subject to many physical complications. Blood loss during the procedure causes diversion of blood flow to various organs and can result in shock. When the canal of the cervix is dilated, the insides of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and the abdominal cavity are exposed to invasion by bacteria. Abdominal infection can cause peritonitis and abscess formation. Severe hemorrhage often follows an abortion. Instruments can perforate the uterus causing injury, infection, and bleeding to internal organs.    Deaths from abortions, although rare, are usually from heavy bleeding from complications with anesthesia. Women who have abortions increase their risk of breast cancer by fifty percent, according to a new study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Abortion of a first pregnancy interrupts the natural growth process of the breast, leaving millions of cells at a high risk.    It has been found that future pregnancy failure is increased by forty-five percent with just one previous abortion. Other complications are a greater risk of premature births, tubal pregnancy, sterility, and damage to the cervix. As a result of abortion, women suffer many physical injuries.    Not only do these women bear physical side effects, but they also suffer many emotional side effects. Among these are depression, long-term grief reactions, anger, sexual dysfunction, guilt, flashbacks, memory repression, suicidal ideas, and difficulty keeping close relationships.    In a new study by post-abortion researcher David Reardon, who operates the Elliot Institute for Social Sciences Research in Springfield, Illinois, it was found that twenty-eight percent of women who had abortions later attempted suicide, and over half of these women did so more than once. Drug and alcohol abuse increased four times among women who aborted compared to those who carried to term. Ninety-eight percent of women regretted having had an abortion. Seventy-two percent of women said their abortion did not improve their life. Twenty percent of post-abortive women reported a nervous breakdown, and ten percent were hospitalized for psychiatric care. Of the two hundred and sixty women surveyed, over sixty percent said their abortion made their life worse.

Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl :: Papers

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl "On the average, only those prisoners could keep alive who, after years of trekking from camp to camp, had lost all scruples in their fight for existence; they were prepared to use every means, honest and otherwise, even brutal force, theft, and betrayal of their friends, in order to save themselves. We who have come back, by the aid of many lucky chances or miracles - whatever one may choose to call them - we know: the best of us did not return." (p. 7) The Three Phases of the Inmate's Mental Reactions to Camp Life: a) the period following his admission Symptom = shock "Delusion of reprieve": "The condemned man, immediately before his execution, gets the illusion that he might be reprieved at the very last moment. We, too, clung to the shreds of hope and believed to the last moment that it would not be so bad." (p. 14) 1) a grim sense of humor 2) cold curiosity 3) thoughts of suicide "An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior." (p. 30) b) The period when he is well entrenched in camp routine a) Relative apathy, a kind of emotional death "Disgust, horror and pity" were "emotions" one could "not really feel anymore. The sufferers, the dying and the dead, became such commonplace sights to him after a few weeks of camp life that they could not move him anymore." (p. 33) "...the prisoner soon surrounded himself with a very necessary protective shell." (p. 35). b) Extreme hunger from undernourishment & preoccupation with food c) Absence of sexual urge d) "Cultural hibernation," with the two exceptions: politics and religion "In spite of all the enforced physical and mental primitiveness of life in a concentration camp, it was possible for spiritual life to deepen. Sensitive people who were used to a rich intellectual life may have suffered much pain (they were often of a delicate constitution), but the damage to their inner selves was less. They were able to retreat from their terrible surroundings to a life of inner riches and spiritual freedom." (p. 56). On love while thinking on his wife while marching: "...for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that love is the ultimate and the

Alzheimer’s Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Essays

Alzheimer’s Disease INTRODUCTION Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of insidious onset, characterized by memory loss, confusion, and a variety of cognitive disabilities. It is the major cause of dementia in the elderly and is characterized by the presence of neuropathologic lesions including: neurofibrillary tangles in the neuronal perikarya and in pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and neocortex, nucleus basalis of Meynert, and periaqueductal gray. Neuritic (senile) plaques often with a central or core deposition of amyloid within the plaque and in some cases with amyloid infiltration of blood vessel walls (amyloid angiopathy) and the adjacent perivascular neuropil; loss of neurons, most often in the hippocampus, neocortex, locus coeruleus, and nucleus basalis; and disturbance of acetylcholine transmitter activity marked by lowered levels of acetylcholine and choline acetyltransferase (4). ETIOLOGY Alzheimer’s disease may strike as early as age 40, but is most common after the age of 60. As the average life expectancy continues to increase so too does the incidence of AD. In its early stages it is difficult to distinguish from normal aging. However, whether AD is a specific qualitative disorder such as an infectious process, endogenous or exogenous toxic disorder or biochemical deficiency, or whether it is a quantitative disorder, in which an acceleration of the normal aging processes occur and dementia appears as neural reserves are exhausted, remains to be seen. New techniques of molecular genetics provide a promising new approach for understanding AD in view of the evidence that there is a familiar factor present in the disease (4). In several studies, over one thi... ...scular disease, Parkinson’s disease, hydrocephalus, amyotrophic lateral and multiple sclerosis, and dementia’s resulting from tumors and brain injuries. In light of all this, with an aging population, it is clear to see the need for further study in order to gain a better understanding of the cause and parameters of AD. Works Cited: 1) Guela and M. Mesulam (1989). Cortical Cholinergic Fibers in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Morphometric Study. Neuroscience, Vol.33, No.3: pp. 469-481. 2.)Guela, C., Tokuno, H., Hersh, L., and Mesulam, M., (1990). Human Striatal Cholinergic Neurons In Development, Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease. Brain Research, 508: pp.310-312. 3.) Nappi, G., Sinforiani, E., Martigonoi, E., Petraglia, F., Rossi, F., Genazzani, A. R. (1988). Aging Brain and Dementia’s: Changes in Central Opioids. European Neurology. 28: pp.217-220.

Heights of Oppression

The hands maid tale is skillfully woven book that touches on plenty of issues. Though the book was written 1985, it has received present time praises that have increased its sales over the past few years. Serializing of the book on film also drew critics to it as it raised many touching issues; love, politics, religion, gender, language and sex among many other many other contemporary issues that still spark debates in the 21st century. We must acknowledge that the writer employed interesting writing styles to clearly depict the themes she wanted so as to achieve the rewards of a timeless masterpiece. Repetition to create emphasis was the main writing device. The recent buyers have had the motivation to acquire and read the book because each of them can at least find a sentimental issue to connect to from the book. My literature review will delve into on one theme from the book that will capture the attention of most of the readers because the society at large is by all means connected to it.I chose the theme of oppression because there a many people that will connect to this due to its diversity. In this theme are many other sub themes that can be expounded on; social oppression, religious oppression, economic oppression, gender oppression among many other forms. This paper is to make the audience aware of pressing issue and around them and motivate them to act to emancipate themselves. I will gauge the effect of my work according to how I will captivate my audience. The connection that my desired audience will feel towards my review will prove the sweat I put in it to. I will use online reviews to build my case and scholarly articles prove my point. Relevant examples with connection to the issues around us will be elaborated in the discussion part of the research. First I will elaborate and give a general meaning to the theme then state the specific types of oppression I will be touching on depending on how the book has presented it in its characters and stage setting. The scholarly references and online reviews will be stated and I will use my own arguments; that I will mainly draw from my culture to explain how my society perceives the matter and their notions or decisions they have on it. Where possible, I will be stating the origin of the notions and what they eventually lead to; either more oppression or redemption. My introduction will begin with the statement problem as depicted in the book. That will be followed by the research materials and research methods I used to expound on my themes. Finally, I will explain the main reason behind my writing and how it will help the readers connect to the real time issues. When looking for online reviews, ones made by literature professors would be most preferable. When selecting scholarly articles; I will stick to ones that expound to the theme of oppression to prevent myself from derailing the theme or my audience the chance of questioning my relevance. The links between the book, the theme in question, the reviews and scholarly articles capped with my earnest opinion about how the society perceives the matter will define the credibility of my essay. The main objective behind the essay is to show the audience that there exist unseen problems in the society; ones that happen as a norm and that there are solutions to them. This paper really matters to the society as it will give a guide on many other themes in the book and show the way to liberation from their miserable status quos. IntroductionOppression is the central theme in the book as it lays foundation to all other evils in the book. Sexism, gender discrimination, religious oppression and classism all lay allegiance to the theme. The major part of the book is a recollection of events from the protagonist; Offred. She is giving her take to her new audience after she luckily fled the dreaded city of Gilead. The language she uses; gives vivid picture to the grotesque status quo she was in. the authors base of emphasis also stresses on the key theme; oppression. Gilean is an imaginary authoritarian city that came into being when there was a significant drop in fertility scores and with them a drop of birthrates. The ruling class saw it relevant to come up with laws that would class people for the roles they were to do in that jurisdiction. Women were the main prey under the claws; they were to strictly bear children. No education or jobs were given to them as they would pose competition to men and divert them from their main role; reproduction. Margaret's description to them through the protagonist is; a set of ovaries encompassing a womb. They were barred from talking alcohol, caffeine or nicotine as it would reduce their fertility. The paradox is that it is women other female characters that take pleasure in oppressing other women either to please the regime or themselves. The society has also been oppressed as they have been classified and color coded. Different colors specified roles and authority to be used over the subject.Research methodQualitative literature analysis is the method I have employed in the whole research. The characters in the novel handmaid's tale are ones that I have used to extrapolate the theme of oppression. The settings in the book and the mood it presents made the book a choice as they all blended significantly to the theme in question. Carefully reading the novel was the first step. I had to be precise so as to note the stylistic devices used and their motive in either backing or refuting of the theme. My understanding of the book was enhanced by specific reviews of it that targeted the theme at hand. In order to relate the theme with the issues in the 21st century, I referenced the reviews and my own findings to scholarly articles that touch on the present issues. Watching the television series also clarified my view as it clearly depicted the situation as it was during the scripting of the book. The mood, setting and ambience set in the movie were a clear replica of the ones in the book. Apart from focusing on these only, I also touched on the other main theme to gauge if they are the ones that catalyzed the oppression or if oppression was the base that all other evils in the book were built on. That I did so as to cast away the shadow of biasness and portray issues as they were set to be by the author in a bid to convince my audience that the issues in the book were the exact semblance of the issues they faced.ResultsEven from the prologue of the book it was clear that oppression was the wind that sails of the evils in the book rode on. To be precise, it was gender oppression that lay founding to the utopian city and sexism that paved way for the ruling class. My own analysis revealed that oppression was so deep that the individuals and the society saw it as a norm and had no hope or motive to redeem them at all. The analysis put to record that there exist 2 measures of oppressions; systematic oppression and individual oppression. Systematic was one imposed by the regime; the formulated draconian laws and individual oppression was one that the individuals forced themselves to believe that what was being done to them was right and that they better contend with it or risk an immature end. From the commentary and remarks that the series got I noticed oppression was still the center stage in the present societies. In the book we saw the blacks and the Jews being treated differently from the rest of the ruling class; the whites. They even had names tags to refer to them; racial oppression. We see that the laws hugely disfavored them and they were given the crudest of all jobs and invoked the harshest form of punishments; death. Religion was seen as a catalyst to the broadening of them theme and not a savior to the situation; religious oppression. Color coding was done define authority, privileges and roles. Here I saw no form of rebellion to it and a society that was treated quite highly than the other always exploited the ones that were below it. This treatment and exploitation was toned down to individual level and done in the most sleek and dreadful ways; we notice that the characters mused at themselves for stamping their authorities over others. Depending on who was doing the oppression, why it was being done and where it was being done led to diversification and further classification of the evil; dictatorship, racism, sexism and sycophantism. Those were the exact settings that were portrayed in the televised series yet it spurred a lot of critics that it invoked bitter dissent in people. DiscussionIn this part I will be giving my evidence in support in the systematic then individual oppression format backed by speeches of the characters in the book and showing the page numbers. I will further give my own views about the cause and course of the speech and the motive behind it according to the setting and the situation the character was in. I will back my claim with a scholarly article then finalize this chapter with how the issues relate in our present society across the globe. Systematic oppression was prevalent to the book as it the law of gender classification and prescribed women to reproductive roles only. Women were raped and the whole thing enshrined in the law that formed ‘The ceremony'. This is the law that gave rise to handmaids (himberg-2018). Women are given no choice as the ‘Aunts' force them to commit themselves to the profaning doctrines or choose between that, death and the ‘unwomen'. We see the Offred justifying the act by saying â€Å"..nor does rape cover it; nothing is going o here that I haven't signed up for† (artwood-94). It is her justification and compliance that depicts individual oppression.The law that handmaids were only bear children with generals was another form of systematic oppression (haghi-2016). Twisted religious definitions also added weight on this saying that their God considered it a sin. The handmaids and ones that impregnated them would face automatic death penalties if found out. In this case we see Ofglen describe Janine's despondency she thinks its her fault..two in a row for being sinful† (artwood-215). This was after Janine had lost two of her babies. Janine is not happy with the situation but she justifies it. That statement reveals the height of individual oppression and that melted the people's willingness to stand for themselves.The laws Gilean were so ruthless to law breakers or even purported law breakers. We see a police force called ‘the Angels' that was basically an execution squad set to squash rebels; systematic oppression. A holy nun, aunt Lydia even works as spy in addition to being an administrator to the monastery that bred handmaids. A wall is even built to display the corpses of the rebels. In the heights of all we see the Offred justify the people hanged on the wall â€Å"have committed atrocities and must be made into examples, for the rest† (artwood-42).ConclusionThe above examples can be related to the scenarios prevalent in the present times. Back in 2014 we saw boko haram in Nigeria abduct 200 school girls and take them to militia camps so that they could sire a new generation of rebels. These are the same scenarios where gender discrimination breeds, we are aware of some primitive societies like the Maasai in Kenya that do not allow their girls to get education and they believe that their role is strictly to reproduce and take care of men (myers-2018). If we tone issues down we will see the need to dissect why Arab states dictate that women should never be their leaders leave alone drive cars. When names of heroin ladies like Rewiyya, Briska Bernard, Sayidat Zuhal get mentioned we see that women all over the world need saving as the vice has become a norm in the societies we live in (rea-2017). it his high time that people stop viewing these vices as norms and see the reasons behind the laws formulated or their adverse effects. ReferencesMargaret Artwood- 1985The Handmaid's TaleS Haghi-2016Suppressing Agency: transitive analysis of Margaret Artwood's The Handmaid's TaleJ Rea-2017Lessons from handmaid's taleJ Himberg-2018The lavender menace returns: reading gender and sexuality in the Handmaid's TaleN Myers-2018Hearing voices among the indigenous Maasai women in Tanzania: implications for global mental health