Organisational Change and Development

Introduction So as to be able to achieve organizational goals and objectives, it’s important for the organization to embrace effective interventions. Organization development interventions are aimed at increasing the performance and output of the organization. So as to be successful, organization development interventions should affect the whole organization and should go down to the individual level.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational Change and Development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The interventions should be sponsored by the head of the company and should be supported by the organization’s staff. Interventions that should be implemented in this case should involve respect for employees and the administration, having a working administration in the organization, having trust and open channels of communication between the administration and employees. The interventions must be ab le to support open confrontation of problems that are facing the organization. Major stakeholders in the organization must also participate actively in the interventions. This will somehow give the interventions a bit of weight and seriousness Dustdar (2006). Management For any company to prosper, proper management should be implemented. Management is defined as the act of leading and directing all or part of an organizational structure through the deployment and use of resources; human, financial, material intellectual or intangible. It involves providing guidance and letting others follow through. Poor management often leads to chaos and confusion among workers in a particular company or organization, leading to misuse of available resources and hence low production Dustdar (2006). Problems noted Bladetech Australia is a manufacturing company that after a while of being a productive company has seen its growth rate dwindling. It is noted that the company has began failing due faci ng direct competition from the Korean Manufacturing of windscreen wipers and as a result causing the Australian government to reduce its tariffs. As much as the tariff reduction would help consolidate the global competitiveness of Australian companies as a whole, it also makes them four to five percent less competitive than other economies in the world. Bladetech therefore may suffer a great loss to the Korean company.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Bladetech a need to have better use of support functions and resources involved in new product development. This is an issue noted that has led to the inflexibility of the structure and service operations such as engineering and design. The lack of flexibility in a manufacturing company, or any company for that matter should be an issue of concern as it may lead to dysfunctional relationships between different departments in the company and miscommunication. This leads to failure in the company as a whole because it is the departments that make up the organization. Another problem facing Bladetech is the lack of proper and aggressive marketing. Marketing is an important aspect in the development and growth of a business venture. It is through marketing that a company attracts its potential customers and investors more so advertises its products creating new opportunities for market expansion. Badetech has failed in actively trying to expand its marketing horizons leading to it having limited access to its products. Bladetech has poor structure and the lack of co-ordination among the departments. The general manager is viewed as the overall overseer of the three departmental heads; operations, sales and marketing, and human resource management, under which operation and sales and marketing managers are concerned with the departments of engineering and design, manufacturing and distribution. Apart from havin g a disorganized structure, there is weak managerial competence and training at all levels of employees in the company. This has led to disunity between the various departments due to unconstructive criticism and comments towards each other. The efforts employed to initiate several training and change programs have seemed futile due to the negative attitude from the affected parties which has as a result provided almost no solution.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational Change and Development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The manager operations points out that the marketing and the HRM fields are at fault. He notes that the marketing field engages in expensive marketing that he implies might not be necessary because he probably does not seem to see its results, whereas HRM involves itself in training and development courses. The major problem here however is the issue of pointing fingers. This partic ular manager blames his failures on his fellow colleagues without acknowledging any efforts that might have been put out by them towards the improvement of their firm. He further fails to concede that one of his teams a need attention to achieve improvement Spedding (2008). The main constraints affecting the operations group is the lack new ideas and innovation, the time taken to implement the ideas and the time it takes to come up with new products Williamson (2004). This has been greatly fuelled by the lack of proper technological assistance and the slow adoption of the latest technologies and current management practices. These management practices have been characterized by the head of operations who actually maintains that a need for an expert in organizational development is merely a waste of financial resources! According to the manager of sales and marketing, the major issue facing his field is the lack of proper rewards to him and his subordinates who often are dedicated to lengthy working hours Nuthall (2010). This has led to loss of productive force hence poor production. He further comments that his proposals for improvement have been met by strong rejections from the other fields. The lack of support of the various departments is seen as the problem here that has hindered the development of the company. It can be concluded here that each department is after individual benefits other than the general growth of the company Bates (2005). The problems affecting the accounting and financial field as mentioned by its manager is bombardment of too many changes in the field in a short spun of time. It the lacks the newest system of financial technology that might be useful in updating its financial records and is not welcoming to future changes in its operations Burrow (2008).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Unfortunately, management in this department does not exhibit the confidence and assertiveness that is key to any employee that hold an important post. She avoids one on one discussion about the issues affecting her field and prefers to communicate via email. The issue with this kind of communication method especially when dealing with important matters is the information might be missed or not clearly understood. In general, the key problems facing the company are as listed: Poor organizational structure. Poor communication channels among the departments in the company. The lack of proper marketing strategies. The lack of incentives for workers. Presence of incompetent employees. The lack of new and improved technologies. The lack of new ideas for innovation. In order for Bladetech Company to move forward in their quest for improvement, there is a need for providing probable solutions to the problems that are affecting them by evaluating each individually and noting their roots S tatt (1999). Bladetech structural organization might not be viewed as a strong one in that there is only one overseer that is supposed to manage and direct operations of the other heads. This problem might be taken care of by introducing assistants to all levels of managements. This improves the chances that the head is overwhelmed by too much work hence losing track of the activities of the subordinates North (1997). Bladetech needs to work as a unit in terms of communication. Listening skills need to be used to facilitate better relations between the fields. Heads of department should try to hear each other out and try to understand the challenges that face individual fields before disregarding their opinions and wishes. This will generate better working environment comfortable to each employee Jeston (2006). Recommendations The company should improve its marketing strategies. This can be done by looking for ways to expanding market for their products, looking at the current compe titive pricing of the product in the available market and try to regulate their prices that is being fair yet competitive. Bladetech sales and promotion field should try to look for better opportunities outside and view this venture positively, not as a cost but as a means of creating awareness of their products in the global market Thomas (2011). Orientation is the most important part of the first day of an employee at a company and must be done effectively so as to ensure that new employees easy find and identify a place for themselves at the organization. There are however some improvements that the company can make to the program so as to ensure that the new employees are well oriented. The company should have extended the time that is allocated to employees for the orientation. This would give employees more time to get used to their jobs. This can help foster productivity. The orientation process should also be made broader. Instead of having a board room meeting the company s hould organize a number of activities for orientation. This is because people learn best from processes that allow them to see, feel, touch and be one with whatever they are being oriented into. This will also promote productivity and faster settling in by employees. Incompetent workers should be dealt with accordingly. First of all, uncooperative behaviour should not be condoned as this contributes to poor work ethics. Individuals exhibiting such behaviour should have their terms or contracts terminated with immediate effect. The company’s discipline system recruitment rules to guidelines that are in the form of company policies which dictate what employees are allowed to and what they are not allowed to do. The rules are enforced in all departments of the organization. This has increased awareness of employees towards disciplinary measures that the organization takes Thomas (2011). The discipline program also contains a number of steps that are geared at correcting wrong em ployee behaviour. The system has two types of warnings and reprimands that an employee could receive for any form of misbehaviour. These include verbal and written reprimands. The discipline system contains elements such as suspensions without pay where by the reprimanded employee is supposed to take some time off their work without pay and serious offenses may invite a direct dismissal of the employee. This system is effective because it keeps all employees in check and ensures that they are all well disciplined at work. Relevant training sessions and courses should be offered frequently to maintain the credibility of the human resources and to keep up to date with the current technological know-how Barrile (2007). The company also needs to update all its technological equipments so that they may be at par with their competitors Stokes (2006). Management should understand that technologies are bound to change frequently and should therefore work to enable their fields to quickly ad opt these sudden changes Longenecker (2006). This involves greatly the financial sector which is prone to breaking under these sudden changes. Bladetech need to improve management of its financial sector by introducing aggressive individuals who are up to date on the newest forms of technologies Bates (2005). The company must integrate new individuals with new ideas into their work force. This will provide ideas on the improvement of their products and their performance hence better products. It requires these individuals to research other companies’ products in order to find new ideas in producing their own improved version of the products. This may also alleviate competition which was seen as a major hindrance towards the development of the company Drucker (2007). This intervention improves the productivity of the company by modifying the existing organization structures. So that the organization can be able to achieve its goals it is important that it changes its structure . By changing the structure the organization will be able to regain control of management and employees as well. This will increase the organizations efficiency and performance Spedding (2008).The implementations of these interventions require a dedicated process. As it may be costly to integrate new forms of technology, financial back ups are needed. This also requires agreement and support of each individual in the company. They should be ready to accept and implement the changes that come along with the implementations for the overall benefit of the company’s productivity. Bladetech management should incorporate the government in its dealings overseas. This will help promote its products and increase its marketing options. Employee diversity is also a major setback to employees working together. Therefore the organization should be able to harmonize all its employees so as to be able to achieve its goals. Employee relation intervention would be very important when there ar e many conflicts at the work place, when there is recruitment of new employees and low employee morale. The organization could implement this on the individual level and also on a personal level. These include: Individual coaching and Counselling: the organization could choose to hire a professional to coach and counsel individuals in the organization. Individuals could be coached on the importance of working together with their colleagues. Counselling may also offer a chance for individuals to voice their complaints about the work place. Mentorship Programs and Visionary Leadership: the organizations top brass for example, the CEO should have a mentorship program for the organizations employees. Management should lead the other employees towards meeting the organizations goals. Leadership and mentorship should be by example. The company should also address employees as a group. The organization should resolve all conflicts that exist between employees. The organization must encoura ge dialoguing and an open communication line between employees. The organization should encourage team building and offer incentives for teams that have good performance Barrile (2007). It is also important to increase employee performance so as to increase the overall performance of the organization. The organization’s goals offer the reference to performance. The organization should clearly state its objectives and the progress to the goals must be monitored regularly. The organization should have a feedback system that tells employees hoe close or how far they are from the organization’s objectives. So as to be able to meet this objectives employee performance is critical Barrile (2007). The first step to performance management is the statement of the organization’s performance goals. The organization must have clearly stated and defined goals. Employees should be made aware of these goals. The next step would be coming up with a performance plan. The company must routinely monitor and track this plan. The organization should evaluate performance and reward where due. The performance plans of the organization should be open to development. They should allow for improvement. Morale Boosting and employee Motivation: the organization can use incentives and gifts to motivate employees. The organization should propose a system which offers employees financial incentives which are pegged on the profits made by the company. This will increase work input and output. This will in turn increase the company’s profits. Employees participating in the scheme directly affect the company’s profits. The organization must ensure that the scheme motivates the selected employees to be more productive. The goals and ambitions must be realistic and attainable. The organization must spell out goals that can be achieved. It would be best if the goals were based on the history of the company. If the goals are set too high it would demoralize emplo yees Barrile (2007). The organization should provide a suitable climate for the development of employee careers. Promotions should be given upon merit not based on years of service. This will enhance career development for hardworking employees. It will also act as a motivating factor. The organization must also plan for leadership and management. Only qualified employees should be promoted to leadership and management positions. This will ensure that the organization has competent leadership and thus increase the company’s productivity Williamson (2004). Benefits are offered by employers so as to make the employee’s stay at the company comfortably and will be more inclined to staying at the company. Other benefits that are offered by employees are so as to enable employees to be able to balance their work and social life outside work. This allows employees to have time for their family, friends or whatever they is important in their lives (Ivancevich, 2010). The main intention of these benefits is to make sure employees are highly motivated and have the morale to work. This is because the benefits are out to make employees happy and if employees are happy at the work place they will increase their work input as well as their work output. The benefits are also beneficial to the company since they ensure the company retains its critical employees. By being able to retain critical employees the organization remains strong towards the path of reaching its goals and objectives. Work life programs help to bridge the gap between work and the personal life of an employee. These programs create a balance between work and the personal lives of employees. This leads to an increase in productivity and work output and creates a better place for employees to work in. There are various options of work life programs for example adjustable work arrangements, salary bonuses and discounts foe employees. Good work life programs highly motivate employees to work bet ter and to love their jobs. Conclusion Organization Development interventions require a leader who is actively participating in the in the interventions. The organization should not implement the above discussed interventions without a good leader. It will negate the need to implement them. A leader is needed to guide and inspire the change required in the organization. The leader should be a visionary. As discussed early they should commence from the apex of the organization. They should start with the CEO and go all the way down to the lowest employee. The organization should also constantly reward employees who embrace the interventions. This will motivate all employees to embrace change Williamson (2004). Reference List Barrile Steve,and Terry Cameron. 2007 Business Management: Corporate Management, People and Change: VCE Units 3 4. South Yarra, Vic.: Macmillan Education Australia. Bates,Bronwynne. 2005.Business Management: Fresh Perspectives. Cape Town, South Africa: Pearson E ducation. Burrow, Jim, Brad Alan Kleindl, and Kenneth E. Everard. 2008. Business Principles and Management. Mason, OH: Thomson Learning. Drucker, Peter Ferdinand. 2007. The Practice of Management. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Dustdar, Schahram, JoseÃŒ  Luiz Fiadeiro, and A. Sheth. Business Process Management: 4th International Conference, BPM 2006, Vienna, Austria, September 5-7, 2006: Proceedings. Berlin: Springer, 2006. Print. Jeston, John, and Johan Nelis. 2006. Business Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Longenecker, Justin Gooderl, and Justin Gooderl Longenecker. 2006 Small Business Management: an Entrepreneurial Emphasis. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western. Longenecker, Justin Gooderl. 2010. Small Business Management: Launching Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning, Nieuwenhuizen, C.,and Barney Erasmus. 2007. Business Management for Entrepreneurs. Cape Town: J uta. North, Klaus. 1997. Environmental Business Management: an Introduction. Geneva: International Labour Office. Nuthall, P. L. 2010. Farm Business Management: the Core Skills. Cambridge, MA: CABI North American Office. Spedding, Linda S., and Adam Rose. 2008. Business Risk Management Handbook: a Sustainable Approach. Oxford: Elsevier/CIMA, Statt, David A., and David A. Statt. 1999. Concise Dictionary of Business Management. New York: Routledge. Stokes, David, Nicholas Wilson, and David Stokes. 2006. Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. London: Thomson Learning. Thomas, Christopher and Dianne. 2011. Organisational Change Development Transformation. New York, NY: Cengage Learning. Williamson, David. 2004. Strategic Management and Business Analysis. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heineman. This essay on Organisational Change and Development was written and submitted by user Ronald Nunez to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Reflection on Buddhism and Ones Life Essays

Reflection on Buddhism and Ones Life Essays Reflection on Buddhism and Ones Life Essay Reflection on Buddhism and Ones Life Essay Essay Topic: Siddhartha Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: Reflection on Buddhism and one’s life The mystery in all Buddhism followers takes us back to the very beginning, which is at the conception of Buddha. Buddha’s mother, Maya had a dream that showed her that an animal in the form of a white elephant and with six tusks had entered her womb. After consulting with her gods, (Das, 11) she learnt that the white elephant symbolized great wisdom, and loyal power, and she would soon bear a powerful child. Her pregnancy grew, and unlike other women, she did not experience pains during labour. Infant she gave birth while standing. This truly demonstrated that this child was unique. After the birth of the boy, it was further realized that he was extra ordinary since as an infant he was the same size as a six-month-old baby. He also had thirty-two marks of a great man. Normally these meant the child would either be a powerful king ruling quarter of the world or a Buddha. The child was then named Siddhartha that depicted ‘he whose purpose is accomplished’. Sadly, se ven days after his birth his mother died and her sister took over in raising the boy. The boy grew up in a royal family and had all he desired at the incarceration of the palace. After this, the four encounters, which are also known as the noble truth, came to being (Wilkinson, et al, 25). One time when Siddhartha was riding his chariots outside the palace, he saw a very ill man and a corpse being carried by mourners. The site traumatized him and immediately he wanted to leave home to became an ascetic, and forsake kingship. When Siddhartha was almost thirty years of age and seven days away to being crowned as the next king, he made plans of his escape. At the time, he had already gotten his first son. It was difficult for him to leave, but he had already decided. He managed to escape without anyone noticing with the help of superficial powers. The first six years after leaving, he spent with two famous ascetics, trying to learn their system to get a lasting solution to human suffering. However, he did not feel like he accomplished his mission, so he further joined a company of five other ascetics for more learning. He still did not get the satisfaction he seeked. One day when he was relaxed, he looked back into his youth and settled into a calm and peaceful state by letting his mind settle. He realized that his feeling of peace was the one thing he had been seeking (Nhat, Ha?nh, 50). This is where the Buddhist mediation theory came into being leading to the cessations, which are known as four noble truths The first noble truth stated that life is full of suffering and hence at some point in life everyone gets to experience suffering (Bstan-?dzin-rgya-mtsho, 23). The second noble statement was that suffering is caused by attachments. This meant that it is the attachments that we bind ourselves with that cause suffering. For instance, if we bind ourselves with anger and ignorance, suffering will surely follow us. Thirdly, the noble truth stated that abandoning our attachments brings release to suffering. This clearly teaches us that if we learn to let go of bindings such as pain and anger, we can attain peace, which in return reduces suffering (Novak, Philip, 69). Finally, the last noble truth tells us that we can release bindings by practicing the eight fold paths which consists of, right opinion, right intension, right conduct, right effort, right concentration, right speech, right livelihood and right mindfulness This particular Zen Koan is rather interesting as it proves to us that mindfulness is particularly important (Huikai, 62). It states that on a windy day, two men were arguing about a shaking banner. The first said, â€Å"The banner is moving and not the wind†. While the second said that, the wind was moving and not the banner. A third person happened to pass by and uttered to them that it was neither the wind nor the banner that was moving but the minds of the two men. To avoid suffering one should perceive to live a life filled with good morals, charitable behaviour, mediation, perseverance and most importantly keep the four noble truths at heart. Work cited Bstan-?dzin-rgya-mtsho. The Four Noble Truths. New York: Mystic Fire Audio, 1997. Sound recording. Das, Gupta S. Buddhism, Reflection on Religious Conversion. New Delhi, India: Cyber Tech Publications, 2010. Print. Gard, Richard A. Buddhism. New York: G. Braziller, 1961. Print. Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Internet resource. Hirota, Dennis. Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism: Creating a Shin Buddhist Theology in a Religiously Plural World. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press, 2000. Internet resource. Huikai, and Thomas F. Cleary. No Barrier: Unlocking the Zen Koan : a New Translation of the Zen Classic Wumenguan (mumonkan). New York: Bantam Books, 1993. Print. Humphreys, Christmas. Buddhism. London: Cassell, 1962. Print.. Nhat, Ha?nh. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy Liberation : the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and Other Basic Buddhist Teachings. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. Print. Novak, Philip. The World’s Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World’s Religions. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Print. Wilkinson, Philip, and Steve Teague. Buddhism. New York: DK Pub, 2003. Print

1st and 2nd amendments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

1st and 2nd amendments - Essay Example 1st and 2nd amendments The first amendment is very important because it demonstrates the framers intention of making America a truly democratic state by providing several individual rights to its citizens. It first clause makes religion a subject of individual preference and thus coercion to follow the doctrines one particular religion is a state offence. The second clause endorses free speech and makes freedom of speech a legal right of its citizens. The third clause ensures constitutional right to citizens of the states to present a petition to the government to redress their grievances. It also gives them the right to make their protest in group demonstrations, held peacefully. The first amendment thus advocates strongly for freedom of religion and freedom of expression thereby not only making free religion and freedom of speech a legal right but also legitimizing peaceful mass demonstration against any injustice. Watergate Scandal has been one the most famous case where freedom of speech and expression was used by the press to expose President Nixon which resulted in his impeachment. In the famous case Edwards v Aguillard, 1986, the religious doctrines and ideas, called creation-science, were taught in the name of science and scientific facts under the act ‘The Louisiana Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act’ in complete violation of the amendment. It was challenged by a group of scientists and became one of the landmark cases in the history of Louisiana.

Legal Aspects of Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Legal Aspects of Nursing - Essay Example Legal aspects of nursing The nurse caring for the patient has exhibited professional negligence. Mrs. M successfully underwent surgery to remove a brain lesion. She had problem with swallowing, and the medical team promptly carried out further investigations to ensure patient comfort and a quick recovery. The X-ray revealed that her lungs showed no signs of infiltration or congestion. However mismanagement and negligence emerged during her transportation. A driver was charged with the care of Mrs. M. The patient was in a critical state after undergoing an intensive surgical procedure. In addition, her recovery was difficult as she had a swallowing problem. It is inappropriate for the hospital management to entrust patient care of critical patients to untrained personnel. All personnel handling patients need to be professional nurses or doctors. Untrained personnel should be closely supervised by nurses. Lack of supervision is tantamount to patient neglect and this is act of gross mis conduct. This is evident in the case of Mrs. M during her transport from the hospital room to the X-ray room for a repeat chest film. The untrained patient transporter who was the sole care giver in the course of the transportation allowed the humidifier attached to the oxygen line to lay on its side. ... Moreover, the untrained transporter needs to understand his/her responsibilities as stipulated in this/her job description. Clearly, it is not his/her responsibility to make decisions on the placement of medical devices. The nurse charged with the care of Mrs. M should have supervised the untrained transporter. Due to patient mismanagement, water accumulated in Mrs. M’s lungs and she developed a bout of aspiration pneumonia. This led to her subsequent readmission in the intensive care unit. It was a major inconvenience for the patient as recovery time was prolonged. Aspiration pneumonia is a serious medical condition as it may lead to lung inflammation, lung abscess (accumulation of pus in the lungs) and chronic pneumonia. Fortunately, Mrs. M recovered well without encountering any complications. The unfortunate incident would have been prevented via proper supervision. The nurse charged with the care of Mrs. M should have fulfilled her responsibility. She should have overseen the transport and handling of Mrs. M. The uptake of oxygen via the oxygen mask should have been checked to avoid any mishaps. The humidifier attached to the oxygen line would have been maintained in the right position and not allowed to lie on the side. All supplemental oxygen that is routinely administered to patients needs to be humidified. According to BTS emergency oxygen guidelines, humidification is necessary for patients who need high flow oxygen for a period exceeding 24 hours especially if they report discomfort of the upper airway as a result of dryness. In the administration of an oxygen mask, the oxygen flow meter is attached to the wall outlet. Secondly, the humidifier is filled with the

Characteristics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Characteristics - Term Paper Example This is the micro perspective which is embedded in its psychological genesis and emphasizes the fact that there are individual variations in attributes which impact individual responses (Klein & Kozlowski). Neither perspective is enough alone (Michalski & Tecuci, 1994, p.381). Aggregate perspective tends to ignore individual differences that make a person behave the way he does. A mere focus on aggregate characteristics poses risk of showiness and worthlessness in the organizational culture. Contrarily, when only individual level attributes are considered, this tends to ignore contextual aspects that lead to collective responses. Thus, aggregate perspectives lead to misspecifications because there is no generalization of lower levels which makes it impossible to formulate a meaningful policy. Also, individual-level perspectives lead to problems formulating human resource management policies. Hence, a combined approach is required that integrates both the perspectives (Cameron, Sutton & Whetten, 1988). References Cameron, K.S., Sutton, R.I., Whetten, D.A. (1988). Readings in Organizational Decline: Frameworks, Research, and Prescriptions.

Strategies to Develop Patient Centred Care

Strategies to Develop Patient Centred Care Sneha Praveen MIS Practicum Final Report Analysis of online patient reviews and its effect on healthcare providers Introduction With the advent of social media, online forums have become a major platform where users share their views and these platforms affect all the involved stakeholders sometimes positively and sometimes adversely. Word of mouth has become an important tool for publicity and sometimes a bad review posted without ulterior motives can do much damage. Most of such reviews and posts that we read on platforms like twitter, Facebook and online forums affect our decision making as we tend to trust judgment of others. But healthcare as an industry is still not very patient centric and not enough importance is given to patient’s opinion. This case is even more valid in the context of USA as there is no official channel for patients to leave their reviews and experience about a healthcare provider. This is very surprising as all other industries food, retail, and consumer industries revolve around what customers have to say and millions of dollars are spend on â€Å"customer satisfaction†, whereas, healthcare industry still relies on their processes without bothering to collect feedback from patients they serve. The main reason accredited to this could be that as payers, insurance companies and as service providers, physicians play the most important role. Patients in this context are mere subjects of treatment who are assumed to be not very vigilant of their own health condition. But is this situation same all around the world? And if not, then US healthcare needs to adapt and learn from such countries to improve its care and service quality. One such online forum implemented in the United Kingdom is â€Å"Patient Opinion†. This forum acts as a bridge between patients and healthcare providers to help improve the healthcare quality provided by National Health Service (NHS) to its citizens. In this paper, I will analyze data collected from patient opinion forum and present by findings answering how USA can benefit from a review outlet like Patient Opinion and how this forum has helped NHS to improve their quality and service. Why Patient-Centric Care: It is well proven that any industry benefits from customer reviews and helps in reducing cost and improve service. Slowly, healthcare needs to move towards Patient-centered care which supports active involvement of patients and care givers. It means being responsive to patient’s preferences, needs and feedback to ensure that service quality improves and slowly there is more involvement of patient in healthcare delivery and design. [1] A patient centered care has below attributes [2]: Whole-person care. Coordination and communication Patient support and empowerment Ready access Autonomy A patient centered care focus on guiding patients by giving them information about options and risks. It means considering patient’s preferences and background and valuing their feedback. According to 2001 Institute of Medicine a focus on patient centered care is one of the factors constituting high quality health care. Source: http://hcca-act.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html The current system is physician centered which means that effective care is defined by physician’s standards and skills instead of centering on patient’s satisfaction from the service rendered. For example- orthopedic surgeons use the Harris Hip score to judge the success of a hip replacement. This was designed solely by physicians and does not include any feedback from patients to include their satisfaction from the procedure [3]. Thus, it is impossible to correctly define the output of any model in healthcare until the patient experience has been taken into account for. What Patients Want Most tools that we use to judge patient satisfaction or outcome of a medical service cannot be accurately quantified. Also, the success metric for a medical care varies from physician and patient’s point of view. An example of such tools was administered by Steward.et al in 2000 where many physician-patient interactions were audio taped and patients rated these conversations. After analysis, it was deduced that patients recovered faster, had better emotional health and perceived the care as satisfactory if the care was patient-centered. The faith of patients on their healthcare providers increased when there emotional needs were taken care of by the physicians leading to less number of diagnostic tests and fewer referrals. A similar methodology can also be used to study physician empathy. Researchers at Jefferson University developed the Jefferson scale to test physician’s empathy where physicians rated their own empathy but this scale could not be used to judge patient satisfaction. Thus, a new scale called Jefferson Scale of Patient’s perception of Physician Empathy was used which judges patient’s rating of physician’s empathy which correlated to patient’s satisfaction. Mostly what patients want is a relationship of empathy with physicians, who can help them communicate with the problem and develop a personal relationship with them. The perception of care is different from physicians and patient’s point of view and we need to move our focus from â€Å"what’s the matter† with our patients to â€Å"what matters† to our patients. [1] Hindrance in achieving true patient centric care One of the most crucial factors stopping US in achieving true patient centric care is the current reimbursement system and focus on physician practice model. There is no measure in US to gauge the quality of care, empathy and relationship of a physician with patients. Reimbursement is not correlated to these factors, instead it is based on per patient encounter. Due to this, primary care physicians focus on increasing the volume of patients and reduce the time spent with each patient. Most physicians are in a hurry and under stress which leads to misdiagnosis, useless tests and referrals, decrease in quality of care and a very formal relationship between physician and patients. [6] Next important factor is that physicians employed by hospitals are incentivized or prized depending on number of patients that they bring but there is no measure to the quality of care they impart. The volume of patients precede quality because the financial benefits are huge e.g.- Each lab tests physicians’ order, each referrals they make, benefits hospitals in terms of huge monetary benefits which in turn becomes a basis of primary care physician’s salaries. Thus, understandably what drives physicians is to employ methods to increase volume of patients, decrease time spent with each patient and other ways to monetize each patient-physician interaction. [3] The third hindrance is hospitals hiring generalists called hospitalists to provide care to patients with the goal of reducing patient days per admission. This might lead to improve in care for a certain amount of time but the reason behind hiring such individuals is not to improve patient care but instead to benefit hospitals financially. The Patient Centric Approach model Patient Centered Medical Home Patient Centric medical home helps address the patient centric approach by emphasizing on high quality patient care and lower the healthcare cost. They reorganize primary care practice by recognizing the importance of patient’s experience and works on system based approach to transform health services being offered. PCMH centers their service on elderly with acute care needs, patients with physical disabilities and with specific preferences in terms of culture and values. The care offered is comprehensive and designed to meet patients’ needs including physical and mental attention, chronic care and long term assistance like help in performing daily ablutions for patients with functional limitations. [8] Accountable Care Organizations ACOs have been set up with the goal of ensuring high quality of care is given to patients at the right time to prevent medical errors and reduce medical costs. Mostly ACOs are formed by group of doctors and hospitals who voluntarily come together to serve Medicare patients. [9] The basic promise that ACOs hold is to have patient centered care and treat patients with empathy, care and work towards avoiding unnecessary costs and develop a personal relationship with patients. Thus, government should incentivize formation of more ACOs to ensure more patient- centric approach. Strategic IT investment IT is the obvious answer to increase efficiency, reduce medical errors and improve quality of care in US. Though there are many facets of IT that can be used, use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Electronic Medical records (EMR) are the most important tools to use. EMRs are digitized version of patient record keeping for a physicians. EMR has been instrumental in reducing medical costs overtime by enabling better interactions between departments and monitoring patient’s visiting time and medical information. Patients can also log on and know about their health records and be better prepared. EHRs stores patient’s records so that if needed emergency departments can access it before giving them any medicines. This saves the cost of duplicate tests because all the data needed to prescribe medicines are present in EHRs. Feedback and review model: Patient Opinion Patient opinion was founded in 2005 and is the leading feedback platform for healthcare in UK. They allow patients to write their reviews/ stories about their experience and tag the particular provider. Other users can then favorite the post if they have experience the same thing. Patient Opinion also has an analytical engine which does sentiment analysis for each hospital and show what areas need improvement and which departments received positive reviews. The hospitals can read these reviews posted about them and respond to the complaints and praises. This helps them to improve their quality of care and address the issues raised by patients. Patient Opinion is a social enterprise and a NGO which is independent of NHS but share the same values. It is funded through user subscriptions, healthcare providers and healthcare Commission. Providers subscribing to Patient Opinion get the access to all patient feeds and can respond to the reviews. Though, use of patient opinion by patients is free. Patient Opinion is available across England but not (yet) the rest of the UK. It covers all acute trusts. As of today, 600 hospitals are registered with patient opinion and working together to improve the healthcare quality in UK. [5] How Patient Opinion fits the review model: It allows patients to give feedback on their health services and to see what others are talking about. It also acts as a platform to hear and respond to reviews and complaints posted by patients. They can compare their ratings with other hospitals and find out which of their departments are doing good and bad. All the opinions are reviewed before publication and editorial policies are public. The critical reviews are marked and directed to the healthcare providers while maintaining patient identity. Below are some feedback posted by patients for â€Å"King’s Mill Hospital† over a period of 2 weeks: Taking â€Å"King’s Mill Hospital† as our example for this study, let us look at some figures which help us better understand the Patient Opinion model: *Data collected is for the month of April: Analysis: Analysis: As of now, for the entire Patient Opinion database, feedback opinion so far is around 50% positive, 30% mixed and around 20% critical. Below is data of number of posts till date: In the last month, of all the posts, 53% had a response from hospital staff and 6% of responses actually lead to change. The numbers do look small but in the larger picture, it is an incremental change which slowly is changing the face of UK healthcare. Conclusion: Patient centric healthcare is the answer to the problems of rising cost and low quality of healthcare in USA. A patient centered communication gives more satisfaction to patients and increase their faith on the physician and treatment. Emotional health is better when patients feel that they have a personal equation with their physicians and their preferences, culture and values are being considered while treatment. It is very important to increase emphasis on physician’s empathy towards patients and introduce feedback model to increase efficiency of hospitals. Patient Opinion is bringing change into the healthcare scenario of UK by making patient reviews an important tool of decision making. Hospitals are responding to these reviews, trying to make amends and improve the quality of care. Currently, healthcare of USA is financially driven and patients are not treated as a valued customer. In future, if we want the healthcare cost to go down and expect better service, it is very important to bring the focus on patients and build the system around them. References: [1] Jo Anne L. Earp, Elizabeth A. French, Melissa B. Gilkey: Patient Advocacy for Health Care Quality [2] Bechtel, Christine.If You Build it, Will They Come? Designing Truly Patient-Centered Health Care.Health Affairs [3] http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2012/01/24/patient-centered-care-what-it-means-and-how-to-get-there/ [4] Moira Stewart, Judith Belle Brown, Allan Donner, Ian R. McWhinney, Julian Oates, Wayne W. Weston, John Jordan, The Impact of Patient-Centered Care on Outcomes [5] https://www.patientopinion.org.uk/info/about [6] Improving Patient Opinion Mining through Multi-step Classification, Lei Xia, Anna Lisa Gentile, James Munro, Josà © Iria [7] http://www.ncqa.org/Programs/Recognition/PatientCenteredMedicalHomePCMH.aspx [8] Ensuring That Patient-Centered Medical Homes Effectively Serve Patients With Complex Health Needs, AHRQ [9] http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/ACO/ [10] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC64755/

Fashion Branding

Dry. Hang Fashion brands in the Market place The Market place of MAC was solely built on the networking and the relationships the previous owners Frank Token, and Frank Angelo had with people in the fashion industry. The owners were tired of seeing makeup products that couldn't sustain the abuse of studio lights so they decided to make a quality makeup company. Frank Token was the idea behind the original project making formulas with his brother-in- law Victor Casual who was also a chemist (Evelyn, 2009).Frank Angelo came along to kind of help with the entrepreneurship aspect of the company, and they hit it off after that. Since both of the franks were already in the makeup, and hair industry they knew a lot of people that they could network their new makeup products too. Like I also mentioned before they were the first cosmetic line to offer a wide range of color lipsticks, most companies were mainly focused on skincare and facial products.MAC cosmetics were originally made for peop le in the high fashion industry, and were later pushed towards any and everybody in the fashion and keep industry (Evelyn, 2009). In 1986 MAC was styling fashion looks one being the concept of bald brides in Toronto fashion shows (Upgraded). In 1988 Henry Bended in New York was the first department store picking MAC's cosmetics , followed by a 1994 campaign of â€Å"Who is the M. A. C girl† starring Our Paul nearly raising $1 million for their M. A. C AIDS fund.All this leads to MAC's participation in their first New York fashion week with fashion designer Amateurs (Upgraded). MAC was also featured in one of the biggest fashion magazines Vogue in 1994 for the first time. That first New York fashion week runway then lead to MAC sponsoring over 850 shows, spread across 47 New York fashion week by 2012. By 2007 MAC's AIDS fund raised over 236 million dollars with the help of celebrities such as Mary J. Bilge, Ill Kim, Nick Mina], Lady Gaga, and Rick Martin. We love the idea of b eing able to champion and solidify a strong point of view for the next generation,† says an Est ©e Lauder executive. â€Å"We're a makeup-artist brand, and we're inspired by the runway?it's very organic. † said Esteem' Lauder executive (Upgraded). One of MAC's biggest introduction of endorsements were led by the likes of Pamela Anderson, Boy George, Debbie Harry, and other big stars in the ass's this led to the company's growth in the industry and marketplace (Evelyn,2009).

Importance of Literature Essay

There are a lot of things that come to mind when a person hears the word literature. Usually, one thinks of a book, story, classical work or some variation of the aforementioned but to ask someone to define the term literature, proves to be a much trickier task. Many are stumped when asked this question. People often answer by giving examples of literary works but fail to actually give an encompassing definition of the term. Welcome to the world of Webster (Dictionary that is). Webster’s Dictionary defines the term literature as the body of written works of a language, period, or culture. This definition seems be broad but continuing on in the definition there was one part that really stood as a more adequate representation of what literature is about. The definition reads as follows; Â…the body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field. This particular definition seems to hit at the core of literature; scholarship and specialization. Some feel that that all written works are forms of literature. I contend that a true work of literature must be written by a person who has studied a given field (specialization) and produced a work that allows the reader to gain some form of a lesson or viewpoint (scholarship), whether agreeing with the writer or taking an opposing stance of the information set fourth in the work. This is not to say that these types of works do not have any entertainment value but they have a type of entertainment that wraps the lesson, argument or viewpoint in an engaging style rather than being force-fed the authors’ stance. A true work of literature should evoke some form of discussion on the works main point. A work of literature needs all of the above, not only to be called a true work of literature but to also cement its place in history, which is the last piece of the puzzle when defining the term. Literature stands the test of time and can be discussed by great grandchildren as well as great grandmothers and all those in between. This all goes to say that the importance of literature is its ability to connect  a community known as the human race. Classical works of literature have been translated so that all human beings can share in a great piece, even being translated to an audio, so that those who can not read will not be stopped from participating in the act of community that literature provides. It is amazing that even though some might not share the same culture as others, they could start a discussion around a piece of literature. The literature in this instance acts as a unifier rather than just a book or story, thus proving the power of literature and the overall power of the written word. A true work of literature must have scholarship, specialization, a unifying human element and an entertaining delivery in order to stand the test of time. The points mentioned above give literature criteria on which to be compared. The importance of literature goes far beyond just having â€Å"a good read.† Literature possesses an intangible that can have a great impact on people’s lives. Great works of our time have brought nations together, stopped feuds, healed wounds, and have even taught humans how to be â€Å"human† again. Literature is extremely important and necessary to the growth of this world and for a creation of a global society.

Lewis Structures or Electron Dot Structures

Lewis Structures or Electron Dot Structures Lewis structures, also known as electron dot structures, are named after Gilbert N. Lewis, who described them in his 1916 article titled The Atom and the Molecule. Lewis structures depict the bonds between atoms of a molecule as well as any unbonded electron pairs. You can draw a Lewis dot structure for any covalent molecule or coordination compound. Lewis Structure Basics A Lewis structure is a type of shorthand notation. Atoms are written using their element symbols. Lines are drawn between atoms to indicate chemical bonds. Single lines are single bonds, double lines are double bonds, and triple lines are triple bonds. (Sometimes pairs of dots are used instead of lines, but this is uncommon.) Dots are drawn next to atoms to show unbonded electrons. A pair of dots is a pair of excess electrons. Steps to Drawing a Lewis Structure Pick a central atom. Start your structure by picking a central atom and writing its element symbol. This will be the atom with the lowest electronegativity. Sometimes its difficult to know which atom is the least electronegative, but you can use the periodic table trends to help you out. Electronegativity typically increases as you move from left to right across the periodic table and decreases as you move down the table, from top to bottom. You can consult a table of electronegativities, but be aware different tables may give you slightly different values, since electronegativity is calculated. Once you have selected the central atom, write it down and connect the other atoms to it with a single bond. You may change these bonds to double or triple bonds as you progress.Count electrons. Lewis electron dot structures show the valence electrons for each atom. You dont need to worry about the total number of electrons, only those in the outer shells. The octet rule states that atoms wit h eight electrons in their outer shell are stable. This rule applies well up to period 4, when it takes 18 electrons to fill the outer orbitals. Filling the outer orbitals of electrons from period 6 requires 32 electrons. However, most of the time you are asked to draw a Lewis structure, you can stick with the octet rule. Place electrons around atoms. Once you have determined how many electrons to draw around each atom, start placing them on the structure. Start by placing one pair of dots for each pair of valence electrons. Once the lone pairs are placed, you may find that some atoms, particularly the central atom, dont have a complete octet of electrons. This indicates there are double or possibly triple bonds. Remember, it takes a pair of electrons to form a bond. Once the electrons have been placed, put brackets around the entire structure. If there is a charge on the molecule, write it as a superscript on the upper right, outside of the bracket. More About Lewis Structures Here is more information about Lewis structures: Step: Exceptions to the Octet RuleLewis Structure Example Problem: Formaldehyde

buy custom Why We Commit Crime essay

buy custom Why We Commit Crime essay Why do people commit crime? According to Thomas (2011), this is a question that is often not asked even by many policy makers. He noted that in contrary, crime and terror has been increasing posing a lot of insecurity challenges all over the world. According to Thomas (2011), various governments are currently spending the better part of their budget on measures aimed at combating crime. New laws are enacted every year in various nations against the actions of crimes while at the same time new laws are passed in an attempt to combat crimes and criminals. Thomas (2011) emphasizes that it must be noted that people are never criminals at birth. He asserts that there could certainly be various circumstances and needs that help in the making of a criminal (Thomas, 2011). There are numerous causes of crime that have been identified ranging from poverty to those factors that are intrinsic within the individuals. Theoretically criminologists, sociologists and psychologist have come up with various theories in an attempt to explain why people commit crime (Thomas, 2011). These theories have attributed this trend to different factors depending of the discipline. In utilizing the relevant theories and integrating them with relevant causal factors, this study will try to answer the question Why do we commit crime? Community and Crime According to Thomas (2011), the role of community is determining criminal activities can be explained both theoretically and critically. However, any of the two concentrates its efforts in examining the opportunities a given community avails in an attempt to enable its members achieve their goals in life (Thomas, 2011). Important to the analysis is also the amount of pressure put by the community on the need for the realization of such dreams. Thomas (2011) notes that the rates of crime is normally higher in the communities which tend to present there members with unequal opportunities. According to him, such a system will automatically deny some individuals a chance to achieve their goals through legitimate means. These groups of individuals are normally forced to pursue their goals through illegal methods to meet the demands placed on them by the same community. Thomas (2011) concludes that as much as the society will still present different opportunity to its members, criminal beh aviors will never be eliminated. According to Thomas (2011), another way in which the community may breed violence is associated with the way in which it controls the handling of such technologies as handguns. Easy access to such lethal technologies in a community may make its members easily resort to violence as a means of solving problems. Thomas (2011) reports a study which showed that in U.S. alone, 333,000 among the 400,000 violent crimes in 1998 were committed using firearms. According this study, firearms related deaths rose to be the eighth in the United States. Thomas (2011) reported another case study in which the issue of unequal opportunities was much evidenced. The study was carried out on inmates in the U.S prisons in 1990s. The researched revealed that the majority of the prisoners had very low education levels. This was also reflected in the kind of crimes that they had committed. The crimes included: robbery, burglary, and automobile theft, drug trafficking, and shoplifting (Thomas, 2011). Asked why they had involved themselves in such criminal activities, most of the prisoners indicated that their low level of education could not allow them to secure well rewarding employment positions. Thomas (2011) emphasizes that lack of employment and provision of any employment below living wage does not help deter criminal activity. According to him, it only put people in a situation where they have to make a decision to either continue in their low income levels or join criminal activities. Theoretical Explanations There are a number of theories that linked crime to the action of the larger communities. According to the rational theorists, before one involves himself in any criminal act, he or she must reason rationally. Grant noted that every individual has their interest which they seek to accomplish through legitimate means (Grant, 2006). This position is supported by the strain theorists who explain that in any given community people have similar goals and aspirations. However, the community does not present its members with similar opportunities. According to Grant (2006), whenever the community fails to present these opportunities to its members, it is a usual phenomenon to find members resorting to criminal ways of achieving their goals. In such cases the need to satisfy ones interest supersedes the potential risks from committing crime (Grant, 2006). On the other hand the social organization theory explains that every behavioral choices made by the individuals are explained by ones immediate physical and social environments (Grant, 2006). According to these theorists, a society with loose social structures will most likely experience high rate of crime. Discussing this theory Grant (2006) sites factors relating to poor planning such as failing to demolish vacant and vandalized buildings and mixing of both commercial and residential houses as the factors that may fuel criminality in a place. The same thought is shared by the routine activities theorists who propose that the probability for one to commit crime is also directly related to the available opportunities to commit crime within a given community. According to Grant (2006), crime rates will always be high in communities with unorganized and unsupervised activities. Third is the social learning theory. This theory takes into account the way people associate with one another in its explanation of crime (Grant, 2006). That both the vigor and the skills of committing crime are developed form the individuals that one associate with. Forth is the social control theory which attributes the probability of crime commitment to the measure of control that is placed upon the individuals by the larger society. The theorists hold that societies whose social institutions have loose structures and lack well defined laws will experience high rate of crime (Grant, 2006). Another societal cause of crme is related to actions like stereotyping and labeling of individuals as criminals (Grant, 2006). This is mostly done or perpetrated by the community leaders whose positions in the society allows them to decide which acts can be considered as a crime. Studies by psychologists have indicated that the individuals who are labeled criminals in most cases turn out to be thus. This holds true because once a person is labeled a criminal, he is always denied his legitimate opportunities of achieving goals by the same community which demands prosperity from him (Grant, 2006). Media and Violence Several studies have linked both the video game violence, the television based movies and the print media to the increasing rate of crime. Surrette (2011) notes that even the simple childrens cartoonist and fantasies have been linked to the increasing aggression in children. According to Surrette (2011), such simple plays done repeatedly may breed violence in children. Studies have also found out a close link between video games and the todays increasing rates of bullying in the learning institutions. According to Surrette (2011), video game violence makes it easy for children to learn violence. He noted that the confirmation of the same by the FBI in its 2000 report when it listed violent video games among the activities that are closely linked to the shootings experienced in the learning institutions. Surrette (2011) noted the strong link between media game violence and increased aggression among todays younger generation. It has been a common phenomenon to find cases where violent video game players confess to have literally resorted to violence based methods as the means of achieving their dreams. Surrette (2011) also notes that it is always a hard task for the players of video game violence to forgive others whenever a dispute occurs especially when they were on the right. In addition, he noted that those who developed aggression from playing this game may totally loose their sense of apathy. According to Surrette (2011), it is also common among the video game players to want to display their strength leading to increased desire to involve themselves in violent related activities. The affected always find themselves reacting in a violent manner even without considering the risks involved. Study by Professor Eron of the University of Michigan also concluded that there is high probability of the boys who watched television crime to try committing the same crimes during their latter stages of life (Surrette, 2011). The study on the effect of crime images in the media by the Professor Brandon Centerwall of the University of Washington also revealed the same findings. It covered the first eight years after a wide scale introduction of TV in California. The study found out that there was an unusual increase in the rate of the reported murder cases in North America during this time. The same was confirmed during his second study in South Africa. According to Surrette (2011), these findings are still applicable as the images in the media still has the potential of making one to resort to being a life long criminal. Medias strong influence to criminology is also explained by the way it dramatizes crime. In most cases, the criminals in video game violence always end up receiving the glory. This acts of media points towards normalizing crime. Another aspect of the media which makes it risky is the king of publicity that it gives to the criminals. Studies have shown that the impression it creates has lured many young people into committing crime (Surrette, 2011). Similarly, the improvement in the field of communication has also ease the coordination of criminal activities. An example is the internet which has greatly enabled the criminals to find and share the information among themselves and also to influence new peers into their activities. Surrette (2011) noted that over the years, the rate of cyber crime has been on the increase especially among the middle and high school students. Some of the highly committed cyber related crimes today include digital piracy, pornography and online bullying (Surrette, 2011). Peer Pressure and Crime According to various studies presented by Smith and his colleagues (2009), there is a link between the kind of friends one has and the probability that he or she will be involved in criminal activities. They noted that effect of Peer pressure is largely felt among the children and the adolescents. According to their findings, most often, children and youths burn with desire to experiment what their fellow age mates are doing. This has led to an increasing number of youths beginning to take alcoholics and drugs. Through their interaction with other criminals, the newly deviant individuals also graduate into involving themselves in more complex activities (Smith et al, 2009). Smith (2009) comments that it is ironical that the often preferred treatment to deviant/criminal behaviors in majority of states is to put them together in some facility. According to Smith, criminality is common among certain adolescent groups and placing them together would worsen the situation. Smith (2009) further notes that there is also a link between exposure to criminal peers and increase in ones involvement in diverse delinquent behaviors. He explored a number of evidences to show that deviant peer influence is largely responsible for both the initiation and worsening of delinquency. According to Smith (2009), another issue that presents peers with an opportunity to advance in criminal activities is their segregation from the normal population. He faulted the initial researches done to determine the best developmental measures on deviant behavior. The researchers had recommended segregating these individuals. However, according to Smith and his colleagues (2009), the contributions of such measures are always offset by the influence the criminal peers have on one another. Their study also found out that putting deviant peers together greatly increases their likelihood of delinquency. Smith (2009) found out that the influence of peers was also rampant among the children. Another way in which the coommunity punishes criminal activities especially in the educational settings is suspension and expulsion. According to Smith and Colleagues (2009), these measures too have been proved to be more detrimental to the very children who are purported to be helped. When these suspended students are sent back from the learning institutions into the community, they meet and influence one another even to worse states than they were before. According to Smith and his colleagues (2009), the best option would be to leave the students in school settings. This would enable them to be exposed to and perhaps learn from their conforming schoolmates. They concluded that because of the considerable evidence, it should never be recommended for the society to continue with its policies of detaining juvenile offenders. This would expose the offenders to deviant peers while minimizing their interaction with the adult role models and their reformed peers. Cultural Values and Crime Both norms and values aspects of cultures relate directly to the rate of crime that is witness. According to Abril (2011), these two aspects of culture affect what a given culture perceives as a crime and the seriousness with which it is taken. He reports various findings to show that the rate of crime is relatively low in cultures which practice collectivism compared to those which practice individualism. Abril (2011) noted that every culture perceives crime differently. Certain communities have their own tribal laws and respond collectively to criminal activities. Such arrangements enable the members of a given culture to internalize and practice the community laws. The cultures which stress on community involvement normally experience lesser crime cases compared to the culture in which individuality is stressed (Abril, 2011). Within the larger culture, there are also the subcultures which may have totally different norms and values from those of the mainstream culture. According to Abril (2011), any attempt to explain the criminal activities in such sub-cultures must seek to analyze the discrepancy that exists between the norms and values of the mainstream culture and those of the specific sub culture. According to Walter Millers theory of Focal Concerns, criminal behaviors of a given small subculture, say gangs, can be described in terms of values and norms of the subculture (Abril, 2011). Walter Miller studied the gang subculture. According to him this group stresses on physical prowess, smartness in conning others, ability to take risk, fate and autonomy. He explained that any member of such sub-cultures must seek to direct their behavior towards living up to these values (Abril, 2011). To such a group being involved in crime is an indication of their autonomy and an opportunity for excitement. Abril (2011) concluded that the greater the discrepancies between the dominant cultures values and the subcultures values the more will be the opportunity of norm violating behavior. Theoretical Explanation Equally, there are theories which seek to explain criminality on the basis of the values and norms practiced by the cultures to which people belong. According to the theory of differential association, even the way in which a given culture defines what a crime is has the potential of making its members to engage in criminal activities (Grant, 2006). Grant explains that such definitions are leant by members from their social groups. Some individuals have therefore committed criminal acts based on the fact that their larger groups were not categorizing such acts as crimes. Grant (2006) reports that crime rate is normally high among social groups with loose definitions of what is considered as a crime (Grant, 2006). Sports (Athletics) and Crime According to the published reports by Valen, there is always one incident of crime involving an athlete in every two days (Valen, 2009). Domestic violence is the most common crime among the athletes. Benedict carried out a study focusing on the rates of sexual assaults reported from thirty major Division I Universities within the U.S. His report showed that one in every three sexual assault cases reported was committed by an athlete. Through the three year study, it was revealed that even though athlete students only constituted 3.3% of the entire college population, they were responsible for 19% of all the sexual assaults committed during this duration. At the same time their involvement in domestic violence related crimes remained high at 35% (Valen, 2009). Another study carried out in Georgetown yielded the same results. According to the study, the number student athletes were only 11 percent of the total population of the undergraduates within the town (Valen, 2009). Astonishingly, their rate of involvement in and being charged with violent assaults was more than twice that of the overall student population. Valen (2009) explains that even though many of the athletes are charged with crime, their charges were being freed every time. The study revealed that the conviction rate of athletes was as low as 38%. This can not be compared to that of the general population which still remains at around 80%. To Valen, these are some of the reasons for high involvement of athletes in crime. Some experts have also attributed the high rate of crime commission by the athletes to their aggressiveness. According to Valen (2009), the athletes also seem live in their own world with the huge salaries and free scholarships that they receive. Most of them see themselves as special and are determined to achieve their goals by whatever means. This has made most of the athletes to believe that the rules and laws which guide the conduct of the rest of the population are not applicable to them. Conclusion In conclusion, the factors such as media, does not directly cause crime by themselves. In order for the governments to successfully address the issue of criminality, thorough research on the operations of the society is required. Any of such research carried out in future should lead to changes in certain policies as well as seeking to involve the community at all levels. Buy custom Why We Commit Crime essay

Annotated Bibliographies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Annotated Bibliographies - Essay Example They argue that the decline of American students in STEM threatens the country’s competitive edge in the world economy. In response, they recommend the D2D Model to increase the number of students in STEM. Onjira and Gilbert (2009) illustrate the affordances of machine-processable competency modeling. They argue that machine processing is invaluable in e-learning and assessment. They emphasize its effectiveness in e-learning. In addition, Onjira and Gilbert (2009) present the competency model’s affordances in generating questions, distractors, and adaptive query sequences. In the article, they conclude that using machine-processable competency overcomes many limitations in interoperability, reusability, and portability. They demonstrate the ease of automatically generating questions using templates. The system enables them to generate many questions from one template. They further argue that the presence of plausible distractors poses a challenge in generating multiple-choice questions. They conclude the article by looking forward to a future with an automated feedback system. Ricardo et al. (2009) explains the role of mathematics and statistics in the expression of scientific ideas. They conclude that mathematics and statistics are the languages of science. Because of the effect of the internet on learning approach of students, Ricardo et al. (2009) explored innovative ways of learning and teaching methodologies. They advocated acquisition of core competencies by students, development of relevant software and better methods of assessment emphasizing on higher-level abilities. In addition, the researchers propose student-centered learning that students employ Information Technology in acquiring knowledge and self-assessment. Ricardo et al. (2009) present the R-QUEST as a new programming language that solves many statistical problems, thereby

The common drivers contributing to employees satisfaction at late Research Proposal

The common drivers contributing to employees satisfaction at late career stage - Research Proposal Example It is therefore critical for organizations to understand and outline what actually motivates employees working at the later stage of their career. This research study will focus on understanding and exploring as to what actually motivates employees working at the later stage of their careers. Employee motivation has been one of the hotly debated and discussed topics in academic literature with many theoretical underpinnings outlining as to what actually motivates an employee throughout his or her career. From Maslow’s theory of hierarchy to latest research on the topic indicates the overall importance of motivation within an organization. It is however, critical to note that every organization contains a mix of employees belonging to different age groups and career stages. Motivation drivers for employees working at three different stages of the career therefore may be different as compared to the motivators for employees at the early or mid-stage career. (Dwyer, 2009) Each employee pass through three different phases of career i.e. start, mid and later stage and at each stage, the level of motivation and motivators change because employee needs change with the passage of time. As a person ascends on the hierarchy of needs, the nature of motivators change and employees look for different and unique ways to get themselves motivated and generate the level of job satisfaction required to retain the job. The overall research problem is based upon understanding and exploring as to what are the key and common drivers of motivation and job satisfaction for employees working at the later stage of their career. As outlined above, the motivation and education needs of employees at three different stages of their career are different. The overall research objective therefore is to explore and assess as to what motivates employees who are at the later