Laura Purdy Essays - Fertility, Midwifery, Human Pregnancy

Laura Purdy In Laura Purdy's essay "Are Pregnant Women Fetal Containers?" the issue that is dealt with is the relationship between pregnant women and their unborn fetus. She feels that the woman's rights to her body should outweigh the rights of the fetus. She argues that pregnant woman are treated like second-class citizens in our society and that medical decisions are placed upon them that are not necessary and unjust. Purdy also discusses the role of the fetus, the moral duty of the mother, the bias against pregnant women in our justice system, and society's role in the double standard. Many people think that women have an obligation to give up their rights to their bodies when they become pregnant. Purdy says that this should not be because we have a moral obligation to people, who are dependent on us, but that a fetus is not a person, even though she realizes that the fetus is dependent on the mother. In order to support this Purdy draws a comparison between pregnancy and parenthood, "...If parents are not required to submit to bodily invasions to save a dying child, then a woman should not be expected to do so for the benefit of a fetus; the converse is also true" (p 74). According to Purdy, the medical community has adopted a philosophy that focuses on a worst case scenario; mostly uncertain situations without proper probable cause. They focus on fetal death or damage rather than anything else, including the mother's life. Pregnant women are subject to forced Caesarians, forced prenatal or drug treatment and invasive surgery; all without consent. This philosophy leads Purdy to the conclusion that pregnant women are second-class citizens by comparing their court judgements in medical cases to that of judgements in cases of the unconscious, criminals, and individuals with mental problems. She says that the cases of the latter require more proof and take a lot longer to decide then medical cases of pregnant women. She says that the unconscious, criminals, and the mentally disabled have more safeguards protecting them than women do. Society throws in many factors into the treatment of expectant mothers. The issues of the availability of adequate health care to poverty stricken woman, the decision some women must make because of hazards at their workplace and environmental issues such as smoking, drinking, and drugs put women in a no win situation. Purdy best sums up her view on health care in two statements, "Until we as a society act to make good, inexpensive, convenient, and respectful care a priority, punishing women for lack of prenatal care reeks of hypocrisy." (P 76) and "...Invading women's bodies to impose last minute, heroic care is stupid, mean, and unfair." (P 76). Society is also partly to blame for the lack of laws that would eliminate some toxins from workplaces that women of childbearing age could be exposed to. The choice of whether to keep a good job or have children is sometimes not an option for some families. This brings in a double standard for women too because men are not asked to sacrifice their jobs for the sake of their sperm. Drugs, smoking, and drinking are the main point of Purdy's last statements against our society. She asks instead of punishing women for being addicted to a substance, why are we not asking how they got there to begin with? Purdy points out that the treatment needed to rid some mothers of addiction can take up to six months just to get in and at that point there is probably serious damage already done. Her solution is to put in place more socials programs to keep people from turning to drugs in the first place. Purdy concludes that we need a more caring society to deal with this difficult relationship between the mother and her fetus. Every point in our society is unjust to pregnant women, our justice system, our workplaces, our medical community, and the community at large who treat expectant mothers differently. Her point is that they should not be treated such, that their body is their responsibility and that people should not interfere.

Pros and Cons of Genetically Modified Foods

Pros and Cons of Genetically Modified Foods Our ancestors first cultivated plants some ten thousand years ago. They domesticated animals later and then selectively bred both plants and animals to meet various requirements for human food. Humans discovered natural biological processes such as fermentation of fruits and grains to make wine and beer, and yeast for baking bread. Manipulation of foods is not a new story, therefore. The latest agricultural discovery uses genetic engineering technology to modify foods.Farmers and plant breeders have been changing crop plants to improve characteristics such as size, resistance to disease and taste. Plants which grow well, have a higher yield or taste better are selected and bred from. This is still the most widely used technique for developing new varieties of a crop, and is limited by natural barriers which stop different species of organisms from breeding with each other. Genetic modification is very different to these traditional plant breeding techniques.Genetic modification is th e insertion of DNA from one organism to another, usually by molecular technologies. Genetically Modified Foods (GMF) are animals or plants that have had genetic modification. This changes the characteristics of the organism, or the way it grows and develops.Jim Maryanski from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, had the following to say in an interview published on the FDA's website.ÂÆ'‚‚“There are hundreds of new plant varieties introduced every year in the United States, and all have been genetically modified through traditional plant breeding techniquessuch as cross-fertilization of selected plantsto produce desired traits.ÂÆ'‚‚” (Robin)Current and future GM products include:a)Food that can deliver vaccines - bananas that produce hepatitis B vaccineb)More nutritious foods - rice with increased iron and vitaminsc)Faster growing fish, fruit and nut treesd)Plants producing new plasticsIn so many respects, genetic modification is perfect for today's societ y. It would help agriculturalists overcome all headaches...

Responsible Gaming Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Responsible Gaming Project - Essay Example Many government and non government organizations have been set up to ensure responsible gaming and to research on gambling disorders and to treat them. The largest private research centre present in the United States of America is National Center for Responsible Gaming (in Washington and Boston), Nevada council on Problem Gambling in Las Vegas and Responsible Gambling Council in Ontario. In order to ensure responsible gaming, certain rules have been made. It is expected from the employees to make sure that the rules are being implemented and the public is gambling safely. It is their duty to keep a check on the gamers if they are gaming for fun or are addicted to it and have gaming disorders. Nevada Gaming Commission passed a bill regarding gamers with problems. According to it a ‘licensee’ is a person who is authorized to carry out gaming operations. A licensee is supposed to provide information and guidelines in black and white regarding the signs and consequences of b eing addicted to gambling. The guidelines should include the toll free contact numbers of organizations who help the gamers with their addiction approved by the chairman of the casino. These guidelines should be present in the view of all gamers, near the cash giving machines and gaming tables (Nevada Gaming Commission – Regulations 5.170). The licensee should make sure that all employees who interact with patrons in the gaming zones are trained. The training includes identification of gamers who exhibit signs of being addicted to gaming and giving them detailed information of their problems, their symptoms, and what the problems may lead to. The employee should recommend organizations who help people with gambling and tell them about suitable programs they should take to get rid of the problem The licensee should keep a check on the employees ensuring that they are carrying out the delegated tasks efficiently, and for that he can appoint a personnel who can make sure that th e program is going smoothly and the employees are being trained properly. Training programs under the Nevada council on problem Gambling are taken for granted to provide sufficient training for the time period specified by under the Nevada council on problem Gambling (Nevada Gaming Commission – Regulations 5.170). Licensees involved in issuing credits of credits, checking the money, and advertising various games in their casinos by sending mails to patrons will have to put into practice a program having appropriate factors to give awareness to the patrons about drawing their lines and keeping within the limits they set for themselves and limiting their access to the licensee in charge of in issuing credits of credits, checking the money, and advertising various games in their casinos by sending mails. The vital elements of that program include the improvement of materials regarding distribution of written material among the patrons. Availability of forms which the patrons can fill out, confirming that they will be taking part in the activities offered by the program is important. Limits should be set that would not enable a patron access to cashing of checks, giving out credits and promotion of gaming. Processes that can remove the patron from contacting a licensee directly and removing him from gambling in the place allotted to that licensee and a system which the patron can report to

Final Exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Final Exam - Assignment Example claimed that in his reflections on self, he realized that it was impossible for him to have a unified impression of self without the particular perceptions; Hume argued that when he tries to think about the concept of self, what he stumbles upon are particular perceptions such as heat or cold, love or hate, or pleasure or pain. For this reason, therefore, Hume concluded that there is no self, but what we call self is merely a bundle of sensations In his view of the self, Immanuel Kant refuted Hume’s argument that we cannot have an idea of the self. In his epistemology, Immanuel Kant held that there are two sources of human knowledge. i.e. sensibility and understanding. This view is contrary to Hume’s view; Hume held that sensibility is the only source of human knowledge. For Kant, sensibility gives us objects, while the understanding thinks and reasons about the given objects. In his epistemology, therefore, Kant was of the view that it is indeed possible for us to have knowledge of things which have no direct impressions. For Kant, therefore, by looking for the self I in sense impressions, Hume is looking for the self in the wrong place. For Kant, the self is the entity that unifies human experiences, thus enabling human mind to synthesis sense perceptions. By saying that existence precedes essence, Sartre meant that human beings are the ones who make up, as it were, their essence. For Sartre, human beings are not determined, from the moment of their birth, what they will be in life. For this reason, therefore, Sartre viewed human beings as existing first before they determine what they will be in life. For Sartre, human beings are born with the freedom and the possibility to become whatever they want to become in life, i.e. human beings are born with the freedom and the ability to form their own essence. For Sartre, therefore, existence in human beings precedes essence. This view of human beings, however, makes human beings different from inanimate objects

Creating my own religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Creating my own religion - Essay Example All these faiths teach people how to believe in themselves and understand the true meaning of one’s existence on this planet. However, a person can always wonder, what is it like to create one’s own religion? This question comes in because of the idea that all the religions that people do follow today, have been set down and created by people who wanted to help others comprehend the meaning of living and the art of existence. This paper helps to provide an insight regarding how an individual might take to creating a religion of their own, as well as the kind of personal theological beliefs that I possess with respect to a religion of my own. Religion is the base of a cultural system that a human being follows and this very faith helps to provide him with a sense of assurance and security and helps to provide a meaning to his or her life. Religions help a man to soul search and understand the purpose of his own existence. They may consist of symbols of worship, doctrines and scriptures that consist of wisdom and regulations, as well as morality and ethics with respect to the law of nature and survival. If one thinks about it, many years ago, there was someone who thought about the kind of philosophy that a man must follow his life by and helped to gather followers with the help of a story that consisted of faith in the supernatural; human beings gain assurance by knowing that there is a higher power that exists somewhere in the universe so that whenever something goes wrong, they will be able to have someone to answer to, or have someone who is accountable to them for doing something or carrying out a specific action. Religion thus forms the base of a man’s faith and thinking and helps him to understand the meaning of life and all its subsidiaries. On a basic grass root level, it is easy for a person to ‘form’ a religion. All one has to do is to understand the

Discrimination Against Obese People Health And Social Care Essay

Discrimination Against Obese People Health And Social Care Essay Obesity discrimination has a great impact on health care. The healthcare may be more critical of obese individuals. Some primary care physicians may be less attentive to treating obesity than other ailments as well. Overweight individuals seem to pick up on the negative feelings: studies show obese individuals tend to delay going to the doctor even for routine visits. There is no exception for radiographer the impact of obesity. To improve the image quality a certain amount of radiation is needed to go through the body in obese patient. And that is higher than normal doses of radiation in order to obtain X-ray images. Also obesity has impact on the surgical options for obese patients, the anatomy and imaging of gastric bypass surgery, and how to recognize and treat surgical complications of bariatric surgery. Obese patients need to purchase larger wheelchairs, larger beds and even larger diagnostic imaging machines. 1b.Reading the background of Obesity, and how people are becoming Obese, will help me to gain a close understand of how obese people feeling about themselves and how discrimination effects obese people. It will help me to see the obese people as an illness not blame them because of their weight. As a Radiography student I should deal with all patients equally. If those issues above has impact on health care provider, it is also has psychological impact on obese patient. 2a. In this annotated bibliography I would like to convey to the reader, that obesity always is not individual fault, there may be other factor such as medical condition and disease which make people obese. By discrimination obese people we may put their self-esteem and social interaction down. I would also like to convey to the reader how I have researched my chosen topic, how I changed my search each time to get the appropriate articles required. 2b.The title for my Annotated Bibliography would be `Stigma and discrimination against obese people`. 3a. The first search I carried out was a Google search. I carried out a different search using Google Scholar online to find journal articles for critiquing. I used Birmingham City University web site. From the main library website, I clicked on electronic resources A to Z. CINAHL plus with Full Text and MEDLINE was my databases to find a peer reviewed articles. 3b. First I was looking to a Google search to have a background reading of my topic. So I put obesity in search box and I had About 39,500,000 results. Then I modified my search by adding obesity and discrimination, I got about 4,570,000 results and from there I had my relevant titles. Again I modified my search again by entering additional search terms `in Radiology`, which I got About 1,650,000 results and I had two of my supporting sources from there. Then I searched in Google Scholar I Put obesity and Discrimination from 2000 to 2011and from there I find two articles of my key sources. I carried out a different search using Google Scholar online to find journal articles for critiquing. Then I went to Birmingham city university website and I clicked on electronic resources A to Z.I start with Cinhal plus with full text. I logged in and in search box put obesity as a key word, then I ticked the full text and peer review to find my articles. These are good sources because they are peer reviewed articles. Then I clicked search, I had 4515 results. In first result I found one of my supporting sources. Again I modified my search by adding discrimination on search box. And I got 2483 results. I linked them with and, so I got 38 results. From there I got three key sources which I will critique them and it is relevant to my topic. To find more articles I changed my databases to Medline and I did same steps for my articles. When I liked ob esity and discrimination with and, I had 279 results. Again I had two key sources and one supporting sources for my assignment. I chose which articles were most useful by looking at the date they were published and whether the information contained is still relevant to todays situation. I also tried to find sources from a variety of locations but found some unhelpful. And I ended my search. 4a. Two articles critiquing: Development and Psychometric Testing of the Nurses Attitudes Towards Obesity and Obese Patients (NATOOPS) Scale Lorraine Watson, Kathleen Oberle, Danielle Deutscher Research in Nursing and Health, 2008, 31, 586 593 Being fat in todays world: a qualitative study of the lived experiences of people with obesity in Australia. Samantha L. Thomas PhD, Jim Hyde PhD, Asuntha Karunaratne BMedSci (Hons), Dilinie Herbert MBioMedSci (Part 1) and Paul A. Komesaroff MB BS FRACP PhD 2008 The Authors, Journal Compilation, 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Health Expectations, 11, pp. 321 330 Introduction The above two articles are of two studies to look into the obesity stigmatisation in two different aspects. In the first article, the attitudes of the health care professionals, and on this occasion nurses, towards obese individuals have been studied using psychometric analysis. The second article is about a study designed to look into how obese individuals feel in themselves about public perception and discrimination based upon their body weight, which is more like looking into the original side of the argument and that is to find out when, how and why such stigmatisation has developed. Critique There is no doubt that obesity stigma does exist just like other forms of discrimination in the society based upon race, ethnic origin and having an underlying illness such as HIV. The authors of the first article have started well by talking about the basic principles and reviewing a lot of literatures about similar previous studies with regards to health care professionals attitudes towards their obese patients. The method was good with a considerable number of professional nurses participated in it and, in my opinion, the NATOOPS did cover the psychological aspects of nurse-patient relationship. The results were identical to most of the previous studies and the study simply confirmed the previous ideology that negative attitudes towards obese individuals even among health care professionals do exist. However, when there is a problem there must be a solution, and whilst the authors have nicely highlighted and confirmed this problem amongst nurses, they have failed to provide answers and means to change such attitudes. They have given a lot of details in identifying the problem, but have only briefly towards the end suggested how to tackle the issue and how to educate our nurses not to stigmatise based upon body weight. In my opinion, they should have made more suggestions to rectify problematic attitudes and behaviours. The second article is covering the other side of the argument; in other words, peoples real life experience to make a case that obesity stigmatisation does exist. It is a good qualitative study with a clever way to attract random obese individuals to participate through newspaper advertisement. The method, data collection and the data analysis was pretty good. The number of participants was satisfactory, though could have been higher. The quotes from the individuals were prime examples of how this section of society is victimised in different aspects of life including employment, education, health care and general public services such as transport. They describe a clear blame culture by professionals, policy makers and media. It is worth mentioning the fact that the opt-in nature of this study makes it biased towards the participants. Those chose to take part and to be interviewed for the study were generally the ones with bad experience. Personally, I feel that random selection would have been much better to reflect the true nature of how obese people in the community feel about themselves and how society treats them. Conclusion To sum it up, there is no question that society treats obese individuals unfairly and there are quite a few studies to confirm this fact. Health care professionals such as nurses are no exception, but we need to find ways to educate them and to change this mentality in order to improve the quality of health care given to everyone without discrimination. The qualitative study of the obese peoples real life experience is a good one but there is a self-selection bias within the sample as admitted by the authors themselves. More random and bigger studies are needed in this field I believe. 5a.and 5b Key Sources: Brownell, K. D .and, Puhl,R.(2003), Stigma and Discrimination in Weight Management and Obesity, The Permanente Journal, Vol 7, No. 3, online Available from: http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/sum03/stigma.pdf,[Accessed 17/03/2011] It covers the three common areas of weight-based discrimination which are education, health care and employment. Puhl, R. and Brownell, K. D. (2001), Bias, Discrimination and Obesity, Obesity Research, Vol 9, No. 12, online Available from: http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v9/n12/full/oby2001108a.html?referer=www.clickfind.com.au,[Accessed 26/02/2011] Puhl, R. M and Chelsea Heuer, A. (2010), Obesity Stigma: Important considerations for public health, American Journal of Public Health, Vol 100, No. 6, June 2010 online Available from:http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/bias/ObesityStigmaPublicHealth_AJPH_6.10.pdf, [Accessed 16/02/2011] This article gives particular attention to the health issues surrounding obese individuals and they compared their public discrimination to similar socially disregarded group such as HIV patients as in this article. Thomas, S. L. Hyde, J. Karunaratne, A. Herbert, D. and Komesaroff, P. A. (2008), Being fat in todays world: a qualitative study of the lived experiences of people with obesity in Australia, Journal Compilation, 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Health Expectations, 11, pp. 321 330 online available from:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11hid=105sid=da2c22ec-6030-42bb-b61d-59f07cc7ed8d%40sessionmgr114,[Accessed 22/03/2011] Watson, L. Oberle, K. and Deutscher, D.(2008), Development and Psychometric Testing of the Nurses Attitudes Towards Obesity and Obese Patients (NATOOPS) Scale, Research in Nursing and Health, 2008, 31, 586 593 ,online Available from:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11hid=105sid=da2c22ec-6030-42bb-b61d-59f07cc7ed8d%40sessionmgr114[Accessed 25/03/2011] Supporting Sources: Hunte, H.E, and Williams, D.R.(2009),American Journal of Public Health, The Association Between Perceived Discrimination and Obesity in a Population-Based Multiracial and Multiethnic Adult Sample, Vol 99, No. 7,online Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11hid=105sid=da2c22ec-6030-42bb-b61d-59f07cc7ed8d%40sessionmgr114, [Accessed 26/03/2011] This is more like a research study, and it mainly focuses on the psychological stress caused by discrimination based upon race, ethnic origin and other factors leading to obesity, rather than the other way round. Reynolds A, (2011), Obesity and Medical Imaging Challenges, Radiologic Technology, Vol.82 (3): 219-42, online Available at http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10hid=105sid=da2c22ec-6030-42bb-b61d-59f07cc7ed8d%40sessionmgr114,[accessed 30/03/2011] Yanch, J. C. , Behrman, R.H. , Hendricks, M.J. , McCall J. H. ,(2009), Increased Radiation Dose to Overweight and Obese Patients from Radiographic Examinations, online Available from: http://radiology.rsna.org/content/252/1/128.full,[Accessed 24/02/2011] This article explains and compares radiation dose to obese patient in compare with normal patient.

Homosexuality in Robert Louis Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde :: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essays

References to Homosexuality in Stevenson's Jekl and Hyde Stevenson's choice of certain words in the novel is extremely pertinent to a homoerotic reading of the text. In some Victorian circles (and most certainly not in others), certain words had very explicit homosexual connotations. The word "homosexual" seems to have come into the English language around 1869, introduced by a Hungarian named Benkert but not generally used by the British until the 1880s. Yet, according to Theo Aronson, there were other words used at that time to identify the love between the same gender. "Homogenic love," "similisexualism," and "Uranism" were apparently among the more common references to homosexuality. Within the novel, however, the word "homosexual" is never used. If it were, perhaps, then such a homoerotic interpretation as this would be redundant. There are, however, certain, rather ambiguous, words that Stevenson uses that have Victorian homosexual connotations. During their walk together, Utterson and Enfield come across the home of Edward Hyde. After relating his story about Hyde, Enfield refers to the place as "Black Mail House" (8). When asked if he ever inquired about the man who lived therein, Enfield replies, "No sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask" (9). Both of these references to Hyde's home are more direct references to Hyde himself, made by a man who, at least publicly, must acknowledge the distinction between himself and the man who lives in Soho. Poole also makes a reference to Hyde's homosexuality: "Then you must know as well as the rest of us that there was something queer about that gentleman - something that gave a man a turn. . . " (57). During the 19th century, of course, homosexuality was acknowledged by heterosexuals (particularly of the upper classes) as an existing activity among the lower classes - an activity that thrived in London's own East End. Those who were thought to be homosexuals were often blackmailed. With the Labouchere Amendment in 1885, homosexuals faced a greater threat of exposure through blackmail. In fact, "the threat of exposure as a sodomite is the basis of more than half of the prosecutions throughout the eighteenth century" ("Jekyll & Hyde," par. 8). Other Victorian writers, like Oscar Wilde, faced this threat, which often damaged their reputations if the affair ever made it to a court. Enfield's reference to "Queer Street" also denotes a homosexual connotation.

There are many paradigms on the origins of strategy

There are many paradigms on the origins of strategy. Critically evaluate the various schools of thought existing in both the prescriptive and emergent schools. Use each of the schools as ‘Lens' to analyse organisation known to you. A strategy is a statement of intent, defining where an organisation wants to be in the long term. It is about understanding what processes are involved and how to avoid difficulties to help plan successful strategies. Strategy was once defined as â€Å"the art of planning and directing large military movements and the operations of war.† However, from an organisation point of view it is about mapping out the company's future and setting out which of its products or services they will tackle to which market and how this will be done. When an organisation has a strategy it enables them to ensure that decisions made on a day-to-day basis fit in with its long term interests. Strategies are also important as any decisions an organisation makes today can have a negative impact on its future results. A strategy will also help encourage employees, departments etc to work together to achieve common goals There are many beliefs on the origins of strategy and many authors have written about this. In 1996, Michael Porter wrote an article that appeared in the Harvard Business Review in which he argued that competitive strategy is was about being different. He also stated, â€Å"It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value† Porter (1996) Porter believed that strategy was about having a competitive advantage, distinguishing your products and services in the eyes of your customers, and about adding value through a mix of activities different from your competitors. According to Benjamin Tregoe and John Zimmerman of Kepner-Tregoe, Inc defined strategy in their book â€Å"Top Management Strategy† as â€Å"the framework which guides those choices that determine the nature and direction of the organisation† They believed that an organisation should select products or services to offer and the market to offer them in. However, Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) brought together elements of existing prescriptive and emergent schools of strategic thought into ten separate schools. The first three schools are grouped under the heading ‘Prescriptive Schools' which consisted of the design, planning and positioning schools. These schools believed in how strategies should be formulated rather than how they necessarily do form. The next six schools are grouped under the heading 'emergent schools'. These schools consist of the entrepreneurial, cognitive, learning, power, cultural and environmental schools. These schools concentrate less with prescribing ideal strategic behaviour, but more with describing how strategies are in fact made. Finally, the final school to be mentioned is the configuration school, which combines the methods and beliefs from all the previous schools mentioned. By describing each school in turn, we can critically evaluating each of these schools, then we can then go onto to use each of the schools as a ‘lens' to analyse different organisations. The first of the prescriptive schools is the ‘Design school' and this approach regards strategy formation as a process of conception, matching the internal state of the organisation to the external state of the environment. The origins of this school can be traced back to two writers Philip Selznick who in 1957 discussed the need to bring organisations internal state with its external opportunity whilst writer Alfred Chandler in (1962) recognised the design schools idea of business strategy and its connection to structure. The philosophy of this strategy formation is that it seeks to establish a fit between internal potential and external possibilities. The managing director, Dr Surendra, founded Rasmi electronics in 1974. They have grown to become one of the world's major filter manufacturers as well as being a major supplier of low voltage lighting transformers, energy lighting etc The strategy precedes structure in this type of organisation. Within the company they still adopt a hierarchal structure in which all decisions from marketing to production is made by the MD. They continually look for new market opportunities, which are a high priority within the company, by analysing the global market on a global basis and the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is a common tool that is used. However, in 2002, Rasmi Electronics designed a series of filters in which they distributed via a company called OmronYaskawa. They did not successfully analysed their market in Spain and this lead to another rival company producing a similar product. Fortnuatley due to the relationship Rasmi Electronics had with the customer this manage to keep the contract. This type of strategy formation places a great importance upon the ability to forecast the future external environment otherwise the strategy will be unsuccessful. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) the advantage of this type of school is that it forces consideration of external factors and will be more appropriate in organisation that needs re-orientation. Around the same time as the design school, the planning school also originated. The main influence was by a writer H. Igor in his book ‘Corporate Strategy' published in 1965. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) classified this strategy formation as a ‘Formal Process'. It follows a precise set of steps from analysis of the situation to the development and exploration of various alternative scenarios. â€Å"If we examine these principles closely, we find that the classical theorists were in effect designing the organisation exactly like they were designing a machine† (Morgan 1997) This type of strategy is normally developed by a team of specialists who specifically trained in the science of developing strategies. An example of this was seen in a company called Oldelft. Oldelft is a small high tech company whom operates in a global market. They specialise in products requiring advances knowledge of optics, electronics, electron optics etc. Their products normally have a short product life cycle and competition was both global and fierce. In 1975, the company saw a decline in their fortune therefore the executive board at the time pointed towards a cost reduction drive as a urgent step towards retrieving some of its profit back. However, at the time Oldelft had no adequate staff available that were trained or had the knowledge to do an overhead analysis they therefore decided to recruit a policy advisory council ‘Beleids Advies Radd) (BAR). This was the first of many different groups that Oldelft recruited between 1975 and 1981 all reporting to the executive board. The different groups, which were set up saw the process become more important than the product and according to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) this type of process can lead to no place for creativity. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) advised that it was important that an organisation had a formal strategic planning department within the organisation. In 1981, Oldelft saw its first successful strategic planning school come into operation and is was lead by a man called Ab Baas. Ab Bass made it compulsive for managers to contribute towards the planning cycle and by contributing information about the business segments within the organisation and the external factors. In this school of thought, the method in which strategy development occurs is by thorough strategic planning methodologies and scenario analysis. The company compiled a completed situation analysis, which was made up with an analysis of the industry maturity and the weighing up of the business segments competitive positions. Eventually this lead to Oldelft to recover its former profitability and even saw an increase in R&D expenditure. The final school of the prescriptive is the positioning school in which Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel state it is the strategy formation as an analytical process. This approach is very much influenced by Michael Porter. His works looks at placing organisations within the context of the industry in which they are. It also looks at how the organisation improves competitively within that industry. In 1995 Easyjet airlines a low fair airline introduced low cost flights within the European market. Haji Ioannou the owner of Easyjet believed that by reducing prices will lead to more people flying. He also believed that positioning is company was concerned with establishing the company in the mind of the customer, in a position relative to other airlines in the market The formation of this strategy is a mixture of defensive and offensive moves. Easyjet regularly uses the ‘Guerrilla promotional approach' to advertising by using distinguishing attacks on the airline establishment and in a serious of PR stunts. The principle is that the structure of industry drives strategic positions, which then drives the structure of an organisation. In the summer, 2002 Easyjet faced its first problem in the fact it was growing to fast within its market. This meant there was a difficulty in recruiting and training pilots and flights crew, which influenced the consumers, has believed this would affect the safety on the flights etc. Easyjet admitted that they should have looked at the various elements that depend on each other and how they change over time. By doing a SWOT analysis, this would have given an insight of the internal resources and the main features of the competitive landscape in which it operates. Some of the tools and methods used within this company are Michael Porter's Generic Strategies and the ‘Profit Impact of Market Strategies' (PIMS). In addition, according to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (1998) is that the advantage of this school is that it emphasis on the analysis and calculation of the previous mentioned tools can be very strong support to the process of developing the strategy however; it should not become the process. The fourth school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel go onto to discuss is the ‘Entrepreneurial School' in which is the first of the group under the ‘Emergent Schools'. This approach regards strategy formation as a visionary process, taking place within the mind of the charismatic founder or leader of an organisation. An organisation that forms strategy as a visionary process, is the company called ‘Fortnum and Mason'. Fortnum and mason is an established food hall for over 300 years and is family owned. The chairperson is currently ‘Jana Khayat' whom took over after her father who stepped down in 2000. â€Å"To choose direction, a leader must first have developed a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization† (De Wit, 1998) The company is now in the process of going international and are intending to open their first shop in Tokyo later on this year. However, going international has cost the company a drop in profits of 40% due to their reshuffling of their distribution channels to make going international possible. Mintzberg, Ashland and Lampel (1998) advise that this school of thought does not really use any tools or methods for strategy development as it is normally in the mind of the visionary. Even though going international is a big risk for the company, they do feel however, the vision, which has been imposed from many generations of the ‘Khayat' family, is what will get them through this. Jana Khayat feels strongly about her vision and brand, which she has printed in her new book. She stated in a recent interview with the Sunday Times â€Å"It's a mission of intent: where we should be. It is very easy for a store like Fortnum and Mason to become a pastiche of itself† (Khayat, 2004) The advantage of this school of thought is that it does acknowledge the tremendous input that a visionary genius can make to the organisation. However, problems can occur, as other employees of the organisation will not have an understanding on how the vision is created as this is normally done in the mind of the leader. There is also no real ability for the organisation to carry on after the visionary has left the company. The next of the emergent schools is the ‘Cognitive School' which strategy formation is seen as a mental process. The viewpoint of this school of thought is that strategy development is an act of cognition. It is about understanding how the mind works and processes information is the key to understanding strategy development. Cambridge broadband started in 2000 as a group of experienced individuals with a collective aim to deliver the worlds leading broadband fixed wireless access system. The group consists of the best engineers, academics, and commercial management in the industry. Cambridge broadband attracts these people, as they believe that it is an ideal environment to explore their diverse and highly developed talents. The collegiate atmosphere brings an informality that encourages creativity, According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) this strategy formation is a cognitive process that takes place in the mind of the strategist. The CEO, Peter Wharton believes that Cambridge Broadband will become world leader in their industry by using the knowledge and expertise of its team to provide up to date technology and to increase its customer base. Many of the ideas they have come up with have been from using tools such as cognition maps, frames, and Schemata, which are terms used about the mental representation of events and situations. They are data structures for representing both generic and specific concepts about the outside world. The advantage of this school is that is shows great promise even though the school of thought is that it is still relatively underdeveloped. However, the focus to date has been upon strategy formulation as an individual rather than a collective process, which can be more difficult to understand and manage. The learning school is the sixth school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel go on to discuss. This school of thought regards strategy formation as an emergent process, where the management of the organisation pays close attention to what works and doesn't work over a period of time, and includes these ‘lessons learned' into their overall plan of action.. â€Å"†¦most organisations seem to have severe learning disabilities; most â€Å"die† before the age of forty† (Morgan, 1997) The Kao Corporation is a company, which has a strong learning culture. Dr Yoshio Maruta president of Kao Corporation believed that an organisation is not only learned but also learned how to learn. He stated â€Å"An educational institution in which everyone is a potential teacher' (Dr Maruta, 1990) He believed that the success to his company at the end of the eighties what the ability to integrate and enhance their effective marketing and information systems through learning. This resulted in them producing new products ahead of their Japanese and foreign companies becoming the largest branded and packaged group in Japan by 1990. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) argued that the paradigm is that strategy in an organisation emerges because of trial and error from learning within the organisation. This was evident when Kao operation decided to become international. They were potentially a significant competitor therefore, decided that product division developed its own strategy for international expansion. However, the company's business portfolio and strategic infrastructure varied from market to market It is important that the organisation is familiar in that the strategy must be consonant with the patterns of behaviour and responses that are inbuilt within the organisation. In addition, it is important to be aware that strategy changes and evolves over time. There is however a danger that a lack of urgency or a lack of discipline may predominate and nothing significantly changes within the organisation. Hence, the decision to become international was not successful. Kao operation blamed this on the lack of international experience, fewer human resources assets, especially in top management and had far less accumulated international knowledge than their western competitors had. The have since invested into 10 day training schemes which all managers need to attend to develop a broader and international outlook and advised they did not have enough talented people especially at management level . The next school to be discussed is the Power School which this school of thought regards strategy formation as a process of negotiation. The development of this strategy is the process of negotiation between the power holders of an organisation or sometimes it can be between the organisation and the stakeholders. An example of this strategy formation can be seen within the University of Durham, in which negotiations take place within the micro power elements such as the individuals and groups within the organisation and negotiation is often done by political analysis and collective bargaining. This commonly seen within the University when negotiations about pay rise, policies etc are done with the trade union representatives. The interdependence the University of Durham has with its external environment is called ‘Macro power', which is when negotiations take place with the stakeholders etc. The university as part of their mission and strategy is to serve the international, national, and regional communities by understanding and engaging with the needs of its stakeholders. Power is clearly a building block in the development of strategy within this school of thought. This type of strategy would benefit large or mature organisations where power structures are well established. However, there is a tendency for organisation who adopts this type of strategy to have a narrow view in that all strategies are about power struggle or as a power exchange. The eighth school to be discussed by Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel, is the Cultural School this approach look at strategy formation as a collective process, which involves different groups and departments within an organisation. The reflection of the strategy, which is developed, is of the corporate culture of the organisation. The origin of culture was discovered by management in the 1980's, coming over from Japan. â€Å"†¦is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes ine group or category of people from another† (De Wit, 1998) A company with a strong culture is Argos, which is one of the UK's largest non-food retail chains, with annual sales exceeding à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3bn. After the takeover, Terry Duddy became Managing Director with the challenge of improving the firm's performance. He has done this by strengthening the brand, the quality of customer service, and the corporate culture The development of this strategy is the process of social relations, which take place within the beliefs and understandings shared by the employees of an organisation. He stated that it was challenging yet essential that the organisation reflected its strategy and focus on the customer. A key element of the new approach has been the corporate culture at Argos and the building of an environment, which is normative and cohesive. The commitment of Argos employees to these values seems extremely high in its 2003 ‘Speak Out' employee survey; the company found that among its employees 82% believe the company wants to beat its competitors whilst 74% believe strong teamwork is a major contributor to the Argos performance. The concepts for this strategy development come from the values, beliefs, and corporate culture etc within the organisation. The organisation needs to be aware that the corporate culture however vague and ill defined, is a very significant variable that can affect the culture of the organisation. However, this school of thought does tend to favour the consistency and continuation of the existing culture within the organisation and this may discourage necessary change. Argos also continues to work at building what it calls its 'employer brand' – a clear set of values representing the attitudes and beliefs of its employees. In 2003, after consultations with staff, these values were stated as change makes us better and more successful The Environmental School is the ninth school and here strategy formation is seen to be a reactive process. The organisation needs to respond to the forces of its environment otherwise it may be become extinct. A company who are well known in responding to their environment are the company ‘Rolls-Royce', which was first, established in 1984 and is now operating within four global markets. The success of the company is due to the rapid and substantial gains in the market share. They believe they have built a strong business by growing organically and through successful acquisitions. In the beginning of 2003, the aero engine division of Rolls-Royce introduced ‘Grid computing' to help reduce airline flight delays and achieve cuts in the cost of engine Maintaince. Due to a successful university research project on ‘Grid Computing' it has now became a major part of Rolls Royce's future I.T. Strategy. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (19998) traditionally the contingency theory was used within this school of thought however more recently organisations have ended up in cluster's within distinct ecological – type niches, in which they tend to remain until they die out. Similar to the positioning school the environment school is aware of the importance of environment as context, although it does recognise that the death of the business entities or indeed the entire industry is a natural or even expected fact. Rolls-Royce believes that the knowledge they will learn from the research into ‘Grid Computing' will enable then to understand a utility-based computing systems and how they can make money from it. However, the definition of the environment is often so complex that companies like Rolls-Royce will find it difficult to usefully analysis. In addition, it accords too much control to the environment therefore; two different organisations that are competing within the same industry can have vastly different strategies. The final school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel discuss is the configuration school, which is often seen as the school, which unites all of the previous mentioned schools together. This strategy formation is seen as a process of transforming the organization from one state of decision-making structure into another. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (1998) stated the key to this strategy if for the organisation to recognise the need for the transformation, however to be able to do this without damaging the organisation. In 1992, Serge Kampf executive chairperson of Cap Gemini Sogeti (CGS) decided for the company to continue to compete successfully it was important that CGS and the large number of acquired firms should be moulded into a coherent transnational company. Some of the problems CGS would face were the creation of a new organisational structure into a dual organisation, improving service to clients and reduce reporting levels. Serge Kampf believed that all parts of the company needed to work the same way to function as a transnational organisation. This would inevitable force major changes within the organisation. Between 1992 and 1993 even though changes were being made CGS saw there worse year in 1992 when competition mauled the company and they had to lay off 600 employees for the first time in 25 years. This is when 81 managers throughout the organisation made a decision to launch a full-scale transformation of the entire company. The team of 81 managers were responsible for transforming working habits and implement new tools such as the sales funnel throughout the organisation. They also launched a 7-axis development plan to help restore CGS profitability. These changes was not appreciated by the competitors and shareholders as the process of transformation of an organisation with 20,000 employees would not be done short term. However, CGS did succeed it the transformational of their company, as they have succeeded in remaining profitable in 2003 in what was an extremely difficult market, implementing restructuring measures, which significantly reduced operating costs and prepared it to enter 2004 in the best possible condition. Since 1965, the amount of publication and attention within strategic management has varied within the different schools mentioned above. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) illustrated how the schools take their place around and within the formation of strategy. In each of the schools of thought that have mentioned, the process of strategy formulation is regarded as something of a ‘Black Box'. However, the cognitive school did come close. None clearly describes how an individual or an organisation is able to leap from the collection and analysis of information to the conceptualisation of alternative courses of action. However, overall by looking at the schools together you can see why an organisation may favour one school from another. Overall, each of the schools offers some useful concepts, and some strong points to aid understanding, but has its disadvantages as well. â€Å"Strategy formation is judgemental designing, intuitive visioning, and emergent learning; it is about transformation well as perpetuation; it must involve individual cognition and social interaction, cooperation as well as conflict; it has to include analyzing before and programming after as well as negotiating during; and all of this must be in response to what can be a demanding environment† (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel, 1998)

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Tyler LeBlanc Essays (914 words) - Criminology, Feminist Theory

Tyler LeBlanc Essays (914 words) - Criminology, Feminist Theory Tyler LeBlanc 4/29/2017 CRJ/362 Females Women are believed to be gentle harmless beings that play a small role in society as housekeepers,Child supporters, and servants of men. This view is due to gender roles that are implemented throughout patriarchal households nationwide. Patriarchy is the social system that Men in family's hold complete authority over women and children. Some females in these households at a young age feel the gender constraint and adhere to committing crimes in act of rebellion. Others motives for female criminal participation would be poverty,educational problems, physical/sexual abuse, and poor family ties. In this paper I will address and analyze the motives for Rosie Olpara (Jokey) and Mara Lupe-Sarah, participation in gang activities , and how their activities play into the Strain theory and Cultural Deviance theory. First, I will address Rosie Olpara (Jokey) she is twenty one years of age and a member of the Drifters, a Mexican gang originated out of the East L.A neighborhoods. I believe jokey's gang/criminal involvement derives from the cultural deviance theory. Jokey is a victim of a extremely violent neighborhood, she seen first hand the thrills of drugs,fighting, and the gained clout of being a drifter before even joining the group as she befriended several member's through relations of same everyday struggles. Rosie was offered a academic scholarship to attend college and make a honest living for herself , however she turned down the opportunity as she claimed she would never be satisfied living that life. I belief jokey also joined the Drifters as the gang of misfits gave Rosie a sense of belonging. Discussion of the Olphar household was fairly faint, but Rosie's parents seem to be fairly distant with little family unity. Jokey describes the gang as her "Family" and she would do an ything for them, however grew disgust when pondering upon the question if she loved her father. Her father almost disowns the young women do to her criminal behavior learned from her rough neighborhood. I would also classify jokey's deviant actions under the social strain theory.Rosie works the corners selling drugs to obtain money,as she has no education working fast food would be the only other occupation she could obtain Jokey despite her belief that she is equal to her male gang member counterparts, adheres to some gender role expectations. Jokey is carrying the child of another gang member, despite her awareness of the likelihood he would disappear as he had a history to do so in the past. He even states that we probably won't be involved in the child's life She understands that she was used as a sex object. Rosie and other female gang members also adhere to the needs of their men counterparts as they construct and design there apperal. The next female gang member I'm going to address is Marah Lupe-Sarah she is twenty years of age. The Lupe-Sarah family was a patriarchal family, as her mother was a housewife and her father was the breed winner. However, life took a drastic turn for the Lupe-Sarah family as Marah's father the only source of income for the family was killed. Marah's mother stepped up to the plate and obtained two jobs to pay household bills. Marah was subjected to a lonely life as her mom was always working, so she joined a south LA Mexican gang by the name of Tapa 13. She like other gang members motive for joining the group was to obtain a feeling of belonging, and family. Marah breaks gender barriers as she is not only a member of this violent gang but one of their leader's. Her position as a female gang leader is impressive as she shoots guns and sells drugs just as her male counterpart.Most females of gang affiliation are typically used as sex objects, being tossed around from member to member . Another broken barrier in my mind is her smarts, as she is still on the street and works at a law firm. Some might think she is a idiot by doing so, however she's getting easy fast money from the streets and reaping the benefits of the high pay of working a white collar job. She also has a strong allaby if

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Discussion Board Post - Assignment Example Christian educators mainly spell out the procedures involved in the total structure of the school curriculum. This means that all processes and procedures are anchored on a distinct theory of knowledge (Rieger, 2009). Furthermore, Christian schools are set up on the premise that every truth is God’s truth. They also believe that God is the key aspect in the passing of knowledge. It is vital to note that a majority of all education received from Christian schools somewhat has a Christian basis (Rieger, 2009). This, however, does not mean that Christian schools use the Bible in everything they do, but they refer to the Bible in order to evaluate all areas and sources of Knowledge. It is correct to conclude that the purpose of as a Christian school is mainly two-fold. To offer Bible content is the main purpose and an educational service in other areas of knowledge is the second purpose. These are the main characteristics of a Christian

Conflict resolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Conflict resolution - Essay Example Employees can at times become under-motivated due to workload, stress, and not getting a raise. For example, if a worker at a company is making three to five orders a day, and then the manager raises the quota to ten orders a day, they will eventually become burned-out if the pace is sustained for too long. The employee may then react by brining their personal stresses and worries into work, in process of emotional contagion that reflects on the entire workplace. Workers who are burnt out are also more likely to give up projects. There are various coping strategies that employees who are stressed or burnt out can use to combat the problem of employee burn out on different levels of the organization. The professional requires a workplace that is free of emotional contagion, stress, and dissonance. And this is what Michael’s workplace seems to be trying to do with its employees by making more links between work, society, and the employee, as well as presenting a united front to management regarding goals of motivation and output. However, Michael needs to make a decision. â€Å"From what has been theorized and inferred, it is understandable that job insecurity is highly threatening to employees given the prospect of losing the positive material, social, and psychological benefits associated with employment (De Witte, 1999)† (Reisel, 2007). Long term plans for the situation in which Michael finds himself must focus on stress and coping in the employee environment. The case of Michael shows how often an environment in which an integrated approach to work can reduce conflict, and allow managers to better meet the needs of all of their employees, rather than just some of them. From one perspective, Michael could try performance-based rewards, if employees are not finding as much intrinsic rewards in their work as they could be. In other words, Michael should try offering