The Shortage Of Nursing School Essay - 2336 Words

It is not a secret that for many years there has been a detrimental nursing shortage in the United States. Factors that contribute to the unfortunate decrease in availability of nurses and other health care professionals can be attributed to a shortage of nursing school instructors which impacts enrollment into nursing schools, and many in the health care profession are nearing retirement age. The need for health care continues to steadily increase as the baby boomer generation ages. In order to meet these demands, there has to be adequate staff in the workplace. After an extended amount of time dealing with unsafe staff to patient ratio it has come the time to take action and devise solutions rather than letting patient care suffer. After comparing a variety of possible solutions, the most feasible was to create and implement a clear updated set of regulations, and formulate a law to enforce the same. The proposed solution will address the ineffectiveness of current health care staf fing regulations, propose a law that will enforce safe staff to patient ratios, mandate that all parties involved in developing health care laws be members of the health care field themselves, and work to maintain a strict continuous reassessment phase to ensure that all changes remain beneficial. With the help of the entire health care community the implementation of this proposed solution will create a dramatic decrease in adverse patient outcomes while increasing patient and staffShow MoreRelatedNursing Legislation1003 Words   |  5 PagesLegislative Issue Faced by Nursing http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/shortageresource.htm The web site I found that discusses this critical issue is by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (AACN). This is an outstanding website that discusses the current and projected issues regarding the nursing shortage. The article identifies sobering figures of projected shortages up to the year 2020. By 2010, the nursing shortage is projected to be 12%, by 2015 to be 20% and by 2020 a frighteningRead MoreNurses Shortages On Quality Patient Care1318 Words   |  6 PagesNurse Shortages On Quality Patient Care. Eras of high vacancy rates for RNs in hospitals have come and gone, but the current shortage is different. According to the 2002 estimation by the workforce commission of the American Hospital Association, nursing shortages has reflected vital changes in general public demographics, vocation expectations, work attitudes and worker dissatisfaction. Undoubtedly, the current situation may well continue over several decades. In addition, a federal governmentRead MoreShortage Of Nurses And Healthcare Workers1439 Words   |  6 PagesI believe that there is a shortage of nurses in the United States and in other counties throughout the world. There is a big shortage of nurses and healthcare workers in the nursing home where I worked at. To solve the problem of the nursing shortage, management hired travel nurses to come into the facility to work. I think travel nurses can be helpful in some ways and hurtful in other ways. Staff at the nursing home gave the travel nurses a hard time becaus e they were getting paid more money forRead MoreDeveloping An Implementation Plan For Nursing Shortage1662 Words   |  7 PagesDeveloping an Implementation Plan Nursing shortage is a global problem facing all health care system and the impact on nursing professional and patient care outcomes cannot be over emphasized. Despite all effort made by the ANA and health care institutions to address the issue of nursing shortage there seems to be no change and the problem still exist hence there is every need to implement a new plan to address the problem of nursing shortage (ANA, 2014). The project plan is aimed at introducingRead MoreNursing Shortage Essay1100 Words   |  5 Pagesthere a big shortage of nurses? The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is very concerned about the nursing shortage (Rosseter, 2011). The AACN is working to find different ways to address the shortage of nurses (Rosseter, 2011). There are several countries that fear that the nursing shortage is growing rapidly. According to the World Health Organization several countries has had a decrease in the number of students graduating from nursing school (Honor Society of Nursing, 2001).Read MoreMedical Errors Of The Medical Field1711 Words   |  7 Pagesdetermine the best methods for each of their patient’s unique patterns of life. However, these relationships also require time. There is a problem throughout America’s healthcare system: nurses are overworked due to the fact that there is a nursing shortage. This has forced nurses to reduce the amount of time spent with their patient – creating a risky situation where either the medical staff make a potentially fatal mistake or they could omit an important part of the patient’s history or careRead MoreThe American Healthcare System Is Severely Impacted By The Shortage Of Nursing Personnel Essay1192 Words   |  5 Pagessystem is severely impacted by the shortage of nursing personnel. According to the American Nurses Association (2014), the nursing shortage has compromised patient safety, patient care and patient health outcomes. The nursing shortage can also cause medical errors, result in fatigue, injury and job dissatisfaction. The nursing shortage has been influenced by several factors. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the factors that influence nursing shortage in the U.S , present two strategies toRead MoreTitle Viii Nursing Workforce Development1537 Words   |  7 Pages Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Julie Schlick Nebraska Methodist College The health care industry is in need of a strong nursing workforce that can provide quality care. The present nursing shortage is only predicted to worsen as the baby boomers retire and health care needs expand. The shortage is projected to reach more than one million nurses, and reform is needed to increase the interest in nursing therefore funding is needed for this transformation ((AmericanRead MoreAmericas Nursing Shortage Analysis Essay1182 Words   |  5 Pages The shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States has been a cyclical topic dating back to the 1960s. Only recently have employers in certain regions of the nation stated a decline in the demand for RNs. Consequently, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2014) report on 2012-2013 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, American nursing schools denied admission to 79,659Read MoreThe Cau ses Of The Nursing Shortage1563 Words   |  7 Pages The Causes of the Nursing Shortage On June 14, 2011, Claire Courchane talking about the current situation in the nursing field said that ‘With the nursing shortage looming, America needs shot in the arm’. She couldn’t address such reality in better words. The shortage, which goes evolving, already has dramatic effects on our healthcare system. In 1998, a 61 years old woman experienced the consequences of an understaff hospital due to a nurse shortage. Indeed, Shirley Keck who was interned

Future Trends in Crisis Intervention Free Essays

Future Trends in Crisis Intervention Abstract Mental Health Paraprofessionals (MHPP) will work with the client and family on behavioral issues that occur in the home, school, and community. The MHPP serves on the treatment team and assists professional staff with the execution of the treatment plan. They also assist with securing community services that might be available to the client and the client’s family. We will write a custom essay sample on Future Trends in Crisis Intervention or any similar topic only for you Order Now The purpose of intensive Mental Health Paraprofessional Intervention is to enable the client to be maintained in the most normalized, least restrictive setting as possible, and to prevent unnecessary, inappropriate institutionalization. This paper discusses an overview paraprofessionals, the impact the paraprofessionals have on the field, the challenges that organizations are faced, and how to manage with the implemented changes. Future Trends in Crisis Intervention As the population in the United States continues to climb the need for human services professionals does the same. Human service agencies are often face the dilemmas of being over-worked and under paid. Professionals in this field are often prone to burnout because of these dilemmas. Sadly, human service agencies are often the first to experience budget cuts. These budget cuts affect the human service professional’s organization, facility, coworkers, pay, clients, and their personal moral. Leading officials of many human service organizations are noticing the affects of these dilemmas and are trying proactive approaches in solving the epidemics. As a result, the paraprofessional is becoming increasingly popular as the organization can fill the much needed worker positions and assist in alleviating clinician case load. This paper discusses the impact of this trend on the human services field and how the trend will impact the practice of crisis intervention in the future. The challenges faced as a result of the impact, and how the worker can proactively deal with this expanding trend is also covered. It is vital for these services to keep up with the demand and save as much of the valuable budget money. The Paraprofessional Counseling paraprofessionals are bachelor’s level graduates whom have completed a course in order to become certified as a paraprofessional. Paraprofessionals generally work in mental health centers, crisis units, day treatment programs and group homes. Generally they provide direct care to patients, where as a counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist offer more specified trained services. Treatment centers will employ support staff to work directly with their patients; counseling center paraprofessionals (CCP) are distinctly different from other support staff (Barrios amp; Perlas, 2010). They hold a certification in working with the mentally ill and a bachelor’s degree while certified counseling technicians (CCT) have a similar certification, but hold a high school diploma instead of a bachelor’s degree (Barrios amp; Perlas, 2010). Some treatment centers will also hire direct service professionals that do not have CCP or CCT certifications, but generally, those whom hold a certification are in higher demand and are more employable. Contact of a Paraprofessional The main purpose of a CCP is to interact directly with patients in their care; this may involve setting and enforcing rules on unit, organizing daily activities, and helping with chores or other similar duties. According to Christine Wyman (2012), â€Å"They often have more contact with clients that much of the other staff, including doctors, psychologists, and therapists, as the CCP is usually in charge of the client’s day to day activities. † Though the CCP performs less specialized work, they often have the most insight into individual clients. Because of the constant contact they are an invaluable member of the treatment team. With how often CCP’s get to observe patients on a daily basis they are able to pick up on behavior patterns that other staff may not see. They are also able to see how various treatments affect a patient in their daily lives. Some CCPs are designated to work one on one with a single client. A CCP in this role is often assigned as such because a client has a particular need. â€Å"Such needs could include but are not limited to helping a client with severe cognitive or physical limitations, watching a client whom is a danger to himself or others or working with a client whose treatment goals involve intensive one on one work† (Wyman, 2012). Impact There are many ways that the use of counseling center paraprofessionals can benefit the organization. One of the many benefits of the paraprofessional in the human service career field could be that they require less training than typical clinician or other human service professional. That way the CCP is able to become certified and begin work in a much shorter time frame then someone who is going through all the required schooling and testing to become a licensed professional. Another aspect deals with the lesser amount of pay therefore saving the organization money. With the way budgets are being cut it is important to stretch every dollar as much as possible. â€Å"Someone without the education or licensure will not be able to do as much as a professional and therefore require less pay therefore saving money for other areas it is needed† (Barrios ;amp; Perlas, 2010). Since CCP’s spend a great deal of time with the patients they serve as valuable member of the treatment team in helping diagnose issues and observe if prescribed treatments are working. With the CCP’s doing this then that opens up the professionals to work with more clients on a one on one basis. Challenges Paraprofessionals in the human services field can be considered both an important asset and a nuisance to the clinicians and the clients served. With all the good that a paraprofessional brings the position also has some negatives. During this tumultuous economy, districts find themselves entertaining a variety of solutions as a means of tackling severe budget reductions, and colleges are faced with the impossible task of providing quality student services without adequate resources. As a result, paraprofessionals may have absorbed additional duties previously performed by a robust counseling department. Also the CCP’s can be improperly trained or supervised. Because of these two occurrences the care provided can suffer. When people are overworked they are more likely to suffer from burnout. In this case the lack of CCP’s can cause burnout on behalf of the professionals and if the CCP’s are doing more than they should they can become burnt out. Managing Paraprofessional responsibilities should not extend beyond information dissemination. When the duties expand into goal setting, planning or decision making, the paraprofessional has overstepped his/her professional boundaries. It is recommended that paraprofessional roles and duties be assessed to ensure that paraprofessionals do not extend beyond their primary job description (Barrios ;amp; Perlas, 2010). If paraprofessionals are utilized, proper training and supervision are imperative. Both training and supervision should be conducted with counselors taking an active role in both. Training methods could include individual one-on-one trainings, small group trainings, or an in-service training to the greater college community in order to differentiate the goals and responsibilities between counselors and paraprofessionals. Trainings and supervision should include clearly defined responsibilities and a counselor referral process. Identification badges, that include name and position, should be provided along with ethical and confidentiality regulations. Closing Crisis Intervention Counseling plays an important role and benefits many people in their time of need. With the direction of society and the numerous budget cuts that are implemented each year, the affected organizations that provide these services must find the best way to survive. In hiring counseling center paraprofessionals the group takes some of the pressure off of the professionals and spread the work out more evenly. This move also saves the organization money on a tight budget. There are many issues that face the human service field and counseling in the future but one major is the funding. CCP’s can do a lot to solve this issue now and in the future as budgets for these services get cut even more. How to cite Future Trends in Crisis Intervention, Papers

Human Migration Factors Essay Example For Students

Human Migration Factors Essay Human Migration FactorsMigration, the movement of people from one place, origin or country toanother1. For as long as man can remember migration has been a big part in ourlives. People have migrated continuously since their emergence as a species. The art of migrating is to move from place to place or country tocountry, to find what we searched for, A suitable environment for our familiesand us to live in. It is vital for humans to keep on the move or migrating. Manypeople migrate to different places around the world, like Europe, Africa, TheAmericas, Australia, and the Soviet Union. Humans migrate because they feel thatthey need to have stable and suitable environment in which to live in and bringup their families. People may migrate to different places or countries due tomany factors. These can be put into a category called Push Factors. Thesefactors are reasons why people want to leave. Many people feel they have toleave a certain place because the environment in which they live is unstable. Push Factors like, Poverty, war, religions restriction, unemployment, pooreducation, illnesses, diseases, a poor health system, lack of liberty and eventhe climate, can change a humans mind and make them want to leave a particularcountry or place. One the other hand there are other factors called Pull factors. Thesefactors are different and are the opposite of the Push Factors, making them wantto leave the country they are living in. People may be in love and find betterliving standards in the other country. There may also find it to be safer andhave laws that are more liberal. They might be more freedom and a chance to geta job and earn money to support their family, can pull humans to leave thatcountry or place. In 1992 my parents told my sisters and I that we were leaving SouthAfrica and heading for Australia. We decided to leave because my family did notfeel that they wanted their children (my sisters and I) to be raised up with upin violence and political unsuitability. These Pull Factors were overpoweringand eventually on January the 24 1993 our whole family of 10 people arrived tolive in Australia. Migration to other countries or places often ends up being a success. Sometimes the people, who migrated a few years ago, realise that the choice theymade was a wrong one. The choice my family made was thank goodness a good one. The Migration of humans from around the world has been enormous. Sincethe beginning of the industrial revolution, it is continuing to grow. I hopethat it will continue to grow even more and many new and fantastic places willbe discovered. 1 Collins Pocket English Dictionary, 1989Religion

New Management Concepts in Coffee Shop Operations free essay sample

This paper discusses the importance of new management concepts in the smooth operations of a coffee shop. This paper takes a coffee shop as a business model in order to suggest an improved running of the business. The author explains how In this highly competitive business world, it is important to adopt the most suitable management practices and therefore organizations are required to experiment with new concepts. He indicates that while some new ideas may serve ones business positively, others may not prove to be very successful and it all depends on the type of business and the organizational structure. From the paper: Though the corporate world is changing rapidly, still the best way to gain an edge over your rivals is still what it used to be, i.e. adoption and implementation of sound business practices. But important thing is that the very definition of those practices has changed too and they are no longer what they used to be some decades ago. We will write a custom essay sample on New Management Concepts in Coffee Shop Operations or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We have seen how in this age of cut-throat competition, the organizations are required to stay one step ahead of their rivals by continuously improving their services. But often marketing and management experts are amazed at the pace at which business values are changing and they are struggling with a practical definition of good business and sound strategies. The two things that have come to our notice in recent times are that customers are becoming the most important factor in all company policies, most firms are trying to achieve a customer-oriented approach in order to attract a loyal customer base. Another important thing is quality of the products; the customers are satisfied only when what they are being offered is better than the products of some other firms.

An investigation of the role of SIS in The (Especially, In A Rural Part Of Our Planet)expand Health Servicing The WritePass Journal

An investigation of the role of SIS in The (Especially, In A Rural Part Of Our Planet)expand Health Servicing Introduction An investigation of the role of SIS in The (Especially, In A Rural Part Of Our Planet)expand Health Servicing ). The overarching argument for this is that firms perform well when IT resources including knowledge assets, managerial and technical IT skills and physical IT infrastructure elements are aligned with the business strategy, and when suitable structures are employed in effectively managing the IT resources and supervising their deployment (Coltman et al., 2015). This alignment is ever important in the current environment where new information technologies continue to fundamentally alter conventional business strategies by allowing firms to function across the boundaries of function, time, and distance by leveraging these technologies (Bharadwaj et al., 2013). This report discusses the role of strategic information systems in expanding the health service in rural areas. Specifically, it focuses on the implementation of a telemedicine program for managing diabetes for patients in rural areas by a hospital in an urban centre. The investigation focuses on the planning and the implementation of this technological solution by considering the perspectives of different stakeholders. The report starts by discussing literature on telemedicine in diabetes management. Telemedicine and Diabetes Management The management of diabetes and its associated complications is quite costly. Targeted glycaemic control is necessary for minimising the complications of this chronic condition. Conversely, less than 70% of individuals with diabetes are attaining targeted glycaemic control, showing that effective management of the disease continues to be a challenge (Fatehi et al., 2014a). Patients in rural areas are unable to attain targeted glycaemic control partly because of poor access to specialised healthcare providers. Because of the increasing need for quality healthcare and the declining availability of clinicians, information and communications technologies have demonstrated the potential for improving access to healthcare services and reducing the costs of delivering healthcare (Fatehi et al., 2014a). Telemedicine involves providing health and medical services remotely using ICT. Telemedicine facilitates the expansion of healthcare by bridging the physical gap between consumers and healthcare providers thus reducing costs. Synchronous telemedicine entails consumers and healthcare providers interacting in real time by relying on communication technologies. For instance, video conferencing, where there is exchange of image and voice in real time, is increasingly becoming popular in telemedicine in the delivery of various healthcare and clinical services at a distance (Fatehi et al., 2014b). Verhoeven et al. (2010) systematically reviewed asynchronous and synchronous teleconsultations in diabetes and reported that these offer a reliable, cost-effective, and feasible solution for the delivery of diabetes care. Video conferencing is used in collaborative goal setting, nutrition counselling, self-management training, and diabetes education for patients (Siriwardena et al., 2012). According to Faruque et al. (2016), telemedicine is helpful in the provision of care t o individuals with diabetes especially those in rural areas who are unable to travel to healthcare facilities due to large distances.   Therefore, telemedicine, especially teleconference, is a technological solution for managing diabetes for individuals in rural areas who are underserved by specialists. The next section explains the methodology used to obtain stakeholders views on the adoption and use of teleconferencing for diabetes management. Methodology This report collected data using interviews to understand the implementation of telemedicine for expanding access to healthcare services for people with diabetes in rural areas. The report included the views of various perspectives including patients, healthcare providers at the hospital, and in the rural areas to understand the adoption and implementation of this information system.   Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these stakeholders in locations and time that were convenient for the stakeholders. The interview was based on the interview schedule found in Appendix 1. These interviews were digitally recorded followed by verbatim transcription. After transcription, the interviews were analysed using coding (Vaismoradi et al., 2016). The coding led to the identification of various thematic categories including the strategic intent of adoption of telemedicine, benefits of telemedicine, and challenges during implementation as explained in the section below. Findings and discussion Strategic intent of implementation of telemedicine The telemedicine intervention was adopted by the hospital after it was discovered that some of the patients from the rural areas were not coming for the follow- up appointments to get information on ongoing management of their diabetes. An endocrinologist at the hospital stated that: I noticed that some of my patients were not coming for their appointments†¦ I looked at their records and realised that they were unable to do so because they came from rural areas. Therefore, we had to find a way of ensuring they got the much-needed information and support to manage diabetes at home The hospital identified the need for providing cost-effective care for their diabetes patients in rural areas who were unable to access specialised care in their communities. The hospital considered the adoption of telemedicine as a way of providing quality care while minimising unnecessary patient admissions due to diabetes complications. Thus, this was a critical component of the hospital’s strategic intent. According to Coltman et al. (2015), having a strategic intent involves the allocation of resources and engaging in activities to assist in achieving their objectives. In line with this, the stakeholders at the hospital had to consider how the telemedicine program will improve access to healthcare for patients with diabetes in a cost-effective manner. The CEO of the hospital said that: We recognised that the telemedicine would provide us with an opportunity for providing the required care to our patients†¦ However, we had to consider the overhead costs to set-up the telemedicine infrastructure both on our side and the rural side. Additional funding was required for this initiative. The implication of this is that the hospital had to set aside funds for the telemedicine infrastructure and this entailed working with managers from the finance and IT departments. The manager from the IT department determined the costs of using telemedicine intervention in terms of initial costs and ongoing upgrades to achieve a sustainable system.   The IT manager identified a cost-effective technological solution provider for the information systems that was required for the provision of diabetes care and support to patients from rural areas. The manager from the finance department and the CEO worked together in determining how to get the funding for this initiative. The initiative was funded using funds from the hospital’s contingency budget. Furthermore, the CEO of the hospital had to talk with administrators and nurses, and pharmacists in the rural areas to participate in the project as they critical to its success. This is captured in this statement â€Å"we realised that we needed professionals on the ground to provide some aspects of the care. We approached healthcare providers to get their buy-in into this initiative’’ (hospital’s CEO). Therefore, the strategic intent of the hospital in the implementation and use of video-conferencing in reaching individuals with diabetes in rural areas and providing them with the necessary care reflects a strategic alignment between IT and business, particularly, strategy execution. Specifically, the hospital adopted a strategy execution alignment where the business strategy influenced the IT infrastructure, but this was constrained by the business infrastructure (Gerow et al., 2014). In other words, the hospital’s business strategy was to provide quality care in a cost-effective way to individuals with diabetes in rural areas. In turn, this strategy influenced the IT infrastructure in terms of the kind of technological solution required to meet the business strategy. Therefore, the hospital ended up selecting videoconferencing as the appropriate IT infrastructure.   However, this was constrained by the hospital’s business infrastructure in terms of skills and proce sses in the provision of diabetes care and support to individuals in rural areas. The telemedicine initiative involved using interactive video-conferencing between a multidisciplinary diabetes care team from the hospital and the patients in the rural homes. The multidisciplinary team consisted of diabetes specialists including diabetes education experts, nurses, endocrinologist, and ophthalmologist who provided personalised care to diabetes patients based on their clinical status. The patients were provided with tablets that allowed them to engage in video conferences with the multidisciplinary team on a daily basis. The patients shared with the specialists about their psychological, emotional, and physical health during the interactive video conferences. Furthermore, the patients’ health data including glucose levels, blood pressure, and weight were automatically captured by the tablets and transmitted on a daily basis to the clinicians. The outcomes of the consultation between the specialists and the patient were then communicated to the physician in the rural area to facilitate care coordination. According to a local physician, the implementation of this initiative required a change in how care was delivered to individuals with diabetes†¦the hospitals care team got in touch with me and communicated their daily consultations with patients to ensure that I was prepared to provide the necessary care at the local level.   This approach to the implementation of video-conferencing reflects strategic information systems planning to achieve alignment between the business and IT. In particular, this planning was characterised by the identification of the required IT applications together with the necessary change management, resources, and infrastructure for implementing the technological solution (Maharaj Brown, 2015). Benefits of telemedicine The diabetes specialists were positive on the potentiality of video-conferencing in enhancing and expanding access to diabetes services to individuals in rural areas to promote self-management of the disease. A diabetes education expert said that: This technology increased my ability to provide education on exercise and diet modifications to my patients by talking to them via the video-conference, and this has empowered our patients to manage their diabetes in their homes. Patients were enthusiastic that the telemedicine would support the clinical needs even though they had no or limited experiencing in using video-conferencing. Some of the patients stated that: I didn’t have experience when it comes to telemedicine. But, I knew that it would be benefit me by providing  Ã‚   with ongoing support and information for diabetes management at home (patient 1) I had never used video conference before, but it provided me a way to talk with the physician and get timely advice and guidance on managing my diabetes (patient 2) In recognition of the limited experience that patients had in video-conferencing, the hospital’s IT department together with the external technological solution provider offered the required training. According to the IT manager at the technological solution provider: We collaborated with the hospital’s IT department in sending out individuals to provide training to the patients. The patients were taught on how to use the video conference system and provided with the necessary equipment. The stakeholders highlighted the benefits of video-conferencing for diabetes management for the patients in the rural areas. The statements below capture some of the stakeholders’ perspectives. During the video-conferences, we used the daily clinical status reports of the patient, and we were able to discuss appropriate interventions to implement with the patient. This benefitted the patients because they got personalised interventions, information, and support (Hospital endocrinologist). I got e-prescriptions from the healthcare team, and when the patients picked their medications, I talked to them about complying with their medications. By collaboratively working with the healthcare team, the quality of care of patients improved in terms of medication compliance (Rural Pharmacist) The use of video conference has contributed to preventing unavoidable admissions for diabetes for these patients. The daily support and education they got from us has improved care coordination and connections between the patients and us to minimise the use of emergency departments (Hospital ophthalmologist) A few months after the implementation of this project, we had seen a reduction in the admission of patients with diabetes in our area (Rural physician) I had problems before in controlling my diabetes because I did not have access to the kind of doctors who provide the necessary care†¦ but this changed with the daily video conferences (Patient 3) I am satisfied with information and guidance I get from the consultations with the doctors each day in managing my diabetes. I no longer need to travel to the hospital to get the care I need (Patient 4) The stakeholders perspectives highlight the impact of teleconferencing on the delivery of healthcare services to diabetes patients in rural areas.   These perspectives have received support in literature. For instance, patient satisfaction is highlighted in the study by Fatehi et al. (2015) in an assessment of patient satisfaction levels with remote consultations for diabetes via video conference in a virtual outreach clinic using a cross-sectional survey. The results revealed that the patients were generally satisfied with remote consultation as they had no problem with building rapport with the clinical specialists over video conferences (Fatehi et al., 2015).   Furthermore, the positive impact of telemedicine on the management of diabetes has been shown in the literature. Specifically, Huang and colleagues (2015) carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials on the impacts of telecare intervention on glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes. It was demonstrated that patient monitoring by telecare demonstrated significant improvement in glycaemic control in comparison with patients monitored by routine follow-up (Huang et al., 2015). Weinstock et al. (2011) also found that improvement in glycaemic control related to telemedicine was sustained over a period of five years among medically underserved patients with diabetes. In their randomized controlled trial, Steventon et al. (2014) discovered that telemedicine led to modest improvements in glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes over 12 months. Self-management as a critical aspect of diabetes management in telemedicine has been investigated by Young et al.(2014) who focused on the effect of person-centred health behaviour coaching model delivered through telehealth with patients with diabetes living in underserved, rural communities was assessed. The results showed that the interventions led to significantly higher scores in self-efficacy, which supported self-management of the disease (Young et al., 2014). According to Steventon et al. (2014), the greater self-care and oversight related to telemedicine might lead to fewer unplanned hospital admissions. Challenges during implementation Implementation of the technological solution was accompanied by some challenges. One of the major challenge identified by the stakeholders was unanticipated technical issues.   This is explained by the IT manager at the hospital: Sometimes the video conferences failed because of a drop in the internet connection. This meant that the encounter could not take place. When this occurred, communication occurred via cell phones to address important issues. The technical issues had a negative impact on the interactions between the patients and diabetes care team. According to the endocrinologist, Sometimes in the middle of the video-conference, the connection dropped. I could wait till past the time I had allocated for that specific consultation. Mostly, by the time the connection was up again, I would be consulting with a different patient at the hospital, and I missed my encounter with the patient in the rural area. In those cases, I worked with the rural nurses via a cell phone to communicate important information about the patient. Technical difficulties in teleconference are due to problems with accessing broadband in rural areas, which is still lagging behind urban areas. Patients homes might lack high-speed cable internet that has more bandwidth capabilities and a highly reliable signal, and this causes connection problems during video conferencing (Batsis, Pletcher Stahl, 2017). Schulz et al. (2014) reported in their study that 25% of all video conferences consultations experienced a drop in internet connection. Consequently, it is suggested that unanticipated technical issues with implementing teleconferencing should be anticipated and this highlights the importance of providing strong IT support with ongoing updates in protocols for patients in rural areas (Slusser et al., 2016). Another challenge reported was issues with reimbursements. This was identified by the finance manager at the urban hospital.   She said that: I had problems with suitable billing of encounters between the patients and the doctors and capturing this. Sometimes, I billed an encounter, but the insurer failed to pay or took longer to do so. I had to go through convincing them [insurers] that the consultation actually occurred by talking with the patient and pharmacists or nurses in the rural areas for confirmation. One of the patients also talked about this issue by stating that, â€Å"after talking with the doctors on the video conference they tell you to pick up the drugs at your pharmacy and when you get there, you are told there are problems with your insurer in terms of payment. I had to call my insurer to follow up and address this issue’’ (patient 5). According to Batsis et al. (2017), low reimbursement is a problem for the lasting sustainability of telemedicine systems in a fee-for-service model. This problem is due to limitations that are placed on the type of telemedicine covered by health insurers. Conclusion In conclusion, this report has focused on the strategic information systems in expanding the health service in rural areas.   This has been achieved by examining the implementation of video-conferencing between individuals with diabetes and diabetes specialists in the provision of diabetes care to patients in rural areas. This report has highlighted how the hospital ensured alignment between its business strategy of providing cost-effective diabetes care to individuals with diabetes in rural areas and the use of the video-conferencing as its IT infrastructure.   The hospital had to plan for its strategic information systems by identifying the appropriate IT infrastructure, processes, and changes to how care was delivered to the targeted population in rural areas. The analysis revealed how the implementation of video-conferencing addressed the interests of the different stakeholders including the hospital, diabetes specialist care team from the hospital, the patients, and healthca re providers at the local level.   Thus, the implementation of this technological solution was beneficial to all the stakeholders. Overall, this report highlights how strategic information systems are vital in the expansion of health service in rural areas. References Arvidsson, V., Holmstrà ¶m, J., Lyytinen, K. (2014). Information systems use as strategy practice: a multidimensional view of strategic information system implementation and use. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23, 45-61. Batsis, J., Pletcher, S., Stahl, J. (2017). Telemedicine and primary care obesity management in rural areas-innovative approach for older adults? BMC Geriatrics, 1-9. Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O., Pavlou, P., Venkatraman, N. (2013). Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights. MIS Quarterly, 37(2), 471-82. Coltman, T., Talon, P., Sharma, R., Queiroz, M. (2015) Strategic IT alignment: twenty-five years on, Journal of Information Technology, 1-10. Faruque, L., Wiebe, N., Ehteshami-Afshar, A., Liu, Y., Dianati-Maleki, N., Hemmelgarn, B., Manns, B., Tonelli, M. (2016). Effect of telemedicine on gylcated haemoglobin in diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. CMAJ, 1-25. Fatehi, F., Armfield, N., Dimitrijevic, M., Gray, L. (2014b). Clinical applications of videoconferencing: a scoping review of the literature for the period 2002-2012. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 20(7), 377-83. Fatehi, F., Martin-Khan, M., Gray, L., Russell, A. (2014a). Design of a randomized, non-inferiority trial to evaluate the reliability of videoconferencing for remote consultations of diabetes. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 1-7. Fatehi, F., Martin-Khan, M., Smith, A., Russell, A., Gray, L. (2015). Patient satisfaction with video teleconsultation in a virtual diabetes outreach clinic. Diabetes Technology Therapeutics, 17(1), 1-6. Gerow, J., Thatcher, J., Grower, V (2014). Six types of IT-business strategic alignment: an investigation of the constructs and their measurement. European Journal of Information Systems, 1-27. Huang, Z., Tao, H., Meng, Q., Jing, L. (2015). Effects of telecare intervention on glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. European Journal of Endocrinology, 172, R93-R101. Maharaj, S., Brown, I. (2015). The impact of shared domain knowledge on strategic information systems planning and alignment. South African Journal of Information Management, 17(1), 1-12. Schulz, T., Richards, M., Gasko, H., Lohrey, J., Hibbert, M., Biggs, B. (2014). Telehealth: experience of the first 120 consultations delivered from a new refugee telehealth clinic. Internal Medicine Journal, 44(10), 981-5. Siriwardena, L., Wickramasinghe, W., Perera, K., Marasinghe, R., Katulanda, P., Hewpathirana, R. (2012). A review of telemedicine interventions in diabetes care. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 18(3), 164-68. Slusser, W., Whitley, M., Izadpanah, N., Kim, S., Ponturo, D. (2016). Multidisciplinary paediatric obesity clinic via telemedicine with thin the Los Angeles metropolitan area: lessons learned. Clinical Paediatrics, 55(3), 251-9. Steventon, A., Barsley, M., Doll, H., Tuckey, E., Newman, P. (2014). Effect of telehealth on glycaemic control: analysis of patients with type 2 diabetes in the Whole Systems Demonstrator cluster randomized trial. BMC Health Services Research, 1-12. Vaismoradi, M., Jones, J., Turunen, H., Snelgrove, S. (2016). Theme development in qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 6(5), 100-110. Verhoeven, F., Tanja-Dijkstra, K., Nijland, N., Eysenbach, G., Van Gemert-Pijnen, L. (2010). Asynchronous and synchronous teleconsultation for diabetes care: a systematic review. Journal of Diabetes and Science Technology, 4(3), pp.66-84. Weinstock, R., Teresi, J., Goland, R., Izquierdo, R., Palmas, W., Eimicke, J., Ebner, S., Shea, S. (2011). Glycaemic control and health disparities in older ethnically diverse underserved adults with diabetes: five year results from the Informatics for Diabetes Education and Telemedicine (IDETel) study. Diabetes Care, 34, 274-9. Yayla, A., Hu, Q. (2012). The impact of IT-business strategic alignment on firm performance in a developing country setting: exploring moderating roles of environmental uncertainty and strategic orientation. European Journal of Information Systems, 21(4), 373-87. Young, H., Miyamoto, S., Ward, D., Dharmar, M., Tang-Feldman, Y., Berglund, L. (2014). Sustained effects of a nurse coaching intervention via telehealth to improve health behaviour change in diabetes. Telemedicine and E-Health, 828-34. Appendix 1: Interview Schedule Please explain why the hospital decided to implement videoconferencing in providing diabetes care to individuals in rural areas? What was involved in the planning for the implementation of the technological solution? Did the hospital work with external stakeholders in the implementation process? How did the implementation of the technological solution affect the aims of the hospital and its specialist clinicians? How has the use of videoconference affected your (patient) access to diabetes care? Were there any challenges that were experienced during this process? If so, which ones? To obtain answers to these questions and/or get a Custom Essay for you research, feel free to reach out to us and place an order today.

Cause Effect Papers

Cause Effect Papers Cause Effect Papers Cause Effect Papers: Why and What? You may be surprised by the fact that writing of cause effect papers is rather fascinating task. But it is so, indeed! Why? When writing cause effect papers students investigate causes and effects of certain events or phenomena that have taken or are taking place in nature or human society. Is it not interesting to find out why World War I started or what may be results of the carbon emission increasing? So, lets consider how to do this interesting task in order to get high grades! In what way should cause effect papers be written? It is up to you to decide whether you want to study causes or effects, whether you want to research the main causes/effects among numerous ones. The matter point is that you should be interested in the issue. The process of writing of cause effect papers First of all, one should stress that writing of cause effect papers like any other assignment papers should begin with determining of a topic. If you are not provi ded with a certain topic for your writing, your task is more difficult. You should think about what you want to study in your cause effect paper. Remember: choose the topic that is interesting for you. It will be much easier for you to write your paper. Besides, you will be able to make your paper interesting for your audience. So, then the process of your writing starts.Study the issue. Before writing about any causes or effects you should study the issue in question properly. Remember: the more information on the topic you will find, the better you will highlight the issue. Make a thesis statement. State what exactly you are discussing. Pay attention your thesis statement should be short and clear. Make an outline. Determine the main points you are going to highlight in your paper: causes, effects or both causes and effects. Write your paper. Try to use different facts, examples, results of some observations, some figures. That will make your paper more interesting and convincing. The usage of various transitional words and phrases such as first of all, firstly, secondly, this suggestion is supported by the fact that, it seems that, moreover will help you put your thoughts clearly and logically. Do not forget to check your cause effect paper! Any mistakes may easily spoil the impression about your paper and, hence, your grade. So, re-read your paper for several times paying attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation and the whole contents. So, bearing in mind this information will help you in writing any of cause effect papers.

Middle Ages Magic Activities from Religious Point of View Assignment

Middle Ages Magic Activities from Religious Point of View - Assignment Example The Church did not approve of theories that contradicted the official doctrine of the Church. This is because their view of human knowledge is based on a concept of an all-knowing God and a revelation of absolute truth through the scriptures and through the Pope and the senior leaders of the Church. There was no room for theories that were based on principles outside this rather strict set of rules. The whole issue of whether the earth is the center of the universe, for example, was seen as a theological dogma, not a theory or scientific view, and these issues have the potential to cause the whole foundation of Christian belief to crumble if they are challenged and found to be false. That is why the Church resisted any other views. There seems to have been in Medieval times quite a bit of experimentation with these forbidden arts, just as today people read horoscopes, go to see fortune tellers, and have lucky objects at the same time as holding broadly orthodox beliefs in one of the main religions. Old pagan beliefs linger on in symbolic ways, as for example in the Christmas trees, Harvest Thanksgiving services and Easter eggs that we have in Western culture, even though these are symbolic of pagan festivals (Jolly, 2000, p. 1). In this, there is not so much difference between medieval and modern society. The issue of predetermined events and the prediction of human behavior was a very thorny one because it goes to the heart of the Christian doctrine of salvation. It matters a lot, for example, whether a person has free will or not, and whether they freely choose to do good or evil deeds, or whether they are just puppets being manipulated by fate or some demon or other. Christians have a strong sense of being morally responsible for their actions, and relying on God alone, and so many other forces that get in between a man or woman and their god were seen as a bit threat.  

Articulate an analysis of the various physical geography Essay

Articulate an analysis of the various physical geography - Essay Example While at the background, a bare mountain with a white surface can be observed. This makes it concluded that the white pigment are snow and it is due to the probable freezing temperature that the trees cover cannot extend to the top. However, few adapted plant species can be spotted on the mountain top. Composition of the biosphere of the area is diverse. For plants, the range is from herbs, shrubs, and trees. Though it is not captured in the photo, the area is also compost of animals like the rodent, many and different birds’ species, insects, and other big and medium mammals. When it comes to vegetation, the forest of the region is constituted of natural pine tree which are adapted to the snow condition in the region during winter. Their cones like shape enable them to avoid the breaking of their branches due to snow accumulation (Strahler 14). This is because the snows easily slide down and drop on the ground. In some regions of the forest, there are a few planted pines to increase the forest cover. Other than the plants, the present of fresh water bodies in the area has provided good habiting grounds for fresh water fish species. These species are available in the river, and Lake Heart and Box. Additionally, rabbits, rats, poisonous snakes and wolf also roam the area. The background covers of vegetation provide hiding covers for predators and preys. Therefore, hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing are practice in the area. The succession of vegetation of this area is highly influenced by the climatic conditions, hydrological factors, topography, and soil factors. The same is applied to animals since they are also dependent on the plants. Further, this forest area is rich in organic matter, which makes the deep soil. Droppings of death leaves and their subsequent decomposition also supply the much-needed nutrient to tress and microorganisms. On the mountain top, the soil is shallow due to the avalanches of snows downhill that erode soil

To What Extent Does the Media Affect Body Image in Teens and Their Perception of Beauty Essay Example for Free

To What Extent Does the Media Affect Body Image in Teens and Their Perception of Beauty Essay There is no question that the Media has a massive impact on how we perceive ourselves, particularly when it comes to our beauty. From my own experience, I have questioned my own body due to articles in magazines promoting a slimmer body type to various audiences. We shape our opinions through what the Media tells us is right and wrong. For instance, women and young girls are judged highly on their weight and appearance where as men are judged more on their masculinity and muscularity. As the Media is a massive topic, I will focus on looking at magazines, in particular adverts, and how they portray beauty and how we then observe the Medias idea of ‘perfection’. I will also be looking at the effects of exposure to these magazines and adverts to teenagers; one particular focus will be the influences of the Media on Anorexia. â€Å"Low self-esteem contributes to a distorted body image, and the distorted body image cant be fully corrected until self-esteem issues are reconciled. If we don’t address the problem (the problem being the Media labelling a certain body type as perfect) then the issue of low self-esteem in women is never going to stop. Over 90% of people diagnosed with eating disorders are adolescent or young women, so why do young women and adolescents feel the need to go to these drastic measures to stay skinny? While the Media is not the only factor that can be contributed to the rise in Anorexia, it is a significant aspect. It’s no surprise that teenagers are obsessed with thinness and weight loss because of the way Media promotes a skinny figure to women through the constant images of celebrities’ bodies and also articles that talk about bettering our lives through our appearance. The Media promotes a skinny figure through constant articles in magazines on celebrities’ figures, for example, Star magazine has shown the same front cover advertising â€Å"45 best worst beach bodies† seven times. I believe that this is going to contribute to women having a negative body image as they constantly compare themselves to the celebrities in these magazines and deciding whether they have an â€Å"acceptable figure† due to the ones advertised as the â€Å"best†. Personally, I think it’s the mix of women’s obsession with celebrities and a low self-esteem that creates a negative body image. Approximately one in every one hundred teenage girls may develop an Eating Disorder. Body dissatisfaction is a reoccurring motif especially in women as they are constantly exposed to celebrities and advertisements from such a young age. I had to create a presentation to my peers based on my topic question earlier this year. I decided that I wanted to get real opinions on whether the content of these magazines were suitable for the magazines target audience. I gave them four popular girl magazines (Bliss, Mizz, Shout and Look), which girls ranging from 10-17+ were reading. I asked them to order the magazines from the lowest target audience to the highest, basing the order solely on the content of the magazines. Surprisingly, my peers put the magazines in the right order. However, they were still shocked by the audiences that these magazines were targeted at because the content of these magazines was not appropriate for children of that age. Bliss magazine, is initially targeted at girls aged 13-17; the class all said that â€Å"It was targeted at 16+ because of the ‘Stone’s style solutions’ that promote platform heels which aren’t appropriate for girls of 13 years. † Furthermore, Bliss magazine shows an article on ‘Pamper perfect’ showing young girls how to get the A-list look ‘without the A-list price tag. My peers decided that Bliss magazine is subtlety influencing young girls on how they can better themselves where as Look magazine, which is targeted at girls from 16-34; manipulate girls into changing their body to better themselves. This shows the diversity between magazines that are targeted at girls below 16 and those targeted at girls above 16. In both Bliss and Look magazine, they use a very slim model to advertise their clothes. Even though Bliss uses a teenage model and Look uses an adult, they both use a particular frame of woman. Mizz magazines’ target audience is from 10-14 years. Mizz’ articles, in my opinion, are suitable for the target audience because they don’t focus on celebrity lifestyle and focusing on a negative body image. Shout magazines’ seems to focus on females between 10-15 years. However, Shout magazine, targeted at females between the ages of 11-14, shows little articles involving models and looks more at celebrities and real life stories. As we live in a society, which is more obsessed with how we look, rather than what we do, it’s no wonder that women are both mentally and physically abused by the Media. This is a gut feeling of mine based on the content of agazines. From my own opinion, I see more articles congratulating celebrities on losing weight rather than their success in their career. How the Media advertises products and articles in magazines have a bigger affect on us than we initially think. On average whilst watching television, women come across around 400 to 600 adverts a day. In light of this, if in only 50% of the adverts we see thin models, then even this could have a negative affect on how we perceive our own body and also how we compare it to what the Media label as â€Å"perfect† which is usually undernourished models. By repetitively using the same figure of model, this will also stay in the sub-conscious mind of the audience. This technique of advertising is called subliminal messaging. When subliminal messages are first seen or heard, we are unable to identify what it is. In fact they may be ignored by the conscious brain and be beyond the level of conscious perception. A new study by Prof. Naomi Mandel, as sited in CBS News, has shown companies that feature normal size women, better known, as â€Å"plus-size† are less effective than those that use thin models. It also found out that overweight and normal-weight females have a lower self-esteem after seeing â€Å"plus-size† models in advertisements. I found these results quite interesting as I presumed that women who saw â€Å"plus-size† models would make them have a higher self-esteem because they have a similar body to the models in the advertisement. Additionally Jeremy Kees, a professor at Villanova University, believes that women expect to see beautiful women in advertisements, even if it makes them feel worse about themselves. In one of his studies, Kees found that even though the women felt bad about themselves after looking at the adverts, they evaluated that the brands were selling higher, and those ads which used average size models, their brands sales has decreased. Although, another source reported that women have lower levels of weight concerns after exposure to average and overweight models than after the exposure to ultra thin and even no models. This could be because women would feel accepted by society for their body size because the Media believes its okay. In my eyes, the Media always promote a very slim figure. Furthermore, a social psychologist’s research has suggested that average sized models are just as effective as thin models. But what do the public really want to see? Karl Langerfield, Head Designer of the Fashion house Chanel, said that: â€Å"the world of fashion was all to do ‘with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women. † After reading both these studies, I decided to create an experiment that was heavily influenced by the experiments that the University of Sussex had conducted on self-discrepancy. One of these experiments was to see if advertisements that use models are more effective than those that don’t use any model. Also, I wanted to see if Prof. Naomi Mandel has the correct theory that advertisements are less effective with ones that use â€Å"plus-size† models or ultra-thin models. Additionally, the experiment that claims women have lower levels of weight concern after exposure to average models wasn’t conducted on teenagers and I wanted to see if teenagers find adverts with â€Å"plus-size† models more or less effective than ultra-thin models. The other experiment that was conducted on children between 5 and 6 years was to see if a specific body image does have an affect on how we perceive ourselves. They had three separate groups of girls who were all told the same story however, one group had images of Barbie, the ultra-thin doll; one group had images of Emme, the average-size doll and one group had no dolls included. Each girl was then told to fill out a self-discrepancy chart and highlighted the body they thought they had compared to the body they would like to have. The results from this showed that the discrepancy was higher in those that saw Barbie compared to the other doll. This shows a link to what heavily influences girls between what they see and their sub-conscious mind. The main objective for my experiment was to see whether adverts that use skinny models are more effective on us as a public, than those that don’t use any type of model and also to explore into the world of subliminal messaging and how it plays on the sub-conscious mind. I wanted to see if this type of advertising really does work. I carried out this experiment twice because I wanted to make sure I had clear and thorough results. I used a group of twenty students between the ages of 14 and 16 of which ten boys and ten were girls. The boys were given adverts targeted at males and the girls were given adverts targeted at females. Half of each gender was given adverts that feature models of the same sex and the other half were given adverts that featured only the products and no models. Each person that had the same booklet was all sat on a table and they would discuss the adverts. As I was walking around, I was listening to what they were asking each other about the adverts shown to them: â€Å"What is your opinion of the advert? What is the focal point for the advert? Whom is this advert targeted at? † I was surprised by the results I got from also the comments I got from both genders. All the girls that had models advertising the perfume in their adverts wanted to lose weight, and out of the 20 girls that took part, 90% overall wanted to lose weight. A lot of the girls described the models as â€Å"plain† and that â€Å"the majority of the models were skinny and blonde. This was a popular opinion with all the girls and I wondered why even though they thought the models looked plain and they weren’t envious of the models, why did all the girls want to lose weight? One girl gave an interesting point that even though Emporio Armani used Beyonce Knowles, who is African-American, to advertise their products; they thought that it was unclear of her skin colour and that they might have used a black and white image so that it would open up to a wider audience. This links back to a previous point that companies always advertise a certain frame of a model to women because this is what they believe as â€Å"perfect. Even though all the girls who didn’t have the models in their adverts had a lower discrepancy, this could be because they might have recognized the adverts from seeing them before or they could genuinely have a low self-esteem. However, what the University of Sussex had discovered was that average size models had no negative affect on body image with women. Even though I had done this experiment on boys too, I decided not to use their results as I felt they didn’t contribute to any of my product. Also, I wanted to focus on teenage girls and their perception of beauty. I was please with how the experiment was carried out and found it was a success with all the participants and the results I received were clear and reliable. However, if I was to carry this experiment out again, then I would do it with adults and also primary school children so then I could compare each set of results with one another and also I would to show how our opinions differ as we mature and also, to show who is more affected by the Medias constant advertise of celebrities and particularly the â€Å"size-0† figure. Also, I wish that I had shown them adverts that used â€Å"plus-size† models to see which one gave them a lower self-discrepancy as this would have been more relevant to the objective of my product. When I first started this topic, I began to realise how much pressure young girls are under to look good through the articles in magazines and the constant need to look at celebrities. After this, I decided that I wanted to find out if young girls and boys are actually affected by this pressure or if it is just my opinion. I created a questionnaire and gave it to secondary pupils between the ages of 11-16. I wanted to keep the questionnaires anonymous because I know these people and it could have influenced the way I interpret their answers. I don’t regret making these questionnaires however I was hoping for more detailed answers. I printed out 100 questionnaires and gave 10 to 10 tutors in my college. I wanted to give them out in tutor because they would have at least half an hour to fill out my questionnaires so they would be able to go into great detail and really think about their answers. However, I had difficulty with my questionnaires and the public doing them. Firstly, I had to print them in black and white to save ink at school; however the images I used were not clear enough in black and white so this could have affected my results. Secondly, when I received the questionnaires, there was minimal detail and also the majority of the participants were pretending to be funny in their questionnaires and didn’t provide the evidence I needed so they were invalid. On the other hand, there were questionnaires that I could use that gave detailed answers. 1% of all the results think the Media are the main cause of having a certain figure however 27% thought their friends pressured them to fit in with everyone else. However, their friends must get this idea of what is acceptable from somewhere. Could this be from the Media? In my appendix, I have included some tables, which include the results from the questionnaires I made. I found the graphs difficult to make, as I wasn’t sure how to break down the categories. Did I do it by year or by gender? The graphs were done on a trial and error basis however I felt like they were done in a correctly in the end. Another study found that 27% of the girls that they carried an experiment out on that felt the Media pressure them to have a perfect body. Even though this shows that other girls in other studies are affected by the Media, it’s not so reliable in my essay as I’m not sure of how many girls were asked, how old they were or where in the world this experiment was carried out. Eating disorders like Anorexia are caused by a physiological disorder within a person and how they view their own body. The sufferer believes that they are overweight so they take extreme actions like dieting, fasting and even starving themselves just so they feel what they believe to be ‘beautiful. ’ There are many reports; mostly around the time of London Fashion Week that fashion models have used this technique. However, it’s not only women in the fashion world who suffer with this disorder, other professions like ballet dancers and athletes show a high number of people who have/had Anorexia. Personality plays a big part in eating disorders. People who suffer with Anorexia Nervosa usually are perfectionists and overachievers’. People who suffer from Anorexia work relentlessly towards a thinner body because they feel that this will promise them beauty, success and happiness. The victims usually want to feel accepted by society however they do not feel valued by others. Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa are most common in white people in western societies. This shows a direct link to how our society looks at behaviours and expectations of the public compared to eating disorders. Not only in the Western hemisphere is there a link towards the ethnicity of people with eating disorders, a study in Fiji showed a sudden increase in eating disorders among young women since the arrival of television in 1995, (Fearn, 1999). This also shows a strong link between the social and cultural factors. I have seen that there is a number of ways that that the Media can alter teenage girls’ perception of beauty. As I have found, magazines use the same frame of model to promote clothing and will openly slate people’s bodies if they feel they are not â€Å"good enough. Also, magazines will always show articles on how girls and women can change or correct themselves so that they are up to a standard that the Media thinks is acceptable. As humans, it has been known that we always want what we can’ have but is this just apart of our human nature? of this will make girls doubt their own body, even though I found from my own research that girls are not envious of the models in advertisements, they still wanted to lose weight and illustrated they were unhappy with themselves. This was proven through my questionnaires as 79% of the girls admitted to not being happy with their body. Although we as a public may claim to want to see women of a normal size modelling products aimed at us, fashion designers that are in charge decide what we are shown, and this could be where the problem is. Referring back to a point that Karl Langerfield, he claims that â€Å"the world of fashion was all to do ‘with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women†. Even though we may openly say that we want to see designers use curvier bodies to promote their range of clothing or do we as a public secretly see want to see a skinnier frame of model? This links in with a point made earlier about my experiments. Even though all the girls admitted they weren’t jealous of the girls frame, they still wanted a lower discrepancy. So are fashion designers after all giving the public what they can’t admit to wanting? Also, Diane Von Furstenberg claimed that â€Å"To be a model, you have to be skinny. In conclusion, I have found that it’s clear that there are so many different opinions and that it’s hard to identify the general overview to this question without finding exceptions. I feel positive that I have found that the Media can affect teenagers and their perception of beauty but that it varies between person to person as my questionnaires have shown. However, if we are aware of the potential effects, then in theory, we ca n find solutions to these issues; surely that is the most important lesson we can take away from this?

The House Of The Seven Gables Essay examples -- essays research papers

THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES The story begins as Nathaniel Hawthorne lays down the setting and describes the house of the seven-gables and the story of its creation. The house is old and overrun by moss weeds and bushes, but the greatest aspect is the gigantic tree in the front of the house that seems to grow in size as it feeds off the misery of the inhabitants and the decay of the house. The very land that the house was built on was stolen from Matthew Moule. Since Colonel Pyncheon liked the location he helped accuse Matthew Moule of witchcraft and had him hung from the gallows pole. At his death, Matthew Moule curses Colonel Pyncheon saying, 'God will give him blood to drink!" One hundred and sixty years ago, when Colonel Pyncheon opened the new seven-gabled mansion, the guests found him lying dead in his study with his face covered in blood. Now, 160 years later, the curse still haunts the household as unfortunate circumstances fall upon the Pyncheons. The claim to the vast acres in Maine still remains lost. Clifford Pyncheon was convicted for killing his uncle and is sent to prison for 30 years. The only Pyncheon left living in the house is Hepzibah, who is forced to put aside her pride and open a 1-cent shop on the first floor. The 1-cent shop in itself is a symbol if irony due to the fact that Hepzibah was once rich and now, though she is living in a mansion, she sells penny goods on the bottom floor. Townspeople come in usually just to see her work an...

Organizational Structure for Hershey Company Essay

Milton Hershey believed that, â€Å"workers who were treated fairly and who lived in a comfortable, pleasant environment†, would be better workers. He not only built a town for his employees but also a school for orphans. Corporate Social Responsibility is an integral part of the Hershey Company’s global business strategy; which includes goals and priorities focused on fair and ethical business dealings. Hershey’s is the leading producer of chocolate and non-chocolate confectionary and other grocery products in North America and also carries a significant international presence with operations in over 90 countries. Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Korea, Japan, and India to name a few. In 2010 Hershey entered into a deal with Walmart (known as ASDA in the United Kingdom,) to sell Hershey products in Europe. Hershey’s will have to modify their products in order, to do so. Hershey uses genetically modified ingredients in the United States and ASDA does not sell genetically modified ingredients. The hospital, I worked, had employees use their index finger to clock in and out. I would always clock in approximately ten minutes before my scheduled shift. This is so I had enough time to walk to my department put my coat and purse away and log into my computer to be ready for the first patient to register. HR decided it would be better to have all employee’s clock in no earlier than two minutes before their shift. This created chaos, there were approximately fifteen employees standing around the time clock. I feel this was not a good solution, because employees were getting  to their departments late. Furthermore, patients were seeing the employee’s standing around when they were waiting for their appointment. It saved the hospital from paying their employees overtime. But it made wait time longer for the patient. Furthermore implementing change is always hard at the beginning. In the long run it is for the best of the company and its employee’s. The Hershey Company is all about making their employees enjoy coming to work. The happier the employee, the higher quality of work from that employee. REFERENCES www.thehersheycompany.com

Victor Frankenstein’s

As I walked through the huge cold rusty door of Frankenstein's workshop, my nostrils suddenly burned with the disgustingly smell of decaying flesh and dried blood, but still I carried on my journey threw the cold workshop. I looked up and there were broken electrical cables running right to the center of the workshop. Every couple of seconds they gave out a sudden spark of electricity. Whilst I was wondering what they were being used for, I walked further in to the workshop and I tripped over a blood covered sheet I panicked and kicked the sheet of me, and jumped back to my feet. I couldn't figure out what the electrical cables were being used for so I decided to follow them deeper in to the workshop. Along my path, I walked across broken bottles and tubes all with their contents covering the floor, and their were more of undamaged ones stacked up high on shelves, filled with their own custom colors and distinctive smells. I finally came to be the cables were linked up to, it seemed to be a giant copper tank filled with discolored water, and chunks of bone and flesh, which smelled like rotten egg. It had steam slowly escaping from the poorly welded seems of the tank, I looked behind the tank to discover another one, This one had dark green water in it and was glass, completely opposite to the copper tank, I decided to take a look. The tank was filled with dead electric ells, which had been obviously there for a while, as they were decaying. I heard loud scratching noise coming from a door in the workshop, I slowly wondered towards it,and give it a small push open, when suddenly two or three rats came scurrying out of it, they ran off somewhere behind the tank, I mainly focused what was in the room, their was a window in the corner letting rain threw its hole in the glass, it hadn't been cleaned by the looks of things since it had been installed as it was covered in years of dust and grime. I walked into the room to see what lied on the table that laid in the middle of room, the table was covered with books, one book laid open reading â€Å"Life after death†. At the other side of the table were two dissected frogs, one of them laid lifelessly with a big gash running down its back, and the other one had small wires attached to its hands and feet, I knocked a book to the floor I bent down to pick it up, and I saw a key I picked both the key and book up, I read the book cover which read â€Å"bringing back the dead† and I put it back on the table, I saw another door next to an old bookshelf, I tried to open it but it was locked. I looked at the key and tried it in the lock it worked, and I opened the door. I jumped back in fear as the door lead to a closet containing human body parts and organs I quickly slammed the door shut and ran to the other side of the room. I vomited, I panicked and ran out the room back to the main part of the workshop, to again smell decaying flesh, I ignored the smell this time and I continued running back to the entrance following the electrical cables which lead me into the workshop, I reached the rusty door and pushed it open to let me free in to the rain outside and to take a much needed fresh breath of air.

Rubber and Alternatives essays

Rubber and Alternatives essays A forebearer to the rubber industry has been in existence since 1876 when an Englishman, Henry Wickham, returned to England from Brazil with rubber tree seeds he had gathered for germination. However, societys use of rubber predates that existence by almost 3500 years. The MesoAmericans were known to have used the latex produced by the rubber tree for a variety of purposes, including the making of rubber balls that they would use for games and entertainment. Currently, of course, the rubber industry creates a wide variety of products for which rubber is incorporated. The rubber industry not only continues to employ the latex produced by the rubber plant to produce such products, but it has also been able to add polymer blends to enhance that production. The use of polymer blends is an effective method for altering the performance of polymer materials and is widely employed in engineering plastics, rubber and fiber materials (Chiu, Tsai, 2006, p. 89). Adding polymers to the rubber provides an even more durable product and enhances the usability of natural rubber (NR) as compared to the polybutadiene classification of rubber (BR). Natural rubber is classified as rubber that is derived from natural ingredients, while polybutadiene rubber is classified as containing additives to enhance certain qualities. Chius study of the differences between the two classifications of rubber provides evidence that Natural rubber...has certain advantages, such as flexibility but the same study shows that some of its properties fall short in certain applications, such as oil resistance, air permeability, ozone resistance, compression set and thermal aging resistance (Chiu, p. 89). BR can be classified as one of a number of synthetic rubbers. There are a number of reasons why the rubber industry has found it necessary to develop these alternatives to using natural rubber. Those re...

Adverb(ial) Phrases in English

Adverb(ial) Phrases in English An adverb phrase (or adverbial phrase) is a word group with an adverb as its head. This adverb may be accompanied by modifiers or qualifiers. An adverb phrase can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or even an entire sentence or main clause. As shown in the examples below, it can appear in a number of different positions in a sentence. Examples of Adverbial Phrases The Cheshire Cat vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of its tail.The players responded surprisingly well to all the pressures of the playoffs.The best way to preserve the flavor and texture of fresh vegetables is to cook them as quickly as possible.As quickly as possible, we cleaned the fish and placed them in coolers.The air was warm, stirred only occasionally by a breeze.Only occasionally is there a rumble in the sky or a hint of rain.Snow fell much earlier than usual.My daughters choice of driving music is,  surprisingly enough, classic rock. Quotes With Adverb Phrases James Russell Lowell If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon. Beverly Barton, Close Enough to Kill Bernie watched Jims face for a reaction.  Surprisingly enough, he grinned. Adverbial Phrases Without Adverbs Theyre called adverbial phrases because they can occur in the same range of positions as single adverbs. Many such adverbial phrases, paradoxically, do not contain an adverb. Such adverb-less adverbial phrases are typically prepositional phrases, as italicized in the examples below from James R. Hurford in Grammar: A Students Guide. On Friday night, Im playing squash.Their marriage broke up in the most painful way.May I, on behalf of the shareholders, congratulate you? Positioning Adverb Phrases Jame R. Hurford, Grammar: A Students Guide Like adverbs, adverb phrases can cause confusion because there is some flexibility in where they occur within sentences, and even in modifying the sentence structure. As well, adverb phrases are sometimes embedded in other phrases. Examples are: Laura, a better, gentler, more beautiful Laura, whom everybody, everybody loved dearly and tenderly.He had taken her hand sympathizingly, forgivingly, but his silence made me curious.David, on the lowest step, was very evidently not hearing a word of what was being said. Our first example identifies an adverb phrase following the verb loved; the next example shows an adverb phrase following the noun hand and removed from the verb it modifies; the third example has an adverb phrase embedded into a verb phrase was...hearing. Such flexibility makes it more difficult to identify these phrases; therefore, noting the head adverb can be of help. Sources Barton, Beverly. Close Enough to Kill. Hardcover, Zebra Books/Kensington Publish, 2006. Hurford, James R. Grammar: A Students Guide. Cambridge University Press, January 27, 1995. ODwyer, Bernard. Modern English Structures: Form, Function, and Position. 2nd Edition, Broadview Press, June 16, 2006.

Toni Morrison Sula and Mahasweta Devi Breast Giver Essay

Toni Morrison Sula and Mahasweta Devi Breast Giver - Essay Example For a book of this stature, most readers wanted a heroine they could identify with- someone who was basically good despite her minor flaws and few blunders- someone like Nel. But that is not to be. Sula is the protagonist of the novel and she is by no means a traditional heroine. In fact for many, she is an evil woman who refuses to conform to societal expectations of her and does some truly inexcusable things such as sleeping with her best friend's husband. Sula presents a different, unique but definitely negative image of a woman. But it was not done to highlight the evil side of women instead it was done more with the purpose of asserting women rights and independence. Women rights and their position in the society is also the topic of controversial story Breast Giver by Indian author Mahasweta Devi. The story revolves around a woman Joshuda who considers her breasts her chief possession since they bring food for her family. She is hired as a professional mother for several children in a high class Brahmin family referred to as the big house in the story. The story deals with the subject of unpaid labor and a woman's reproductive capabilities going unwaged. Joshuda's low caste body that goes from being the most fruitful to decayed and diseased is used as an allegory and thus the entire plot can be considered allegorical. For many in the west, this story may appear too fictitious to ever be true but we must not forget that this is about an Indian woman in a small town of India where breast feeding children of wealthy families had been a custom for a very long time. The author chooses to highlight the social divide as well the collapse of Mother Ind ia myth. She uses Joshuda's body as a representation of third world countries while the big house represents the capitalist bourgeois in the developed world. While the capitalist powers have always been a source of contention in India, the author explains that by creating such vast social divisions, we are actually fostering the very capitalist forces that we otherwise vehemently oppose. Spivak in her analysis of the story thus asserts that the fictional character Jashoda 'calls into question that aspect of Western Marxist feminism which, from the point of view of work, trivializes the theory of value and, from the point of view of mothering as work, ignores the mother as subject' (Spivak 1987:258). 'Breast Giver', further argues that in this story 'we see cancer rather than the clitoral orgasm as the excess of the woman's body' (Spivak 1993:90). Breast giver highlights in almost dramatic fashion the exploitation of a woman's body in much the same way as colonies of imperial powers had once been exploited. The gruesome death of Jashoda from breast cancer is another important highlight of this work as Spivak notices the importance of the phrase, 'The sores on her breast kept mocking her with a hundred mouths, a hundred eyes' (Spivak 1987:260). Sula is the story of two black women coming of age in Ohio sometime during the two world wars. Sula is wild and aggressive woman with an individualistic streak and a strong desire to break free of tradition and rules. Nel on the other hand is the compassionate gentle figure that can best be described as a 'nice' person. But Sula is not interested in being the conformist. She is an independent woman whose personality is largely shaped by the place she lived in- Bottom. Bottom was not even half as good as it was made out

Training and Development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Training and Development - Research Paper Example Pascale et al. (1997) argue that the companies excel in the present business environment when a large percentage of employees contemplate deeply about the success of the organization. The feeling motivates employees to take a greater interest in activities of the organization creating increased involvement of the employees in the organization. Dickson (2011) defines employee engagement as a feeling of passion, commitment, and energy that transforms into taking initiative, increased innovation and persistency with the tasks. In a survey carried out by Melcrum, a research and training consultancy firm, it was found that 27 percent of the organizations undertook a dedicated engagement program while 54 percent of the organizations took engagement as a routine philosophy ingrained in overall employee practices. This proves that organizations do recognize the employee engagement as an important ingredient for their success. Bradford (2012) argues that aligning everyone to the organization strategy is critical to achieve what organization has earmarked as its strategic goal in the short as well as long run. Bradford outlines five basic steps to establish employees’ alignment with the company strategy. At the outset, employees must be imparted with the conceptual tools so as to have a good strategic thinking about the work. The examples of such tools are training and role models. That is to say, employees must have freedom to make strategic decisions in line with the company's strategy. It is necessary that employees understand the basics of business to see that the strategy is going to make their organization better, enhance their job security and chances of promotions. Without such conceptual tools, it will be difficult to achieve employee engagement. Secondly, employees must have clear understanding about strategy of the organization. Employees aligned with strategy of the organization will have more focused objective before them. Bradford suggests that the best way of aligning employees is to make it their strategy. It is better to involve as many people as possible in

International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics Essay

International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics - Essay Example In Euros this would amount to 100,000/1.4950=66889.63. The ask rate is being used because the buyer of the share would first sell the Euros in the American market to get a 100,000 dollars to buy the shares. b) If you sell the shares you would receive 110,000 in USD. The buying rate would be used because the seller would have to buy the Euros from the market after selling in dollars. Therefore they would receive 110,000/1.4550 = 75601.37 Euros c) The cost of the broker when buying the shares= 100,000 *0.2%= 200 In Euros this cost would be 200/1.4950=133.77 Cost in Dollars = 100200 Cost in Euros =67023.409 Cost of the broker commission when selling the shares= 110,000 * 0.2%= 220 In Euros this cost would be= 220/1.4550=151,20, as the investor would buy from Dollars to pay the commission. The total proceeds would be 109,780 USD and 75752.58 Euro. 2 You are the manager of an American pension fund and decide, on January 5, to buy ten thousand shares of British Airways listed in London. Yo u sell them on February 5. Here are the quotes that you can use: January 5 British Airways share price (?): Buying = 3.50 and selling = 3.52 Exchange rate (dollars per pound): Buying =1.5000 and selling = 1.5040 February 5 British Airways share price (?): Buying = 3.81 and selling 3.83 Exchange rate (dollars per pound): Buying =1.4500 and selling = 1.4540 You must pay the U.K. broker a commission of 0.2% of the transaction value (on the purchase and on the sale). (a) What is your sterling rate of return on the operation? (b) What is your dollar rate of return on the operation? Answers: Buying Cost in Pounds: 3.5 *10,000 = 35000 ? Buying Cost in USD: 35,000 *1.5= 52500 USD Commission on Purchase: 35000*0.2%=70? Commission on Purchase USD= 70 * 1.5= 105 Sale Proceeds in Pounds: 3.83*10,000= 38,300 ? Proceeds in USD: 38,300 * 1.4540 = 55688.2 Commissions on Sale : 38,300 * 0.02% = 76.8 ? Commission on Sale in USD: 76.8 *1.4540= 111.37 a) Sterling rate of return Total Investment : 35000 + 70= 35070? Total proceeds: 38300-76.8= 38376.8 Profit= 3306.8 Return= 9.429% b) Dollar Rate of return Investment in dollars: 52500+105=52605 Total Proceeds in USD: 55688-111.37= 55576.63 Profit in USD: 2971.63 Return: 5.648% 3 You are a U.S. investor and wish to buy ten thousand shares of Club Mediterranee (â€Å"Club Med†). You can buy them either in Paris or in London. You ask the brokers to quote you net prices (no commissions paid). There are no taxes on foreign shares listed in London. Here are the quotes: London (in ? per share): Buying at 56.75 and selling at 58.125 Paris (in â‚ ¬ per share) Buying at 78 ? and selling at 78 ? The exchange rates are: Dollars per pound: buying = 1.9450 and selling = 1.9950 Dollars per euro: buying = 1.4850 and selling = 1.4855 What is your total dollar cost if you buy the Club Med shares at the cheaper place? Answers: If you buy the shares in London: 10,000 * 58.125 = 581250 ? If you buy the shares in Paris: 10,000 * 78. 75=787500 à ¢â€š ¬ Cost in Dollars in London Purchase= 581,250 * 1.9450=11,30,531 USD would be required. The buying price is used because investor would first sell dollars to get the pounds to buy the shares. Cost in USD of Paris Purchase: 787500*1.4850=1169437.5 USD The cheaper price to buy the shares would be 11, 30,531 USD. 4 Assume the following quotes: ii Mexican peso/USD 9.3850 –

Factors that affect employee motivation

Factors that affect employee motivation Motivation has to do with the understanding of the reasons why human beings act the way they do. It is said to be the study of psychology and is concerned with explaining all forms of human behaviours (Phil Gorman, 2004). Motivation is a very important aspect of psychology that tries to explain why humans or animals act in a certain manner (David A.H, 1995). Motivation studies have to do with the study of the Human psychology and behavioural patterns, it is an attempt to explain why and what the reasons are for actions we take. Mitchell (1982) suggests that the term motivation represents those psychological process that cause the awakening, direction and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal oriented. It is a psychological process resulting from the corresponding interaction between the individual and the environment that affects a persons choices, effort and persistence (Gary P. L and Christopher T, 2006). Motivation seeks to explain the why of behaviour (Phil Gorman, 2004). When we ask why a person or animal behaves in a particular manner, we are essentially asking about motivation (Mook, 1996). Motivation has generally been related to the need to achieve specific goals. It is concerned with goal-directed behaviours that pushes us towards certain actions and not others and is also the complex process that moves individuals towards some goals (Phil Gorman, 2004). Robbins (1993) defined motivation as the willingness to exert high levels of effort toward organisational goals, conditioned by the efforts and ability to satisfy some personal needs. According to David A. H (1995), Motivation examines two aspects of behaviour; the direction of behaviour those concerned with the influences which cause specific actions in humans and the intensity of behaviour concerned with the strength of behaviour. It is concerned with what causes specific actions, the reasons for actions we undertake and what determines the intensity of such action. Two individuals could be motivated towards a specific goal, say passing an exam. They will both be motivated to read, but the degree or intensity of motivation will usually not be the same for both individuals. Motivation studies are undertaken in order to explain the onset, the direction, the intensity and the persistence of behaviour directed towards the attainment of one or more goals or objectives (Mark R. Z ,2006). So many authors have written and established various motivation theories. The following chapters in this review will discuss on the various motivation theories and contributions of renowned writers in the field of motivation studies. MOTIVATION THEORIES MAJOR CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS. ABRAHAM H. MASLOWS HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY This theory advocates that all individuals are born with natural needs and if these needs are not fulfilled, the individual will be motivated to act in a manner that will enable him satisfy them. Maslow A.H (1954) suggests that all individuals have a series of human needs which are prioritised on an ascending scale, with basic physiological survival needs at the bottom and the more psychological individual needs at the top. Maslow (1954)s Hierarchy of needs stems from Physiological needs (survival), Safety needs, Social needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualization at the top. According to this theory, humans have gone beyond the need of only basic survival needs but are now driven towards greater achievements and high needs up till self actualization. Maslow (1954)s theory also assumes that these needs are activated in a sequential order starting from the bottom and a higher need emerging when the lower need has been satisfied and that after a need has been satisfied it ceases to dominate behaviour. Physiological needs: These are the basic biological needs of man to survive. These needs are food, water, shelter etc. Maslow (1954) believes that humans are likely to be motivated by physiological needs rather than any other need. Once this needs have been satisfied, he is then motivated by the next level set of needs. Safety needs: This refers to the need for security, freedom from fear and anxiety, need for stability and protection. Maslow (1954) suggests that this safety needs are mostly apparent in chaotic societies and when there is a stable, smooth running and good society, this need will not be so desired. Social needs: This is the need for love and social belonging. When these needs are not satisfied, individuals will do all in their power to get affection from family and friends (Maslow, 1954) Esteem needs: This refers to the need for prestige and recognition from others. It refers to the need for development, maintenance of self-respect and respect from others (David A.H, 1995). Self actualization: This is the individual need of achieving ones full capability. It is the satisfaction of reaching what the individual believes to be his/her full potential. Maslow (1954) however, was of the view that very few people manage to satisfy the highest set of needs such as self actualization. Some strengths of the theory; Theory acknowledges that all individuals have in-born natural needs and when these needs are not satisfied the individual is compelled to act in a manner that will enable him satisfy these needs. He has been able to combine both physiological and psychological needs in his hierarchy of needs theory. Physiological having to do with the innate needs and instinctive drives to satisfy these needs in the body. While psychological needs stem from cognitive conscious assessment before actions are taken. David A.H (1995) noted that the ascending hierarchy of needs is not a one way process, if lower needs become unsatisfied, the individual will go back towards satisfying those lower needs. The theory also suggests that the hierarchy does not apply rigidly to all individuals and some individuals may seek to satisfy some higher needs at the expense of lower ones (Maslow. 1954) Pointed out below are some weaknesses of the theory; Phil Gorman (2004) pointed out that the theory doesnt seem to take account of the possibility that people who make small achievements in their lives may feel satisfied and fulfilled believing that they have truly achieved their full potential. He suggests that this may be due to restrictions placed upon them by their social background. The theory does not consider that other factors such as environment and society can influence the individual to act in a particular manner. According to Stanworth and Curran (1973) the theory ignores the way the culture of a society and its subcultures, structure the aspirations and expectations of individuals and groups. Ivan T. R, et al (1992) bares the opinion that Maslows theory barely touches on the role of environmental factors in the development of his hierarchy. The theory is difficult to apply in some situations. Stanworth and Curran (1973) also pointed out that most people who set up businesses would seem to be satisfying the higher level of needs in Maslows theory and going into a business is quite a risky venture. This means they are more concerned about a higher need of opening a business than a lower need, security and risk of having a business. HERZBERG F.W HYGIENE THEORY This theory is primarily concerned with motivation at the work place. According to Herzberg et al (1959) there are basically two sets of factors that influence behaviour; Hygiene Factors (dissatisfiers) and Motivators (satisfiers) Hygiene factors (dissatisfiers) These are factors that do not satisfy the individuals but only keep them from being dissatisfied. The presence of these factors in a work place will mean the individuals will not be unsatisfied but they will not be motivated either. These factors include, good working conditions, good salary, supervision, security, relationship with peers, company policy and administration. Most of these factors are classified as being extrinsic (David A.H, 1995). Motivators (satisfiers) These are those factors that actually motivate the individuals in the work place. They give the individual a feeling of self satisfaction and achievement. These factors are essentially internal and examples of these motivators are need for recognition, personal development and advancement and the need for growth. These motivators are related to the content of the job that allows the individual employee to develop their occupation as a source of personal growth. Employees will be motivated with such factors as they allow them satisfy the need for self actualization (Herzberg et al, 1959). Part of the strengths of this theory is that just like Maslows theory, Herzberg et al (1959) believes that all human beings have physiological needs that can be satisfied with money e.g. Food and water and psychological needs such as the need for self-development and self-actualization. While a major weakness is that Herzberg has also neglected the influence of the environment and societal background as possible motivators. Some of his hygiene factors such as good salary which he suggests will only prevent an individual from being dissatisfied, in some case can actually provide motivation to the individual (David A.H, 1995). McGREGOR DOUGLAS. -THEORY X AND Y McGregor (1960), suggest that there is a direct relation between the way managers treat their workers and workers motivation. McGregor believes there are two major approaches to the management of people and they have to do with a managers view on workers attitude towards work. He formulated the theories X and Y. Theory X In this theory, management treats workers with little or no respect. The attitude of managers towards workers in this theory is based on: The belief that the average human being dislikes work and will avoid it if possible. That most people have to be controlled, forced, directed and punished to get them to put adequate efforts towards the achievement of organisation objectives. That the average human, prefers to be directed wish to avoid responsibility and wants security above all (Evans D, 1990). Theory X is patronizing and makes no allowance for workers individualism. It is based on aspects of management such as discipline and control (David A.H, 1995). Theory Y This theory concentrates on delegation, decentralization, participation and consultation. The characteristics of management here are as follows: External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means of bringing out efforts towards achieving organisation objectives. People are committed to objectives in proportion to the rewards associated with achieving the objectives. That the average human being learns, under proper conditions not only to accept but to seek responsibility (David A.H, 1995). The theory encourages participative management and suggests that for workers to be motivated it is necessary to allow them use their skills within the work place. This will make them feel involved as part of the organisation. ALDERFERS EXISTENCE RELATEDNESS AND GROWTH THEORY (ERG) This theory advocates that in the attempt to achieve individual satisfaction, people are motivated to act in a specific manner (Aldefer C.P, 1972). He suggests that satisfaction relies on the fulfilment of natural needs such as existence, relatedness and growth. Individuals constantly interact with their environment which as an effect in their behaviour. He believes that these 3 sets of needs are able to exist simultaneously and can be satisfied in a flexible order. Existence needs: These needs are concerned with physiological and material factors related to survival such as hunger, thirst, salary and working conditions. Relatedness: This has to do with the need to relate with others in the society. Individuals are motivated to seek satisfaction in their social relationships. Growth needs: This refers to creating the optimum use of existing capacities and the development of new capacities. Satisfaction of growth needs depends on the individual developing to their full potential (Alderfer C.P, 1972). This theory does suggest a rigid hierarchical structure and does not propose that an individual will try to satisfy one set of needs at a time (David A.H, 1995). McCLELLANDS NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT THEORY This theory is also based on three innate needs which are of optimum importance. They are the need for achievement, affiliation and power (McClelland, 1961). Robbins (1993) believes that those who have strong drives to succeed are searching for personal achievements rather than rewards. They have the drive to improve on better ways of doing things. Need for achievement (N.arch): This can be described as the need for success and high standards of personal excellence (David A.H, 1995). It is the drive to achieve success. Need for affiliation: This is the need for a good relationship with other individuals. Need for power: This is the need to want to influence and exert some level of control over others. McClelland (1961) believes that all individuals have each of these needs although the level of intensity of the needs varies between each person. This means that some people might have high needs of some and low of the others. According to McClelland et al (1953), any attempt to understand a persons motivation to achieve must take into account both the personality and situation the individual finds him or herself in. He also suggested that the desire for achievement in a society could be measured from the kind of achievement imagery presented to the children (McClelland, 1961). Stanjworth Curran (1973), pointed out that McClellands theory considers differences between groups in motivational pattern and relates this to social and cultural factors. EDWARD TOLMANSS EXPECTANCY THEORY Tolman E.C (1948), theory suggests that the motivation of individuals is not based on needs or drives but is determined by the presence of goals and the expectancy that their behaviour will lead to the attainment of this goal. He believes that human beings will be motivated in a specific manner when they are convinced that the results of the behaviour will be desired by them. The theory basically harps on individual motivation and the influence of the society. Tolmans theory recognises that people have different types of needs, desires and goals and proposes that the amount of effort people are prepared to put in task depends on whether the effort will produce better performance (Ivan T.R et al, 1992). VROOM V.H EXPECTANCY, VALENCE INSRRUMENTALITY THEORY This theory stems from Tolmans expectancy theory but in addition to expectancy Vroom added valence and instrumentality as determinants of motivation. Expectancy: Vroom Edward (1970) suggests that expectancy is a momentary belief concerning the likelihood that a particular act will be followed by a particular outcome. Instrumentality: This assumes that the behaviour of individuals is influenced by the degree to which additional desired goals can be attained as the direct result of such behaviour (Vroom Edward, 1970). The theory suggests that the amount of effort people are willing to put in a task depends on whether the performance when achieved will pay off in terms of outcomes (Ivan T.R et al, 1992). Valence: This refers to the value of the outcomes. Vroom Edward (1970) suggests that individuals value some outcomes highly and hence desire them and can value outcomes lowly and try to avoid them. He states that we are motivated by the fact that we expect specific behaviours to result in specific outcomes and that such outcomes will have a degree of valence. The main motivation points of Vroom according to David A.H (1995) are The expectancy that specific behaviour will result in that attainment of a specific goal, the value of the desired goal and the degree to which such behaviour is instrumental to the attainment of other additional goals. EDWIN A. LOCKE GOAL THEORY Basically this theory looks at motivation from the angle of motivating the employer. It suggests that when specific goals and targets are set out for individuals, they become motivated in order to achieve the goals. This theory has identified that human beings act in a specific way when they are faced with a particular goal (Locke E.A, 1968). The highlights of this theory are that difficult goals should be set because they result in higher performance, employees should be part of the goal setting and that there should be adequate feedback with guidance and advice (Locke Latham, 1984). Locke pointed out that incentives such as money, participation, competition and praise can influence goals. According to Ivan T. Robertson et al (1992) goals have been demonstrated to affect performance through four mechanisms: Directing attention and action. Mobilizing effort Increasing task persistence. Motivating the search for appropriate performance strategies. Ivan T. Robertson et al (1992) also added two goal attributes that could be relevant for motivation. Goal content the level of goal difficulty and how specific it is and Goal intensity strength and commitment attached to the goal. RECENT IDEAS ON MOTIVATION THEORIES The recent theories on motivation havent really come up with any new idea very different from what other older writers on the subject have written; instead they have built on it to make it more adaptable to the changing environment and human perspective. SHEILA RITCHIE AND PETER MARTIN 12 FACTORS OF MOTIVATION They gathered a list of factors that affected motivation in the work place and finally trimmed them down to 12 basic factors. Their observation method was to create a self assessment profile which was developed in other to find out what motivated people and also to weight the factors against each other. Their result was a unique motivational profile for each person which gave the relative strength of each factor when compared to each other. The 12 factors were developed from older theories of motivation (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). The 12 factors of motivation pointed out by Sheila R Peter M (1999) where: Money and tangible rewards: This is where money and tangible result is the overwhelming driving force. Where money is the motivator, people so inclined will be ready to tolerate any amount of boredom, work long hours. Undertake repetitive task over periods of months and years and even put work before family. People who have high money needs will regard their physical conditions at work with complete indifference. This factor relates to Tolman and Vrooms expectancy theory where they suggest that individuals act in a particular way when they expect a kind of reward that, they value (Vroom Edward, 1970). Physical condition: In their theory, physical conditions have to do with those physical factors that could motivate in a work place. This touches on the work space, work environment and how comfortable it is. Some people could be motivated by the mare fact that they work in a very comfortable and beautiful environment. However, they pointed out that physical factors in relation to other motivating factors are not seen as very important. Structure: This has to do with the organisational structure and administration of a work place. They believe that people with differing structure requirements need to be motivated in significantly different ways, the right approach motivates and the wrong approach will de-motivate. They suggest that very high structured people need to know where they stand. They need to know the rules and be assured that they have followed the right procedures. Anxiety may be the root cause of their desire for structure and may find a lack of structure very stressful. Some features of structure include timing, rules and procedures, societys norm and expectation, planning, good communication and information circulation etc (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). People Contact: People with this factor enjoy dealing with other people and derive comfort and satisfaction from having a number of others around them. They would prefer to work with other people nearby rather than on their own. Most are likely to be highly tolerant with the rowdiness that working with others entail and will even perform better in such situation (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). This in a way is related to Maslows hierarchys third stage that refers to the need for love and human relationship. Relationship: This has to do with those motivated by the need for relationships. They suggest that this need can be satisfied outside the work place but for organisations based on commitment and trust between employees will need long term relationships between employees. According to Sheila R Peter M (1999), this particular need usually depends on the organisation in question. Organisations were members of staff are interchanged, work shifts and level of skills are low, will not be in need of long term relationships. This is also related to Maslows need for love and relationship needs. Recognition: This factor harps on the need for attention and praise. Sheila R Peter M (1999) pointed out that high recognition needs can make people so dependent on others for approval, that in occasions where there is no recognition, they are unable to act independently. People with high need of this will always take care that they meet expectation. Achievement: Sheila R Peter M (1999) suggests that a strong characteristics of those with a high achievement drive is that they which to do things on their own. People with this need can find themselves voluntarily working long hours and driving themselves hard. They have to be satisfied that the targets they are aiming are achievable. High achievers are likely to be motivated, if they are not achieving they are likely to feel worthless. They will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Motivating such people has to start with the definition of the target (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). Power and Influence: This is the need to possess power and influence others. The ability to lead and influence people used properly according to Sheila R Peter M (1999) is one of the most desirable human qualities. The difference of this factor from others is that it involves people impinging directly on other people. They pointed out that here is also an element of risk that other people might not react favourably. Variety and change: This is the need to always want to do something different. This kind of people we need stimulation to move on to something different with boredom setting in after an initial discharge of energy. These individuals cope better where there is constant demand for new energy and new initiatives. Sheila R Peter M (1999), pointed out that the problem with this factor is that since the stimulation to change does not always arise, there is always the likely hood of uncompleted business or no motivation. Creativity: This concerns the original idea and the development of the new out of the old. They believe that the creative drive has a very important part to play in the organisation. They advocate that those who have the need for creativity to be given an enabling environment for them to operate (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). Self development: This factors shows that people who have high self development needs will judge their work in terms of what it does for them. These individuals are not motivated except it has something to do with their self development. Motivating such people requires an understanding of what they are looking for and an ability to relate what the organisation requires to what the need (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). Interest and usefulness: Sheila R Peter M (1999) believes that the need for job interest or usefulness is higher on average than the need for any other motivator. They stated that Professional and managerial people are more motivated for example by feeling of usefulness or interest than for opportunities to influence, achieve or be recognised. This factor suggests that the work place has to be structured in such a way that the employees find it useful and interesting and that in the absence of this factor, all other motivators will not work to full potential. (Sheila R Peter M, 1999). These 12 factors have covered in a way most motivating factors talked about by early researchers in the topic. REISS AND HAVERCAMPS SENSITIVITY REINFORCEMENT THEORY According to Reiss and Havercamp (1996), sensitivity theory suggests that individuals differ in both the types of reinforcement they desire and in the type of reinforcement they need to satisfy them and that people crave too much love, attention, acceptance, companionship or too much of some other fundamental reinforce are at the risk for peculiar behaviour because normative behaviour does not produce the desired amount of reinforcement. This theory generally postulates the idea of individual differences in reinforcement effectiveness. In discussing the theory, Reiss and Havercamp (1996) defined the concept of reinforcement sensitivity as an individual difference in the reinforcing effectiveness of a fundamental motivator. They mention three key phases of this theory: Reinforcing effectiveness, Individual difference and fundamental motivation. The high points of the theory according to Reiss and Havercamp (1996) are that the theory identifies individual differences in desired amount of reinforcement that is individual differences in rates of satisfaction, as an understudied and potentially important variable, suggesting that because people spend considerable time and energy seeking the reinforcement they desire, these individual differences may predict some person-environment interactions. Secondly, the theory suggests the need for research to identify the fundamental sources of motivation. And finally, that a new theory in the development of psychopathology is suggested based on the assumption that different individuals not only desire different types of reinforcement but also desire widely varying amounts of each fundamental reinforcer. CONCLUSION APPLICATION OF MOTIVATION THEORIES IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY The Built Environment and Construction industry is a labour intensive industry; therefore the application of motivation theories cant be ignored. The nature of the construction industry is different in the sense that it offers jobs which appeal to many people because of their interesting, challenging and rewarding nature (Birchall D.W 1977). According to Olomolaiye Ogunlana (1988) construction operatives in developing countries are faced with many problems unlike those experienced by their counterparts in developed countries. They believe the construction environment is different in terms of site organisation, quality of supervision and availability of production resources, so also is their socio-economic environment. This environment produces a different worker probably motivated by different factors. In this situation, even when we have highly motivated labour force, it is not right to assume that their motivation will lead to higher productivity. Inability to produce as expected, could lead to frustration and de-motivation. Essentially, extrinsic factors such as good working condition, availability working materials and resources can go a long way in motivation construction workers in developing countries. In the construction industry like every other industry productivity is paramount. The motivation theories discussed in the earlier chapters have shown that productivity of workers is directly related to motivation. When workers are highly motivated the will put more efforts in order to achieve self-fulfilment from doing so, and thereby resulting in higher productivity (Lam and Tang, 2003). Lam and Tang (2003), also added that motivation theories such as Maslows hierarchy of needs, Herzbergs Hygiene theory, McGregors X and Y theories, Vroomss expectancy theory, etc. are often applied to increase productivity in construction projects. Borcherding and Gamer (1981) in their view, have pointed out that there are certain factors that will cause dissatisfaction amongst construction workers. The factors include material availability, tool availability, overcrowded areas, inspection delays, incompetence of foremen, etc. and they also suggested that factors like good craftsman relationship, good orientation program, pay. Recognition, defined goals and projects well planned can motivate construction employees. In the application of motivation theories to the construction industry, Maslow and Herzbergs theories form the basis. Once a worker satisfies his/her physiological needs, he will strive towards satisfying safety and social needs. And then later on seek to satisfy the needs of social belonging and self-actualization. In order to satisfy the construction workers physiological needs and increase motivation a suitable salary scheme and employment policy should be established (Lam and Tang, 2003). Lam and Tang (2000) also noted that though eccentric rewards such as salary and financial benefits do not motivate employees to high work performance, they could lower employee dissatisfaction. Construction companies should maintain a high level of security, health and safety policy at work environment in order to satisfy the safety needs of workers. Effective communication will also give them a g=feeling that their jobs are secured. For social and relationship needs to be satisfied in the construction industry, induction programs for new employees should be organised to introduce them to company objectives, other colleagues, the facilities and the working environment. The concepts above will motivate the construction workers in the short term. Lam Tang (2003) also suggested that to motivate the construction employees on the long term, the below listed approaches will come in handy: Proper resource management and job design. Life-long learning programs. Open door communication. Effective rewarding systems. Diverse and contingency style of leadership. Empowering and valuing construction employees. Continual assessments and improvement of motivation programs. In summary the study and application of motivational theories in management is a very essential tool for all managers in all works of life, especially when there are direct interactions with human beings.