Health and Social Care Essay

Introduction The aim of this essay is to review and learn about the perspectives of health and well-being, perspective measures and job roles, factors affecting health and well being, and to do a health promotion campaign. To do this we will look in books and on the internet to research each of these then once we have a good knowledge of them we will produce a campaign to teach to people on a health promotion topic. Defining Health I am doing first part of the essay on health and how people define it. To do this I will be handing out questionnaires and looking through my class notes and reviewing them. There are many definitions of health, but the way you define it depends on the person e.g. â€Å"Being without illness.† this means to have no illnesses or diseases, â€Å"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.† this statement is trying to say you don’t just have to have an illness to be unwell it also depends on your social and mental state, and how you feel about yourself (W.H.O. 1948), â€Å"Just being happy.† this statement is just saying your healthy if your happy with yourself and your life, â€Å"Health is the extent to which an individual I wear skirts or group is able, on the one hand to realise aspiration and needs; and on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore seen as a resource for everyday life, not the object of living. It is positive concept emphasing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.† (W. H.O. 1986) etc. (All of these are from class notes) However these views have a negative and positive point side to them such as â€Å"Being without illness† which is negative, because it’s just saying, if you not injured or you don’t have and illness your in good health, but it also depends on a persons state of mind, and how the truly feel about themselves also this is a bit to straight forward, and in considerate of all the other aspects of health (PI.E.S.) because it just says it in a more scientific way (bio-medical – see the body as a machine). Another view on health is â€Å"Being fit. Being the correct weight and height for your age. Feeling well in your self† (Appendix 2) these is a positive and negative view on health because it sees the fact that you can be unhealthy but still be happy and feel good. Bio-medial Model of Health This model of health dominates all other models of health. The Bio-medical or scientific model of health is when you see the body as a machine, so if it’s broken it can be fixed by repairing the damaged part e.g. Car Person Car wont start Person feels ill Call garage Go to G.P. Service Examination Diagnosis Diagnosis Mended Treatment offered Car runs Feeling better (Health and social care ocr: a. fisher etc.: p 78) This form of health doesn’t focus on the mind or the social circumstance; it focuses on understanding how a disease works or how the person can be cured. An example of some one using this form of health care is when a doctor and other qualified people decide on a treatment or diagnosis for a patient, e.g. looking at medical tests and notes to reach a diagnosis. Also there can be a few disadvantages to this model of health e.g. it’s not as suitable for people with long term illnesses or people with disabilities because they can not always be cured, and this form of treatment can be quite intrusive because of tests etc., so some people may not like it and it may make them feel uncomfortable. Another disadvantage is that because it doesn’t look at the social aspects of the patient’s life they may not find the origin of the problem, so the person could become ill again. Social Model of Health This form of health is more about the origins of health in a social situation such as housing, social groups etc., and understanding where the problem started and finding a better way to test the situation for example cleaning the house for dust so it doesn’t aggravate a person’s asthma. Also due to this health model the mortality has dramatically decreased during the 20th century, because people have found the original source of the problem and done something about it and they did it so you can increase a person’s quality of life and decrease illness. However there are disadvantages to this medical model because finding and solving the problems can be hard and it ignores the biomedical model of health. Government Initiative – Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation For my health promotion campaign I’m doing smoking so this government initiative links into it. The aim of this government initiative is to improve everyone’s health, and the people who are severally affected in particular. By 2010 they want to †¢ Reduce the death rate from cancer in people under the age of 75 by at least 1/5 †¢ Reduce the death rate from coronary heart disease, stroke and other related illnesses in people under the age of 75 by at least 2/5 †¢ Reduce the death rate from accidents by at least 1/5 and to reduce the rate of serious injury from accidents by at least 1/10 †¢ Reduce the death rate from suicide and undetermined injury by at least 1/5 (Class notes) Due to these things the government brought in some measures to help deal with these problems which are tackling smoking which is one of the biggest causes of ill health along with alcohol, also to tackle sexual health, drugs, food safety, water fluoridation, and communicable diseases, to put more money in the NHS, local authorities and the government focusing on improving health. (Appendix 1) Illness – impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism. (http://uk.ask.com/reference/dictionary/wordnetuk/81070/illness) The Illness Wellness Continuum According to The Illness Wellness Continuum the less well you are the closer you are to premature death (as shown by the diagram above left = death right = high level of wellness). This also relates to the government initiative because the government wants to reduce mortality by reducing illness. Reviewing Questionnaires This is a graph to show the amount of people who took the questionnaire and are either service users or service providers. This graph shows the number of men and women who took the questionnaire, and as you can see the main amount of people who took the questionnaire were women. Stop Smoking Advisor The Stop Smoking Advisor works with patients in the community, to provide stop smoking support, treatment and advice set by local and national standards. A Smoking Advisor works with the Stop Smoking Specialists to give one-to-one and group support so their work means they have to travel all around the country to many different places such as health centres, hospitals, community buildings, working men’s clubs, Sure Start buildings etc. To give support and inform people about the dangers of smoking they may do a presentation or bring in videos for people to watch such as the NHS (National Health Service) smoking adverts on T.V., also the advisor may bring in graphic pictures to shock people and make them understand what they’re doing to their bodies’ e.g. The responsibilities and skills needed to be a smoking advisor are as follows: (http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?search_db_no=2&selection=911717227&vn=2) Health Visitor Health visitors are registered nurses or midwives who work to promote good health, and prevent illness in the community. But spend most of their day visiting people in their homes and helping with tasks. Health visitors work with many different people in the community such as the elderly, disabled, and the long-term sick, and offers them support and advice to help people overcome their disabilities. Health visitors have many duties they need to do: †¢ Advising the elderly on health issues – telling people about proper care needed to maintain equipment e.g. catheter care. †¢ Advising new mothers on issues such as hygiene, safety, feeding and sleeping – this is because a new mother may not no about all the responsibilities that come with a child so the will need to be informed. †¢ Counselling people on issues such as post-natal depression, bereavement, or being diagnosed HIV positive. †¢ Co-ordinating child immunisation programmes. †¢ Organising special clinics or drop-in centres. (http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/profile429/) To be a health visitor, you should be able to do all these things: †¢ Be able to get on well with all sorts of people – this is because they work with a wind range of people in all different circumstances. †¢ Be interested in and aware of health and social issues –this is so they can communicate with all different sorts of people and be aware of any issues that need addressing. †¢ Have very good communication and listening skills – this is so the patient can trust the health visitor and in turn give better care. †¢ Be patient and persuasive – this is because it may be hard for people to do certain things or they may have learning difficulties which may hinder their care. †¢ Be able to understand body language and other non-verbal communication – this is so you can make the best of a situation by interpreting it. Also it may improve communication. †¢ Be responsible and be good time management – this is also to improve the relation ship between patients and the health visitor because if there late the patient may feel they are not wanted of no one has time for them. †¢ Be able to work on your own – this is because a health visitor mainly works on their own in homes so you need to be independent. †¢ Be mature and be able to deal with distressing issues. Training As a qualified nurse or midwife it is necessary to take a degree or postgraduate course in public health nursing/health visiting if you wish to become a health visitor. Courses last one year full-time or two years part-time and are available at colleges and universities throughout the UK. Courses use both the theoretical (studying subjects such as community practice and public health, counselling and social policy), and practical placements supervised by an experienced health visitor. Qualified health visitors are expected to keep their skills up to date through continuous development. A health visitor also runs immunisation programmes set by the local government initiative i.e. in certain areas different illnesses may be more prominent so they will have different vaccines to immunise them. Factors That Affect Health Factors that affect health can be this such as eating habits, exercise, life style, attitudes and prejudices’, income, physical factors, environment etc. but there are many different views that go along with them, so to see if these descriptions meet with what normal civilians think are right (compared to professionals) I am going to do two interviews with two different people and see if there social factors and financial factors go along with these professional descriptions. Financial Factors Income factors are probably one of the main problems with trying to get good health care, this is when you do not earn enough money to get the things you need to survive and be well. If you do not have enough money to get adequate health care you may become unwell, also if you are unable to afford things such as health food, housing, etc. it could increase your chances of getting ill. Also this may lead to the life changes or factors that affect your health, because you are unable to get what you want and need. Social Factors Social factors or social class are tied in with income because what group you’re in depends on how much you earn. Social circumstances contribute a lot to a person’s health because usually if you’re higher up the socio-economic ladder you will have more money and be able to afford better health care. These social factors also relate to family and culture. †¢ Family – how many people in your family, how they affect your life etc. †¢ Culture – how people live their lives such as following religions (for example Jehovah’s witnesses don’t allow blood transfusions) etc. Poor social and economic circumstances affect health and well being all the way through life. People further down the social ladder are usually twice as likely to be at risk of serious illness and premature death. (Appendix 15) Also in certain classes things such as smoking or binge drinking can be more usual than in other classes. For example: †¢ Children in a lower group are five times more likely to die from an accident, than those in a higher group. †¢ People in class five are three times more likely to have a stroke than someone in class one. †¢ Infant mortality is higher in the lower groups. And all this is mainly because they cannot afford better health care and housing, healthier food etc. (N, Moonie: p138) Life Style People see Life style a choice you make such as drinking sensibly or the practice of safe sex. However, it can be more complicated than that e.g. if you have a low income it may be harder for you to eat healthier than those people who can afford a healthier life style. This is because trying to live a healthy life style is expensive, especially health food because it takes longer to prepare, also if you don’t have a local store that sales heath food i.e. organic things with no preservatives it can be hard. Also due to many other factors such as up bringing, social factors etc. it may be hard to lead a healthy life according to the government views, because doing all the things you may need to do to keep healthy can be expensive so some people may not be able to afford it, also it can be hard to change you ways and if your set in a unhealthy routine you will only get more unwell. A recent survey says 46% of people agreed that there are too many factors out side a single person’s health. (N, Moonie: p123) Attitudes and Prejudices This relates to the preconceived ideal people have about each other and how they act around different people. Environment Factors Your environment is all the things around you that affect your health such as housing e.g. if your child has asthma and you have a dusty house it may aggravate the condition and make the child unwell. Physical Factors This factor is al about you physical state i.e. healthy according to the government guidelines and whether you have any physical disabilities. If you have a disability it may restrict you from accessing all the services you need. Regular strenuous physical activity has a protective effect for heart disease and stroke, builds bone mass, improves posture and helps control body weight. Physical activity can also improve mental health and well-being. (All of these factors are from N, Moonie: p131-145) Interviews First of all I chose two factors that affect health, which were financial factors and social factors, next I came up with eight questions (five on finance and three on social factors see Appendix 12). After creating the interview I arranged a time with two people and asked them my questions. I started both interviews by saying â€Å"all the information I get will remain confidential and it will only be used in my course work†. Financial factors: 1. Does income affect how you want to live your life? Both the people I interviewed believed they don’t always have enough money to live the life they want but for two separate reasons the first person said â€Å"my wages are not rising with rate of inflation† so this person doesn’t believe they earn enough with the cost of things in this country i.e. things cost more because of inflation. The second person said â€Å"some times I don’t have enough money to do the things I want e.g. go away on holiday with my friends. But I am unemployed at the moment so that doesn’t help† so the reason this person cannot afford the life style they want is because they are unemployed and are currently out of money. 2. Or how does your life affect your income? Both the people say their social lives and bills are too expensive so they don’t always have the amount of money they want. 3. What things do you feel you are unable to access due to your income? Person 1 – this person doesn’t believe they can access holidays etc. so in other words time to relax and get away. Person 2 – this person believes that they are unable to socialise some times because of their income and this is a major part of their life. 4. What things do you feel you are able to access due to your income? Both people feel they are able to access all the important and necessary things and the stuff they want to do for themselves. 5. Do you think your income affects your health in any way? Both believe that there income doesn’t affect their life in any major way. Social Factors: 6. Do you follow your friend’s example i.e. peer pressure? Person 1 – this person does the things they want to do when they want to do them and doesn’t follow their friend’s example. Person 2 – this person says â€Å"Yes, but not peer pressure† so they follow what their friends do but they don’t believe there being forced or persuaded to do something they don’t want to do. 7. Is your family a positive or negative affect on your life and health? Person 1 – this person thinks that their family are a positive affect on their life. Person 2 – person 2 thinks â€Å"Yes and no because my family are just annoying and stress me out, but the support me when I need it†. Like in most families some things get on each others nerves but when you really need them they are there for you. 8. Does your social class affect your life style or health? Person 1 – they think there social class doesn’t affect their life in any way. Person 2 – they think that it does because if they were higher up the ladder they would have more money and be able to do more of the things they want and need. In conclusion my primary research (the interviews) show that the definitions of the two factors I chose are correct and they say the same as the interviewees but in more detail. My definition gathered from research in books etc. â€Å"this is when you do not earn enough money to get the things you need to survive and be well. If you do not have enough money to get adequate health care you may become unwell† this is basically the same as what the interviewees said i.e. â€Å"Both the people say their social lives and bills are too expensive so they don’t always have the amount of money they want† so in other words both the definition and people say they don’t all ways have enough money do the things they like or access all the things they need. Plan (Appendix 19) Aims and Objectives In a group of three, me and the other people in my group did a presentation to a thirty-seven different people aged 15 – 18 in ten different groups about the dangers of smoking. At the beginning and end of each group we gave them a questionnaire to test their knowledge before and after and we took 12 samples of each from different groups to test if they had learnt anything. We found out that before they only had a basic knowledge about smoking and after they had a more extensive knowledge and knew about smoking and its dangers in better detail. We knew this because we looked at the sample of questionnaires and saw how in much more detail they answered the questions. So we must have had an impact on their knowledge and views. However, we didn’t change some people views on smoking because they were slightly arrogant and just believed their life was their life. Aims: To produce a presentation to inform people about the dangers of smoking and inform people on ways they can quit e.g. NHS help line. Objectives: †¢ To know what’s offered by the NHS to help quit. †¢ By the end they should be able to identify the 3 main diseases caused by smoking and some substances in a cigarette. †¢ Raise awareness that smoking kills. Key Tasks/Activities: To produce: †¢ Make and collect in before and after questionnaires about smoking. †¢ Take part in talking to the people at the presentation. †¢ Posters and leaflets. †¢ Handouts with second hand smoke, dangers etc †¢ Power point presentation with the main major facts about smoking such as second hand smoke, the dangers of smoking, withdrawal symptoms etc. also videos showing the dangers of smoking e.g. NHS adverts from T.V. and shocking things about smoking Results: What do you hope will change as a result of your activities? To help people understand the dangers of smoking and hope they change their behaviour as a result of the presentation. Measures: How will you measure if the described change is occurring? Has occurred? To measure my presentation and see if the desired results have happened I will look at the before and after questionnaires and see if there knowledge has improved. Evaluation Skills: Communication skills I think my communication skills were quite good as I took it in turns with the people in my group to talk to people however one of the other people in the group spoke a lot more than the rest. Also because I was working the power point presentation there was a barrier between us all, so people may not have opened up as much and spoken as much as they might have if it wasn’t there. Team Work and Work Load Yes I believe the work load and team fork was shared fairly. Also I think it was appropriate for the people in the group. Resources used We used quite a lot of resources such as books like Moonie and the NHS booklets also I’ve been on the NHS web site and looked at the stop smoking advice they give. Activities used The activities we used to show people about the dangers of smoking are handouts a PowerPoint presentation with videos and a large poster with lots of information on. Also during the presentation we had small discussions about the material and answered any question the people had. The Environment We did the presentation in a classroom with the others in our class but there was three different groups doing different things. One of the other groups had a loud video, which sometimes overpowered what we were doing and was a distraction. Also we had 2 change rooms at the start because the room was needed for a test by another class, so we had to move all the equipment and reorganise the set out. Health and Safety The only health and social issues I think there were was the electricity we had to use to power every thing however there were floor plugs with caps on and we weren’t messing about with anything. Also all the cables were hidden out the way so no one could trip over them. Were the Aims and Objectivities Achieved? Yes all the aims and objectives were achieved because we saw from the questionnaires that their knowledge improved and they knew the main diseases and more substances in a cigarette. Also we produced an interesting presentation. For example of questionnaires and to see if the people’s knowledge improved see (Appendix 17 and 18) Would You Do Anything Differently Next Time? If I were doing the presentation again I would use a separate room so there were no interruptions, and I would try and be more involved and speak more. Conclusion In conclusion there are many things that contribute to people health such as life style, attitudes and prejudices etc. and they affect different people in different ways. This is why we looked at them in detail first because if we didn’t fully understand all the things that affect health, we wouldn’t have been able to do an affective campaign.

English for Specific Purposes

2 The development of ESP The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley. (Robert Burns) From its early beginnings in the 1960s ESP has undergone three main phases of development. It is now in a fourth phase with a fifth phase starting to emerge. We shall describe each of the five phases in greater detail in later chapters, but it will provide a useful perspective to give a brief summary here. It should be pointed out first of all that ESP is not a monolithic universal phenomenon.ESP has developed at different speeds in different countries, and examples of all the approaches we shall describe can be found operating somewhere in the world at the present time. Our summary must, therefore, be very general in its focus. It will be noticeable in the following overview that one area of activity has been particularly important in the development of ESP. This is the area usually known as EST (English for Science and Technology). Swales (1985) in fact uses the development of EST to illu strate the development of ESP in general: ‘With one or two exceptions†¦English for Science and Technology has always set and continues to set the trend in theoretical discussion, in ways of analysing language, and in the variety of actual teaching materials. ‘ We have not restricted our own illustrations to EST in this book, but we still need to acknowledge, as Swales does, the pre-eminent position of EST in the ESP story. 1. The concept of special language: register analysis This stage took place mainly in the 1960s and early 1970s and was associated in particular with the work of Peter Strevens (Haliiday, Mcintosh and Strevens, 1964), Jack Ewer (Ewer and Latorre, 1969) and John Swales (1971).Operating on the basic principle that the English of, say, Electrical Engineering constituted a specific register different from that of, say, Biology or of General English, the aim of the analysis was to identify the grammatical and lexical features of these registers Teachin g materials then took these linguistic features as their syllabus A good example of such a syllabus is that of A Course in Basic Scientific-English by Ewer and Latorre (1969) (see below p. 26). In fact, as Ewer and Latorre's syllabus shows, egister analysis revealed that there was very little that was distinctive in the sentence grammar of Scientific English beyond a tendency to favour particular forms such as the present simple tense, the passive voice and nominal compounds. It did not, for example, reveal any forms that were not found in General English. But we must be wary of making unfair criticism. Although there was an academic interest in the nature of registers of English per se, the main motive behind register analyses such as Ewer and Latorre's was the pedagogic one of making the ESP course more relevant to learners' needs.The aim was to produce a syllabus which gave high priority to the language forms students would meet in their Science studies and in turn would give low priority to forms they would not meet, Ewer and Hughes-Davies (1971), for example, compared the language of the texts their Science students had to read with the language of some widely used school textbooks. They found that the school textbooks neglected some of the language forms commonly found in Science texts, for example, compound nouns, passives, conditionals, anomalous finites (i. e. mod-.! verbs).Their conclusion was that the ESP course should, therefore, give precedence to these forms. 2. Beyond the sentence: rhetorical or discourse or analysis There were, as we shall see, serious flaws in the register analysis-based syllabus, but, as it happened, register analysis as a research procedure was rapidly overtaken by developments in the world of linguistics. Whereas in the first stage of its development, ESP had focussed on language at the sentence level, the second phase of development shifted attention to the level above the sentence, as ESP became closely involved with the emerging field of discourse or rhetorical analysis.The leading lights in this movement were Henry Widdowson in P

Course Note on Organizational Behaviour Essay

DEFINITION OF ORGANISATION According to Gary Johns, â€Å"Organisations are social inventions for accomplishing goals through group efforts†. This definition covers wide variety-of groups such as businesses, schools, hospitals, fraternal groups, religious bodies, government agencies and so on. There are three significant aspects in the above definition, which require further analysis. They are as follows: Social Inventions: The word â€Å"social† as a derivative of society basically means gathering of people. It is the people that primarily make up an organisation. Accomplishing Goals: All organisations have reasons for their existence. These reasons are the goals towards which all organisational efforts are directed. While the primary goal .of any commercial organisation is to make money for its owners, this goal is inter-related with many other goals. Accordingly, any organisational goal must integrate in itself the personal goals of all individuals associated with the organisation. Group Effort: People, both as members of the society at large and as a part of an organisation interact with each other and are inter-dependent. Individuals in themselves have physical and intellectual limitations and these limitations can only be overcome by group efforts. MEANING AND DEFINITION OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Organisational behaviour is concerned with people’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions in setting up a work. Understanding an individual behaviour is in itself a challenge, but understanding group behaviour in an organisational environment is a monumental managerial task. As Nadler and Tushman put it, â€Å"Understanding one individual’s behaviour is challenging in and of itself; understanding a group that is made up of different individuals and comprehending the many relationships among those individuals is even more complex. Ultimately, the organisation’s work gets done through people, individually or collectively, on their, own or in collaboration with technology. Therefore, the management of organisational behaviour is central to the management task—a task that involves the capacity to â€Å"understand† the behaviour patterns of individuals, groups and organisations, to †predict'† what behavioural responses will be elicited by  various managerial actions and finally to use this understanding and these predictions to achieve â€Å"control†. Organisational behaviour can then be defined as: â€Å"The study of human behaviour in organisational settings, the interface between human behaviour and the organisational context, and the organisation itself.† The above definition has three parts—the individual behaviour, the organisation and the (interface between the two. Each individual brings to an organisation a unique set of beliefs, values, attitudes and other personal characteristics and these characteristics of all individuals must interact with each other in order to create organisational settings. The organisational behaviour is specifically concerned with work-related behaviour, which takes place in organisations. In addition to understanding; the on-going behavioural processes involved, in ‘their own jobs, managers must understand the basic human element of their work. Organisational behaviour offers three major ways of understanding this context; people as organisations, people as resources and people as people. Above all, organisations are people; and without people there would be no organisations. Thus, if managers are to understand the organisations in which they work, they must first understand the people who make up the organisations. As resources, people are one of the organisation’s most valuable assets. People create the organisation, guide and direct its course, and vitalise and revitalise it. People make the decisions, solve the problems, and answer the questions. As managers increasingly recognise the value of potential contributions by their employees, it will become more and more important for managers and employees to grasp the complexities of organisational behaviour. Finally, there is people as people – an argument derived from the simple notion of humanistic management. People spend a large part of their lives in; organisational settings, mostly as employees. They have a right to  expect something in return beyond wages and benefits. They have a right to expect satisfaction and to learn new skills. An understanding of organisational behaviour can help the manager better appreciate the variety of individual needs and’ expectations. Organisational behaviour is concerned with the characteristics and behaviours of employees in isolation; the characteristics and processes that are part of the organisation itself; ‘and the characteristics and behaviours directly resulting from people with their individual needs and motivations working within the structure of the organisation. One cannot understand an individual’s behaviour completely without learning something about that individual’s organisation. Similarly, he cannot understand how the organisation operates without; studying the people who-make it up. Thus, the organisation influences and is influenced by individuals. ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR The key elements in the organisational behaviour are people,, structure, technology and the environment in which the organisation operates. People: People make up the internal and social system of the organisation. They consist of individuals and groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or unofficial. Groups are dynamic and they work in the organisation to achieve their objectives. Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organisations. Different people in the organisation are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in some structural way so that their work can be effectively co-ordinated. Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on working relationships. It allows people to do more and work better but it also restricts’ people in various ways. Environment: All organisations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a larger system that contains many other elements such as government, family and other organisations. All of these mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a context for a group of people. NATURE OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Each individual brings to an organisation a unique set of personal characteristics, experiences from other organisation, the environment surrounding the organisation and1 they also possess a personal background. In considering the people working in an organisation, organisational behaviour must look at the unique perspective that each individual brings to the work setting. But individuals do not work in isolation. They come in contact with other individuals and the organisation in a variety of ways. Points of contact include managers, co-workers, formal policies and procedures of the organisation, and various changes implemented by the organisation. Over time, the individual, too, changes, as a function of both the personal experiences and the organisation. The organisation is also affected by the presence and eventual absence of the individual. Clearly, the study of organisational behaviour must consider the ways in which the individual and the organisation interact. An organisation, characteristically, exists before a particular person joins it and continues to exist after he leaves it. Thus, the organisation itself represents a crucial third perspective from which to view organisational behaviour. NEED FOR STUDYING ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR The rules of work are different from the rules of play. The uniqueness of rules and the environment of organisations forces managers to study organisational behaviour in order to learn about normal and abnormal ranges of behaviour. More specifically, organisational behaviour serves three purposes: What causes behaviour? Why particular antecedents cause behaviour? Which antecedents of behaviour can be controlled directly and which are beyond control? A more specific and formal course in organisational behaviour helps an individual to develop more refined and workable sets of assumption that is directly relevant to his work interactions. Organisational behaviour helps in predicting human behaviour in the organisational setting by drawing a clear distinction between individual behaviour and group behaviour. Organisational behaviour does not provide solutions to all complex and different behaviour puzzles of organisations. It is only the intelligent judgement of the manager in dealing with a specific issue that can try to solve the problem. Organisational behaviour only assists in making judgements that are derived from tenable assumptions; judgement that takes into account the important variables underlying the situation; judgement that are assigned due recognition to the complexity of individual or group behaviour; judgement that explicitly takes into account the managers own goals, motives, hang-ups, blind spots and weaknesses. IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Organisational behaviour offers several ideas to management as to how human factor should be properly emphasised to achieve organisational objectives. Barnard has observed that an organisation is a conscious interaction of two or more people. This suggests that since an organisation is Ihe interaction of persons, they should be given adequate importance in managing the organisation. Organisational behaviour provides opportunity to management to analyse human behaviour and prescribe means for shaping it to a particular direction. Understanding Human Behaviour Organisational behaviour provides under ­standing the human behaviour in all directions in which the human beings interact. Thus, organisational behaviour can be understood at the individual level, interpersonal level, group level and inter-group level. Organisational behaviour helps to analyse ‘why’ and ‘how’ an individual behaves in a particular way. Human behaviour is a complex phenomenon and is affected by a large number of factors including the psychological, social and cultural implications. Organisational behaviour integrates these factors  to provide* simplicity in understanding the human behaviour. Interpersonal Level: Human behaviour can be understood at the level of interpersonal interaction. Organisational behaviour provides †¢ means for understanding the interpersonal relationships in an organisation. Analysis of reciprocal relationships, role analysis and transactional analysis are some of the common methods, which provide such understanding. Group Level: Though people interpret anything at their individual level, they are often modified by group pressures, which then become a force in shaping human behaviour, Thus, individuals should be studied in groups also.. Research in group dynamics has contributed vitally to organisational behaviour and shows how a group behaves in its norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication pattern and leadership. These research results are advancing managerial knowledge of understanding group behaviour, which is very important for organisational morale and productivity. Inter-group Level: The organisation is made up of many groups that develop complex relationships to build their process and substance. Understanding the effect of group relationships is important for managers in today’s organisation. Inter-group relationship may be in the form of co-operation or competition.

Elephants, Economics and Ivory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Elephants, Economics and Ivory - Essay Example 1) In the external environment of the not for profit industry, identify and critically analyze the dimensions of complexity which impact upon the management of people and organizations using appropriate MPO concepts. What are the implications of these key factors for organizations in the sector? Â  In considering the complex interrelationships of factors impacting the not for profit industry it is important to first consider the inherent conflict of conserving natural resources within a trade orientated international environment. It is submitted that this, in turn, requires a PEST analysis to critically evaluate the key external actors and triggers in people management and not for profit organizations. It is further submitted that the PEST analysis helps best understand the key factors for organizations in the sector. Â  The PEST analysis acronym means the political, economic, social and technological issues that could affect the strategic and operational development of a business, which in turn has a concomitant impact on people management. Moreover, identifying central PEST influences is an extremely useful exercise in summarising the external environment within which a business operates to provide recommendations as to how a business should respond to these influences (Worthington et al, 2005). Â  In general terms, the political dimension will consider the environmental regulation and legal mechanisms in place for enforcement of the not for profit industry’s goals in the relevant sector.

Anishinaabe Social Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anishinaabe Social Movement - Essay Example Anishinaabe children as their first language learn Anishinaabemowin directly from their parents. Anishinaabe and Anishinini distribution started around 1800 to 1900. The spelling of the name Anishinaabe varied greatly with variants ending in -eg/ek for example in Anishinaabeg and Anishinabek) originate from plural of Algonquian, while those that end in an -e originate from a singular of Algonquian. The primary cause of loss or decline of indigenous language such as Anishinaabe in North America is the onset of European colonization and wars in 1492 to 1776. In 1637, for example Pequot war almost brings Pequots to extinction and led to influx of pilgrims who took the land (Simpson, 2000). In 1641 colonists from Europe introduced scalping by giving bounties for Indian scalps. Ojibwe pushed downward along the sides of Lake Huron during these conflicts with the Iroquois and by the end of 1701 they controlled major parts of southern Ontario and Lower Michigan. The Ojibwe, who have been spreading westward for generations, arrive at the land currently called Minnesota. They came across the forest-dwelling people of Dakota occupying there already. The further spread of the Ojibwe group into Wisconsin and Minnesota resulted in contact with the Eastern, or Santee Dakota. In the War of 1812 (1812-1814) America declared the war on British Empire and as a result French and Brits are no longer threats as Anishinaabe autonym. The Treaty of Prairie du Chien established border between Ojibwe and Dakota in the Michigan territory (Minnesota) on August 19, 1825. The Ojibwe people moved to the current homes in Prairie Provinces of Canada where they are calling themselves Nakawē. In an attempt to spread languages of European in the Americas were driven by the desire of colonists’ in push for administrative efficiency, and have now condemned the cultural and racial European supremacy notions (Lipsitz, 2008). After

Human Right Law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Right Law - Coursework Example Nonetheless, it is illegal for a public authority to function against the Article 10 of ECHR. A court in UK will be regarded as a public authority for this purpose. Thus, judges in UK are under obligation to develop the common law in accordance with Convention rights as regards to right to the freedom of expression1. The issue is whether the Home Secretary of UK , can use her power under UK criminal- justice legislation to shut down UKPFs website before the videos can be published, and this can be considered as an abusive of Norman’s right of freedom of expression granted both under HRA ,1998 and under ECHR ,1950? Nonetheless, the UK government has an obligation to safeguard people from terrorists’ menace and in such cases, freedom of expression can be confined to safeguard national security and public order. The right to freedom of speech or expression is granted under Article 10 of ECHR, which is subject to some restrictions such as it can be restrained in the interest of a country’s national security or to maintain public safety or to safeguard territorial integrity. A UK court cannot grant an interim order prohibiting publication of a material under section 12 of the HRA unless it is fully pleased that the claimant is probable to demonstrate at full trial that such publication should not be permitted as held in Cream Holdings Ltd v. Banerjee, 2 and it should have specific attention to the significance of the right to the freedom of expression, the magnitude to which such publication is in the public interest and any particular privacy codes. Due to this fact, it has become arduous to get interim injunctions against the media3. However, UK courts can use their power to protect any religious feelings as held in Wingrove v UK4 where a ban on short film â€Å"Visions of Ecstasy† was sought under blasphemous. It was alleged that the short film was intended to portray the visions of St. Teresa of Avila, in a sexually explicit manner. The

Avoiding plagiarism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Avoiding plagiarism - Assignment Example Another great and common form of academic dishonesty is plagiarism, which affects students in all universities around the world. Plagiarism occurs in different forms and students need to know if their actions constitute plagiarism or cheating as per set rules in the student code at the college. Copying information directly from a source such as a book or website, without giving credits amounts to plagiarism and is punishable because it means the student is dishonesty in matters academic. Another form of plagiarism can occur if students submits an already submitted piece of work by another student or for a different course without giving due credit or even paraphrasing the work. Lastly, fabrication is another form of academic dishonesty and includes a student using fake data or citations when given an assignment to complete. Fabrication will mean that the paper cannot be relied on for future references hence amounting to academic dishonesty. The use of MLA (Modern Language Association) citation style, academic dishonesty by students at Bellevue College can be a thing of the past. MLA, a citation used by English students and mainly those who study humanities in colleges, helps in avoiding plagiarism through proper citation of the source of a given piece of work. According to the MLA style, there are different approaches students can use to avoid plagiarism completely, and be honest in their assignments before submission. The style advocates for proper paraphrasing of work and parenthetical citation to ensure all your borrowed ideas are indicated as borrowed. There are three ways in which students can use MLA citation to avoid plagiarism when delivering their assignments. The first one is to ensure that they cite all quotations and borrowed ideas according to the guidelines of MLA style, such as using the author name or the author name

Spinozas Conception of God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spinozas Conception of God - Essay Example In his writings, especially The Ethics, Benedict de Spinoza logically defined existence and provided logical proof of his definitions. He used logical progressions and relationships among those statements he considered to have been proven to make his conclusions. In the readings consulted, Spinoza did not really argue for or against the existence of God, though he stated that the existence of God was a logical conclusion. He took that as a given. What Spinoza was attempting was a definition of the nature of God and of all existence. What he finally proved to his satisfaction was that God is everything which exists, that God is infinite and eternal and that everything else proceeds from the mind of God, that is, all existence is thought in the mind of God.In the translated work â€Å"Of God† Spinosa began with simple precepts which he related, such as: â€Å"PROP. VII. -- Existence belongs to the nature of substance.DEMONSTR. -- The production of substance is impossible (by Coroll. to preceding Prop.). Substance, therefore, is the cause of itself; that is (by Def. 1), its essence necessarily involves existence; or, in other words, existence belongs to its nature. Q. E. D.PROP. VIII. -- All substance is necessarily infinite.†(Spinoza 7)This proof is at the beginning of his writing, and it identifies â€Å"substance† (something which exists) as being infinite and states the conservation of matter theorem very simply.

Top management do not really have control over strategic direction to Essay

Top management do not really have control over strategic direction to the extent that the design lens suggests. Critically discuss - Essay Example As Michael Porter (1972) opines that core of general management is strategy which he elaborates as: "-------developing and communicating the company's unique position, making trade offs, and forging fit among activities". Strategic position is based on customers' needs, customers' accessibility or the variety of a company's products and services. The definitions of strategy, varied in nature, depth and coverage, offer us a glimpse of the complexity involved in understanding this daunting, yet interesting and challenging concept. For many companies and most of the time, a single strategy is not only inadequate but also inappropriate. The need is for multiple strategies at different levels. Segregated units, known as profit centers for strategic business units (SBU). A complementary concept to the SBU, valid for the external environment of a company, is a strategic business area (SBA). There are various levels such as organizational and strategic levels. Corporate level strategy is ove rreaching plan of action covering the various function performed by different SBU'S. Apart from these levels, occasionally companies plan at some other levels and often set strategies at a level higher than the corporate level. These are called societal strategies. Corporate and Business level strategies derive their rationale from the societal strategy. Societal strategies are manifest in the form of vision and mission statement, while functional and operational strategies take the shape of functional and operational implementation, respectively. Role of top management: Now to implement strategies at various levels various level managers have to do the conscious decision-making. Decision-making is the most important function of any manager. Strategic decision making is the prominent task of the top management. The difference lies in the levels at which they operate. While decision-making pertains to all managerial functions, strategic decision making largely relates to the responsibilities of the Top management. Strategic tasks are by their very nature complex and varied. Decision-making in performing strategic tasks is, therefore, an extremely difficult, complicated and at times, intriguing and enigmatic process. In the process of strategic management the basic thrust of strategic decision-making is to make a choice regarding the courses of action to adopt. The fundamental strategic decision relates to the choice of a mission. With regard to objective setting, the top management is faced with alternatives regarding the diffe rent yardstick to measure performance. Finally, at the level of choosing a strategy, the top management chooses from among a number of strategic alternatives in order to adopt one specific course of action, which would make the company achieve its objectives and realize its mission. Apart from the fundamental decisional choice, as pointed above, there are numerous occasions when the top management has to make important strategic decisions. Environmental threats and opportunities are abundant; that the top management focuses its attention only a few of those. Likewise, there are many company strengths and weaknesses; the top management considers only a limited member at any given time. With regard to resource

The Wife of Bath from the Canterbury Tales Essay Example for Free

The Wife of Bath from the Canterbury Tales Essay Powerful Women What would you think of someone who has been married five times, and uses their body as a bargaining tool to get what they want from their husbands? Would you consider that to be trashy and of low morals or smart and powerful? Or would you compare them to the modern day celebrity? The Wife of Bath from â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† is an older woman who lived sometime in the middle ages, who loves to argue and be right. Elizabeth Taylor is a stunningly beautiful 1950’s actress who was the type of person that †got around a lot† and was sexually scandalous. The Wife of Bath and Elizabeth Taylor relate to each other very closely. The Wife of Bath and Elizabeth Taylor are both women of high class and sophistication. They are also very experienced in the field of love. The Wife of Bath and Elizabeth Taylor were both considered to be very classy women from their time period. In â€Å"The Canterbury Tales†, The Wife of Bath is described to be someone of high fashion, wore expensive clothing, and was materialistic. â€Å"Her hose were of the finest scarlet red and gartered tight; her shoes were soft and new. Bold was her face, handsome, and red in hue. A worthy woman all her life† (Chaucer 466 – 469). Even though the Wife of Bath is not seen as being very attractive, the clothing she wore and her attitude towards people makes her seem like a woman of high class. In comparison, Elizabeth Taylor was famous and known for being astonishingly beautiful. â€Å"Early on, scouts were riveted by the astonishingly lovely child with violet eyes and a sultry, almost adult, beauty. † (Rosen). Taylor, being a famous actress, could afford to wear name brand clothing. Taylor was also very well mannered and the carried herself with high class. Furthermore, the Wife of Bath is known to be the â€Å"experienced† expert on love and sex. During her prologue, she insists on arguing with the pardoner and proves her point until she wins. She â€Å"knew the remedies for love’s mischances, an art in which she knew the oldest dances. † (Chaucer 485 -486). The Wife of Bath, being married five different times, asserts herself to be the know-it-all expert on love. Elizabeth Taylor was also very experienced in the field of love. Taylor was married eight times to seven people. â€Å"The melodrama of Taylors life includes 8 marriages to 7 different men, 4 children, widowhood, affairs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rosen). During the course of her life, Taylor had numerous affairs and scandals. Constantly being watched by the public, nothing she did was kept private. In conclusion, The Wife of Bath from â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† and the actress, Elizabeth Taylor are very closely related. They both are experienced in the field of love. The Wife has been married five times and believes that she is the expert when it comes to love and marriage. She loves to argue with the other travelers and prove that she is right. Elizabeth Taylor has been married eight different times, has been involved with multiple affairs and scandals over the course of her life, and has been in the view of the public eye. They also are considered women of high class. The Wife wears only the finest clothing made of the finest materials. The way she carries herself, she almost thinks she is more worthy and more educated than everyone else. Elizabeth Taylor was famous for and known for being one of the most beautiful women in the country. Since she was an actress, she obviously could afford to wear the most expensive clothing she could find. Overall, the Wife of Bath and Elizabeth Taylor were very similar in a few ways Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. â€Å"The Canterbury Tales.

A Case Study of Change Management from External Forces: Dell Computers

A Case Study of Change Management from External Forces: Dell Computers Two things characterize the business environment today; they are competition and change. Therefore, todays environment puts a premium on effective leadership. In fast- changing, team- oriented environment, managers need effective leadership skills so they can motivate knowledge workers, build self-managing teams, and lead transformation. In 1994, Dell was a struggling, the company ordered its components in advance and manufactured to inventory. Change was needed and was triggered by factors outside the company. The new business model that Dell implemented converted its operations to a build-to-order process, eliminated its inventories through a just-in-time system, and sold its products directly to consumers putting these new supply chain capabilities at the core of its strategy. Dell developed a supply chain mastery that went far beyond the simple pursuit of efficiency and asset productivity. However, the company had to make a series of very difficult strategic tradeoffs to bring its functional activities into alignment with its new business model. (Copacino, 1999). James Burns who wrote a book about called Leadership says changes like these require the guidance of transformational leaders who bring out change, innovation, and entrepreneurship. They are responsible for leading a corporate transformation that recognizes the need for revitalization, creates a new vision, and institutionalizes change. Transformational leaders inspire their followers to want to make the change and attempt to raise the needs of followers by promoting dramatic change in individuals, groups and organizations. Such leaders also encourage and obtain performance beyond expectation by formulating visions and then inspiring subordinates to pursue them. They focus on accomplishing the task at hand and maintaining good working relationship. It is common for the transformational leader to passionately communicate a future idealistic organization that can be shared. He or she uses visionary explanations to illustrate what the employee work group can accomplish in order to motiv ate the employees to achieve these organizational aims. Therefore, a transformational leader could make the company more successful by valuing its associates. One such example is Dell CEO Michael Dell who did it installing one of the worlds most sophisticated direct- sales operations; eliminating resellers markups and the need for large inventories, and keeping a viselike grip on cost. Dells mission statement is be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the customer service experience in markets we serve. With their markets changing so fast Chairman Michael Dell had to constantly focus his companys and employees attention on the companys mission. He has been quoted saying that looking for value shifts in the companys mission companys customer base is the most important leadership responsibility. In other words, Michael Dell had to constantly monitor what Dells customers want in terms of value. He had to stay in close contact with customers, and make sure that everything Dell does, Dell is addressing the customer needs. How do you build such a company? For Dell computers, the answer meant using technology and information to blur the traditional boundaries in the value chain among suppliers, manufacturers, and the end users; it basically meant that there are no intermediaries like wholesalers or retailers to come between Dell and its customers and suppliers; thus, Dell can be much faster-moving company that it might otherwise be. For most computer companies, the manufacturing process is like a relay race; components come in from suppliers, these components are assembled into computers, and the computers are then handed off to be distributed through wholesalers and retailers to the ultimate customers. Dells system changed all that. Dell interacts with and sells to customers directly, so it eliminates the activities of the wholesalers and retailers in the traditional distribution chain. The current economical crises are having a tremendous impact on how companies do business. Even one of the worlds biggest computer companies, like Dell has experienced this recession and had to make critical and dangerous decisions of lowering down the cost of expenses and tightening their belts. Today, Dell Inc. is cutting costs to weather a soft PC sales market, and even founder and CEO Michael Dell is feeling the pinch. The company disclosed proxy information that showed his total compensation declined by more than $200,000 in the latest fiscal year, to $2.1 million. The decline came mainly in the value of option awards, which were higher the previous year. Michael Dell received $931,731 in salary, stock options the company valued at $16,766 and personal security services valued at $1.1 million. Because Dell Inc.s bonuses for senior executives are tied to company performance, Michael Dell did not receive a bonus in the latest year, just as he has not the past three years. (Ladendo rf, 2009). Meanwhile, to cut operational costs and to save funds, the company has shut down factories and outsourced hardware manufacturing. Also, the company has laid off 1,900 employees and shifted its European PC manufacturing operation from Ireland to Poland. Like many companies, Dell has also been looking down the road and plans on spending $70 billion on computer parts from China between 2007-2009. Thats a lot of cash, but this could also save the company in a recession when people do not have much money and want much cheaper computers. Dell also cut 10% in global jobs last year, and announced further job cuts at its Ireland sites earlier this year. But what I found most interesting is the acquisition of David Johnson the former top IBM Corp. in early June. Although IBM still is pursuing a lawsuit against Johnson, saying his move to Dell Inc. violated a noncompet agreement; recent court rulings have freed him to take an active role guiding Dells acquisition strategies. Johnsons hiring cou ld be a signal that Dell intends to buy other companies, a growth strategy it has used less often than many of its industry peers. CEO Michael Dell also is expected to talk about the companys growth prospects, both from existing operations and from any companies that it might buy. Analysts are split on whether Dell will try to do big, transformational deals that would change the makeup of the company, or smaller, less risky acquisitions. A.M. Toni Sacconaghi with Bernstein Research said he expects Dell to make smaller deals as it tries to bolster its corporate-oriented service and product offerings. He quoted Brian Gladden, Dells chief financial officer, as saying the company is unlikely to do big deals and that it viewed its $1.4 billion acquisition of EqualLogic last year as the sweet spot. EqualLogic, which sells data storage systems, is Dells largest acquisition to date. Sacconaghi concluded that for Dell, smaller deals make sense because no obvious transformational targets exist, the odds of successful integration of the acquired company are better with smaller deals, and large acquisitions could distract top executives from the their two-year campaign to turn the company around integration of the acquired company are better with smaller deals, and large acquisitions could distract top executives from the their two-year campaign to turn the company around. (Ladendorf, 2009). One Wall Street analysts who follows Dell Inc. say theyve been impressed by the companys ability to cut costs and generate cash flow in the face of a steep industry downturn. Forward-looking businesses are using IT to target unnecessary cost and complexity, Dell said. Dell Inc. will continue to tap into IT for innovation and efficiency, and doing so now Dell Inc. will set itself apart as the global economy inevitably improves Dell identified three keys to smart IT: Increased standardization and virtualization; Better resource management that reduces IT maintenance; Greener computing that not only reduces carbon emissions but saves on energy costs. Dell itself has reaped the benefits of such IT improvements: facility improvements and a global power-management initiative that switches off computers when not in use is saving the company about $3 million a year and reducing its carbon footprint by some 20,000 tones. (Greenbang, 2009). Today the Dell machine is firing on all cylinders. In addition to being a PC juggernaut, Dell is moving fast into the $10 billion network server business. In notebook PCs, Dell has become the sixth-largest seller in the $40 billion market. Now, Dell is working on ways to combine its PC knowhow with better networking service. Through a partnership with network equipment maker 3Com Corp., Dell is trying to slash the 60 to 90 days required to test computer and networking configurations to just two weeks. Instead of each running independent tests of the same gear, Dell will deliver to 3Com each new computer so that 3Com can test compatibility with its networking devices (Business week). Leading and organizational change can be treacherous; there are no silver bullets or single- shot method of changing organizations successfully. (Ashford University). Single shot rarely hit a challenging target. Usually, many issues need simultaneous attention and any single, small change will be absorbed by the prevailing culture and disappear the change may require the cooperation of dozens of managers and resistance may be considerable. However, whether the required change is simple or complex, technological or structural or the basic organizational change process remains basically the sameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦executives must ask themselves three basic questions. What are the forces acting upon them? What should we change? And how should we change it? According to Hesselbein and Cohen (1999), organizations that take the time to teach leadership are far ahead of the competition. By becoming familiar with the transformational leadership approach and combining the four Is, (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration), managers should be able to handle the unforeseen change more effectively. Transformational leadership strategy must also make sense in terms of the business overall competitive strategy. Today, leaders have to be able to transform their company fast. Socio Economic Inequalities: Health Socio Economic Inequalities: Health Research on health inequalities is grounded in social epidemiology, which explains how peoples social circumstances affect their health (Graham, H 2007:5). Explanatory frameworks have been presented and theories proposed in order to explain the variations in health across social class (Asthana, S Halliday, J 2006:45). This essay will discuss and analyze the sociological theory necessary to understand social class inequalities in health within the UK. Implications for health policy and practice will also be discussed. Discussion: Socio-economic inequalities in health: demographic, mortality and morbidity information: Reports outlined since the 1980s the extent of which ill-health and death are unequally distributed among UK: The Black Report (1980), Health Divide (1988), The Acheson Report (1998), The Solid Facts, WHO (2003), The Marmot review (2010). These documents identified a social gradient in health: socio-economic status (SES) influences health, whereby higher position equates to better health (Caspi, A Poulton, R 2003). From here, sociology found a correlation between mortality against social position. Britton et al (1990), Rosato, M et al (1998), Reid, A Harding, S (2000a)(2000b) Asthana, S. et al (2004) Marmot Wilkinson, (2005) Barry Yuill, (2008) Health Survey for England (HSE) provide information on mortality and morbidity by social class: people in class I have longest life expectancy while people in Class IV have the shortest life span; mortality is greater in Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland and N. England than in S. England; same patterns appear for IHD, stroke and cancer mortality in between social classes, but is less evident for accidents and suicide; risk of developing chronic illness in adult life is high for people with low SES; childhood mortality is more prevalent in socially disadvantaged groups; Sociological theory: The cultural / behavioral explanation: In this argument primary responsibility for the differential between social position and health is placed within the individual, rather than the larger society {a culture of poverty approach}(Matcha, D.A 2003:90). Explanations focus on the way individuals from different social groups lead their lives (Clarke, A 2003:122). Smoking, alcohol, diet and exercise are chosen for detailed enquiry, as they are thought to be voluntary choices (Blaxter, M 1990:113). Social epidemiologists identified a hard and a soft version of cultural/behavioral explanation. Both versions start by observing that health-damaging behaviors are more prevalent among the poor than the socially disadvantaged (Asthana, S Halliday, J 2006). The hard version implies that behaviors are voluntary, the result of individual decisions (Blaxter, M 1990) thus, the fact that people adopt unhealthy behaviors is due to ignorance, recklessness or fatalism (Asthana, S Halliday, J 2006:26). The soft version suggests that rather that seeing health-related behaviors as a cause of health inequalities, they should be seen as outcome or consequences of differences in the material circumstances between socio-economic groups {behavior as a result of culture} (Asthana, S Halliday, J 2006:27). For example, in Britain smoking displays a clear class-gradient: the less advantage social class, the more likely is the individual will smoke (Bartley, M. 2004:65). Townsend, in 1995 shows that 70% of single parents on low income, social housing, manual occupations, with few educational qualifications, are regular smokers. Also, in 1998, The Office for National Statistics showed that levels of smoking for men were 12% for class I and 41% in class V. However, in sociological research focus exists on behavior rather than culture (Woodward et al, 1992; Lynch, Kaplan and Salonon, 1997b) because reckless behavior is not accepted as a definition of culture (Bartley, M. 2004:68). Bosma, Von Mheen and Mackenbach, (1999a) (cited in Bartley, M 2004:66) suggest a direct behavioral model in which people with low status and income are less endowed with intelligence and coping skills which make them unable to grasp the long-term health consequences of things that give them short-term pleasure (e.g. smoking, drinking, etc). Regarding education and behavior Blaxter, 1990; Gran, (1995), Hoeymans et al., 1996 (cited in Bartley, M. 2004) find that education is correlated with health behavior: educated people have a better understanding of health. They also make better use of preventive health measures such as contraception, screening services or immunization. For example, a survey published in 2007 by Health Survey for England (HSE) Healthy lifestyles: knowledge, attitudes and behavior 30% men and 24% women agreed with the statement I get confused over whats supposed to be healthy and what isnt(p. 108). Marmot et al (1981 ) that individuals from class V have high incidence of CHD due to diet being higher in sugar content than in fiber. National Food Survey (1985) shows that low-income groups purchase less vegetables, fruits or whole meal bred. Behavioral explanations view consumption patterns as a reflection of cultural differences in the way people live their lives. Lifestyles are thought to be shaped by traditional views and socially accepted patterns of behavior. The fact that low income may constrain food choice is ignored or rejected (Clarke, A 2001: 123) Critique and weaknesses of the cultural/ behavioral explanation The problem with this explanation is that it separates behavior from the social context in which it takes place and effectively blames the victim of health inequality for the poor health that they experience (Asthana, S Halliday, J 2006:26). Instead, individual decisionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœmaking should be seen in the context of the social structure and of the constraints that impede the behaviors of people. In support to this, Dobson et al 1994(cited in Barry Yuill 2006) researched forty-eight households to observe food purchasing and attitudes toward eating. They found a pattern of life under constant economic restrictions. Also, in 1991, the national Childrens Homes survey on nutrition and poverty finds that 1 child in 10 and 1 adult in 5 skip meals because of costs. Thus, it is not people failing to practice good health habits but their choice is affected by limited funds (Barry Yuill 2006:108). Also, in an HSE survey (2007) 22% men and 20% women agree, it costs too much[to eat healthy] (p. 108). In 2010, The Marmot Review emphasized that insufficient funds to lead a healthy life is a significant cause of health inequalities (p. 29) Although health-damaging behaviors are more common among low groups, these groups also lack: adequate income, decent housing and secure employment. Therefore it is hard to separate behavioral explanation (Gatrell, C.A 2003: 113) from structural/material explanation (poor housing Ġº unhealthy life) and social selection explanation (poor health for low classĠº unhealthy life) Health policy response to inequalities in health linked to social class: Advocating healthy public policies is the most important strategy we can use to act on the determinants of health. (CPHA Action Statement on Health Promotion 1996) Up to date health policies include: The New NHS (1997); A First Class Service (1998); Choosing Health (2004); The Wanless Report (2004) Tackling Health Inequalities (2008); Darzi Report (2008); The Marmot Review (2010) The Marmot review: Policy objectives A-F:  · Give every child the best start in life  · Enable all children, young people and adults to maximize their capabilities and have control over their lives  · Create fair employment and good work for all  · Ensure a healthy standard living for all  · Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities  · Strengthen the role and impact of ill-health prevention. (UCL Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, 2010) Implications for health care practice: Important documents: Choosing health: making healthy choices easier (2004) and Health Challenge England (2006) people need convenience and choice in advice available to prevent ill health. Health care practice can contribute to reducing health inequalities through:  · Assessment / use of evidence: accurate assessment of peoples health promotion needs; linking evidence of practice outcomes to broader changes  · Strategy: population specific health care strategies; getting the promotion/prevention/treatment balance right  · Communication Collaboration: 1.collaboration with people: involving and engaging most excluded; 2.collaboration with MDT: assessing / implementing / evaluating / updating  · Training: improving training and professional development, particularly in relation to work with most disadvantaged  · Service development: being well informed about health inequality trends, impacts and intervention effectiveness  · Service access: reducing financial barriers to health care  · Resource allocation: making conscious, informed choices about priorities. (Wiseman, J 2007) (Choosing Health 2004) The time for action on health and health inequalities Health in the consumer society Children and young people starting on the right path Local communities leading for health Health as a way of life A health-promoting NHS Making it happen national and local delivery Consultation making it happen Assessment suitable assessment of local needs (collaborative therefore patient and public involvement / use of evidence) Strategy Communication appropriateness (methods and means) Service Needs (recruitment, training) Resources (access, materials, skills mix {MDT?, suitable tools and interventions) References: Asthana, S., Gibson, A., Moon, G., Brigham, P. and Dicker, J. (2004) The demographic and social class basis of inequality in self reported morbidity: an exploration using the Health Survey for England. Epidemiology and Community Health, 58, (4), 303-307 Blaxter, M. (1990) Health and Lifestyles, London: Tavistock Payne J, Coy J, Milner P, et al. Are deprivation indicators a proxy for morbidity? A comparison of the prevalence of arthritis, depression, dyspepsia, obesity and respiritory symptoms with unemployment rates and Jarman scores. J Public Health Med 1993;16:113-14. Dahlgren G Whitehead M (1991). Policies and Strategies to Promote Equity in Health. Stockholm: Institute for Future Studies.Davey Smith G, Hart C, Watt G, et al. Individual social class, area-based deprivation, cardiovascular disease risk factors and mortality: the Renfrew and Paisley study. J Epidemiol Community Health 1998;52:399-405. Drever F Whitehead M (1997). Health Inequalities. London: The Stationary Office. Graham, H (2007) Unequal lives: Health and Socioeconomic Inequalities, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education: England Graham H (2004a). Social determinants and their unequal distribution: clarifying policy understandings. Milbank Quarterly, 82, 101-24. Graham H (2004b). Closing the Gap: Strategies for Action to Tackle Health Inequalities. Presentation at the 1st Business Meeting of the EU Project Closing the Gap on 27/28 October 2004, Cologne. Lynch, J.W., G.A and Salonen, J.T (1997b) why do poor people behave poorly? Variations in adult health behaviors and psychosocial characteristics by stages of the socio-economic life course; Soc Sci Med 44, 809-19. Marmot M Wilkinson RG (2005). Social Determinants of Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2nd edition). Williams, A. Cooke, H. May, C (1998) Sociology, Nursing and Health, Elsevier Health Sciences: London Woodward, M., Shewry, M.C., Smith, W.C.S and Tunstall-Pedoe, H. (1992), Social status and coronary heart disease, Preventive medicine 21, 136-48. Mackenbach JP Bakker M (2002). Reducing Health Inequalities: a European Perspective. London: Routledge. Williams, A. Cooke, H. May, C (1998) Sociology, Nursing and Health, Elsevier Health Sciences: London Caspi, A Poulton, R Personality and the socioeconomic-health gradient, Oxford Journalls online, International Journall Of Epidemiology, vol. 32, number 6, pp. 975-977, accessed online on February 27th 2009, http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/32/6/975 The Marmot Review( 2010) UCL Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, accessed online February 29th 2010 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/FairSocietyHealthyLives Social Inequalities in Health. New Evidence and Policy Implications. J Siegrist and M Marmot (eds). Oxford University Press, 2006 Rickards L, Fox K and Roberts C (2004) Living in Britain: Results from the 2002 General Household Survey. London: The Stationery Office; Bambra C, Joyce K and Maryon-Davis A (2009) Task Group on priority public health conditions, final report. Submission to the Marmot Review http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/consultation/Priority_public_health_conditions_summary Wiseman, J. Health Inequalities: Key Trends and Implications for Health Care, Presentation to Primary and Community Health, March 2n 2007

Amazon strategies to manage its inventory

Amazon strategies to manage its inventory Amazon .com called itself Earths Biggest Bookstore because it has been ranked as the best consumer e-business. It sells books, music over the internet. From both market and supply chain management point of views, Amazon has some challenges and strengths. Managing inventory is one of the company opportunities to overcome its financial barriers regarding the warehouses and shipping costs. Amazon follows some strategies to manage its inventories. It had the decision to outsource its inventory to reduce its inventory costs and to sell competitors products on its site to achieve both managing its customer relationship and sustaining its competitive advantage. As its competitors estimate that Amazon.Com has the highest percentage of the e-business bookstore. So, Amazon tries to share its information and outsources this area of its business to improve inventory cost and customer service levels. 1- Amazonstrategies to manage its inventory: Amazon found the decision of stocking the stores with all the possible products was not the right one. Although that the customer might choose not to purchase if there are not enough goods in the stock, It decided to manage its inventory in the season of 2000, following certain strategies. It started from reducing the warehouses, concentrating more on the quality of the products and the manufacturer or the publisher of the products. Then it had to decide the center of distribution it can send its products to and know how to receive and track the product once it was in the warehouse. Amazon also decided to buy its products directly from the manufacturer to sustain its vendors relationships to gain the best deal from them. Amazon.com developed a distribution infrastructure to provide its customers with the fast delivery from the company directly. Its distribution facilities have the great impact on increasing its products that are delivered and shipped very fast to the customers. The quick shipping process comes out of the great availability of the goods to achieve its customer satisfaction. This network distribution is called manufacturer storage with direct shipping which is one of the six distinct distribution network designs. It has advantages and disadvantages. Through this network, manufacturer storage with direct shipping can be appropriated for a large variety of low demand, high value items with several partial shipments. Drop-shipping model is also suitable if it allows the manufacturer to postpone customization, and there should be few sourcing locations per order. Drop shipping is not be suitable to be used if there are multiple locations that have to shipped directly to customers on a regu lar basis. Amazon can centralize inventories at the manufacture and then save inventory costs. Also, Drop shipping offers the manufacturer the opportunity to further lower inventories by postponing customization until after the customer order has been placed. However, when a customer orders several items from several manufacturers such as Ingram and Amazon, this include multiple shipments to the customer and thus increase costs. Also, this business model can has negative effect on Amazons competitive advantage by making no entry barriers for competitors because of its popularity and better margins (Chopra, 2001 ) . In terms of handling costs because the manufacturer has to deliver the order directly to the customer, Amazon developed its software to manage the split shipment if multiple items are ordered. So Amazon needs to share its information with the suppliers to provide the customers with the product availability and order processing to save time and reduce inventories. However, Cachon and Fisher point in their paper Supply Chain Inventory Management and the Value of Shared Information that information technology or software give the retailer the chance to share demand and inventory data faster and cheaper. They investigate how information sharing whether it is traditional information sharing or full information sharing between the retailer and the supplier affects supply chain inventory management regarding reducing lead times and increasing delivery frequency by reducing shipment batch sizes. The result of the study they have done is that the average of full shard information policy in supply chain costs is lower than of traditional information policy. But from Chopras and Meind perspective IT must be fully shared between all the stakeholders; suppliers and retailer. Amazon.com provides its customers with experience from beginning to end and own the whole data which gives them all the information they need about the product availability though the invent ory is located at the manufacturer. At the same time the buyers should have a clear idea about the order processing that is placed at the retailer. By owning such a system, Amazon could achieve high level of customers services because the information is directly linked to the customers in the system. As the company expands its operations, these systems are replicated across the distribution centers. Amazon.coms case is a good examples that illustrates how evolving industry standards can affect data-sharing strategies between customers and suppliers because it does not stock all the books advertised on its site, but shares customers order data with suppliers to speed customers orders.. This system solves the problem of inventory costs because Amazon. com spent US300m in 1999 to outfit the 3 million square feet of warehouse space. Finally Amazon does not need to stock every single item in the warehouse. Instead of that, the retailers or their vendors will send the products without eve r being stocked on the shelves of the warehouses. So, it started to develop its software to increase competitive pressures on all on line retailers in general and to rearrange its warehouses in different regions in particular. Amazons unique strategy is described as change and growing intense competition. Its systems and network infrastructure increase the traffic on its Web site and expanding sales volume through its transaction-processing systems. Amazons main concern regarding its network distribution and software is to avoid the unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times, weakens customer service and impaired quality and speed of order fulfillment, or the postpone in supporting the customer with the accurate financial information. 2) Outsourcing its inventory management: I think Amazon had taken the right decision to outsource its inventory management. In the case of Amazon did not outsourced all of its inventories but it keeps its popular ounces. This was a good decision for many reasons; the major ounces are to cut down its costs and give particular concern on it core activities. It partnered with other distributors for shipping the inventory like Ingram Micro and Cell Star. At the time the partners shipped the items, Amazon concentrated on its e-commerce expertise. Also, Amazon managed order fulfillment while Toys R Us managed the supply processes. Amazon outsourced much of its fulfillment. Although it acquired more than 4.5 million square feet of warehouse space worldwide by the end of 2000, it is using only 40 percent of its warehouse space. Through outsourcing; Amazon increases its efficiencies in distribution. From a another perspective there are Some risks of outsourcing because of the complexity, confusion or unclear decision making, and bro ken information flows in decentralizing, which can be corrected by redesigning processes and improving information technologies. Others thinks that small companies only can get benefit from outsourcing or third party because they need experience and supports in technology. However outsourcing leads large companies to have complex supply chains and many distribution managers (Razzaque and Cheng 1998). Amazon outsourcing inventory contributes to profits through providing its employees and users with the methods and strategies to maintain the firms competitive advantage, adding value to the goods, enriching customer service and assisting in opening new markets. One of the benefits of third party logistics is providing provide their customers experience that otherwise would be hard to acquire in-house. An company should consider certain criteria in outsourcing process such as quality, capacity, labor, scheduling and skill to be important in a make-or-buy decision (Razzaque and Cheng 1998). In Amazons case, it had an agreement with Ingram Micro Inc be cause it is one of the largest wholesale of electronic goods to provide logistics to services for computers at Amazon. com. Moreover, it has great experience in distributing process and customer satisfaction. 3- Selling others products on its website The idea of selling other competitors products on Amazons site is very profitable because the clients can be aware of the prices of others product compared with Amazon. This provides the company with more profits without making advertising to their low price products. It opens new stores on its site to give greater availability of the products and draw more customers. IT gives the customers the chance to turn to Amazon to buy more than books and music especially because Amazon handled the site orders, while the third party company handled the inventory. It may seem at first that a customer always wants the highest level of performance along all these dimensions. In practice, however, this is not always the case. Customers ordering a book at Amazon.com are willing to wait longer than those that drive to a nearby Borders store to get the same book. Customers have the advantages to find a variety of books at Amazon compared to the Borders store. On the other hand, firms that target cust omers who value short response times need to locate close to them. These firms must have many facilities, with each location having a low capacity. Thus, a decrease in the response time customers desire increases the number of facilities required in the network. For example, Borders provides its customers with books on the same day but requires about 400 stores to achieve this goal for most of the United States. Amazon, on the other hand, takes about a week to deliver a book to its customers, but only uses about 5 locations to store its books.

Adam in Miltons Paradise Lost Essay -- John Milton

Adam in "Paradise Lost": Fate's Ruler - and Subject A central problem in John Milton's "Paradise Lost" in the theological issue of free will versus fate, a traditionally much-debated question. Free will is the condition of having control or direction over fate or destiny; the individual shapes his life and future through his actions. The opposing view, complete lack of free will (made famous by John Calvin), is predestination, which expresses the idea that our futures have been foreseen long before our existences, so our actions are preordained, and our paths chosen for us. Milton's presentation of the character Adam wrestles with these ideas around free will throughout Paradise Lost; while he does in fact eat the apple of his own accord, the episode is foreseen by God, in advance. In this epic poem, Milton asserts that man, through Adam's example, exercises free will; but in doing so, he exposes contradiction, makes some absorbing inquiries and asks some engrossing questions. A cursory history of both views would be beneficial here. John Calvin, the famed apologist of predestination, defines it in this way: In conformity, therefore, to the clear doctrine of the Scripture, we assert, that by an eternal and immutable counsel, God has once for all determined, both whom he would admit to salvation, and whom he would condemn to destruction. We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns the elect, is founded on his gratuitous mercy, totally irrespective of human merit; but that to those whom he devotes to condemnation, the gate of life is closed by a just and irreprehensible, but incomprehensible, judgment. In the elect, we consider calling as an evidence of election, and justification as another token of it... ...eversed in a moment of free will; else there is a paradox here that is unreconcilable: how can people both have free will and not have it, simultaneously? In "Paradise Lost", John Milton attacks the theme of free will versus predestination through the actions of Adam, the first man. Adam's actions are unclear -- thus he has free will to act on his own -- but at the same time he is governed by an overriding God who can see past, present, and future. Adam is both the subject and ruler of his fate, in a unique contradiction cleverly set up and expressed by Milton. The writing surrounding Adam evidence Milton's essential believe in free will, but also display his thoughtful treatment of the situation. In the epic poem "Paradise Lost", John Milton carefully weighs the two ideas of predestination and free will against each other, with profound and fascinating results.

Absolute Pitch Essay -- essays research papers fc

Absolute Pitch: A Coveted Ability Jennette Folta Physics of Music Spring 2005 The Basics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Absolute pitch, otherwise known as AP, is a person's ability to identify and produce a given pitch. This is done without the use of a reference tone. Pitch is determined by the number of vibrations per second. There are two types of AP. Passive pitch is when a person can identify the name of the note that is played and active pitch is when a person can sing a named note. Absolute pitch possessors can name a note and denote if the note is sharp or flat. This ability is only displayed in only a small percent of people. It is said that less than one in ten thousand people in the United States possess AP. However, not only humans possess this ability. Songbirds and wolves have demonstrated absolute pitch. (http://www.biography.ms/Perfect_pitch.html) The components which influence the acquisition of AP in humans is debated and is a topic of recent study. Background in Music   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The University of California San Francisco performed research on what causes this ability. One factor they found was the age at which the person had first formal musical training. The number of people who had AP was significantly more if they began learning music from the ages of four to six. A graph of this analysis is shown in figure 1. (Baharloo) Figure 1. Background in Music Genetics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In addition to a background in music, people who have AP are four times more likely to have other members of their family with AP than people who don't have AP. This suggests that genetics play a role in the formation of absolute pitch. In figure 2, you will see the family pedigree of some of some of members who were tested for AP by the University of California San Francisco. Also, they found that a sibling, who has early musical training, of a AP possessor is 15 times more likely to have AP than a person with early musical exposure but who has no family members with absolute pitch. (Baharloo) Figure 2. Family Pedigrees Language   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a study conducted by the University of California San Diego, they found that people who speak Mandarin or Vietnamese had a significantly higher chance of possessing AP. Since both of these languages are tone... ...the ability. Even if the cause of AP is determined, what will that lead to? Will it be easier to aquire the ability? If everyone possessed AP, what will be the effect? Will it lead to a more mathmatical approach to listening or even producing music or will it lead to more musical geniuses like Mozart? Works Cited â€Å"Absolute Pitch† Biography.ms. Baharloo, Siamak et al.Absolute Pitch: An Approach for Identification of Genetic and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nongenetic Components. The American Society of Human Genetics. 1998.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deutsch, Diana et al. Tone Language Speakers Possess Absolute Pitch. 4 Nov. 1999.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University of California San Diego.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamilton, Roy et al. â€Å"Absolute pitch in blind musicians.† Auditory and Vestibular   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Systems 8 Jan. 2004. Boston. 803-806.

Impact of Technology on Business Essay

Every functioning business in the world today uses some sort of technology in order to help them accomplish their goals. Before the age of technology, it was much harder for businesses to thrive because it was harder for them to advertise to their customers, communicate with their business partners, store information, and much more. Today businesses have all those things, and it has never been easier to start up a business, maintain it, and have your business prosper because technology is there to help. Technological advancements have made positive impacts in the business world in ways such as computers, transportation development, and smart phones. Computers and the Internet have helped businesses thrive more and more through out the years. They have done this in many ways, including making it easier to communicate through Emails, storing information without breaking a sweat, allowing businesses the opportunity to have a online store, and making it easier to start up a business successfully by researching your market needs and identifying your consumers. A research done by the Radicati Group said that â€Å"there are over three billion active Emails in the world today, and there is projected to be over 4 billion e-mails by 2014. † (Radicati, Sara. â€Å"Email Statistics Report. â€Å") This means that more and more people in our world today are becoming tech-savvy, which is good for businesses all across the globe. A countless amount of businesses today use Email as a form of communication between them and their business partners, their own business employees and their customers. Firms Email their customers to keep in touch with them, and remind them that they value their customers. Businesses also Email their customers to inform them of sales, special deals, and new products. Emails also help businesses by helping them communicate to their employees and their business partners. Businesses use Emails to communicate almost all of the time, they use Email for their everyday communication of business goals and even for times of crisis. Another study from the Radicati Group said that there are about 294 billion Emails sent per day, and that a majority of those Emails are sent by businesses. Radicati, Sara. â€Å"Email Statistics Report. â€Å") Email is a very reliable and speedy form of communication that is used by businesses and without it businesses wouldn’t be the same. Another use for computers that has had a significant impact on businesses in today’s world is digital storage. Businesses are able to store information such as their customer’s information, financial data, and future business plans. An article from Marketingzone. com said â€Å"most important part of marketing is collecting and saving customer information. (â€Å"How to Collect and Save Customer Information | MarketingZone. â€Å") A customer’s information includes things such as phone numbers, home addresses, and Emails. The reason this information about the businesses’ customers is so important is because it is essential to keep a customer’s interest in the company. With phone numbers, the firm is able to call or text their customers and advertise or let them know of a special sale. Storing a customer’s home address is a very significant way for businesses to advertise because it helps enable a way to advertise through mail. Advertising through mail is extremely effective because it makes it so the customer can have a physical relationship with the advertisement, the customer has to pick up the mail and look through it, therefore, the firm makes sure that they are seeing the information given in the advertisement. Having a customer’s Email address is important because it helps the business communicate with their customers while allowing them to do more such as sending links with more information or links to the businesses website. The Internet has allowed many businesses to create their own personalized website and online store. These websites are extremely helpful for today’s businesses because it allows their customers to search and browse inventory, compare products on the website, and then choose and order a product online and have it shipped to the customer’s home address. Purchasing desired products has never been easier thanks to the Internet. These websites have made it so convenient for consumers and also have lower prices than the store. An essay titled â€Å"The Internet Has Helped Businesses Reduce Overhead Costs in the Wholesale Industry† stated that online websites and stores have increased the annual revenue of many businesses, and is becoming a necessity for businesses to have. (Genco. â€Å"The Internet Has Helped Businesses Reduce Overhead Costs in the Wholesale Industry. â€Å") The Internet has also helped businesses flourish by enabling them to research their market needs and help them start-up successfully. Before starting up a business it is essential for a business to discover the geographic and demographic of the potential market. Businesses need to research the best location to open up their store and what their typical customer is like in terms of gender, age, and social class. This research is made easier with the help of the Internet, and without having the Internet; businesses would have a much harder start-up process. Computers and the Internet are two technological advancements that have improved the world of business. These two genius inventions have helped businesses in marketing, communication, start up, and just their every day process of running a business and with the help of these inventions, the business world will continue to blossom. Technological advancements in transportation have greatly escalated today’s businesses by getting rid of trade barriers, and with shipping. Transportation has greatly progressed businesses because it helped the business world get rid of the trade barriers that restricted its full potential. With the introduction of cars, planes and boats, businesses have been able reach out to other countries and make business partners and long lasting relationships with other nations. These forms of transportation helped ensure that all isolated countries in the world would begin to come out of their shell, and begin trading and making business agreements with the rest of the world. If it weren’t for transportation and the globalization of industries, the businesses in the US wouldn’t be able to benefit off of what other countries have to offer such as labor, resources, and property. Labor in different countries may benefit a firm because in poverty-stricken countries jobs are scarce and many inhabitants are willing to work for low wages, and since it is in a different country, there are no minimum wage issues and the firm saves money. This is called outsourcing, a process where businesses contract jobs in foreign nations, thus allowing them to pay cheap wages and expand their product globally at the same time. Businesses also expand globally now by seeking out country’s natural or manmade resources such as oil, coal, copper, gold, timber, iron, mercury or precious stones and gems. All of these resources can be beneficial to businesses and that’s what makes all of these resources desirable. A report written by Julliete Jowit said â€Å"The Living Planet report calculates that humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year, which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water, and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species. † (Jowit, Julliete. ) This means that more and more businesses are looking to other countries to help with the need for natural esources. In certain countries, their most desired attribute is land. Land is a very crucial component to a businesses success because each firm needs property to build their manufacturing sight, and in some cases the land is needed in order to make prerequisite commodities for their final product in order to cut out the middle man and save money. Land in other countries also plays a huge role in the multiplying of franchise names, which include fast food restaurants, clothing stores, and many other stores. An example of a fast food chain that has expanded throughout the world is McDonald’s. McDonald’s Fast food restaurant serves over 64 million people every day in over 31,000 restaurants in 119 diverse countries. (â€Å"McDonald’s. † Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. ) Without the evolution of transportation and the reduction of trade barriers and other restrictions on foreign countries, franchises and other companies would not be capable of extending over the world. Shipping is another way that the invention of high-speed transportation has transformed the world of business. Having the capability to send products across the globe in just a few days is extremely helpful to every company and it’s customers. It assists businesses in spreading popularity, and also helps businesses sell more of their products. Distributing products through transportation has increased brand name awareness for many companies by increasing their popularity. With the help of shipping, more and more firms have been able to distribute their products all over the world, to a variety of different customers, which has severely increased their popularity. The progression of shipping has allowed companies to sell more of their products because it helps them distribute their products to customers who aren’t close to a store that sells the merchandise. 34 Percent of all shoppers prefer to buy their commodities on the Internet and through online shopping, and 80 percent of online buyers were motivated to buy through the Internet because of shipping. (Charleton, Graham 34% of Shoppers Prefer to Buy Online: Report) Shipping offers a sense of convenience to some purchasers because it allows them to buy merchandise without going out to help with their busy schedules. Technological advancements in the transportation industry have helped businesses achieve more sales, get better brand recognition, gain more customers, and create more business partners. The invention and development of smart phones has assisted businesses by making it extremely easy to communicate with partners, deal with doubts and complaints of customers, and has also helped with smart phone applications. Smart phones such as iPhones, Blackberries, and Droids are essential equipment to businesses men and women because they help them communicate. These smart phones help business men keep in contact with their coworkers and business partners by allowing them to call, text or email while on the go. Collaborating with coworkers and business associates is made easy because all they need to do to call, text or email their significant other to keep up with their work. The ease of communicating between business associates allows many businessmen to work while they are at home, on vacation, or anywhere for that matter. Smartphones can help business productivity by providing the means for employees and entrepreneurs and owners to stay in touch with their primary contacts even while away from their place of business. This allows enterprises to grow even while on the move, which gives them a very competitive advantage in today’s world. † (How Smartphone Help Business Productivity | Planet Antares Scam Tips. ) Smart phones also help through means of communication because they allow companies to video chat. Video chat has dramatically increased the efficiency of businesses by allowing them to have a business meeting, even while they are 10,000 miles apart. Video chat is used between all types of business associates and gives all companies a sense of convenience. An article from Huddle. com said â€Å"A company could have an office in China, one in the UK, and one in the US, and they can all collaborate on projects as if they were in the same office together. † (Eddington, Joe. â€Å"How Can Web Conferencing Help Your Business? | Huddle’s Blog. â€Å") Video chat also helps businesses save money by allowing them to communicate and have business meetings without having to travel to a different country or state. Communicating through smart phones has also enables customers to call, email or even video chat with companies when they have a complaint or problem with a product. When a customer has a predicament, it is a simple as either a phone call or email to the company to help them go through trouble-shooting steps to solve their problem. â€Å"Business Support Systems (BSS), and Operation Support Systems (OSS) are two types of support offered by today’s businesses that are essential to help create and maintain customer relationships. (BSS: Business Support System | NetworkDictionary. ) Another way that businesses show support to their customers is by offering live video chat support. Many businesses have live chat links on their company’s website, which allow customers to have a one on one conversation to solve their problem. All of these benefits are given to consumers thanks to the advancements of smart phones. Contrary to the benefits of communication from smart phones, the ability to use applications on iPhones, Blackberries and Droids have also had a significant outcome on today’s firms. Applications on these smart phones assist consumers by allowing the companies to service their customers through the app, or by letting customers purchase merchandise through the application. IPhone, blackberry, and Droid apps all help businesses service to their customers by allowing them to conveniently use the service given from the company on their smart phone. An example is the banking company â€Å"Chase†, who allows their customers to deposit check and transfer money to different peoples accounts through their smart phone apps. (Bruene, Jim. â€Å"Chase Bank’s Jot App Shows the Future of Mobile Transaction Processing (NetBanker). ) By allowing these services through their applications, businesses like Chase Banking help create a positive relationship with their customers. An essay titled â€Å"The Effectiveness Of Branded Mobile Phone Apps† said â€Å"Smart phone apps focus attention on the user, and therefore encourages making personal connections with the brand. † (Duane, Varan, et al. â€Å"The Effectiveness Of Branded Mobile Phone Apps. â€Å") These applications don’t just allow their customers to enjoy services offered by companies, but they also empower their customer to purchase goods with the help of apps. An article written by Christina Warren said, â€Å"Over the last few years, in-app purchases have become an increasingly common way for mobile app developers to enhance their mobile products and services. † (Warren, Christina. â€Å"4 Ways In-App Purchasing Will Change Mobile. â€Å") Many big name clothing brands, equipment-selling companies, and even restaurants allow smart phone users to purchase their product through smart phone apps. An example is Dominoes, whose app lets users order and pay for pizza all with the help of their apps. Dominoes made over 1. million dollars off their iPhone application last year. (Kats, Rimma. â€Å"Domino’s Pizza IPhone App Generates More than $1. 3M in Sales. â€Å") Smart phone applications have changed businesses all over the world by allowing them to sell their products and services through the benefits of their applications. Smart phones have helped businesses become more effective by allowing them to communicate between business associates and customers and with the help of applications. Technological advancements have helped businesses develop and progress through out the years of the technology era. These developments include computers and the Internet, the improvements in transportation, and the inventions of smart phones. These inventions and creations have helped businesses sell more of their products and services, helped create brand awareness for companies, and assisted in creating and maintaining positive relationships with their customers. A world without technology would make a huge difference in business because without technology, these companies wouldn’t have Emails, computer storage, online stores, globalization of their company, shipping, rapid communication or smart phone applications.