Fortuna Shoes Factory

The 40,000-sqft facility is located in Fortuna park, Kunia, Gazipur, Bangladesh. The company is setup as a 100% export oriented company. It will serve both the export and the ever-growing domestic market. Fortuna has already opened retail outlets with trendy designs in Gulshan, Gazipur, Badda, Dhanmondi, Raifles square, Rappa and Sylhet to sell shoes, Leather bags and accessories under its own brand Fortuna. †¢We have our our own leather tannery that can produce varies types of lather and support the factory. By October 2010, we will have our own knife set factory for the cutting section. †¢By October 2010, we will open our last manufacturing factory with Chinese joint venture. We will have the first last factory in Bangladesh. Our Technicians will be from China. This will ensure timely sample making and accurate shape of the shoe. Currently Bangladesh can make only wooden last or have to import plastic lasts from China and India which takes many days. †¢By October 201 0 we will have over 60 different designs from Europe with a capacity to make 4000 outsoles every day.OUR PRODUCTS: Shoes (Gents, Ladies, Kids), Bags (Laptop, Executive), Wallets, Belts, Gift Items (Key Ring, Mobile Holder, Passport Holder, Card Holder, Diary Cover, Band, Cigerate Case, Lagguage Tag ) & Leather Accessories MANUFACTURING CAPACITY Fortuna has established a state of the art shoe manufacturing plant with a capacity to produce 6000 pairs of shoes per day currently. We also have a leather bag and crafts factory that can product about 300-500 bags and wallets a day within the same facility.We can use leather, canvas and other types of materials. PRODUCTION TEAM We have 7 Chinese technicians working at the factory for the production. We have a total of our factory manager Mr. Li has over 16 years of experience in shoe marketing. For each section we have a Chinese technician overlooking the production and to ensure quality. In total we have 7 and there are many more who are g oing to join us once the expansion is complete. SAMPLE ROOM & DESIGN We have our design team consisting of an American fashion designer and three Chinese pattern makers.With over 10 years of experience in design and pattern, we ensure accurate and proper samples for both sampling making and production. We can offer our own collection or you can send us your designs, & patterns which we can make samples. MACHINERY Every stage of the production of the leather goods are carried out using state of the art machines that have been brought from Span, Italy and China. In the following page, you will see a list of the machinery that we currently have and are bringing. Fortuna Shoes Ltd www. fortunabd. com

Nine Dragons Paper Essay

1.How does MRs. Cheung Think?What does she believein when it comes to building her business? Mrs. Cheung is a very innovative person. Her thinking is extremely positive, creative, advance and quite original. She possess perseverance, determination with a business and marketing mentality and with her know-how business approaches, constructed a corporation that was a leading force in the industry. Her creativeness and originality is evident as she was the first to use waste paper to create packaging paper. When it comes to building her company, she believes in expansion, premeditated and tactical planning . 2 .How would you summarize the company’s financial status? How does it reflect the business development goals and strategies employed by Mrs. Cheung? NDP has been investing at an incredible pace – best demonstrated by comparing the company’s cash flows from operating activities in 2007 and 2008 with the cash flows from investing activities. –NDP has clearly been profitable in recent years, and demonstrates a high rate of profitability one would not ordinarily see in this type of semi-commodity based business –NDP’s rate of profitability, however, has been sliding, reflecting rising input prices and greater competitive markets for its products –The company’s growing debt burden is large and getting larger . 3. Is NDP in trouble? How would your answer differ if you were an existing shareholder, a potential investor, or an analyst? The company still appears to be marginally profitable in this difficult business environment,but profitability is a concept which focuses more on the corporate income statement, not cash flows. The result is that it appears the company will need to borrow even more to survive the year. †¢ Existing shareholders are clearly down, and would like to see the company executive management take measures to improve share price sooner rather than later. They are, however, minority shareholders, Mrs. Cheung and family holding more than 70% of the firm. †¢ Potential investors might see the company has a ‘good bet’, given the current share price low and the prospects for long-term competitiveness .

Community Health Framework and Intervention Plan Essay

Community Health Framework and Intervention Plan - Essay Example This report will review several other models and policy initiatives that promote both mental and primary care for the elderly who have mental illnesses and, accordingly, suggest a prevention model. The Federal Government O'Conner et al (2009) point out that federal policy will have to change to realistically begin to face the growing needs of older adults with mental illnesses. The elderly population will be growing at increasing rates over the upcoming decades. The DHHS estimates that 20% of the elderly population have mental illnesses of which 2% are seen as serious. It is a population which requires ongoing mental health services. Elderly with mental illness in general face shorter life expectancy compounded by comorbid medical illnesses and unhealthy and limiting lifestyles that are sometimes characterized by alcohol and drug abuse, poor nutrition, obesity, and cigarette smoking. These characteristics often lead to medical problems of cardiovascular disease and diabetes among oth ers. Mental illnesses may also lie hidden underneath the combination of physical illnesses, leading to misdiagnosis and insufficient treatment regimens. The main concern of federal and state governments toward the mentally ill has been in regard to controlling costs. O’Conner et al outline the various federal programs for treating the elderly mentally ill and explain how these programs have had shortfalls usually in the more difficult area of providing consistent government funding. The authors discuss how federal and state policy struggle to provide long-term care for this population. Initially Medicaid policy did not cover institutions for mental diseases (IMDs) or nursing homes as coded by the Pre-Admission Screening and Resident Review (PASRR) stricture. Also, the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) further confounded housing support for the population. However, the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), recently created to reform Amer ican health, is now enabling states flexibility to create special benefit packages for specific populations. The ACA clarifies the Medicaid 1915(i) provision, the Home and Community Based Service (HCBS) state plan amendment option and importantly provides ways for the state to receive funding help in providing long term services to the elderly with mental illness. Integrated Services Models United States Marion et al discuss a model of integrating primary and mental health care to enable specific targeting of patients with severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI). Their project is an example of public policy planning that could represent coordination of services between a private agency that is federally qualified and an academic nursing school. People with SPMI are at a disadvantage of receiving only episodic and fragmented treatment. SPMI are sometimes typified as succumbing to comorbid conditions where physical illnesses are complicated by psychotropic medications. Substance abuse complicate and raise the risks of such individuals who many times live in impoverish conditions that may involve violent incidents, unprotected sex and poor nutrition. Medical care is not consistent but mainly provided by emergency care centers. One intervention scheme that may involve a measure of hope is social planning coordination between a school of

What is so important about the 14th Amendment How did it fundamentally Essay

What is so important about the 14th Amendment How did it fundamentally change the Constitution - Essay Example One point that shows the importance of the 14th amendment is the issues that it raised with regard to the issue of citizenship in the United States. The 14th amendment made this clause clear as it stated that it offers for the individual born in the United States citizenship. This means that as long as one was born in the United States, they had the right of an American and citizenship (Daniels). This was imperative in that it devolved the constitution to a point where it offers for the nationality and unity of all the people living in the United States. Prior to the formation of the 14th amendment, the United States had gone through many challenges and issues because there was an imbalance and lack of common ideology between the African Americans and the whites (Ames, 2009). However, when the 14th amendment got to play, it clearly got the issue to rest. This was a very important landmark to the African Americans as they began getting jobs without the fear of discrimination by the wh ites. Prior to the 14th amendment, African Americans living in the United States went through a lot of suffering. The whites always deemed them inferior and felt that they did not deserve effective lives in the United States. During those days, the African Americans lived poor lives and did not have a means of feeding their families. Quite opposite to this, the whites were very rich, owning huge areas of land. This much land was important for their agricultural lives. This made the whites require many workers to till their lands. The African Americas that did not have a source of income went to the whites in search of jobs and they were given opportunities though the treatments they received were rather poor. This went on further and turned to slavery. However, the 14th amendment outlined clearly that everybody born in the United States is equal to any other person born in the country and this is important

Women's Right for Equality in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Women's Right for Equality in the USA - Essay Example However, within a glove where the majority of individuals made their individual food, clothes, and houses instead of purchasing these things ready-made, the work that a farm wife did was vital to the family’s essential survival (Fredman 61).  Ã‚  I.  Substitution of subsistence financial system with the marketplace financial system. A.  Change of women’s role from productive to reproductive B.  Reassessment of the gender functionsC.  Emergence of Gender Equality debate A.  Discontent of women with their position in the society B.  Change of government legal position on Women’s liberty C.  The constitutionalization of the rights of groups including minority groups. II.  Debate on the wages and the rights of Women A. Reexamination of women’s wages vis-à  -vis the men’s.   B. Equating women’s workload with the wages in relation to men’s.   C. Revisiting the declarations that affirm fairness to women.

Write up of 'Cameroon Case Study' Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Write up of 'Cameroon Case Study' - Coursework Example However, there are other sickle cell anaemia screening tests unavailable to test sickle cell anaemia in the small laboratory at the Mbetta Health Center. The tests require high cost, a lot of time, and they are by the high temperature and humidity. On the first day in Cameroon at Mbetta Village, the nursing staff referred to me a case of a boy aged 4 years. The boy was clearly unwell; he presented fever, headache, fatigue, pain in the arms and legs. On physical examination by a nurse, the boy`s blood pressure was in a normal range and he had no palpable lymph node. However, the higher left hand abdominal quadrant palpation, auscultation, and percussion signified an enlarged spleen. The nurse noted the boy`s mucus to be pale in colour on examination and the sclera portrayed some elements of Icterus. With no any other abnormal physical signs observed from the boy, the nurse took a venous blood sample and put it into anticoagulant to assist in carrying out a laboratory investigation of the disease. Sickle cell anaemia affects bones, lungs, abdomen, joints, limbs, and lungs (Ohene-Frempong 2006). For instance, pain, swelling, and fever occur when sickle cells block limb veins (Center for children with Special Needs 2006). When spleen traps many red blood cells a mechanism meant to trap the abnormal red blood cells, it enlarges (Maakaron, E. J. n.d.). Lastly, life-threatening cases of sickle cell anaemia occur when red blood cells are trapped in the lung vein to cause Acute Chest Syndrome, which may damage vein in the lungs. It is detected through abnormal breathing and normal blood pressure (Ohene-Frempong 2006). The laboratory in Mbetta village is small and equipped as a basic haematology laboratory. It contains microscope, slides, cover slips, and various stains like Romanowsky stain and immersion oil. It is also equipped with haematocrit centrifuge, glass capillaries, an electrophoresis tank, and a power pack. A

Economics of Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Economics of Development - Essay Example If figures are presented, their source should be included and again, a good essay will identify their value to the argument. Having a healthy, prosperous and peaceful phase of a country stands to distinguish itself as a developed country. Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. From a policy perspective, economic development can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base. The term "economic growth" refers to the growth of a specific measure such as real national income, gross domestic product, or per capita income. National income or product is commonly expressed in terms of a measure of the aggregate value-added output of the domestic economy called gross domestic product (GDP). When the GDP of a nation rises, economists refer to it as economic growth. This economic development effect the individual in the mass leading to a phase either strong or weak hold of purchase power. The ter m "economic development," on the other hand, implies much more. It typically refers to improvements in a variety of indicators such as literacy rates, life expectancy, and poverty rates. GDP is a specific measure of economic welfare that does not take into account important aspects such as leisure time, environmental quality, freedom, or social justice. As we understand in the economic periphery of lives, country's infrastructure and the scope to grow depends primarily on the strategy of the state. If a country does not grow despite their constant strife in fact is due to the inadequate chartering of their visions in the planning. Political unrest, conservative idealism and lack of human spirit are the factors to leave the countries behind the global race. One of the chief reasons of failures in the achievement of economic development in spite the honest motive of a state is social values. Marxist theory of equality and social justice may prevent rapid economic growth like the Capit alist' economy where private authorities contribute more massively to the national growth. DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS FOR BETTER LIVING: AN ANALYSIS Development economics emerged as a branch of economics because economists after World War II became concerned about the low standard of living in so many countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The first approaches to development economics assumed that the economies of the less developed countries were so different from the developed countries that basic economics could not explain the behavior of less developed country economies. Such approaches produced some interesting and even elegant economic models, but these models failed to explain the patterns of no growth, slow growth, or growth and retrogression found in the less developed countries. Slowly the field swung back towards more acceptances that opportunity cost, supply and demand, and so on applies in this regard. This cleared the ground for better approaches. Traditional economics, however, still could not reconcile the weak and failed growth patterns. What was required to explain poor growth were macro and institutiona l factors beyond micro

The rights to language as a civil right Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The rights to language as a civil right - Essay Example One of the rights provided under civil rights is the right to language. Human communication would be limited and impaired if language did not exist. Different languages are widely spoken because of the different racial, cultural, and national backgrounds of the different groups of people in the country. The rights to language, also known as linguistic human rights, allow a person to decide on their own accord what language or languages they prefer to use as a means of communication, whether publicly or privately. (Moraes 43) Language rights were first recognized as an international human right when they were included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. There is a distinction made between language rights and linguistic human rights. Language rights cover a wider range, and one can argue that all linguistic human rights are language rights, but not all language rights are linguistic human rights. Language rights are necessary basic human rights to ensure a dignified life, For example, the right of access to an official language. Linguistic human rights are not strictly essential human rights; they exist to improve on the basic human and civil basic right to language. They are above basic needs making them accessory rights under language rights (Moraes 47) The right to learn foreign languages is an example of linguistic human rights is. Individual linguistic rights are provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These are the Individual linguistic rights are applicable privately or publicly. According to Article 26 contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, â€Å"all people have the right to education with relevance to the language of medium of instruction, for example in the U.S., the Bilingual Education Act (BEA) of 1968 catered to students of Limited English Speaking Ability (LESA). The Bilingual Act, Title VI of the civil rights Act of 1964, was passed following the Civil Rights movement that peaked

A health needs assessment of a community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

A health needs assessment of a community - Essay Example Hounslow is the ninth largest borough in London with an area of twenty two square miles. Chiswick lies to the east and Bedfont to the west. The borough has one thousand two hundred and thirty eight hectares of open space in the form of seventy four parks and recreation centres. The rivers Thames, Brent, Crane, Longford and Duke of Northumberland run through the borough. Hounslow has been historically related to transportation and related services. Hounslow has hotels and guest houses that serve passengers travelling via the Heathrow Airport, located nearby. The Hounslow residential area caters to diverse tastes. It has parks, nature reserves, leisure centres, a pedestrianised high street, facilities for shopping and entertainment, and theatres for lovers of drama, music and comedy. The town centre offers amenities such as the Treaty Center, cafes and the local library around the high street. The economy of Hounslow has been benefited by redevelopment around the region, especially by the creation of new business parks in Chiswick and Bedfont. This has attracted media, pharmaceuticals and technology companies to the borough, besides existing businesses such as GlaxoSmithKline and BSkyB. Residents are employed in the airport supply chain, in industries such as retail, catering, freight, transport, logistics and security. 212,341 people were living in Hounslow in 2001. 104,239 were males and 108,102 were females. The population density (per person hectares) was 37.93. 99.14 percent of the people were living in households. 6.71 percent of the people were less than 4 years old. 12.6 percent of the people were in the age group 10-19. 58.88 percent of the people were in the age group 20-59. The mean age of the population was 35.42 years. The median age of the population was 33 years. 166,863 people aged 16 and over in households. 53.2 percent of these were living in a couple. Among 168,609 people aged 16 and over, 37.7

In-Class Assisgnment #3 (Social Science) Assignment

In-Class Assisgnment #3 (Social Science) - Assignment Example In our case study, we are going to use the Historical research design in finding out the number and different communities that operate within the Diablo Valley College by collecting, reviewing and synthesizing evidence from the past by use of secondary sources and a selection of primary documentary evidence including official records, archives, reports and non-textual information including maps. This will help in deduction of the fact on the existing cultures in the scope of the study (Saunders 2005). The subculture operates in a form of groups based on defining characters such as value, dress and song and are classified into college subculture such as nonconformist, academic, vocational, collegiate and perpetual teenager. Nonconformist type of subculture is involved with the idea of being identified with the adult community in college. They have the value of respect from the junior students who enroll after them. Moreover, their mode of dressing is very formal in order to gain respect from the juniors and to serve as their role model. Vocational culture is characterized by little attachment to the college â€Å"where† students buy their education like groceries. These students are resistant to intellectual demands demand on them beyond what is required to pass the course. They dress luxury clothes and are associated with expensiveness. They are seriously involved in learning especially the activities nad courses connected directly to skills they require to have in order to pursue their career of choice. Collegiate subculture involves those college students that consumes most of the time in college and mostly commute in college hostels having all the campus fun with them. These students are always in books as they have all the time in school without any off college activities to distract them. Similar to academic culture students, this group works hard in college and most ends

Philippines and International Trade Essay Example for Free

Philippines and International Trade Essay What is International trade? International trade is defined as trade between two or more partners from different countries in the exchange of goods and services. In order to understand International trade, we need to first know and understand what trade is, which is the buying and selling of products between different countries. International Trade simply globalization the world and enable countries to obtain products and services from other countries effortlessly and expediently. International trade has been in existence throughout history and has an economic impact on the articipating countries. Trade in most countries has a share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and helps to boost the countrys overall economy on a yearly basis. International Trade for the Philippines is available only to chosen business and companies and is declining, because we import more goods than we export, which affects our countrys economy. Economic development in Philippine economy has been because of high government spending. A hard working service sector and large allowance from millions of Filipinos working abroad played an important role in Philippine economic development. Since the former president Macapagal-Arroyo came into power in 2001 there has been an economic growth of 5%. Still, the Philippines need a further increase in growth rate in order to sustain economic growth. More economic development is required to lessen poverty in the country and address imbalances in distribution of income. It also stresses on high population growth. This paper discusses the uncertain economic status of the Philippines, in terms of its stand in the world market, and its relationship with other countries. The need for new investors and lessen unemployment will be the point of discussion.

Social Media In Present Day

Social Media In Present Day Social media is a compilation of online platforms that allows public to communicate through different type of online features. These connective features can be sharing of knowledge and idea, networking, online discussion, and other content of communicating (Heesters, as cited in Schets, 2010, p. 22). The concept of social media just about existed ten years ago. However nowadays, social media are the fastest growing websites online and can be see there is a rapid and continuing increase in their audience and reach. By catching up with this online trends, there are increasing number of nonprofit organizations are using social media as aims to increase outreach, fundraising and recruitment capacity. Nonprofits exploit the online social networks to offer exponential possibilities for developing personal relationships. Once an organization established a good connection to an individual, that person can leverage his or her personal contacts (Tetrick, 2010). Today, there were about half a billion people around the world have Facebook accounts and nearly 200 million have Twitter accounts. These two social networking sites will be the most popular among internet users worldwide. Statistics illustrated public who are younger, wealthier and better educated in demographic segments use social media more than other groups (Beribe, as cited in Berube, 2010, p. 1 ). Social media able to reach more consumers globally as it continues to grow, especially with social networking and microblogging sites. These are the most commonly sites used for socialization and connecting with friends, parents, relatives, etc. Among all the Social Netwroking Sites that used by the nonprofits, Facebook and blogging got the most attention from public. There were also recent studies indicated that old generations are using social media frequently. Therefore, social media has the potential to widen audience for nonprofits (Pierce Wood Smith, as cited in Hovey, 2010, p.2). The chart below shows how Schets (2010) illustrated social medias key social platforms. A chart of the key social platforms (Source: Adapted from Schets, 2010) The Importance of social media The social media is an unpaid media, it is created by an individual and company on the internet. (Weber, as cited in Kichatov Mihajlovski, 2010, p. 6). Over last few years, social media has become universal and even more significance for social networking and content sharing. The emerging of social media has directly affect traditional media and broadcast media as the main promotional tools. (Asur Huberman, 2010) The main role of social media in an organization is to facilitate communications either with the organization and with one another, or on their own terms. The communications will only be more effective if the organizations target audience is already comfortable with social media tools (Tetrick, 2010). Social media is believe to has more opportunities than traditional media. For instance, blogs allow two-way dialog between an organization and its public (Seltzer Mitrook, as cited in Hovey, 2010, p.2). Moreover, social media platforms allow organizations to freely take advantage of existing social networks and virally spread their messages. For nonprofit organizations, social media sites, such as blogs and Twitter, provide new ways to engage publics in, fundraising, activism, and publicity (Kanter, 2007; Mattson Barnes, Waters, Burnett, Lamm Lucas, as cited in Tetrick, 2010, p. 15). Through social media, non profits organizations share the work of publicity and advocacy with volunteers. Their organizational information is open to public too (Cronk, Fine, Waters as cited in Tetrick, 2010, p. 12 ). Undeniable, it can be clearly seen that both the organizational communication and public relations have a rapid change due to todays internet technologies (Curtis, as cited in Tetrick, 2010, p.1). The previous public relations studies indicate that social media is widely being use in public relations sector, espcially the phenomenon of blogging have the potential to bring dramatic changes to many aspects of public relations. However, they do not use it to the fullest mean (Eyrich Padman Sweetser Kent Xifra Huertas, as cited in Hovey, 2010, p. 1) Accoding to the other public relations studies, the role of social media mainly help the organization to cultivate the relationships with their publics. Moreover, it allows the organizations to react immediately to the problem from their public (Wright Hinson, as cited in Hovey, 2010, p. 2). Furthermore, the internet technologies has become a publicity tool after President Barack Obamas election campaign. By the use of social media, he successfully raise around $750 million. Not only that, he able to mobilize more than 13 million supporters during his 2008 election (Scearce, as cited in Tetrick, 2010, p. 6). After reviewing the previous research studies, it can be conclude that social media is an essential tool which play the role in facilitating the overall communication process. By using social media, it can gain fresh support for the organization. Morover, by making them more immediate, open an avenue to a new audience, it can strengthen an organizations existing communication attempts. Social Media and Youth It can be say that young generations today grow up with the internet. Our young generations have the whole globe at the point of their finger tips. The emerging of the social media somehow is shaping and changing the way our young generations is communicating with others. Social media become their daily partner on the internet world. Through social media, youth able to get their relationship, friendship, information, entertainment, education, etc. It can be seen clearly that there were an obvious changing pattern of media use among young generation in present day (Jalil Jalil Latiff, 2010). The importance of charity awareness Charity awareness plays a key role in which it will create a desire for people to help others. Individual who has charitably aware instigates a sense of fulfilment to those who translate their desire to actions and thus improve the lives of those who are in need (Soft Power Education Blog, 2008). In this study, the awareness towards charity work refers to the capability to have an in-depth knowledge which will educate people more about charity work and encourage more people to be involves in charity work. By having charity awareness, it will indirectly create a desire to aid others. Individual who have charity awareness will try to think of ways and means to build bridges to deliver the task. As a consequence, it will reach a certain goal of fulfilment with oneself through the advancement of the lives of those less fortunate people who are the object of that charitable desire. Link between Social Media Charity Work Awareness Not surprisingly, all charities associations raise funds and need donations in order to sustain their causes. Without those funds, they will hardly survive in society. All the money received by charities is used for the cause each charity is committed to. The received funds used to help needy children and families and even protecting animals from human abuse, while a small amount is use for future fundraising activity. It is very significant for charity organizations to invest in fundraising so that it can attract new supporter and to inform public about the updated events and activities as well as latest information about the campaign. In this study, public who have charity awareness will automatically lent their hands to help those who is in needed. In present day, there were more and more charities use social media to promote their good cause. Basically, social media is a good promotional tool for charities to increase awareness among public. Many charities use social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and other online platform in promoting their causes. Previous research shows that by using social media to promote, it can make the campaign to be successful once done in the right way. CASE STUDY World vision Malaysia World Vision has been established in Malaysia for 14 years. It serves as the support office of World Vision International. It is a charity organization that assists the poor especially children to help themselves. It will collect fund from public then donate to people that in backward countries. There are three main programs in World Vision. They are Child Sponsorship program, 30- Hour Famine program and Gifts of Hope program. These programs aim to help child that is in need. Through Child Sponsorship program, public can sponsor needy children by just donate RM50 per month to provide them education, food and others. For 30- Hour Famine, participants are require fast for food for 30 hours in order to get them experiences the hunger that those children and families endure everyday. Besides, through Gifts of Hope program, public can sent gifts to the needy children or families that select from the catalogue such as school uniforms, livestock for families and others (World Vision Malaysi a, 2006). 30-hour Famine 30-Hour Famine began in Malaysia since 1997. It is known as a global movement against poverty and hunger worldwide. Its main purpose is to encourage public to donate and help children as well as families in need. The fund which collected will be able to help feed and care for tens of thousands of kids all over the world. Since famine intend to motivate ordinary people to care and assist for those unlucky and needed people, therefore participants will get to experiences hunger for 30 hours through the 30-Hour famine campaign that will be conducted once a year. During the fast for 30 hours, participants undertake different activities while learning about some global issues. They also learn what it takes to stop hunger in its tracks. The fast can be done with a group or individually, it is depend on the participants themselves. Due to 30-Hour Famine is powered by World Vision, the donors are not just feeding kids for a day but are helping them overcome poverty for a lifetime. 30-Hour Famine History World Vision was established in Malaysia in 1997. The first 30-Hour Famine in Malaysia was organized by The Sin Chew daily. It was successfully raises for around RM2.6 million. Although the crisis strikes was happened on 1999, but the 30-Hour Famine still continue to roll in. During this period, Fish Leong started to join the Famine and had her first performance. After this, Silvia Chang and Sally Woo become the ambassadors of the Famine at year 2000. The first off- site Famine was held in Penang in this year too. At the following year, HELP University College appeared to be the headquarters of the Famine after the Sin Chew. The Famine was held all together in KL, Johor and Penang. Their sponsor will be E-Excel and Nesh. In 2002, the Famine camp which is with English version was held. Its headquarter, HELP University College is assigned to be the host of both the English and Chinese Famine Camps. At 2003, the SARS epidemic is very serious and forced the Famine have to be postponed from May to July. Due to this reason, the Famine was held in Stadium Juara, Bukit Kiara KL for the first time. In order to show their caring to the community, the English campers visited local charities and presented proposals on their causes at 2004. After that, the first Volunteer Training Camp was held. On the other hand, due to campers form Johor began and ended their fast on the train, therefore, the Famine Express was born. In 2006, the Famine camp continue to gain a lot of enthusiastic responses from the public, an unprecedented number of newcomers join both the Chinese and English Famine camps. The media also play an important role in promoting the camps. During its 10th year anniversary at 2007, it was reported the Famine has been break the record whereby about 10, 000 sponsors, donors, volunteers and campers took part in its largest camp ever. Furthermore, the Famine stared to spread its wing to East Malaysia for the first time. In 2008, the Do it Yourself (DIY) camps were held across the nation. The Famine was also decentralised in order to widen its reach and empower its supporters. Since the issue of global food crisis is getting serious day by day, therefore, World Vision offices in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Australia decided to focus on the Global Food Crisis. In Malaysia, it gain a good response from public in which there are about 100 DIY camps with the more than 10,000 campers joined the joined the cause of fighting global hunger and raise awareness on the food crisis among public. Identity 30-Hour Famine Logo World Visions vision statement Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so World Visions mission statement The mission of World Vision is to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God. World Visions core values The World Vision Partnership shares a common understanding bound together by six core values. With these core values, World Vision able to live and work towards because it treat the core values as the fundamental and guiding principles that determine World Visions actions. The six core values as below: We are Christian We value people We are partners We are committed to the poor We are stewards We are responsive Uses and gratifications Theory (UG) Uses and Gratification theory is a time-honored media use theory. It is a theory which is based on the concept that a person cannot influence by media unless he or she has some use for that media or its messages. (Ruggiero, as cited in Stafford Schkade, 2004, p. 226). Through this theory, it can help to understand consumer motivations for media use. UG theory was started in the 1940s when researchers interested to find out the reasons why audiences engaged in different types of media behavior (Wimmer Dominick, as cited in Ruggiero, 2000, p. 4). UG Theory illustrate how people actively seek out specify media and specify content to generate specify gratifications (West Turner, ac cited in Chasse, 2009, p. 2). Furthermore, it worked to explain media need for individual and individual involvement. Beginning in the 1920s and continue on into the 21st century, some media scholars have practised an in-depth understanding of human interaction with mass media, what effects media will on the audiences and how audiences use media. There are strong connections between media selection and the gratifications consumers seek. (Bantz, Blumler, McQuail, Mcleod, Becker, Rubin Ruggiero, as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569) There are 5 basic assumptions in UG theory. Firstly, the audience is considered active. Second, audience uses media with goal-oriented. Not only that, audience have self- awareness to know and understand well the purpose for using certain media. Third, different people own different type of communication behaviours. They are based upon psychological and social factors. Fourth, these two factors will influence how good media can serve and satisfy peoples needs and wants. People will select which media they like the most. Finally, people are sometimes more influential than media. People will chose other media to get information when they were not satisfy with the current media they chose (Rubin, as cited in Pornsakulvanich, 2005, p.14) By view from the psychological perspective, UG basically emphasized the active role of individual in choosing media to fulfil their needs. This theory normally focused on to explain the way why and how people use the media rather than the way media influence people (Klapper, as cited in Pornsakulvanich, 2005, p. 13). Previous research assumes that audience are actively involved in the media consumption (Rubin, Ruggiero, Severin, Tankard, Windahl, as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569). Some scholars stated that the social media is pull-media in which it aims to provide information that is interest to certain audience, users have to be actively click and type to access those information. It can make user become more goal-oriented and aware in their everyday consumption (LaRose, Eastin, Lin Jeffres, as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569). UG theory has been applied to different types of online content due to different media fulfil different needs (Perse, Courtright, Dun, as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569). Online media play the same role as television, radio in order to provide entertainment, satisfaction and social interaction needs (Ferguson, Perse, Kaye, Papacharissi Rubin, as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569). However, there are still some differences between online media and traditional media. For example, online media enable audience to control over content. By using search engine, internet users able to search for specific issue compared to less interactive media such as television and radio (Kaye, as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569). Nowadays, most of the mass communication scholars point out the UG theory normally is identified to be a sub tradition of media effects research (McQuail, 1994). As Ruggiero (2000) state, the emergence of computer-mediated communication has revived the important of UG theory. Pratically, it provided a cutting edge theoretical approach at the beginning stages of each new mass communications medium such as television, radio, newspapers, and now the Internet. Accoding to UG thoerry, the audience is selective when using media and mostly is encouraged by rational self-awareness of the individuals own needs and an expectation that those needs will be satisfied by particular types of media and content (Katz, as cited in ruggiero, 2000, p. 18). Accoding to few recent researchs, it stated research who has UG involvement which focuses on more advanced communication technologies such as uses of the Internet found few gratifications, which were information seeking , entertainment and diversion, exploration and relationship building (Charney, Greenberg, Kuehn, Tewksbury, Althaus, as cited in Melanie Grellhesl, 2010, p. 24). Television and internet hold the same roles as to entertain, to provide escapism, and social interaction (Ferguson, Perse, Kaye, Papacharissi Rubin as cited in Ancu Cozma, 2009, p. 569). Explanation In this study, those undergraduate students are actually applying the UG approach when they are deciding to look for more information about 30-Hour Famine. Students choose the medium that could satisfy their needs to find out for information that they wanted to know about 30-Hour Famine campaign, and that they are able to recognise their reasons for making media choices by chosing social media. The uses and gratifications approach use to test how the audience uses mass media to satisfy psychological and social needs. As an actice audience, they chose their favour media based on their ability to satisfy their needs. In this study, people who are interested to be involved in charity work such as 30-Hour Famine will try to find out more information about the organization through their favour media. Most of the undergraduates students select social media to satify their need as they are active internet users. Internet is suited well to the UG approach (Kaye Johnson, as cited in Stark, 2009, p. 21). Audience is active due to the internet create a two-way communication. In this study, those undergraduate students are active audience. There were a two- way communication when students posted comment and asked questions on the 30-Hour Famine official website, it can help students to be even more understand about the campaign. Additionally, students who were using the web will actively look out for more information about the campaign by clicking on links and using search engines, hence showing that the web is goal oriented and those undergraduates students were aware of the needs they were attempting to satisfy (Lin Jeffres, 1998, as cited in Stark, 2009, p. 21). As a conclusion, the advanced communications technology nowadays did benefits user a lof in communication. User can have have more choices to select when communicate with others, it also allowed new ways for users to communicate (Ruggiero , as cited in Melanie Grellhesl, 2010, p. 22) For example, social media is a new way for internet users to communicate with each other. By using social media, internet users able to post, view, comment anything in the internet.

Managing Workplace Diversity And Gender Discrimination Social Work Essay

Managing Workplace Diversity And Gender Discrimination Social Work Essay Introduction Most women and men are at a disadvantage in areas of job and trainings, wages and salaries, and are constrained to certain occupations based on their age, colour, disability, sex, ethnicity, without reference to their capabilities and skills. Today, in some developed countries for example, women workers still earn up less than male colleagues performing the same work. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity law, workers have the fundamental human right to be free from discrimination, can choose their employment freely without bias and have the ability to develop their potentials to the fullest. Workers benefit from equality policies through training, equal wages, and overall quality of the workforce. The aim of this essay is to explore the multifaceted problems of unequal treatment of workers as a result of diversity and gender discrimination between men and women at work (the labour market). The study will also attempt to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of diversity and equal opportunity at work, and also proffer solutions for the reduction and subsequent eradication of gender discrimination. To the society at large, bringing equality to the workplace has major financial benefits, and if employers practise equality they would have access to a pool of well organised and diverse workforce. ILO (International Labour Organisation) practices equality as a tool to eliminate discrimination at work and in the society, they also apply gender mainstreaming strategies in the field of labour. Benefits of workplace diversity Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences into the application of work. A diverse workforce of skills, experiences, languages, cultural understanding allows a company to operate globally in providing service to customers and having a variety of viewpoints, and also improving an organizations success and competitiveness as well as increased efficiency and effectiveness (Sharron and Maeve, 2007, p.157). Diversity and equality are linked to HR practices, therefore HR professionals have a key role in the implementing of fair and favourable working conditions for employees, and this indeed is a key challenge. Managing diversity helps to control differences by creating a productive working environment in which everyone, feels valued (Tom and Adrian, 2009, p.346), talents are fully utilised and organisational goals are met. The CIPD definition of diversity is, valuing everyone as an individual, valuing people as employees, customers and clients (CIPD, 2007). However, it is also applied to social groups thereby raising awareness of ethnic and cultural diversity. We live in a multi-cultural society where contributions from different cultures are made to society and culture. Diversity should focus on the positive rather than the negative. Equality opportunity and gender mainstreaming Equality can be defined as combined efforts, equal participation and shared responsibilities involving both sexes in decision making, implementation of policies aimed at maximizing potential production of goods and services. The fruits of these efforts should also be shared equally and both sexes should be given opportunities to exercise their rights. Equal opportunity approaches are aimed only at the disadvantaged and therefore potentially create problems in organisations by constantly targeting the disadvantaged rather than making efforts to ensure that the organisation naturally encourages equality of opportunity for all and sundry. There are six social groups listed in the Equality and Human Rights Commission Literature, the body that regulates and monitors the UKs equality legislation, which are gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. These social groups are protected by law, therefore staff and customers have the legal right to be treated fairly and equally (Kirton, G and Greene, A, 2005). Article VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, bans any type of discrimination based on any social group. In addition, 1963 Equal Pay Act prohibits organizations from formulating gender-based pay discrimination regarding workers who perform same work under similar conditions. Article VII of the 1964 Civil Rights as well set up the USA Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the commission started working in 1965 and has a duty of enforcing the federal acts which disallows workplace discrimination. The focus of Employment Opportunity is underpinned by the notion of social justice or the right to be treated fairly. The following are selected relevant ILO instruments on Equality: Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) This fundamental convention requires equal remuneration for all workers (men and women) for equal measure of work in ratifying countries. Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111) This fundamental convention requires ratifying nations to declare and pursue practices of equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation, with a view to eliminating any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156) The convention requires ratifying states to make it a goal of national policy to enable working men and women with family responsibilities to exercise their right without being subject to discrimination and, as much as possible, without conflict between their employment and family responsibilities. The convention also requires governments to take into account of the needs of the workers in community planning and to develop or promote community services, public or private, such as childcare and family services and facilities. Diversity in the workplace is responsible for and sensitive to the different types of individual who make up an organisation (Sharron and Maeve, 2007, p.159). Organisations need to study the cultures, people and societies they work in, so they can understand and provide for the diverse needs of their customers/consumers. When organisations manage diversity properly, they get excellent results from employees and meet the varying needs of their customers, which is recognised as a factor in business excellence. International Business Machines (IBM) has a long-standing commitment to equality to ensure everyone is allowed to compete on an equal basis. Workforce diversity at IBM excludes no one and serves as the bridge between the workplace and the marketplace. The main issue for diversity management is that managers need to empower all staff to realize their full potential. Companies like Microsoft have had as much as 90% of their market value represented by intellectual capital, human talent, reputation, and leadership. The ability to attract and retain diverse talented people rates more highly, therefore the Government is driving initiatives to encourage diversity and persuade business that there are real advantages to be gained from embracing diversity in the workplace. Diversity focuses on improving opportunities for all staff, respecting and valuing people as they are, rather than expecting them to conform to a stereotype. The global nature of business markets can be seen as a driving force for diversity initiatives. If a companys business is international, its staff must be able to work across cultures, speak the customers language and address any barriers that might exist. A Companys reason for adopting diversity policies are; 1. It is the right thing to do, 2. It is in compliance with equal opportunities and anti antidiscrimination laws and 3. It generates financial benefits that exceed implementation costs (Rebecca, 2005). British Telecoms (BT) recognises that it is crucial for its staff to reflect the diversity of its customers and is able to meet their ever-changing needs. It has introduced a number of initiatives to ensure that more women are recruited and progress in their careers with the company. Diversity policies are used by companies to gain access to talent. BT reports that equal opportunities and diversity policies have resulted in the company attracting 37% of female graduate applicants. By creating a working environment where all employees feel included, valued and rewarded on the basis of their talents and skills, companies increase employee morale leading to improvement in the quality and motivation of the workforce which in turn leads to an improved company performance. Effects of gender discrimination in the work place Learning about sex-roles takes place among men and women during the early phases of their lives, and this can translate itself into an attitude that creates difficulties later in work life, (Larwood and Wood, 1979). A lot of people would concur that these issues and discrimination of women is improper and unlawful and should not be tolerated. Nonetheless, many women have continued to be discriminated in their workplace. As rational people, employers seek to put the right person for the right jobs e.g. when the work demands public relations, appearing on advertisements, employers prefer attractive women as marketers to sell their products. For technical, manual and production work however; they prefer to hire a man, (Tom and Adrian, 2009, p.351). Some employers believe that the cost of employing women is higher and that the productivity of female workers is low due to truncated and intermittent breaks for child bearing and rearing. Women for example are questioned if the family responsibilities could hamper their performance at work and at times questioned about their competency. These beliefs pose particular challenges in decision to employ women at work. The choice of an individual to accept work in a particular occupation or an employers choice to employ either mainly men or mainly women, are decisions influenced by learned cultural and social values that often discriminate against women (and some times against men). The preference is largely determined by learned, gender-related factors which stereotype occupations as male and female. Occupational segregation by sex and Stereotyping The resultant segregation of occupations by sex places a limitation on what jobs male and female can do. The early stereotyping of certain occupations as male and female is one factor that influences the subject choices of children and adults (Archer, 1992). Miller and Hayward (1992) examined childrens perceptions of who should, and who actually does, perform a range of jobs. Both Miller and Budd (1999) and Miller and Hayward (1992) found that individuals preferences remained largely restricted to those jobs that were viewed as gender-congruent (i.e. in keeping with stereotypes about the jobs that are appropriate for their own sex). Boys gave significantly higher preference ratings than girls for nine masculine occupations (airplane pilot, air traffic controller, architect, carpenter, fire fighter, lorry driver, police-officer, scientist and TV repairer). Conversely, girls gave higher preference ratings for seven feminine occupations (dancer, hairdresser, librarian, nursery school te acher, secretary, school teacher and shop assistant). In the UK, research conducted for the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) indicated that parental attitude was one factor which influenced the decisions of young people regarding whether to remain in education or training, or to leave (Payne, 1998). In the USA, Farmer, Wardrop, Anderson and Risinger (1995) have identified parental support as a key factor influencing subject choice. Firstly, the mothers attitude is a key factor in developing the childs own view of the importance of the subject itself; this then influences the development of favourable attitudes towards the occupational area. Secondly, the childs perception of the extent to which their mother believes in the importance of doing well has a positive influence on the childs belief that their success is dependent upon their own efforts, which in turn impacts on their achievement and thereafter on their attitudes (Miller, Lietz and Kotte, 2002). Parental aspirations are usually viewed as an important influence on car eer decisions in general (Erikson and Jonsson, 1996). Schoon and Parsons (2002), also using a path modelling approach has shown that high parental aspirations are strongly correlated with high aspirations in their children and with good academic achievement. Stereotyping against women at work is either due to employers attitude or to what women bring into the labour market in terms of qualification, family demands and feminine differentials. Cultural restrictions Cultural restrictions contribute to the establishment of what is acceptable work and how some countries signify sexual differences for certain occupations. In Moslem countries, Purdah (kirton, G and Greene, A, 2005) effectively forbids women interacting with unknown men in public, as a result, many Muslim women are strongly discouraged from taking sales jobs except in shops where the customers are all women. Women are usually stereotyped to their traditional and cultural roles of child bearing, rearing and home-keepers and are usually disadvantaged in preferences for occupations and promotion. In societies where women are at a disadvantage by sex segregation, parents tend to give their daughters less education than the male thereby adversely affecting the future generation of women and limiting them to the traditional female Occupations (teaching, child-care, nursing, catering). Until recently, Nigerian parents believed that it was a waste to invest in the girl-child because they would eventually end up in the kitchen and were therefore not given formal education but were groomed to attract suitors. Several women are constrained to female jobs in certain sectors either through custom or through the prejudice and discrimination of employers. Some other factors like early marriages affect the education of the female, the role of the woman as helper and not the breadwinner also impedes thei r aspiration for higher challenges. Many women are unable to improve themselves educationally after marriage and childbearing. Glass ceiling Masculine stereotype play a role in determining the occupations which become typically male occupations (engineer, police officer, construction worker, security guard) and of course the breadwinner. There are fewer men in female occupations and when men move into typically female areas of work, there is no equivalent glass ceiling in fact, the opposite almost seems to apply. Examples of areas in which women constitute the majority of the workforce are education and health. In secondary schools, women hold the majority of teaching positions in schools, yet men constitute the majority of head teachers (68 per cent) Source: Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2003e), Statistics of Education: School Workforce in England. Male nurses were found to have poorer qualifications at both pre-registration and post-registration levels, yet to advance more quickly into senior posts, the average time for male nurse to reach a senior post was 8.4 years, compared with 14.5 years for a female nurse who took no career breaks (Davies and Rosser, 1986). Similarly, male nurses were twice as likely to be found in higher grade nursing posts, although females had better post-basic qualifications (Finlayson and Nazroo, 1998). Women also feel there is relatively poor career progression in male dominated occupations, in terms of pay and status but UBS Investment Bank has a group called Raising the Bar which looks at the glass ceiling and whether women are treated differently and how they progress in their careers. Women find it difficult to break through this ceiling because of the ways in which they are viewed by the society and the individual organization (Stephen Linstead, Liz fulop and Simon Lilley, 2004) as being emotional, irrational, less committed, under-educated and not strong enough to earn top managerial positions. This creates vertical segregation where men predominate in top ranked positions of the organisations. Also because women sometimes prefer to work part time with flexible working conditions, it is therefore difficult to reach senior management positions. However, the role of women in society is radically changing in most countries and even in Nigeria. Vast numbers of women are beginning to work full-time and to aspire to climb the same organisational ladders as their male counterparts (Davidson and Cooper, 1984). Women are attaining higher levels of education and they are competing favourably with the men especially in occupations which were formerly reserved for the men. Female Male pay differentials Income inequalities between men and women from all backgrounds still persists, despite the equal opportunities legislation as womens annual salaries are 25 per cent lower than mens even when overtime and bonuses are taken into account (Sharon and Maeve, 2007, p.163). Women are making progress, but it is still relatively slow, Sean O Grady (2007), states that women working part-time earn 38 per cent less than their men counterparts working part-time as well. Even full-time female employees earn 17 per cent less than men. Hence, it makes it difficult to find women at the top of any business, political career or even the law. It is true that the pay gap among women and men is becoming much smaller than it used to be, even though there are still restrictions for women in top managerial positions and politics. Women are more confident because they are enlightened and have role models like Margaret Beckett who became the first U.K female foreign minister, Dora Bakoyannis the first women ever appointed to a senior cabinet position in Greece, Nigerias Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the finance minister to foreign affairs. More women are willing to stand up to the law, even if men are still reluctant to give up power to women as a result of the Masculine perception (its a mans world). Child bearing and family responsibilities The debate on work and family life still tends to be focused on working mothers (Esther and Katherine, 1988). Mothers make significant changes to their working lives to accommodate their family and just a small minority of fathers make major changes that enable them to be more involved in family life (Suzanne, John and Melissa, 2006). Many employers view pregnant women as someone who is about to leave them hanging for a couple of month, instead of seeing them as professionals who are competent and can perform. Some employers deny pregnant women the opportunity to advance in their careers by assigning them menial jobs since they feel that they cannot handle challenging problems. These are just attitudes which do not have any basis. For example, it is believed that women typically leave their careers following the birth of children often in their thirties, some women may return after a period of maternity leave or after early years of child rearing, many do not return at all. Some reas ons for not returning are work-life balance issues such as, wanting extended maternity leave, part-time working not being possible for some jobs and the cost of children. Organisations have the feeling that the society is fast moving and when maternity break is taken, technology moves on to such an extent that it is difficult for returners to keep up and a lot of re-training would be required when they return. Therefore, when the women return, companies may have progressed and maybe their previous job has changed to such an extent they have to trade places or move out. Some organisations therefore offer flexible working hours for women who indicate that they would like greater flexibility at work. Flexibility has its own loop holes; it could lead to career death in terms of promotional opportunities (Jerry and kathleen, 2004). Women choose such career comfort in order to balance work with their family life responsibilities. Recommendations to curb gender and diversity discrimination in the workplace Gender Discrimination The use of gender equality mainstreaming strategy will enhance the management of gender diversities in the workplace; it will address the specific and often different needs of women and men. Targeted interventions should be taken which is aimed to overcome sex discrimination, empower women in the world of work and advocate equitable sharing of care responsibilities between both sexes. This approach will help to prevent gender-blind interventions that perpetuate inequality, by ensuring that both women and men benefit equally from management policies. The use of good practices as well as ILO strategies and tools such as the Action Plan on Gender Equality are encouraged in promoting gender equality in the workplace. Gender Audits could also be carried out at intervals. Research and publications, training courses on upgrading mainstreaming skills, and mobilizing gender network should be encouraged in the workplace. Women workers should be given assistance in getting organised and being represented in various sectors especially sectors where they form the minority. There should be a Human Resources specialist to oversee and support the Managing Gender Policy. Diversity Discrimination In the area of Diversity, to attract and retain staff from diverse backgrounds, companies may need to revise existing employment contracts, benefits packages and working conditions to accommodate measures, such as flexible working programmes, maternity/paternity benefits and leave, and childcare schemes. Companies should set up some form of monitoring and reporting processes, by warding off change resistance with the inclusion of every employee in formulating and executing diversity initiatives in the workplace. Leaders and managers within organizations must show commitment by introducing diversity policies amongst organisational functions. The overall participation and the cooperation of management as well as training are essential to the success of an organizations plan. Conclusion Gender, Diversity and Equal opportunity In this essay, findings indicate that gender should be managed in organisations in such a way as to minimise any differences between the employment chances available to men and those available to women. Equal opportunity should aim at allowing women the same level of access to and participation within every level and area of the organisation. As employees gain the benefits of increased equal opportunity for men and women in the workplace, all family members gain from an easing of the strain of juggling work and caring responsibilities and some children will gain the social and development benefits of quality childcare facilities. There is also the danger of promoting such case because equality of opportunity may not be seen as a case of social justice but that of organisational self interest. The benefits of diversity in the work place has its challenges which workers have to put up with, such challenges include prejudices, cultural and language barriers that employees bring into the lime light of work. Such challenges need to be overcome for diversity programs to succeed. There are always employees who will refuse to accept change and the fact that the workplace is changing as a result of the diverse nature of workers. The preconception of following the rules outlooks new ideas and hinders progress. The profits of a globalized economy are more fairly distributed in a society with equality, leading to greater social stability and broader public support for further economic development, (ILO, 1996-2010).

Essay examples --

Sarimary Gonzalez Mrs. Schewartz History 1301 - 5L33 February 24, 2014 Author Scott Liell asserts in 46 Pages that no other actions, publications, speeches, resolutions or acts of Continental Congress, or social or political movements had as much impact as Common Sense upon the colonials in helping them to view themselves as Americans rather than Englishmen. Thomas Paine’s life experiences, successes and failures, up until Jan. 10, 1776, including his childhood and familial experiences through adulthood were quite an eye opener. Paine was born in England in 1737. His dad was a Quaker and his mom was Angelic. Some of his successes were that he was one of the few who went to school and learned how to read and write. This was good news to his family beacuse they expected do much from him. Paine later on failed out of school and started to work with first with his dad than later as excise officer. In the year of 1756, he left to join the crew of pivateers during the war against the French. While he was aboard the ship who was named "Terrible" lost in battle were only 17 men survived. Paine being one of the because his father had sailed out to get him. "Even so, the lure of the sea was not easily put off, especially for an imaginative, ambitious young man whose prospects in life were otherwise quite limited" (32, Liell). Paine never g ave up and left for the second time, but this time recieved some money. Eventually Paine left and he now set up a shop, thereafter married September 1759 to Mary Lambert. Unfortunatly a year later she died as well as his child who she was carrying. "....misfortune seems to have set young Paine back on his heels" (33, Liell). Paine left his shop and contined his unknown journey. This is later when he b... ...re people to be politically informed and politically astute, not to the confused with being merely politically opinionated. The coffee houses and taverns of our Revolutionary and Founding eras required that people do their homework before they spoke, argued, debated, and discoursed publically, otherwise, do to their ignorance, they would be shamed into silence. As Watter’s World interviews and Jay Leno’s street interviews sadly prove, contemporary communication is much more â€Å"me† oriented, self-centered, and superficial and many Americans are by choice vastly ignorant of our nation’s history, documents, and governance. We convince people to become as intelligently educated about our government, politics, and history as those in Revolutionary Era, the Founding Era, and for many eras that followed by teaching them and discussing what previous events have happened.

Define Feminism Essay -- Feminism Feminist Women Criticism

Define Feminism "A woman should be barefoot, pregnant and chained to a stove," stated Ben Glantz, a high school senior. Drew Pershing, another senior, also shared a joke, "What does a woman do after she leaves a battered shelter? The dishes...if she knows what's good for her!" Daily jokes and comments such as these, no matter how harmless, are detrimental to the status of women and a dangerous undermining of their accomplishments. Shared by both genders, sexually discriminative comments are widely accepted in society as normal and harmless. "I didn't mean anything by that; I was just kidding," whimpered Ben Glantz after receiving several cold stares from young women who overheard his bashing, sexist comment. Women have become more aware of their current respected, "take serious" status within the past twenty years. Some are satisfied with where women stand in relation to society, while others say the road to equality has not yet been finished. When people were asked to fill out a questionnaire on feminism, young women were eager to participate while most of the young men took a little coaxing. Ignorance in both sexes contributes to the problem of misinterpretation of feminism and the "woman's place" in society. When twenty-four students, parents and teachers were asked what feminism was, answers ranged form a fight, a stand, a belief, a want, a definition, and a movement for women empowerment, equality and human rights. The definition of feminism found in The American Heritage Dictionary states feminism is "a doctrine that advocates or demands for women the same rights granted men, as in political and economic status." "Since this definition will vary from being militantly pro-female to simple ... ...isters. TV Guide, 45, 18-23. McDonnell, Evelyn. (1993, August 7). Women rockers create their own alternatives. Billboard. 105, 1-2. Palmer, Laura. (1997, November 27). Lee vows to fight for her vindication. The Gazette, pp. E1, E3. Pollitt, Katha. (1997, November). Feminism's unfinished business. The Atlantic Monthly, 160-164. Thigpen, D.E., & McLaughlin, L. (1997, July 21). Galapalooza!: Lilith Fair -- a traveling festival featuring female folk-pop stars -- is rocking the music world. TIME, 60- 64. Tumulty, Karen (1997, October 20). Turning fifty. TIME, 32-42. Wells, Diana (Ed.). (1994) Getting there: The movement toward gender equality. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers/Richard Gallen. Wolf, Naomi. (1993). Fire with fire: The new female power and how it will change the 21st century. Canada: Random House Publishing, Inc.

Having a child with a disability Essay -- essays research papers

When Andy was born I was the happiest woman on Earth. When I saw his beautiful face and his tiny body I cried, I will never forget that moment. We stayed in the hospital for three days. That first night back from the hospital Andy didn’t do anything but cry all night long. I did not know what to do, this was my first child, and I didn’t know how to calm him down. I called the Doctor and he explained to me that this was the normal behavior for a first born child, and he just needed to adjust to the new environment. I would give Andy his milk, change his diaper, hold him, sing to him, but nothing would stop Andy’s crying. We didn’t much sleep. That week my husband had to work so I had to deal with Andy by myself, which was frustrating. Finally after about a week Andy gave up some. His dad couldn’t even get close to him because he would start crying again, because Andy couldn’t be held or fed by anyone but me. I had to spend every minute of the day with him to the point that I had to put a mattress in his room so I could get some sleep. I slept in his room for a whole year. There weren’t a lot of changes in Andy’s behavior during that year. The Doctor didn’t know what was wrong with him, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. Taking care of Andy was a full time job for me. Ever since Andy was born my whole life style changed. My husband, Jack, started working long hours because he didn’t want to stay at home and deal with Andy. I couldn’t go out by myself or with my friends anymore. I had to take Andy with me everywhere I went. Basically, I didn’t have a social life anymore. My relationship with my husband was also going down the drain because we never spent any quality time together. My whole life was a big mess at that Cabarcas 2 point, but whenever I saw Andy’s face he made my heart smile. Andy was a year old and he didn’t talk much I got worried, but the Doctor told me to wait a few more months because boy’s take a little bit longer than girls to start talking, so I did. In despite of all the frustration and despair I always showed Andy a lot of love. My husband also realized that he was being selfish by leaving all the responsibility to me. He took some responsibility upon himself to take care of Andy so he could get closer to him. Andy was very aggressive sometimes and whenever his dad tried to touch him, he would get away from his dad and start run... ...ee and a half years. In the near future I want Andy to go to a specialized school for where he could learned more that what he already now until now. THE END I chose this disability because I have a friend who has an autistic child and I babysit for her sometimes. This child is a wonderful child I baby-sit him and his sister and the are so cute together I really love these kids. I don’t charge their mom any money to take care of them; I just like to spend time with them. Al l this kid likes is to go outside and play, and when he’s tired he just comes to me, takes my hand and shows me what he wants. He is talking a lot more now that what he did a year ago. He is a child that I admire because he has come such a long way and has overcome many obstacles. I really liked writing this Cabarcas 5 paper because I never put my self in that situation and it isn’t easy at all to deal with a disable child everyday of your life. That is a challenge that I don’t know if I’m ready to take. I was afraid to write this paper at the beginning because I was afraid that this could happen to me, but I leave everything in the hands of God. I say this because I’m pregnant now and anything could happen.

Case study snyder v phelps Essay

Snyder v. Phelps (2011) Fred Phelps, the pastor at the Westboro Church, along with his followers believes that God punishes the US for allowing homosexuality freedoms, especially within the military. To express their feelings the Westboro Church and its people sometimes picket military funerals in hopes that their voices will be heard. In 2006 Albert Snyder’s son who was a Lance Corporal for the United States Marine Corps was killed in the line of the duty during his time in Iraq. Matthew Snyder was killed in Anbar, Iraq when he was the gunner on a Humvee that ended up rolling after hitting something. The Westboro Church decided that they would picket Matthew Snyder’s funeral, notifying the sanction holding the funeral in advance what they planned on doing. When the Westboro Church and its followers arrived to picket this funeral they made sure to stage the picket on public land that was adjacent to a public street. Making sure that they didn’t violate any written laws they also made sure to abide by anything that was appointed to them by the police taking care of the funeral. The Church members stood outside this church during the funeral reciting different hymns and verses from the Bible. Albert Snyder wasn’t aware of what the signs said until after the whole funeral took place, claiming that he could â€Å"really only see the tops and couldn’t make out what they actually said. † Following the funeral, Snyder noticed on the news that the signs some gruesome stuff such as, â€Å"God Hates the USAI Thank God for 9/1 1,† â€Å"Thank God for Dead Soldiers,† and â€Å"Don’t Pray for the USA. † Snyder decided that he would then sue Fred Phelps, claiming that the picketing aused him and his family severe emotional distress. In his defense, Phelps argued that everything that took place that day was completely legal under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The main issue that this case faced legally, was whether Westboro’s signs and comments while picketing Matthew Snyder’s funeral related to matters of â€Å"public concern† and in turn, decide whether there is too much protection under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court made it clear that they were only going to determine this ruling ased on â€Å"matters of public concern† as opposed to â€Å"matters of purely private significance. The Supreme Court affirmed that the picketing amounted to speech on issues that are public; they felt as if one of the main things that the First Amendment covers is the right to picket based upon public issues. The Court felt as if although the signs that were used â€Å"may fall short of refined social or political commentary, the is sues they highlight – the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens, the fate of our Nation, homosexuality in the military, and scandals involving he Catholic clergy – are all matters of public import. Albert Snyder realized all of the protection under the First Amendment but he claimed in rebuttal that that picketing was intended to shape an attack on Snyder over a rather private matter. Although the Supreme Court realized that Snyder had a strong claim at the time because of the circumstances that were evident, at the same time they must also hold to the law which noted that Maryland did not have a law imposing any types of restrictions on standpoint, the Supreme Court decided that Fred Phelps and his followers were in all f their legal rights to picket that funeral. The Court expressed their acknowledgment of the picketing of a US Soldier’s funeral and the idea that many Americans would feel as if the Westboro Church was â€Å"morally defective†, but it rejected those factors as means for any type of lawsuit that could be tendered to the church. Though a Jury ended up awarding the family of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder millions of dollars, the US Supreme Court upheld the circuit court’s dismissal of the verdict over unruly circumstances. Freedom of speech is something that is considered one of the reatest things available by both sides of the political lanes. Both Conservatives and Liberals strongly believe in freedom of speech, but it is Liberals that are more likely to take the realm of expressing themselves publically. Liberals take pride in the idea of the â€Å"political left†, which basically outlines their devotion to America’s First Amendment the right to free speech. Although it is usually Liberals that we see voicing their opinion publically, the Westboro Church is overall a Conservative group because of what they stand for. Most people including the media portray and roclaim that the Westboro Church is a Liberal party but when you dig deeper you start to notice that isn’t really the case. The Westboro Church has many things in common with those that claim to be Conservative; â€Å"both are against marriage equality, both are for the replacement of constitutional government with religious dogma of their particular form of Christianity, both are for the reduction of the rights of minorities and women, and both are for getting rid of reproductive rights and family planning. † The case of Snyder v. Phelps places before us a choice where we ust decide between the ethical values of basic respect versus the legal right of the First Amendment, freedom of speech. From an ethical perspective, it is easy to decide this case based upon the ideas that we adopted over time that all in all became a social norm. The ethical value of respect at a funeral will easily make someone choose the side of Snyder’s in this case Just because over time we have established that funerals are meant to mourn and to pay respect to not only the fallen but also the family of that person. Although it may be interpreted that the reason that the Westboro Church chose to take action the way that they did was because it was necessary to get their point across, ethically it is frowned upon because of how we know funerals are supposed to take place. The Westboro Church had many options to establish the point that they were trying to get across such as the newspaper, TV, or the radio, but instead they chose to do it at a US Marine’s funeral which ended up working in their favor gaining them national recognition. Potter Stewart, a once US Justice wrote with regards to Ethics that, â€Å"Ethics is knowing the difference between hat you have a right to do and what is right to do. This quote explains the complete ethical aspect of this case because it describes how legally, the Westboro Church had every right to do what they did that day but ethically they were in the wrong intruding on the privacy of a grieving family at a funeral service less than 300 feet away. While the Justices made it clear that they understood where Al bert Snyder and his family were coming from, they also stood firm with the idea that the Westboro Church was practicing the First Amendment which allows the freedom of speech to he public. One of the Justices following the court case described the entire case as powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both Joy and sorrow, and as it did here inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a nation we have chosen a different course to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate. The problem that is now faced upon America after the ruling that the Westboro Church did nothing wrong is, how much is too much in regards to â€Å"a few† igns becoming too many? Would enough signs have changed the nature of the content of Westboro’s message towards the Snyder family? The effect of this case on the public is something that isn’t necessarily brought up but it is evident in many places because you have to realize that the public mainly sees this as a case of a family being stripped of what they believe should be a quiet and peaceful funeral . With the ruling ending the way it does it has the public wondering how far the First Amendment freedom of speech can really get you and the fine print behind our US Constitution. Overall, the US Supreme Court case touches many aspects whether it is ethically, legally, politically, or socially. It is hard for most ethically driven people to accept the fact that the Westboro Church not only got no penalty for what they did at Matthew Snyder’s funeral, but they also received no further details about stopping the picketing of funerals. In regards to legal aspects, this case set in stone that the First Amendment freedom of speech allows for not only speech that is accepted ethically but any type of speech that strays away from a personal attack. In most of he public’s opinion the Westboro Church was in the wrong that day for not allowing a grieving family time to privately mourn the loss of a family member but although what they did was frowned upon they stayed within their legal rights which forces the court to drop their case. Although Albert Snyder lost this case his family was awarded millions of dollars and they also received support of the majority of the public against the Westboro Church and their actions not only that day, but in the future. Snyder left the courtroom after the ruling with not complete satisfaction but rust that his point was spread across America which was to notify them of what the Westboro Church does and what they caused not only himself, but his family.

IT Strategy and the Overall Business Strategy Essay

I-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Introduction Business strategies were basically developed as weapons in the competition. However, with the rapid change in business environment, competition roles have changed forcing companies to redefine their way in order to compete. With the evolved role of IT, organizations started to think to use IT as a strategic weapon either as a competitive advantage or even as an enabler for growth. However, unfortunately IT solely was not enough to take that role. So, organizations needed to rethink and reinvent new management or business best practices in order to maximize the obtained IT value. As a result, organizations adopted best practices such as IT business alignment to align IT with their business strategic goals in order to survive and succeed in the competition. The aim of this paper is to determine whether an IT strategy focused on maintaining a cutting-edge position is the most effective way to support any kind of overall business strategy or not. The main hypotheses of the research are that (1) IT strategy focused on maintaining a cutting-edge technology position isn’t enough (or isn’t the most effective way) to support the overall business strategy because (2) it has to be aligned with the overall business strategy. The paper first of all defines the term â€Å"IT business alignment†, then analyzes the current situation, and finally it ends with a conclusion. II-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Definitions Before analyzing the current situation, it is necessary to define an important term such as â€Å"IT Business Alignment†. Tapia, R. S. (2006) gives a simple straight-to-the-point definition for the term ‘IT Business alignment’ â€Å"the problem of matching services offered by IT with the requirements of the business†. (p.1) III-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Situation Analysis In order to test the research hypotheses or to prove that an IT strategy focused on maintaining a cutting-edge technology position is not the most effective way to support any kind of overall business strategy, this section will analyze the current situation of IT projects and the relationship with their business strategic goals and requirement. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   IT projects fail to deliver a value Research showed that the gap between IT and business strategic goals still significantly exists. A significant percentage of IT projects fail to deliver a value as shown in figure (1). According to Needmuchwala, A. A., [2008], â€Å"41% of IT projects failed to deliver the expected value†. And he presented another interesting fact such as: â€Å"more than  ¼ of IT projects were canceled† (p.3) not to mention that â€Å"only 11% of organizations consider technology as a strategic weapon† (p.3) Figure (1): Failure types of IT projects (Sample size: 800 IT managers in 8 countries) Source: Dynamic Markets Limited (2007). IT Projects: Experience certainty (cited in Needmuchwala, A. A., [2008]. Evolving IT from ‘Running the Business’ to ‘Changing the Business†)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another survey conducted by Shpilberg, D. & Berez, S. & Puryear, R. & Shah, A. (2007) showed that a hug percentage of IT projects (three-quarters of companies as shown in figure: 2) â€Å"failed to deliver as expected and drifted in the ‘maintenance zone’ where IT projects were disconnected from the overall strategic goals and objectives’. (p.52) Whereas the 11% companies in the alignment trap shown in this survey even failed to deliver results on time or on budget and spent 13% more than the average and had 14% lower revenue growth.† (p.52) Figure (2): IT alignment Survey results (Sample size: more than 500 senior and IT executives worldwide) Source: Shpilberg, D. & Berez, S. & Puryear, R. & Shah, A. (2007). Avoiding the Alignment Trap in Information Technology   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Now, the current situation tells us that IT strategies focused only on maintaining cutting-edge technology position, away from business strategy, are not the effective way to support the overall business strategy. Another way to prove that is to prove that the strategic alignment between IT strategy and business strategy is the effective way to support the overall business strategy and to deliver a business value. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   IT Business alignment proved to deliver value 2.1 The Need for Strategic Alignment Before mentioning any facts about IT business alignment, Figure (3) shows levels of relationship between IT and business strategy and the value offered in each alignment level. These development stages were suggested by Wyatt-Haines, R. (2007) and are chosen here to explain the necessity of the engagement between IT and business strategy. Facts show that â€Å"many IT functions fail to deliver even at the first basic level ‘following the business’† (Wyatt-Haines, R., 2007, p.6) and this is obviously happens when IT simply fails to understand ‘business needs’ or in another word, the basic engagement with business strategy. Figure (3): Levels of Relationship Between IT and Business Strategy Relationship with business IT Development Stages (Levels of Alignment) 1. Following 2. Enabling 3. Leading Goals/Functions of IT in each development stage/ alignment level Reacts to business needs Maximizing value  Ã‚   predicting, resourcing priorities    Extremely aligned, a key player in leading thinking and planning Relationship with business strategy    Understanding of business needs Understanding of business strategy Understanding of business environment Business Results/Value (Alignment Impact) Delivering value Strategic success Creating strategic opportunities    Source: Development Stages (Following-Enabling-Leading) were adopted from: Wyatt-Haines, R. (2007). Leadership Impact Through IT    Also, Jahnke, A. (2004) assured that â€Å"the full participation and engagement of the business is the only guarantee to turn IT capabilities into business benefits†. So, the strategic alignment in this case is considered to be a necessity not a luxury. Now, after realizing the fact that IT alignment is a necessity to obtain a business value, it’s time to analyze the IT business alignment current situation. First of all, research findings showed that â€Å"management practices such as strategic alignment contributes to higher levels of IT business value†. (Tallon, P. P. & Kraemer, K. L. & Gurbaxani, V., 2001, p.1: Sample size: 304 business executives worldwide). Also, according to CIO update (2004), â€Å"96% of IT executives predict a positive impact of aligning IT strategy with the corporate strategy†. (As shown in figure: 4) 2.2 The ROI or the value of the Alignment To make sure that IT business alignment is an effective way to support the business strategy, this section also will focus on the situation of the successfully aligned companies to make sure that the strategic alignment enables companies to obtain a value or ROI. First, Holmes, A. (2007) found these companies who succeeded in aligning IT with the business strategy generated â€Å"a new revenue stream more than twice as often as other companies who said they were not aligned†. Figure (4): IT alignment survey results (Impact and Challenges) Source: CIO update (2004). Aligning IT & Business Strategies Still Elusive Also, the survey –mentioned before- conducted by Shpilberg, D. & Berez, S. & Puryear, R. & Shah, A. (2007) showed that the successfully highly aligned highly effective companies (7% of respondents as shown in figure 2) â€Å"recorded a compound annual growth rate –over three years- 35% higher than the survey average†. (p.53) These companies successfully -as the authors described them- â€Å"have put IT where it belongs ‘at the heart of the business processes’ that define organization’s position in business environment or the marketplace†. (p.58) So, IT in these companies didn’t focus on the cutting-edge technology position but it focused on how to support the business strategic position by aligning IT strategy with the overall business strategy. IV-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusion Now, after analyzing the current situation of IT projects, it is obvious that an IT strategy focused only on maintaining a cutting-edge technology position is not enough (or not the most effective way) to support any kind of overall business strategy, because facts say that IT disconnected and isolated strategies failed to support business overall strategies and even became a heavy burden on their organizations. On the other hand, aligned IT strategies proved to deliver a value and this value differs and are maximized depending on the engagement level with business strategy. In another word, the first success factor is to strategically align IT with the business goals and requirements meaning to support the business strategic position and not the cutting-edge technology position. Finally –upon these findings- the crime –as described by Jahnke, A. (2004) is the lack of alignment because â€Å"the lack of alignment represents a waste of money, a waste of effort, and wasted opportunities.† References CIO update (2004). Aligning IT & Business Strategies Still Elusive. CIO. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://www.cioupdate.com/insights/article.php/3328551 Holmes, A. (2007). The ROI of Alignment. CIO. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://www.cio.com/article/27969/The_ROI_of_Alignment/ Jahnke, A. (2004). Why is Business-IT alignment So Difficult?. CIO. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://www.cio.com/article/32322 Needmuchwala, A. A. [2008]. Evolving IT from ‘Running the Business’ to ‘Changing the Business†. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://www.tcs.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/White%20Papers/DEWP_05.pdf Shpilberg, D. & Berez, S. & Puryear, R. & Shah, A. (2007). Avoiding the Alignment Trap in Information Technology. MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall 2007, 49(1) pp. 51-58. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/wsj/insight/pdfs/49102.pdf Tallon, P. P. & Kraemer, K. L. & Gurbaxani, V. (2001). Executives’ Perceptions of the Business Value of Information Technology: A process-oriented approach. Journal of Management Information Systems, 16(4), 145-174. Retrieved April 23, 2008 from http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=crito Tapia, R. S. (2006). A Value-Based Maturity Model for IT Alignment in Networked Businesses, Netherlands. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from http://eprints.eemcs.utwente.nl/2778/01/Subprojectproposal.pdf Wyatt-Haines, R. (2007), Leadership Impact Through IT, Business Leadership Review IV:IV, October 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2008 from  Ã‚   http://mbaguide.mbaworld.com/downloadblrarticle/1047/index.htm

Communication & professional relationships with children, young people and adults Essay

Being able to build positive relationships with others helps children and young people to gain the most from being in school and is important to ensure the communication of information between children and the adults responsible for them. We are more likely to build a positive relationship with someone when we can communicate effectively with them. Effective communication is a way of setting boundaries so everyone knows what is expected of them. Most disagreements and conflicts are caused by a breakdown in communication. Children learn how to build relationships with others by watching and copying the relationships between the adults around them. It is, therefore, important to show effective communication skills when dealing with others and take care with what we say and the way we act when in stressful situations. Children can become confused if we ask them to behave one way and then show them contradictory behaviour which can make it harder for them to understand rules and boundaries. 1. 2 It is important to communicate in a way that relates to the age and interests of the child, young person or adult. If others are comfortable with us we are more likely to communicate effectively. The main principles of relationship building are: Showing respect – it is important to listen carefully to others’ point of view and show you are paying attention to them when they are speaking Being considerate – consider circumstances which may cause stress or upset and affect behaviour at any given time Taking time to listen – show interest in what is being said and respond appropriately, offering advice if requested Being clear – make sure any information or instructions are clear and understood, and made in a way suitable for age / ability / circumstances 1. 3 It can be necessary to adapt your communication style depending on the situation. Professionally a more formal style may be required for meetings with colleagues and parents or other adults involved with the school. Cultural differences can also affect communication. Certain behaviours such as eye contact or physical contact, e. g. shaking hands, can be forbidden. Certain gestures or body language may be offensive in some cultures and it is important to be aware of these issues when communicating with people from these cultures. 2. 1 If children do not feel their contribution to a conversation is valued they are less likely to initiate further communication. To help them have this confidence you need to: Give them opportunity to speak and express their own opinions Make eye contact and show you are actively listening and paying attention. If you are looking away or doing something else at the same time children will feel you are not interested in what they are saying Make sure you are approachable. This can best be done by getting down to the child’s level, if they need to look up to speak to you they are more likely to feel uncomfortable. Smiling and reacting positively to what they are saying also helps improve their confidence in you and in their communication skills Maintain the conversation by reacting and questioning. This teaches children the ‘rules’ of communication and helps them to develop an understanding of how to communicate effectively 2. 2a Children of different ages will need different levels of attention and encouragement with communication. Younger children may lack confidence and need more reassurance, both vocal and physical, to be sure of their ability to communicate one to one or in group situations. It is important to match your language to the age of the child you are communicating with. If the words used are too difficult or unknown to the child they will have difficulty understanding and participating in the conversation. Too simplistic, in either words or delivery, and the child / young person may feel patronised and annoyed by your attempts to communicate and is much less likely to respond positively. 2. 2b Different situations will require different styles of communication. When supporting children in a classroom situation it is important to keep them focused on the lesson. Communication needs to be firm and clear so everyone is sure of what is happening and what is expected of them. In a less formal situation such as the playground it is better to be more relaxed with the children. This can help to build their confidence in their own communication skills but it is, however, still important to maintain a clearly professional relationship with them. 2. 2c Children with communication difficulties, such as speech, language or communication impairment, emotional or cognitive difficulties will need more time and reassurance to ensure they do not feel pressured when speaking. It is important to allow them to speak for themselves in order to build their confidence as well as their ability to communicate clearly. Where there are language or cultural differences it may be necessary to allow extra time for longer explanations of questions / instructions. Visual cues can be helpful and in some cases it may be necessary to use a translator. 2. 3 When communicating with children the main points discussed above, maintaining eye contact, responding to what they say etc. , are the same as when communicating with adults. However, it is also important to ensure the relationship is always formal and the child understands you are their carer in the school setting. When communicating with children it is also important to be very clear in what is said and what is meant. Children need to know exactly what is expected of them so they can continue to learn from us. The vocabulary used needs to be appropriate for the children involved. Although younger children may want hugs or to hold hands it is not really appropriate and physical contact with children of any age should never be initiated by the adult. 2. 4 When communicating with other adults you need to be aware of individual needs which may make effective communication difficult. Adults with physical impairments such as hearing difficulties may need you to speak more slowly and clearly to accommodate lip reading. It may be necessary to pass on messages orally to parents who have difficulty reading written letters. When communicating face to face you should try to adapt the language you use to reflect the language used by the other person. Formal meetings will need more formal language than an informal chat. 2. 5 Most disagreements are caused by lack of communication or miscommunication with others. The longer a disagreement goes on the harder it will be to resolve, so you should try to work out the problem as quickly as possible. Where a problem has occurred due to a lack of communication the best way to deal with it is to discuss it with the person involved as soon as possible to try to work out a way forward. It is important not to ignore the problem as this can cause more problems in the future. Another common cause of disagreements is a difference in opinion and expectations. It is important to be clear about what you expect from a situation from the start so there is no confusion. If parents have a different opinion from school in a situation it is important to explain clearly what happens in school and why it has to happen that way. Lack of confidence or pressure from outside situations can also affect the way people communicate which in turn can lead to disagreements. In this situation you need to show sensitivity and understanding in order to resolve the problem and prevent it from escalating. It is never acceptable to get into a disagreement with a child; you should be able to manage the situation using the school’s procedures for negative behaviour. You need to explain to the child why you are disagreeing with them and once you have done this you need to follow the sanctions that are in place within the classroom and school as a whole. By descending into an argument with a child you are giving them a negative model to follow instead of teaching them how to resolve disagreements in a socially acceptable manner. 3. 1 Data Protection Act 1998 – any organisation which holds information on individuals needs to be registered with the Data Protection Commission. Information held must be: Processed fairly and lawfully Only used for the purpose for which it was gathered Adequate, relevant and not excessive Accurate and kept up to date where necessary Kept for no longer than necessary Processed in line with the individual’s rights Kept secure Not transferred outside the European Union without adequate protection 2003 Green Paper Every Child Matters leading to the Children’s Act 2004 – this was put into place to stress the importance of more integrated services and better sharing of information between professionals dealing with children & young people. 3. 2 When building relationships with children, young people and adults it is important to reassure them that any information they may give you will be kept confidential. This will give them the confidence to know they can speak to you if there is a problem. Knowing you will not pass information on unless you have to will build trust between you and the child / adult. Breaking this trust would be detrimental to the relationship which can lead to a reluctance to share important information. 3. 3 If you are given information which leads you to suspect a child may be at risk of abuse or in some other danger it is important to pass the information on to the appropriate person within the school. You should make it clear to the person giving you the information that you are unable to keep it confidential but also that you will only pass it on to certain people and it will not be a subject of gossip within the school.