Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The work of Langer & Rodin

To explore the effects of decision-making and responsibility on residents in a nursing home, Langer and Rodin gave residents a houseplant. Residents were to make all the decisions about when and how much to water and how much sun to give their plant. Resident in the experimental group were also given other choices such as where they would prefer to receive visitors, whether they wanted see the weekly movie and which evening they wanted to attend (a movie was played on Thursdays and replayed on Fridays), etc. A comparison (control) group were also given plants but told that the nurses would take care of them. Those in this group were not encouraged to make decisions for themselves but were told that staff was there to help them. Issues were as similar as possible with the experimental and comparison groups except for the distinctions about who was in control and responsible for decisions. The researchers used various behavioural and emotional measures to judge the effect of the encouragement, for example, participation in activities at the nursing home, how happy the residents felt and how alert and active the residents were. Clear and dramatic improvement was made in the group given more responsibility. Eighteen months after the study the researchers returned and again performed the outcome measures. The residents who had been given more responsibility were still significantly more active, vigorous and sociable than those in the comparison group. The experimental group also asked more questions during a lecture that Judith Rodin gave. During this return trip physical health was measured. Prior to the study the two groups had been in similar health based on their medical records. However, eighteen months later the health of the experimental group had improved while that of the comparison group had worsened. The most striking discovery was mortality rate. Only seven of the 47 residents in the experimental group had died whereas 13 of the 44 residents in the comparison group had died (15% versus 30%). These results have been confirmed by much research since the time of the original experiment. To improve this experiment they could have looked for other areas where choice can be given back to residents such as dining, bathing, and placement of personal items in their room. Record the outcomes. Watch to see if over time there are changes in activity participation, alertness and affect of residents. As this experiment proceeds it would be good for staff to discuss amongst themselves how to change their own perspective to maximize residents' sense of independence, freedom and involvement. The relation between health and a sense of control may grow stronger in old age. This could occur through three types of processes: experiences particularly relevant to control may increase markedly in old age; the association between control and some aspect of health may be altered by age; and age may influence the association between control and health-related behaviours or the seeking of medical care. Studies show that there are detrimental effects on the health of older people when their control of their activities is restricted; in contrast, interventions that enhance options for control by nursing home patients promote health. With increasing age, however, variability in preferred amounts of control also increases, and sometimes greater control over activities, circumstances, or health has negative consequences including stress, worry, and self-blame. Mechanisms mediating the control-health relation include feelings of stress, symptom labelling, changes in the neuroendocrine an d immune systems, and behaviour relevant to health maintenance. * Work which very clearly supports Langer & Rodin is that of Marmot et al (1997) and the study of civil service office workers: – Marmot et al (1997) Marmot and his co-workers devised an experiment to determine the association between adverse psychosocial characteristics at work and risk of coronary heart disease among male and female civil servants. There were self-report questionnaires provided for information on psychosocial factors of the work environment and coronary heart disease. Independent assessments of the work environment were obtained from personnel managers. Setting: London based office staff in 20 civil service departments. Subjects: 10308 civil servants aged 35-55 were examined-6895 men (67%) and 3413 women (33%). Results: Men and women with low job control, either self reported or independently assessed, have a higher risk of newly reported coronary heart disease during the follow up. Job control was assessed on two occasions three years apart, although intercorrelated, had cumulative effects in newly reported disease. Subjects with low job control on both occasions have an odds ratio for any coronary event of 95% compared with subjects with high job control at both occasions. This association could not be explained by employment grade, negative affectivity, or classic coronary risk factors. Job demands and social support at work were not related to the risk of coronary heart disease. Conclusion: Low control in the work environment is associated with an increased risk of future coronary heart disease among men and women employed in government offices. The cumulative effect of low job control assessed on two occasions indicates that giving employees more variety in tasks and a stronger say in decisions about work may decrease the risk of coronary heart disease. * Whereas the work done by Brady (1958) in the ‘Executive Monkey' experiment completely goes against Langer, Rodin and Marmot: – Brady tested groups of monkeys to determine which were the quickest learners; they would then be chosen to take the place of the ‘Executive Monkey'. The executive monkey is then sat in a harness with its feet touching the floor allowing almost complete mobility, the non-executive monkey is sat in the other harness so that it cannot touch the floor, both harnesses are connected to a bar that in turn is attached to a pivot. A bell would sound and the exec. Monkey would have 20 seconds to get to a switch, if he did not manage to get to the switch in time, both monkeys would be given an electric shock. Brady discovered that the best way to conduct this experiment was to put the monkeys 6 hours in then 6 hours off, this was found to be the best way to stress them. Around 23 days into the experiment the executive monkey would die from stomach ulcers, due to the stress. > We could argue that the monkey had the control over whether they got shocked or not and yet it still got stressed and died, which would then completely dis-prove Langer & Rodin. > But you could also argue that the exec. monkey got stressed from having to get to the switch and its also possible to say that the executive monkey didn't have complete control, i.e. they couldn't turn the electric shocks off completely, and so got stressed from having to continuously press the switch. * Weiss (1972) repeated Brady et al's experiment but with rats this time: – He found that giving feedback on successful shock avoidance (by sounding a tone) reduced ulceration in executives to below that of the non-executive rats. The feedback tells the animal it has avoided shocks and increases its ‘sense of control' over the situation. The non-executive animal cannot respond and lacks any control at all over what's going on, this leads to more ulceration. ==> By comparing Brady and Weiss' experiments it's very clear to see that the idea of a ‘sense of control' separates the two. Not as many animals will die in Weiss' as in Brady's, the rats don't feel as stressed as the monkeys because they feel more ‘in control'. These studies also show the importance of control and feedback on successful coping in reducing levels of stress.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Moby Dick Essay

In this video, we immediately learn of an obsessed captain who wants revenge. Why does he want revenge and against whom or what? He wants revenge against a white whale for taking his leg. 2.Who is the narrator of Moby Dick and what is the first line of the novel? Ishmael narrates the novel. 3.There are two significant Biblical allusions[->0] mentioned in the film. To whom do these allusions reference? How are the names significant? the name Ahab describes a king who turns vile. This suggesting that the Ahab of this novel will be a similarly conflicted leader. Also Ishmael shows independence and shows that he just wants to take care of himself. 4.The narrator states that Moby Dick symbolizes three different meanings for three different characters. List the characters and the meaning which Moby Dick symbolizes for each of them. Ahab sees Moby Dick as an evil thing. Ishmael sees Moby Dick as just a fish and an evil thing. while Starbuck sees Moby Dick as just a fish 5.Why did Melville choose to write about whaling? Why was the industry significant? He choses to write about whaling because he himself was in the industry. The industry gives light to the world because of the oil from the blubber. 6.What did Melville do when he was 21? He went to sea for whaling for about a year and a half. 7.What established writer did Melville befriend while he was writing Moby Dick? Melville befriended Nathaniel Hawthorne. 8.Comment on the four harpooners of the Pequod; politically, why were they significant? Queequeg’s dad was a king, Tashtego was an Indian, Dagoo was a African American, and Fedallah was a Farsi or Parsee. They were significant because they have already been to sea and they all want to live a life of adventure, not to mention it is bringing many cultures together for a common cause. 9.What happens to the Pequod towards the end of the book? Ahab? Ishmael? The boat was destroyed by Moby Dick, Ahab was killed by Moby Dick, and Ishmael was found by a whale ship after being washed out to sea. 10.What were the final years of Melville like? He became an employee of the customs house. New York Times Why do you think Ahab wanted to kill Moby Dick so bad? Why do you think that the captain hired so many different types of people from different cultures? Why do you think that you survived when Ahab didn’t?  Why was Moby Dick gunning for Ahab?  How was it possible for the ship to be destroyed by a whale? [->0] – http://learn.flvs.net/webdav/educator_eng3_v13/module3/lesmod03/glossary_3.htm?#allusion

Monday, July 29, 2019

Describe What Is Meant by a Positive Environment Essay

A positive environment is one that supports all aspects of development, learning and provides ways for practitioners to extend on that, challenging children and promoting times for them to rest. It also means an environment where parents, colleagues, all work in partnership to actively make opportunities for children to achieve positive outcomes. Development: Physical development This is mainly about physical skills.Children need to master a lot of different types of movements as they grow, including: large movements- being able to control their head, arms and legs, known as gross motor movements; moving around and balancing – being able to walk, jump and move around, known as locomotive movements; Fine movements – being able to control their hands and make their hands and eyes work together, known as fine motor movements. Communication and intellectual developmentThis is about the way that children learn to talk and understand others as well as the way in whitch they l earn to think and work things out. Social, emotional and behavioural development This is about the way that children learn to play and be with others. It is also about the way that they learn to express their feelings and learn to control their behaviour. Whatever age group or setting you are working with, you must plan an environment that encourages the development of the whole child.First of all you think about the different settings that children and young people aged 0-16 years may experience. These settings have both indoor and outdoor physical spaces that need to be considered. The layout of the physical environment is your team’s responsibility and contributes to giving each child positive outcomes in their learning, and development. The available space will influence the way the furniture and equipment is set out. While it is important to create an attractive environment, everything should be safe, secure and have purpose that supports each area of the children

EU LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

EU LAW - Essay Example Article 18(1) of the E.C. Treaty provides that every citizen can move and reside freely in any part of the E.U. Article 39 (1) provides for free movement of workers. Article 43 provides for freedom of establishment by which individuals can get self employed. Article 49 gives freedom to provide and receive service in any part of the E.U.1. Citizens are bound by the law of the European Union and decision of the European Union Court of Justice is final. The individuals and Government officials should consult the legislation relating to the European parliament which represents people of Europe, the Council of the European Union which represents national governments of member states, and the European Commission that takes care of the common interest of the E.U. The Sarbotinians should exercise their votes in European Parliament elections. Some of the benefits that Sarbotinians can enjoy because of this membership in the EU are that they can travel across EU regions without passports and border checks. They can buy goods of their choice in any other member state where they may get at cheaper prices without custom duties. The single currency Euro makes it easier for all EU members to travel in any part of EU without having to convert it to local currency. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain are already using Euro even for their local transactions. Hereafter it will be a single market without frontiers for member states thus intensifying competition and ensuring the highest possible quality for goods and services at the lowest possible prices. As per ascension treaty, there can be restrictions on work in other member states for new Sarbotinians between January 2010 and December 2015 but they will be phased o ut gradually. While the U.K.,

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care year 2 Essay

Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care year 2 - Essay Example Management on the other hand refers to an organizational process where there is strategic planning, objective setting, resource management, deployment of human as well as financial assets to achieve strategic objectives of a given company. In dealing with youths that are developing addiction to drinking, leadership styles are very important to consider in view of looking at the best style to apply. There are several leadership styles that can be applied. The first style is transformational style. In this style, there is an emphasis on the development of motivation, team building, involvement of collaboration and is purely based on their ideas. This method is wholesome in that the employees are able to create a relationship with subjects and develop into a positive outcome. The second type of style is transactional. In this type of leadership, there is maintenance of status quo through use of reinforcements. Inducements are used to create a continually positive flow of activities to m aintain some form of status. These two are broad and inculcate characteristics of a wide range of styles. Dictatorship is also another style that exists. In this case, all the rules and regulations are made by the leadership. All other people are subjective and cannot take part in decision making. It is similar to autocratic or authoritative leadership. Leadership by democracy is another style in which the will of the people prevail. It is participative in which the views of the people contribute to the final decision made. Laissez faire is another type of leadership that can be used. In this case, the leader is a ceremonial occupant to the position. The leader does not provide leadership but there is a free will to the subordinates to decide on what to do. Narcissistic leadership is a type of leadership in which the leader has interest in satisfying himself alone. All the discussed types of styles are relevant in creating a positive

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Antigone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Antigone - Essay Example The unity of action limits it to a single set of incidents which are related as cause and effect, "having a beginning, middle, and an end." Antigone, a play by Sophocles, is based on the story starting with two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, who died fighting a war against each other. Creon, the new king of thebes decided not to bury Polyneices as he considered him to be the rebel. Antigone, his sister thought that it was wrong and decided to carry out the deed herself. She called ismene outside the palace for her help but she refused. Meanwhile Creon went to the chorus of theban elders and asked them to support his verdict and they vowed allegiance to him. Then, a sentry came and told Creon that Polyneices has been buried by Antigone. Angry, Creon summoned the sisters and temporarily imprisoned them. Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s fiance went to his father and tried to persuade him to release Antigone, but it only resulted in a quarrel. Creon then decided to sp are Ismene and to imprison Antigone in a cave. Then a blind prophet teiresias told Creon that the gods were siding Antigone and that he must spare her or face the wrath. The chorus and Creon decided to bury Polyneices.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Emergency Response Plan MOD 1 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emergency Response Plan MOD 1 SLP - Essay Example All these are hot sports for fires and disasters and hence mitigation plans to prevent such disasters as well as plan on emergency response in case the fire disaster happens should be in the plan. California as a whole including this county is a very hot area and hence fires are likely to happen and when they do they are likely to spread faster and wider in a short period of time (White, T., Ariaratnam and Michael, 2012). Riverside County has been reported to have several hundred earthquakes and earth tremors this year alone. This therefore means that the area is liable to earthquake disasters of larger magnitude and the emergency response team should be prepared on ways to handle it. Earthquake is a natural disaster and hence there are no mitigation efforts and preparations that can be made. The only way to tackle such a disaster is to wait for it to occur so that rescue efforts can be put in place. Even though the area has never experienced an earthquake of higher magnitude to crippling and alarming levels according to richer scale, this does not mean that it should be ruled out as a disaster possibility. California is generally an area prone to earthquakes and even if the earthquake will not happen with the Riverside County, the effects of a huge earthquake can be passed to this county and hence strong response is necessary (Geschwind, 2001). Terrorism is a man-made emergency and disaster that is likely to happen in Riverside County similarly to any other place in the US what with the terrorism threats and activities already taking place in other locations in the country. This county is likely to be a target because of several reasons first being the fact that it has a military base known as March Air Reserve Base. The military has been an enemy of terrorists and hence are likely to attack the county as a way of retaliation. There is also an international airport where they can arrive from which is the Palm Springs International Airport.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

What has happened to the canadian economy over the last two years Essay

What has happened to the canadian economy over the last two years - Essay Example Seeking to explain these question and others that deal with the first global economic crisis in the twenty-first century and the response of the Canadian government as well as the Bank of Canada to this crisis, this research paper will explain and evaluate the policies of both branches of government. Australia is presently doing well financially, as are a whole bunch of other countries which have been able to deal with the effects of global economic crisis while successfully managing their economies. As this project is being typed, the Canadian dollar is close to $0.97 USD, which remains high and is perceived by some as an indication that the Canadian economy is doing well. Is this the case? This question is explored below (CBC, 2009). On July 23rd, 2009, the Bank of Canada released its quarterly Monetary Policy Report and enthusiastically announced that the recession that had afflicted Canadian businesses and the Canadian economy since the start of the global credit crisis was â€Å"over†. Showing that Canadian economic growth was slated to be 1.3% in the current fiscal quarter, the days of a shrinking economy were descried as a thing of the past. While unemployment continued to rise, Canadian growth was projected to be positive after three quarters of economic decline and Mark Carney, Bank of Canada governor announced to reporters that â€Å"We are on track for the recovery both in Canada and globally,". Speculation that growth will continue through 2009 and 2010, leading to a striking gross national product growth rate of 4% by the middle of 2010, enthusiasm was the result of this mid-summer announcement. Optimistic forecasts by the Bank of Canada has assured the electorate of a 3+ growth rate by 2010; this is ahead of forecasts by the International Monetary Fund and some of the major banks in Canada including ScotiaBank, Royal Bank and the CIBC. What accounts for the positive announcement and the fact that the Canadian economy is expected

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Critically assess, using examples, the extent to which practice Essay

Critically assess, using examples, the extent to which practice perspectives give a coherent and complete account of the challenges involved with introducing new technologies into organisational settings - Essay Example pective approaches, leaders and managers within an organization can objectively evaluate and understand the depth and breadth of challenges associated with change within a workplace. According to practice perspective, social and cultural contexts play a significant role in influencing actionable practices demonstrated by individuals within a professional environment. Zachary (2012) mentioned that practice perspectives offer an insight into the intricate relationship between individual’s performance patterns, and the individual’s social attributes. For example, introduction of new technologies within an organization invariably presents specific challenges that can be accounted for through practice perspective techniques. In practice perspective, social elements of race, class, age, and gender among other relevant parameters are used to account for observable changes in actionable behaviors. Today, inclusion of social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter in an organization’s computers is helpful in facilitating online interactions between a company’s staff, customers, and other stakeholders. However, new technological tools like social network platforms can cause considerable challenges like distraction of employees at work. Actually, time spent by employees on friendly chats through social network sites can substantially compromise on productivity. According to Zachary (2012), young employees below 30 years are highly likely to spend more time on social networks compared to old workers above 35 years. On the other hand, productivity of female employees is minimally affected because they can easily multitask; hence they can still perform their duties effectively while at the same time using social network sites compared to their male counterparts. As aforementioned, practice perspective offers insight into the influential role of social parame ters like age and gender on individuals’ actionable performances. In this regard, challenges

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Racial Segregation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Racial Segregation - Essay Example However, the co-existence of these different races has not been smooth sailing. They have experienced racial discrimination, mostly from white Americans, who felt threatened by the increasing influx of the ‘foreigners’ in America. Following Ronald Takaki view in his book ‘A different mirror’, this essay tries to explain the nature of discrimination the slaves, Mexicans and the Irish experienced from the white American people. It captures events that happened before the civil war in relation to racial discrimination, and how the affected groups responded to such actions. Discussion The African American race was first introduced in America as servants. They were remarkably few in number and served the white masters who were the Anglo Americans â€Å"†¦rather, like most of the white laborers, they were probablyindentured servants† (Tikaki, 2008). Later on as their numbers increased, most of them were transformed to slaves. It is not clear though how and when this transition took placeNonetheless, in the nineteenth century, there was uproar by the citizens over the abolishment of slavery. It is this uproar that resulted to future civil rights movements and affirmative action that has been associated by the African American people. ... However, a sizable number of immigrants walked to El Norte in search of greener pastures in America. As usual, they were treated with hostility by Anglo Americans and resorted to doing blue collar jobs. Their settlement in El Norte, however, has enabled them to transform the culture to date due to the large number of Mexican settlers in that city. The Irish people arrived in large numbers than most immigrants in the states. Their immigration was fueled by neighboring England’s conquest of their territory, which occurred before the colonization of America. It is for this reason that they migrated to America in search of greener pastures. Their reception, however, was not so welcoming, despite their similar complexion to the Anglo Americans. This was many because their catholic belief was not welcome since most Americans came from protestant backgrounds. The Americans believed that the Irish were trying to spread their catholic practices to the Americans. As such, they were segr egated and mainly did casual jobs like construction. It was only after passing the naturalization law that the Irish got some reprieve. Their near complexion to the Anglo Americans enabled them to get blue collar jobs to the disadvantage of African Americans and the Chinese. They took advantage of this opportunity to promote their ethnic background, and also to secure political power. Conclusion Racial discrimination by the Anglo Americans was spread across all races as described in the discussion above. The Anglo Americans were keen to protect their ethnicity and culture, and as such did not provide avenues for the other races to prosper as they did. Instead, they strived hard to show their

Data Analyzing Tools And Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Data Analyzing Tools And Techniques - Essay Example These statistical presentations are unable to draw out in-depth coverage of the actual information even after the allocation of huge investment in data analysis. Consequently, alternative devices are being taken into serious consideration to transferring the knowledge along with a statistical presentation of the entire data. The present study presents the model that successfully presents the model that accepts the challenge of transferring the data to knowledge and results in a comprehensive and refined way by encompassing every characteristic of the given information separately. It neither drops any information from an analysis nor does it conceals basic knowledge the actual data intends to communicate; hence, it is of great value for taking steps towards right direction while taking decisions and devising strategies at different organizational levels at large. Policymaking always relies upon accurate facts in recruitment, placement, promotions and even dismissal of employees; it is equally significant for examining of corporate culture, profit rate and visits and satisfaction scales of the customers regarding a particular organization as well. The model is based upon five key competencies including software technology skills, statistical modeling and analytic skills, knowledge of the data, knowledge of the business and communication/partnering skills, all of which are essential for data analysis. Since over three-fifths of the managerial staff views organizational and cultural factors as the greatest barriers to achieving targets, the model provides the all-inclusive presentation about organizational culture too. Particularly, data related to sales volume is most important for managerial staff, comprehensive and analytical record of which is essential for future business plans in technological, transformational and analytic processes.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Market Failures & Professional Dilemmas Essay Example for Free

Market Failures Professional Dilemmas Essay Based on the Edwards article which market failures or imperfections are present in the â€Å"Lobster Thermidor† case? And can you identify any in your professional life? Based on the Halbert Ingulli reading (â€Å"Making An Ethical Decision†) apply the methods of ethical reasoning to these situations. Two market failures can be observed in the â€Å"Lobster Thermidor† case, a tragedy of public goods and informational deficiencies. First of all, the divers have to dive deeper, to the limit of diving safety, since overfishing has made the lobsters rare and to catch the lobster less than 30 meter down is getting harder and harder. This is the very typical case of public goods, where the public resources such as the lobsters under the sea are usually over-consumed by the individuals who try to maximize one’s interest. Deforestation, which has destroyed the entire farming industry and forced Miskitos out to entirely rely on diving, was another tragedy caused by the overconsumption of the public goods, forest. Secondly, both the divers and the end-consumers make wrong, irrational decisions cause of the lack of information. Divers, who do not recognize the true market price of lobsters as well as the true price of potential risks, bargain away their goods with little danger pay allowances. Also, the consumers, who have no idea about the severe fishing environment in Honduras, are reluctant to pay more than current prices, formed lower than it should be at the cost of human lives. The company where I worked prior to school has always tried its best to remove any little elements of competition in its area. If there were a small but promising start-up with innovative idea and technology, that company used every means –most were legal or grey while a few were nearly illegal- to get rid of the potential threats. For instance, it quickly imitates the new technology of the start-up, take out the similar patent, scout the core human resources, block off the critical suppliers and seed funds, cut the price of competitive goods to the minimum level, and do hostile MA. This case also showed the issues related to public goods and informational deficiencies. The company attempted to minimize the production/dissemination of new technologies, which can be considered as public goods, and the newborn ventures could not protect themselves cause of the limited access to the information. From the utilitarianism perspective, these are reasonable and desirable attempts because the larger number of stakeholders can be satisfied. My company had more than 20,000 employees while the average start-ups have no more than 100 employees. Considering the families of employees, shareholders, subcontractors, and the related industries, maximizing profit of my company could bring higher utilities than the success of small ventures. Even in long-term, my company’s decision would not be wrong since the possibility of success of start-ups are extremely low compared to the global conglomerates. My company, which has the global network, huge infrastructure, and accumulated knowhow can exploit the new technology better and thereby encourage the social progress. In contrast, from the deontological view, it was absolutely wrong. My company not only hindered the fair competition but also committed illegal acts. Whether the result proved positive or negative is not important for the deontologists. Finally, it was not proper when applying the concept of virtue ethics since the motives of the actions of the company was not correct and contributes nearly nothing to the harmonious relationship with the community it belonged.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

KBR Leadership Essay

KBR Leadership Essay Leadership and the leadership style used by the company and its relationship with the leadership theories: Leadership style in given organization is quite simple, open and goal focusing. Targets are given to functional and cross functional teams managed by team leaders, in team works every one has right to participate in decision making process, every team member can explain his opinion openly. Leader of the teams are expertise of their fields they better know how to overcome different problems. Leaders in this organization are responsible to maintain discipline, ethic and integrity in team and team work. Most of responsibilities are on the shoulders of leaders. Power distance is quite low in this organization as every one works for common goal, it is not difficult to communicate to leaders or seniors of the teams as vertical communication is open and honest, team members have good level of contact with their leaders and leaders are easily approachable. Leaders in this organization are used to of motivating their team members by trusting in them and expecting right job from them. Most of things are clear to team members as leaders dont hide things from them and try t o keep transparency in operations. Leaders expand the description of jobs by giving team members a variety in tasks and usually jobs are open ended. This style of leadership let the personnel progress and gives freedom for decisions making. Relationship with leader ship theories: Leadership in this organization includes a part of Fiedlerss leadership contingency theory (1960s) least preferred co-worker scale and situational control, in which leadership style is measured between task motivated leadership and relationship motivated leadership, leadership style of given organization is in between as it is target oriented and relationship motivating as well. In relation to situational control leaders in this organization are well aware of outcomes of their team members actions and decisions. Leadership in KBR is also near to Houses path-goal leadership theory which focuses on four leadership behaviours directive leadership, achievement -oriented leadership, supportive leadership and participative leadership. as path-goal theory says that key function in leadership is to adjust yourself according to situation in KBR leadership is more flexible, have a lot of experience and are more responsible so KBR is quite near to this theory and supportive leadership that focuses on developing good relations with subordinates and friendly work climate, in KBR leaders motivate the team members and seniors are approachable and other things discussed above made leadership in KBR quite supportive. KBRs leadership also follows the achievement -oriented leadership which emphasize on setting targets for subordinates and showing confidence in personnels abilities. In KBR leaders after assigning tasks to their team members expect right job from them it makes KBRs leadership achievement oriented. In participative leadership behaviour of leader is to involve subordinates in decision making and in KBR it provides bases to leadership. Transformational approach of leadership is also quite near to KBRs leadership as followers in KBR are motivated to go beyond job description and work for common good. Source of organizations culture and its implication on the workforce and organization performances: Morris W Kellogg is the saga of the company, means that he started the story of KBR and his story provides a lesson to whole organization members and gives foundations to culture of organization. Management philosophy of organization is based on commitment to health and safety and discipline. Individuals in organization have open and honest relationships there is good communication between all levels of management, in relationships mutual respect is always there. Most of things are transparent before everyone in organization, at all levels individuals are responsible but top management has more responsibilities Organization struggling to sustain integrity and specialization. work is divided among different specialized teams individuals at all levels have freedom of decision making and providing opportunities to grow to staff are is part of organizations culture. Organization always attracts talented graduates and specialized people as specialization is a part of organization culture. Organizations culture emphasis on going beyond customer‘s expectations. Organization delivers quality services to its customers. Organizations staff lives near the project location to better understand the situation. Organization works to innovate new things to expand its divisions and operations. Organizations culture causes a good relationship among whole work force. It makes the workforce to struggle for specialization and integrity. It causes exploring new things. whole work force has to obey the discipline and ethics. Communication among force needs to retain the mutual respect factor. Organizations culture is best fit for its operations, it helps to give maximum performance and achieve organizational goals. Culture of organization helps in continuous improvement, integrity and specialization. It provides motivation to individuals. Organizations culture moves the organization towards functional structure to get maximum integrity. Explore how the culture of the organization has impact on both the leadership and the organization structure of organization? Organizations culture plays an important role in providing bases to leadership. The leaders in organization takes the culture along and transfer it to subordinates major things in leadership which are from culture are integrity ,specialization, development of good relationship, work for crossing the customers expectations. Given above characteristics impact leadership style it makes leadership more cooperative. Leadership in KBR also opens door for innovation which is one of basics of firms culture. Transparency factor of culture makes the leaders to discuss things with subordinates openly, innovation factor of culture makes the leaders to let the subordinates go beyond their job description. For specialization leaders must be expertise of their fields. Element of honesty prevent leaders form politics. Element of the relationship building makes the leaders work with teams. Many things of culture also have affect on structure of company as honest relation and mutual respect and communication all these things give dimensions of low power difference, small hierarchy and flat structure to organization. Factor of specialization has divided the firm in many business units to bring maximum quality and specialization Need of specialization causes the organization to develop a set up to attract talented graduates, expertise towards the company. To create this attraction organization gives opportunities to personal progress and freedom of decision making and goo reward system specialization also divides the organization further business units. Due to specialization organization is gradually moving towards matrix structure which is more expensive and complicated but is necessary to meet the organizational and cultural needs Shareholder and employee benefits make the organization to give employees opportunities to grow and make profits for share holders. Relationship element of organization divides the management in few layers to built strong relationships The issue of motivation theories the motivational policies used in the case and its impact on individual and organization performances: KBR has developed a motivating culture for its personnel, there is a small distance between the upper management and the lower management, vertical and horizontal communication is not complicated ideas can be shared, team leaders always there to motivate and help their team members, most of things are transparent before employees as they are trusted by their seniors all these things motivate them and make them feel that they are part of organization besides this jobs has been designed to motivate the personnel, they have freedom to make decision and they can identify and solve the problems by their own judgment, challenging goals are give to staff member according to their specialization which motivate them to make difference there is a strong relationship between senior management and the subordinates, all above elements motivate the staff and make them feel that they are like a family and have power and freedom to some extend they know that their actions can influence the organizat ion, in future they have many opportunities to prosper on the bases of their work and there is no typical strict boss on them. Motivated staff ultimately leads the organization towards efficiency and success. As jobs do not have strict boundaries so there are more chances of exploring new things that enables the firm to have new ideas. Organizations motivating strategy develop loyalty in employees and it also attract talented graduates towards the organization as they see opportunity to grow and talented staff plays an important role in organizations achievements. Motivation strategy of this company follows rules described in Alderfers ERG theory which focuses on existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs and it also follows the acquired needs theory which emphasize on achievement , affiliation and power needs. And KBR has opportunities to grow, strong relationship with employees and challenging jobs to make achievements all these things bring firm near to these theories. KBRs strategy is also near to two-factor theory of Fredrick Herzberg. this theory shows certain factors which play an important part in motivating and providing job satisfaction to employees these factors are given below in diagram, according to this diagram KBR has most of job satisfying factors in its strategy. (Organizational behaviour Schermerhhorn, Hunt, Osborn, seventh edition, 2000, page: 114) The nature of team, its structure and how it has impact on organization performances: KBRS management structure is flat and has few layers of management organization has adapted functional structure for its project in which teams work under specialists leadership and all members struggle for common goal as all are accountable for it. In teams all members have good relationship with each other mutual respect is always there every team member has god level of contact with seniors all members have efficient communication skills role of every team member is clearly described and he also has a freedom to some extent. All key tasks are given description team members need to be flexible teams are ready to accept any challenging task all teams working for same project have interaction with each other and work together to satisfy customer by delivering services beyond expectation. this structure of is according to day- to -day business needs of organization. Now company is gradually moving towards matrix structure in which cross functional teams consist on expertise from different functional departments utilize maximum of their skills to achieve organizational goals. KBRs structure helps it to achieve perfection in services as specialists teams work on projects assure quality and helps to sustain quality this functional structure also help the organization to meet its day to day requirements. Team work gives guarantees clear performance objective and enhances creativity in organization that plays an important role in going beyond expectations Cross functional teams bring an increase in work speed, provide broader information and struggle to sustain integration. All these things cause a perfection in lesser time that take the firm towards customer satisfaction. How effective do you think company approach to people management will be in ensuring improved results and enhancing the change management process? KBR has developed its structure to deliver services efficiently to its customers in all conditions, this structure also enables to work for the benefit of its shareholder, employees and communities the organization serve. In KBR the chain of command is small there are not many layers in hierarchy of management span of control is larger in this organization. A few layers cause a decrease in distance between upper management and lower management, individuals are not answerable to many bosses. Staff at upper management level has more responsibilities individual at upper level are expertise of their fields company also hire fresh graduates in its lower management and training is given to them so a new person can be a part if this organization at any level but new staff member has to show performance in 12 months probationary period .All individuals in KBR are given a degree of freedom to make decision. Every single post has an opportunity to progress and prosper personally. Jobs are desi gned to continue the learning process and exploring new things. Because of few management layers it is easy for upper management to control the subordinates as they can directly contact them and they can be informed with the staff problems and it also cause a motivation in staff as they can easily approach their seniors. This structure also help in unity of command besides this a few layers of management cause a decrease in cost and time. In horizontal structure organization is a functional and matrix organization and this structure leads towards clear targets and specialization. All individual selected for the organization have quality of adaptability so any change can be easily adapted. Because of few layers in management it is easy to bring a change. As company is changing towards matrix structure which is quite near to functional structure so it is easily acceptable. Problems caused by change can easily be known to upper management and can be solved and all conflicts can be removed. Explore the way individual and organization behaves liking this with relevant theory that you are familiar with how would this impact on any the organizations change process: Individuals in KBR are flexible, technically competent they use their own judgment in understanding the things and the have good interpersonal skills. Employees in KBR expect growth and reward for their work. All these traits bring KBR,s staff near to following theories. Self monitoring: According that individuals have ability to adjust their behaviour according to situation. Maglino and associates: this theory focuses on four points. Achievement, helping and concern for others, honesty and fairness (Schermerhhorn, Hunt, Osborn, seventh edition, page: 72) Varooms expectancy theory: According to this theory motivated staff believes that effort will yield acceptable performance performance will be rewarded the value of reward is highly positive Companys first priority is to satisfy the customer and after for that company focuses on financial responsibility, accountability and discipline there is no compromise on health and safety. Organization also focuses on ethics and integrity. Company struggles for continuous improvement and grow globally company has been opening new business units and innovating new things. Organization trust in its staff and right job is expected from them. Companys behaviour has relevance with following theories. High performance management theory covers all characteristics of KBR. Core points are given below Total quality management: total commitment to high quality results continuous improvement and meeting customer needs. Empowerment: allow individuals to make decisions that affect them or their work. Intellectual capital: total knowledge, expertise and energy available from organization members. Employee involvement Integration Organizations and individuals behaviour has a positive impact on the change process as the given above characteristics shows that individuals and organization is ready to accept change and this change is also a part of continuous improvement so flexibility adaptability continuous improvement struggle for high quality integrity all these things enables organization and individuals to accept and implement the change. Explain how the company has managed it change process and how it has benefited from this management process: Company implemented planed change strategy, in planed change organization followed the rational persuasion process in company used facts, special knowledge and rational arrangement to create change. Companys management system helped the company to implement the change as companys management ensures flexibility adaptability and because the management process is simple that is why it is easy to implement a change, few layers of management help to minimize the change cost and time it also decrease the probability of resistance to change. Firm is already working for specialization and integration and change will assist the firm in it. As management system gives reasons to change, the quality information, security, retention of power, good resources and good timing all these things makes the organization to accept the change Recommendations for future improvement: Let individuals clearer what exactly need to do to get desired reward Shift few more responsibilities on the shoulders of subordinates and more specify their jobs. Create a sense of urgency For teams facts and information should be given on regular bases Discuss companys high performance standards with staff Provide a variety in rewarding Let the individuals know how well they are working Make a real understanding of what firm stands for Make a good understand sense of informal rules and expectations so individual understand what is exactly expected of them Create a warmer interpersonal environment between upper management and lower management Staff at lower level must given performance feed back on regular bases Involve more subordinates in managerial decision making Link the team results to organizational outcomes Evaluate team and each individual members performance Make the culture more strong with rites, symbols and rituals Let the staff develop their own view how to develop tow ards organizational goals Increase decentralization, participation and create more decrease in rigidity Subordinates should be informed about the coming fears Conclusion: KBR is a big company rapidly growing globally. The company is enhancing its operations efficiently and quickly, business is divided in sub business units company is continually increasing its business units, company is conducting business by keeping its culture along. Structure of the organization is flat there are quite few layers in management which make management process easier, horizontal structure of organization is functional now firm is moving toward matrix structure. leadership of organization is motivating and communication between all levels of organization is quit easy. Most of responsibilities are on the shoulders of senior management .Senior management must has an understanding with the following areas of responsibility Provide strategic and operational leadership Develop and motivate others Be approachable and open to ideas Display honesty and integrity Individuals at all levels have freedom to make decisions and at all levels opportunities to grow are given, a new mem ber can enter in firm at any level. Every new person must have following traits Technical competence Strong oral and written communication Relationship building and team work Planning and organizational skills Adaptability Policies of organization attract talented graduates and specialists

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Healthcare Comparison: New Zealand and South Korea

Healthcare Comparison: New Zealand and South Korea MERVIN STEVEN RECTO Write a comparative analysis about the practical barriers that exist in the healthcare provisions in New Zealand and in those of one overseas country of your choice through using the following determinants: D. SOCIOECONOMIC BARRIERS Socioecomic barriers are usually common nowadays in industrialized western countries. It has become evident within the population in those countries because it has become multi-cultural due to the fact that these countries’ market place has been internationalized and borders have opened up to invite migrants from other countries which is not new in present days. Migration has come in different forms such as labour migration and refugees seeking refuge to get away from hostilities in their own land and perhaps start a better life in a better country. But the negative side of these migrants are that they come from a country with low standards in living and in health which can be a barrier for them in health care services. (Scheppers, van Dongen, 2006) According to the American Psychological Association (2014), a barrier in socioeconomic can be related to one’s status. The socioeconomic status is based on education, income and occupation. When an individual is successful and has that entire basis then he or she will be able to garner a better access in health care compared to the people who have not met those standards. People with low levels of socioeconomic status are bound to be correlated with poor health and low quality of life. In addition, a journal written by Veugelers and Yip in 2003 stated that wealthier and highly educated people experience better health care than the poor and less educated ones. Furthermore, it was written that the inability of lower socioeconomic groups to purchase health insurance will hinder their access to health care. But since then publicly funded health care has been slowly implemented to cater to the needs of the poor and reduce inequity in the process. New Zealand as a country is known for its diverse and equal treatment to all foreign people who migrate to their land. The health care system of this country has been funded via partial fee-for-service payment from the government for consultations with physicians and medications with the patients also having being co-payees to a substantial amount. But there is still presence of inequities in the health care access especially to the poor and the MÄ ori community. They have rates that are lesser compared to the others. But the government are finding ways to lessen the inequities in New Zealand health care pertaining to socioeconomic status by changing or making new policies that are directed to alter both the funding and organisational arrangements in which primary health care will be launched. The new policy focuses on primary health care which is the key to the improvement in health services to all regardless of socioeconomic status. This policy, in collaboration with the New Zealand Health Strategy, is pursuing equal policies in health care to be implemented within the District Health Board’s framework. Although the partial fee-for-service is still in effect today and is assisted by government subsidies, patients still have to grab a small amount in their pockets since subsidies do not also fully cover the costs. (Barnett, R. and Barnett, P., 2004) South Korea, on the other hand, also has its disparities in its health care system socioeconomic-wise. Like the western countries, South Korea is no different in socioeconomic barriers. People with less income are prone to illnesses or sickness as to those who have higher income. An example that can be pointed out is an article written by Joh, Oh, Lee and Kawachi (2013) wherein obesity is said to be more prevalent among individuals who are from a lower socioeconomic party. Obesity has increased substantially in South Korea for the past two decades. This problem is patterned by an individual’s socioeconomic status. This is where health inequality in South Korea has been identified through uneven distribution of resources such as economic, social and cultural. It is also said in the article that norms, perceptions and behaviours are elements that changes social inequality to health inequality. Thus differing values, weight perception and control are the underlying causes of obes ity across socioeconomic class. They have come up with solutions in order to deal with this kind of situation. As we know that the South Korean health care system relies solely in private sectors since public hospitals comprise of a measly ten per cent in the whole nation. Because of that, in order to provide equality in health care delivery to the people, especially to the poor, they developed single payer system insurance so that those people regardless of socioeconomic status can have equal access to health care. E. ORGANISATIONAL BARRIERS Pexton (2009) stated that in a health care organisation, a system succeeds when it adapts to various strategies the management has imparted and when there are improvements in its techniques. She also stated that in order for an organisation to garner the success it wants, it has to be prepared to show improvements in its system year over year. An organisation must be prepared to make a change for the better of the organisation and its people especially in this kind of economy where everything is getting harder and harder. Other organisations find it important to transform or change culture in order to get through or around and above the competitive environment. Pexton also identified the most common organisational barriers and they are: cultural complacency or scepticism, lack of communication, lack of alignment and accountability, passive or absent leadership support, micromanagement, overloaded workforce, inadequate systems and structures, lack of control plans to measure and susta in results. New Zealand’s health care services are provided by practitioners with private business approaches for funding and the likes. Over the past decade, the primary health care providers approach to organisation and funding has become rather different. Little can be said about any organisational barrier in New Zealand health care since the country itself is diverse and equal. New Zealand easily adapts to different cultures since it has migrants from all over the world. It is open to change for it to provide fairness in health care delivery to all. New Zealand is also likely to develop a primary health organisation that will support and provide quality health care treatment to different populace. The most important matter with regards to health care in New Zealand is with the Maori people. They have organisations that fund the Maori health providers. Different health organisations have met and discussed ways to improve Maori health years back up until now without harming or disrespec ting their culture and way of life. (Barwick, 2000) South Korea, together with its enviable health care system and its rise in the technological industry, organisational barriers that were mentioned prior could be a forgone conclusion. The country is set to use the so called healthcare IT system which enables data sharing and remote monitoring and diagnosis. This system will be of greater help to the country since healthcare spending is increasing year in and year out. The population in country is not getting any smaller either. There is also a change in the country’s profile concerning diseases that are long term and costly to treat which makes it unaffordable to some individuals. These diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, which are rising rapidly within the nation needs constant and strict monitoring and will affect the individual’s quality of life. With the said technology, government organisations have acknowledged not only the cost but also the benefit that this program can give to the people of South Korea. There are still barriers that hinder the adoption of the healthcare informatics, namely, slow regulatory reform which recognises only the one to one consultations between the doctor and the patient and not by through monitors. Another barrier is the division within medical establishment; this is due to the fact that only the bigger and richer facilities can afford these types of technologies. Establish clinical buy-in through demonstrations and incentives states that the government should do more trials so as to really know that this type of technology is for the better and for the future of South Korea’s health care system. One more barrier that I would like to point out is get patients involved since they are the ones being taken care of, let them see it first-hand if it can be successful and useful in order to have a better health care system. (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2011) REFERENCES: American Psychological Association. (2014). Disability and Socioeconomic Status. 750 First St. NE, Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-disability.aspx Barnett, R. and Barnett, P. (21st March 2004). Primary Health Care in New Zealand: Problems and Policy Approaches. Ministry of Social Development. University of Canterbury, Christchurch. Retrieved from https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj21/21-primary-health-care-in-new-zealand-pages49-66.html Barwick, H. (December 2000). Improving access to primary care for Maori, and Pacific peoples (p. 13, 3.1). A literature review commissioned by the Health Funding Authority. Retrieved from http://www.moh.govt.nz/notebook/nbbooks.nsf/0/0ff9b7c2186f2628cc2574b2000220cf/$FILE/HFAimprovingaccess.pdf Economist Intelligence Unit. (November 2011). Connect to care: The future of healthcare IT in South Korea. Retrieved from http://www.economistinsights.com/sites/default/files/downloads/GE_SouthKorea_main_English_Nov17_FINAL_2.pdf Joh, H., Oh, J., et. al. (March 2013). Gender and Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Weight Perception and Weight Control Behavior in Korean Adults. Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers. Retrieved from http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/346805 Pexton, C. (23rd of February 2009). Overcoming Organizational Barriers to Change in Healthcare. Financial Times Press. Retrieved from http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1327759 Scheppers, E., van Dongen, E., et. al. (13th February 2006). Family Practice: Potential barriers to the use of health services among ethnic minorities. Oxford Journals. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/3/325.full Veugelers, P. and Yip, A. (2003). Journal of Epidemiology Community Health: Socioeconomic disparities in health care use: Does universal coverage reduce inequities in health? Retrieved from http://jech.bmj.com/content/57/6/424.full Relationship Between Tourism and Economic Growth: Cyprus Relationship Between Tourism and Economic Growth: Cyprus ABSTRACT Although the relationship between international trade and economic growth has found a wide application area in the literature over the years, this can not be said about tourism and growth or trade and tourism. This study employs co-integration and Granger causality tests to examine long-run relationship between tourism, trade and growth, and the direction of causality among themselves for Cyprus. Results reveal that tourism is not co-integrated either with growth or trade whereas latter two are co-integrated and there is bidirectional causation between tourist arrivals and growth, between exports and growth and finally between exports and imports in Cyprus. Finally, results suggest unidirectional causation from tourist arrivals to export growth in Cyprus. I. INTRODUCTION International tourism and international trade are two major sources of foreign exchange for small countries as well as larger ones. Small countries, in particular small islands, have more dependency on tourism and trade than the larger ones since their economies are based on only a few sectors. For example, according to Kuznets (1966), as the country gets smaller, its dependency on international trade would increase. On the other hand, although many economists agree that small countries have similar advantages and disadvantages when compared to larger ones, there are differences in the origin of these disadvantages. Among common disadvantages are international tourism/trade dependency, vulnerability, high population growth rate, limited labor force, low labor efficiency, diseconomies of scale, low GDP (Gross Domestic Product), high dependency on imports of intermediate and consumption goods, and production of only a few basic goods/services. The small size of a country, in terms of area and population, may be economically advantageous. The smallness of a state in terms of area and population may in fact be a source of comparative advantage rather than being a constraint on economic growth and development. Specifically, smallness may be more than compensated by certain unique characteristics possessed by small states. Export-oriented services tend to represent such uniqueness and, therefore, a basis for a potential comparative advantage (Mehmet and Tahiroglu 2002). In the last few decades, some small states have been important service centers in banking, financial and trade services. Among them are Singapore, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Bermuda, Malta, Jersey and Cyprus. The tourism sector has been a locomotive industry for some small economies and the sole source providing a comparative advantage. Bermuda is a good example in the sense that it has emerged as a tourism center, successfully exploiting the ability to take advantage of a favorable climate and location. The strategic location of small states also serves as an important factor for providing banking and financial services. In the Mediterranean Sea, two examples of this category are the south of Cyprus and Malta. Bermuda, Bahrain and Jersey are among other states as studied by Bowe et al. (1998). On the other hand, in the north side of Cyprus, higher education emerged as number one sector contributing to national income of the country. Having restrictions on international trade and tourism in dustry with other countries, Turkish Cypriots living in the north of Cyprus succeeded in establishing and developing higher education institutions that attracts many foreign students from different regions of the world. Currently, there are six universities in North Cyprus where they attract students and academicians from more than 69 countries (SPO 2004). International tourism not only contributes to economic welfare of countries but also to their socio-cultural, environmental and ecological activities (Lindberg and Johnson, 1997; Bull, 1991; Ryan, 1991; Pearce, 1989). Luzzi and Flà ¼ckiger (2003) defines international tourism not as an industry but as a single, complex and differentiated product. It is complex because it includes a wide variety of goods and services, and differentiated because each destination has unique features. On the other hand, the purpose of tourism can be in different forms: Leisure tourism, business, visiting friends and relatives, education, conferences, or sports. Thus, international tourism is a major contribution to the welfare of countries in every field. As a result of these activities, tourists are likely to consume and purchase of goods/services that bring economic impact to every sector of countries such as transportation, accommodation, tour operators and shopping areas (See also Chang, 2000). There is an unverified question of whether international tourism growth actually causes economic growth or does economic growth contributes to tourism growth instead. Empirical studies of the relationship between tourism and economic growth have been less rigorous in tourism literature (Oh, 2005). International tourism receipts are a major source of foreign exchange together with export revenues that well compensate current account deficits as well due to the fact that tourism spending serves as an alternative form of exports contributing to ameliorated balance of payments in many countries (Oh, 2005). On the other hand, since international tourism contributes to every sector of the economies, budget deficits also benefits from these activities via tax revenues. As McKinnon (1964) argues international tourism brings foreign exchange that can be used to import intermediate and capital goods to produce goods and services, which in turn leads to economic growth. Balaguer and Jorda (2002 ) prove the validity of tourism-led hypothesis for the Spanish economy where the Spanish economy is the second largest recipient of international tourist earnings (5.9% of its GDP) in the world after the United States (Oh, 2005). However, there is a question if this hypothesis can be proved for other countries. Therefore, the tourism-led hypothesis deserves further attention for the other economies. On the other hand, many studies in the literature proved the importance of international trade for economic growth well. Some support export-led hypothesis while others support import-led hypothesis for particular countries. Although results on the direction of relationship between international trade and economic growth are still again inconclusive (Balaguer and Jorda, 2002), these studies prove that international trade is crucial for economic growth of many countries (Shun and Sun, 1998; Xu, 1996; Jin, 1995; Bahmani-Oskooee and Alse, 1993, Marin, 1992; Chow, 1987). Recent theoretical literature provides two main mechanisms through which international trade may affect growth. The first is its effect on the rate of innovation. The second is its effect on the adoption rate of technologies from more advanced countries that also increases the economys rate of total factor productivity growth (Proudman et al., 1998). International tourism and international trade mean greater integration into the world economy which also brings benefits to the economies such as employment creation, foreign exchange earnings, government revenues, and income and employment multipliers (See also Clancy 1999). There have been numerous studies analyzing the effects of international tourism and trade sectors on especially developing economies. However, the linkages between international tourism and international trade did not find a wide application area in the literature (See Shan and Wilson, 2001). Do international tourist arrivals promote international trade, or does international trade promote tourist arrivals, or is there feedback causality among them? When international tourism leads to international trade, there will be an increase in import demand for foreign goods/services as well as an increase in export earnings through its service account of balance of payments. Another implication of international tourism f or international trade is that it increases the image of domestic goods/services around the world which create new trade opportunities (Shan and Wilson, 2001; Kullendran ad Wilson, 1998). On the other hand, when international trade leads to international tourism, this might happen through business travel which in turn causes holiday travels at later stages as a result of greater trade opportunities. Therefore, the relationship between international tourism and international trade is another issue that deserves further attention from the researchers. Aim and Importance of the Study Having the importance of this issue that deserves further attention, this study empirically investigates the possible co integration and causal link between international tourism, international trade and economic growth in a small island, the south of Cyprus, which has become a new member to European Union (EU) apart from May 1, 2004 and is a developed country with 15.1 billion US$ GDP and 20,701 US$ per capita income as of 2004 figures (Statistical Service, 2004). There are important implications and motivations for doing this study: First, international trade plays an extremely important role amidst economic concerns, on the other hand, little mention is of international tourism, in spite of its importance among foreign expenditure items (Luzzi, 2003); and majority of empirical studies on tourism forecasting are built on tourism demand functions. As Shan and Wilson (2001) mention several areas remain incomplete in this sort of studies and hence deserve further studies. For example, first, the role of international trade as one of the determinants of tourism demand is not well recognized in these studies. Thus, this study will search the relationship of not only international tourism growth with economic growth but also with international trade growth in a small island. Second, the econometric techniques used in the previous studies of international tourism are generally poor lacking new developments in econometrics such as co integration and Granger causality concepts (Shan and Wilson 2001; Lim 1997; Song et al. 1997; Witt and Witt 1995). Additionally, this study is unique in the sense that it for the first time searches the link between international tourism, international trade and economic growth triangle at the same time by employing the latest econometric techniques in the field where previous empirical studies in the literature considered the link between any pair of them for particular countries (Oh, 2005; Shan and Wilson, 2001; Clancy, 1999; Andrew, 1997; Wagner, 1997; Zhou et al., 1997) till the moment. Third, another implication of this study is that although there have been extensive studies (Andronikou, 1987; Ioannides, 1992; Clements and Georgiou, 1998; Ayers, 2000; Cope, 2000; Ioannides and Holcomb, 2001; Sharpley and Forster, 2003; Sharpley, 2002) analyzing the development and management of tourism in Cyprus; however, none of them has considered its impact on economic growth and international trade in the literature. Furthermore, there are very few studies analyzing international trade and its effect on economic growth of Cyprus (Andrikopoulos and Loizides, 2000; Ayres, 1999; Pattichis, 1999; Asseery and Perdikis, 1991; Kamperis, 1989). Therefore, empirical studies deserve attention to be made for the South Cyprus economy. Yet, the results of this study for the first time are expected to give important implications for this island economy. And fourth, Cyprus problem has been at the agenda of world countries for more than 40 years. Now, the south of Cyprus became a member of the EU whereas the north of the island does not benefit the EU regulations. Thus, this situation will continue to deserve attention from the world countries and the results of this study are also expected to give important messages to policy makers. The paper proceeds as follows. Section II overviews the literature on international tourism, international trade and growth and gives brief summary of tourism and trade in Cyprus. Section III defines data and methodology of the study. Section IV provides results and discussions and the paper concludes with Section V. II. TOURISM, TRADE AND GROWTH Evidence from Literature This section attempts to provide a review of the literature with an emphasis on international tourism, international trade and economic growth. Exports and international tourism receipts postulate the existence of various arguments for which both exports and international tourism receipts become a main determinant of overall long run economic growth. More specifically, export revenues and international tourism receipts bring in foreign exchange which can be used to import capital goods in order to produce goods and services, leading in turn to economic growth (Balaguer and Jorda, 2002; Xu, 1998). Thus, international trade and international tourism can be thought of one within the other that together contributes to economic growth. Exports plus imports divided by GDP is a well known measure for openness of a country (See Yanitkaya, 2003). Since small economies have more trade dependency, the openness rate of these countries is also higher than larger ones. Recent theoretical literatur e provides two main mechanisms through which international openness may affect growth. The first is its effect on the rate of innovation. The second is its effect on the adoption rate of technologies from more advanced countries that also increases the economys rate of total factor productivity growth (Proudman et al. 1998). Whether export promotion leads to economic growth has been subject to considerable debate in the development and growth literature. Newly industrialized Asian countries in particular, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand can be cited as examples of countries experiencing export-led growth (ELG). This strategy of growth has doubled their standards of living in every ten year cycle. Many studies have tested the ELG hypothesis for economic growth to search for the relationship between export growth and economic growth. Extensive empirical studies in the literature have adopted the concept of causality proposed by Granger (1969) and Sims (1972) to detect the causal relationship between exports and output. Many of the studies in the empirical literature show conflicting results. Furthermore, although exports are a component of GDP and thus lead directly to the growth of output, while some studies found support for the export-led growth hypothesis (i.e. Chow, 1987; Bahmani-Oskee and Alse, 1993; Xu, 1996), some others have found negative relationship, even for the economies that are well known for their export promoting policies (i.e. Jung and Marshall, 1985; Darrat, 1986; Ahmed and Kwan, 1991; Dodaro, 1993). The new trade theory has contributed to the theoretical relationship between exports and growth regarding effects on technical efficiency (Doyle 2001). Rivera-Batiz and Romer (1991) show that expansion of international trade increases growth by increasing the number of specialized production inputs. However, this outcome is ambiguous when there is imperfect competition and increasing returns to scale (Doyle 2001). Krugman (1979), Dixit and Norman (1980) and Lancaster (1980) show economies of scale as a major cause of international trade, hinting the validity of the growth-led exports hypothesis. There are extensive empirical studies of the Trade-Led Growth (TLG) hypothesis which fail to produce conclusive findings (Giles and Williams 1999; Deme 2002). Some empirical studies in the literature confirmed the TLG hypothesis for some countries whereas some others rejected it for some other countries, while, on the other hand, some studies in the growth literature support the ELG hypothesi s and while some others investigate the Import-Led Growth (ILG) hypothesis (Deme 2002). In the last decade, in addition to cross-country applications, time series and causality analyses examining the export and economic growth relationship has gained importance. Additionally, the concept of the ILG hypothesis was also practically considered in addition to the ELG hypothesis having the fact that imports are mainly vital for raw materials, as well as intermediate goods and capital goods which are used in the production process of exported goods and services. This mechanism stimulates economic growth for many countries. In the work of Bahmani-Oskooee and Alsee (1993), bidirectional causality between export growth and economic growth was empirically tested. Chang (2000) added imports to the relationship between exports and GDP and founded a bidirectional relationship between income and exports, income and imports, and exports and imports in the case of Taiwan. Arize (2002) found a long run convergence and therefore a long run equilibrium relationship between exports and imports using data for 50 countries around the world. This was parallel to the findings of Fountas and Wu (1999), Granger (1986), Gould and Ruffin (1996) and Husted (1992). Howard (2002) worked on the causality between exports, imports and income (GDP) in Trinidad and Tobago, a petroleum exporting country where oil export booms raise income levels but are usually followed by a slump. He found a unidirectional Granger causation from exports to income and bidirectional causation between exports and imports, and imports and income. He also hinted to the importance of the relationship between export growth and income due to a promotion of export sector as a key to economic g rowth and development in most of the developing countries. Chow (1987) found a bi-directional causality export growth and economic growth for Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, Taiwan and Brazil, unidirectional causality from export to economic growth for Mexico and no causality between these two for Argentina using the Sims procedure. Jung and Marshall (1985) used Granger causality tests and supported the ELG hypothesis for four out of thirty seven developing countries under consideration. They also found significant output growth and export growth relationship for three countries, an export-reducing growth relationship for six countries and a growth-reducing exports relationship for three countries. The empirical literature on ELG world wide generally shows that export growth plays an important role in economic growth, although many countries have recently adopted liberalization in their trade policies. Empirical studies also proved that developing countries with favorable export growth have experienced high economic growth rates. Therefore, th is shows that exports are one of the major sources of foreign currency for national economies. Recently, few studies have applied new developments in econometrics including co integration and Granger Causality procedures to tourism studies (Shan and Wilson 2001). The effect of international tourism on economic growth of countries has found limited application area in the literature. Balaguer and Jorda (2002) tested international tourism as a long run economic growth factor for Spain using co integration and Granger causality techniques. They confirmed the tourism-led hypothesis through co integration and causality testing for the Spanish economy. They also confirmed that economic growth in Spain has been sensible to persistent expansion of international tourism. On the other hand, Hazari and Sgro (1995) developed a model that indicated that world demand for tourism would have a positive effect on the long run economic growth of a small economy. Shan and Wilson (2001) found bidirectional causation between international travel and international trade for China. They also imply t hat trade flows do not link with tourism in China. Therefore, Shan and Wilson (2001) suggest that previous tourism studies using single equation approaches may lead to biased estimates since they fail to consider possible feedbacks between trade and tourism, because international trade (both exports and imports) and international tourism are found to reinforce each other in many countries. Tourism and Trade in Cyprus Cyprus has an open, free-market, serviced-based economy with some light manufacturing. It promotes its geographical location as a bridge between West and East, along with its educated English-speaking population, moderate local costs, good airline connections, and telecommunications. In the past 20 years, the economy has shifted from agriculture to light manufacturing and services. The service sector, including tourism, contributes 75.7% to the GDP and employs 70.7% of the labor force (Statistical Service, 2004). Over the years, the services sectors, and tourism in particular, provided the main impetus for growth. Trade is vital to the Cypriot economy the island is not self-sufficient in food and has few natural resources. Thus, as it is one of the characteristics of small islands, Cyprus has heavy dependency on foreign trade. As is typical of island nations with strong tourism sectors, Cyprus runs consistent merchandise trade deficits which are partially offset by strong surpluses in services trade with foreigners, but the net result of these two largest components of the current account balance is a current account deficit because the services surplus is smaller than the trade deficit. In 2003, Cyprus ran a current account deficit which was about 3.4 % of its GDP (Statistical Service, 2004). Cyprus enjoys a wide range of natural resources in terms of landscape, traditional folklore, gastronomy, culture and a pleasant climate. Over the last 40 years, Cyprus has emerged as a major Mediterranean summer-sun destination (Sharpley, 2002). The successful growth of international tourism underpinned a remarkable socio-economic development on the island (Sharpley, 2002; Ayers, 2000; Seekings, 1997; Kammas and Salehi-Esfahani, 1992; Ioannides, 1992). Thus, the tourist industry in Cyprus is one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy and one of the main driving forces behind economic growth. Having this fact, the Cyprus Tourist Organization has drawn up a Strategic Plan for Tourism for the 2000-2010 period. As a marketing plan, it addresses every conceivable relevant aspect (Smith and Zwart 2002). Among the targets of this plan are to increase real revenue to CYP (Cyprus pound) 1.8 billion in 2010, to increase average spending per tourist to CYP 512 in 2010, to lessen the extent of the tourism sectors dependence on the season by realizing a 33% to 40% decrease in tourist arrivals during the peak season (from July to September) and a simultaneous increase during the remaining period to a level of about 250,000 tourists per month, to increase the number of tourist arrivals to 4 million in 2010 and to increase the share of return visits to 35% in 2010. However, tourism sector has recently experienced a downturn in Cyprus largely as a result of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the economic slow-down in Europe. For example, total tourist arrivals showed a decline by 10.3% in 2002. Due to the events of 11 September, the year 2001 showed an increase of only 0.39%. The tourists who visit Cyprus originate mainly from Central and Northern Europe, particularly the UK (United Kingdom) and Germany. In 2004, 56.7% of total tourist arrivals (2.3 million tourists) to Cyprus were from the UK where 6.9% were from Germany and 5.7% were from Greece. International tourism receipts of Cyprus were almost 1.9 billion US$ in 2004 where these experienced a fall between 2002 and 2004 (Statistical Service, 2004).. Cyprus, due to its small domestic market and the open nature of its economy, considers access to international markets as of utmost importance. As a result, foreign trade has always been one of the main sectors of the Cypriot economy, contributing considerably to the economic growth of the island. Trade balance in Cyprus has been consistently unfavorable since before 1960. Given its large and expanding trade deficit, Cyprus was fortunate to have a large and growing surplus in its invisibles account, enough even to offset the trade deficit in 1987 and 1988. The major factors contributing to this surplus were tourist receipts, receipts from transfers, and income from other goods and services (such as foreign military expenditures in Cyprus, and foreign exchange from offshore enterprises). Trade balance was also chronically unfavorable even after 1974  [1]  . There were decline in exports of Cyprus after 2000s as well. The share of goods and services exports in GDP was 55.0% in 2000 , 51.4% in 2002 and 46.4% in 2003 (Statistical Service, 2004). The main domestic exports of Cyprus are agricultural exports, especially citrus fruits and potatoes, and manufactured products, most importantly clothing, footwear, chemicals, and machinery. The EU is the main market for the exports of Cyprus. Among the EU members in export market of Cyprus are UK (24.4% in 2003), France (11.0% in 2003), Germany (7.2% in 2003), Greece (6.4% in 2003) and Poland (3.7% in 2003). The other major block of countries to which the exports of Cyprus continued to do well is the Arab countries. On the other hand, Cyprus is dependent on imports for many raw materials, consumer goods, transportation equipment, capital goods, and fuels. The share of goods and services imports in GDP was 60.2% in 2000, 59.5% in 2002 and 57.8% in 2003. The imports of Cyprus mainly come from Russia (36.2% of total imports in 2003), Greece (6.4% of total imports in 2003), UK (5.3% of total imports in 2003), Germany (5.2% of total imports in 2003) and Italy (5.1% in 2003) (Statistical Service, 2004). III. DATA AND METHODOLOGY Data used in this paper are annual figures covering the period 1960 2003 and variables of the study are real gross domestic product (GDP), real trade volume (exports plus imports), real exports, real imports and total tourists visiting and accommodating in tourist establishments of Cyprus. Data are taken from World Bank Development Indicators CD-ROM (World Bank, 2004) and Statistical Service of Cyprus (Statistical Service, 2004) and variables are all at 1995 constant US $ prices. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP)  [2]  Unit Root Tests are employed to test the integration level and the possible co-integration among the variables (Dickey and Fuller 1981; Phillips and Perron 1988). The PP procedures, which compute a residual variance that is robust to auto-correlation, are applied to test for unit roots as an alternative to ADF unit root test. Unless the researcher knows the actual data generating process, there is a question concerning whether it is most appropriate to include constant term and trend factor in the unit root process (Enders 1995). It might seem reasonable to test the existence of a unit root in the series using the most general of the models. That is, (1) where y is the series; t = time (trend factor); a = constant term (drift); ÃŽÂ µt = Gaussian white noise and p = the lag order. The number of lags p in the dependent variable was chosen by the Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) to ensure that the errors are white noise. One problem with the presence of the additional estimated parameters is that it reduces degrees of freedom and the power of the test. On the other hand, the researcher may fail to reject the null hypothesis of a unit root (à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ § = 0) because of a misspecification concerning the deterministic part of the regression. Therefore, Doldado, Jenkinson and Sosvilla-Rivero (1990) also suggest starting from the most general model to test for a unit root when the form of the data generating process is unknown. The general principle is to choose a specification that is a plausible description of the data under both the null and alternative hypotheses (Hamilton 1994). If the intercept or time trend is inappropriately omitted, the power of the test can go to zero (Campbell and Perron 1991). Reduced power means that the researcher will conclude that the process contains a unit root when, in fact, none is present (Enders 1995: 255). A linear combination of integrated variables are said to be co-integrated if the variables are stationary. Many economic models entail such co-integrating relationships (Enders 1995). On the other hand, Perron (1989, 1990) and Perron and Vogelsang (1992) suggest that a structural break in the mean of a stationary variable is more likely to bias the DF-ADF tests towards the non-rejection of the null of a unit root in the process. Perron (1990) argues that ignoring the effects of structural breaks can lead to inadequate model specifications, poor forecast, spurious unit root test results and improper policy implications. Thus, Perron (1990) proposes an integration level test for structural break, which is known as the Perron test and provides the appropriate critical values  [3]  . In this study, Perron (1990) test was employed to see if the order of integration is changed by the structural break. The use of the Perron (1990) test in this study is justified by the fact that intervention of Turkey in 1974 had significant effects on the Cypriot economy. Perron (1990) suggest two types of methods to measure the effect of structural breaks: (i) the additive outlier model, which is recommended for series exhibiting a sudden change in mean, and (ii) innovation outlier model, which is suggested for a gradual change in the series (See also Perron and Vogelsang, 1992). The additive outlier model was used in this study due to the fact that intervention of Turkey in 1974 was a sudden event. Thus, in this study it is assumed that there might be a structural break in 1974 for the variables under consideration. Perron (1990) test was carried out in two steps. First, residuals were estimated using OLS (ordinary least squares) as follows: (2) Where DUt = 1 if t > Tb and 0 otherwise. Tb is the point where the break occurs. And Second, the following modified regression models were run by using OLS. The test of negativity of à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ § is checked by using appropriate critical values reported in the study of Rybinski (1994, 1995): (levels) (3) (first differences) (4) Where (DUTB)t = 1 if t = Tb + 1 and 0 otherwise. Tb is the break year (1974 in this study), DUTB is dummy variable for the break year, à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¥t is the residual obtained from equation (2) using OLS and ut is the error term. After the order of integration is determined, co-integration between the variables should be tested to identify any long run relationship. Johansen trace test is used for the co-integration test in this paper. Cheung and Lai (1993) mention that the trace test is more robust than the maximum eigen value test for co-integration. The Johansen trace test attempts to determine the number of co-integrating vectors among variables. There should be at least one co-integrating vector for a possible co-integration. The Johansen (1988) and Johansen and Juselius (1990) approach allows the estimating of all possible co integrating vectors between the set of variables and it is the most reliable test to avoid the problems which stems from Engel and Granger (1986) procedure  [4]  . This procedure can be expressed in the following VAR model: (for t =1,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦T) (5) Where Xt, Xt-1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, Xt-K are vectors of current and lagged values of P variables which are I(1) in the model; à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ 1,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.,à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ K are matrices of coefficients with (PXP) dimensions; à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­ is an intercept vector  [5]  ; and et is a vector of random errors. The number of lagged values, in practice, is determined in such a way that error terms are not significantly auto-correlated. Adding Xt-1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, Xt-K and à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ 1 Xt-2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ K-1

The Joy of Hate :: Example Personal Narratives

The Joy of Hate About ten years ago my dad was pastor in a church near Charleston. Two centuries ago, this was a prominent area in the slave industry, and after the Civil War, many harbored hateful attitudes toward blacks. Many families passed down this legacy of prejudice to the present day. After my father had been at this church for six months, one of the deacons asked him for a favor. Every year the town, mainly the church, held a youth baseball league and the deacon wanted my dad to announce the beginning of the season to the congregation and have my older brother play on a team. My father initially accepted the invitation but wanted to know more. He asked the deacon how the church had advertised the league and was told that the church did nothing else to publicize the program. Dad thought this a bit strange. Didn't the congregation want as many kids as possible to show up? When my dad investigated this puzzling question, he didn't like what he found. They weren't advertising because they didn't want the whole town to participate, especially the black families. This made my dad reconsider making the announcement to the church. He talked to my mom and prayed very hard for many days. Finally my father decided he would make the announcement and allow my brother to play. Although he didn't want to do this, my father knew that if he didn't, someone else would, and they'd twist it so he would look like a bad guy. There was one condition, though: If my father found out any black family who signed up their child to play was rejected, my brother would not play. Although he never found any proof of this, my father had a feeling it had happened. Daddy knew he couldn't change the league, so he decided instead to start a soccer team and advertise it clearly as a "for-everyone" event. He invited many families, black and white, to sign up their kids, and his hard work paid off. About 80 kids showed up for the first practice, half black and half white. Our entire family rejoiced at the large turnout, but soon something strange began to happen. Week by week the number of players declined. By the fourth practice, not enough showed up to even resemble a team.

Friday, July 19, 2019

The Causes of World War One (1) :: essays research papers

The Causes of World War One (1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If you were to look back at WWI, you would see that there were direct and indirect causes to the war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was an immediate cause. Gavrilo Princip, working with a Serbian anti-Austrian secret society called â€Å"The Black Hand† shot Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in order to make way for a Slavic revolution. The assassination didn’t do as Princip hoped, and it was used as an excuse for Austria to take hostile action against Serbia. That was not the only cause of the war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Alliance System was one of the festering causes of the war. After Germany took Alsace-Lorraine, Bismarck wanted to make sure that France didn’t make enough allies to take back the territory in a war. So he started to form an alliance with Austria-Hungry and Italy. France saw this as a threat, so it started making alliances of its own. France first turned to Russia then to Britain creating the Triple Entente. Now with forces in place on either side, nerves were frayed. What better question to ask next than why. Why were nerves frayed? The nations involved had large militaries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These nations were building large armies and enhancing the glories of war. After rationalizing a huge arms race, people were eager to put up large amounts of money to support their government’s vast military. Great Britain has always had a large navy. Germany decided it wanted a navy to rival Britain’s. When the people of Britain saw the buildup of Germany’s navy, they got scared and started producing more and bigger ships for it’s own navy. Every time Britain got a â€Å"leg up† on Germany, Germany struggled to outdo Britain, and vice-versa. Soon, the public was clamoring for war. Militarism is based on imperialism and the fear that another nation is getting ahead imperially.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Imperialism is extending control of a nation over foreign lands. Countries expanded in the 1600’s to help their economies. They did this mostly through mercantilism. After industrialization in the 1800’s, imperialism changed. Two new and eager powers were on the scene. Italy and Germany were new nations and ready to catch up to Britain and others in the colony race. Imperialism could be related to nationalism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two kinds of nationalism. There were the early forms of nationalism, where people of a similar race and nationality wanted a nation to themselves.