An Organization Of Sense Scotland At A Respite Care...

Planning Stage Introduction to service and the chosen individual My work placement is within the Organisation of Sense Scotland working in a respite care facility supporting adults with a variety of complex needs. Our service offers a warm welcoming environment to each individual who stays here and we strive to provide a service that meets their needs, our service is a chance for individuals requiring care and support to get away from it all and whatever the choices are of the individuals in our care staff will put a plan in place to meet their needs, it is important that anyone requiring our support feels that they are valued and respected at all times regardless of their disability, race, age, gender†¦show more content†¦In line with The Data Protection Act 1998 to protect the confidentiality of my service user I will identify her with a different name. Carol is a 28 years old female who was born with Spina bifida which has resulted in her suffering from total paralysis of the legs and has also affected her bowels and ability to urinate leaving her doubly incontinent and dependant on catheterisation, Carol uses an electric wheelchair to enable her mobility and requires 2:1 care with daily living activities involving personal care, as well as her physical disability Carol also has learning disabilities due to a diagnosis of Hydrocephalus which is a result of excess fluid build up on the brain which causes pressure and can damage the brain, this is being treated with a shunt. Carol also has Oral-Dyspraxia and although she is able to communicate well staff need to ensure that they communicate at the required pace for her as she sometimes pauses for a while and speaks slowly, she also has limited vision as she wear a prosthetic eye and when communicating with Carol staff must hold things up to her right eye to enable her to see them properly. Although Carol depends on fulltime support she likes to maintain her independence as much as possible and it is important that staff encourage her to do so. Human Development, Psychology and Sociology When working in care it is

The American Civil Rights Movement - 912 Words

Revolutions have a history of starting violently. Red Sunday, a massacre in early 20th century Russia where over 100 peaceful protestors were unjustly murdered, was the violent start of the Russian Revolution (Britannica). More recently were the Ferguson Riots after a young, unarmed teenager named Michael Brown was shot by a police officer. Some believe that these events and the emergence of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign could be the beginning of yet another American civil rights movement. The first LGBT movement began in 1969 after the raid of one of the few gay bars in the United States, Stonewall Inn. Often, the story of this seedy nightclub is distorted or hardly taught at all. A huge example of this is the recent movie on the riots, Stonewall. Sadly the events in the movie were far from accurate. By analyzing the events that took place at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, a clear vision of what exactly happened can be made, and explanations can be formed for why the riots hav e been so misrepresented for decades and why every movement must begin with violence. The Stonewall Inn was an underground bar run by the mafia. Since alcohol could not be legally served to members of the LGBT community, the bar operated without a liquor license and members of the mob paid the police off to keep them from shutting it down. On average, approximately $1,200, or $8,000 today, was given to the police each month. This kept the New York Police Department, or â€Å"Lily Law† as many liked toShow MoreRelatedThe American Civil Rights Movement586 Words   |  2 PagesHas someone ever told you that you were not allowed to do something that others had the right to? Maybe it was your parents, your boss, the government, but you thought you had just enough right as anyone else did? Well, during the 1960’s not everyone had the same rights. During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were fighting for equality. They didn’t want â€Å"separate but equal† they wanted full equality for their people. This caused many riots throughout the US. When we look at riots weRead MoreThe African-American Civil Rights Movement1295 Words   |  5 Pages The African-American Civil Rights Movement is arguably the largest and most successful push towards toward change in American history. The movement was influenced by some of the biggest figures in American history as well, led by Martin Luther King Jr. and influenced by others such as president Kennedy and Johnson. Amongst the numerous protests and powerful speeches during the Civil Rights Movement perhaps the most prominent is the series of three marches in 1965 known today as the â€Å"Selma to Montgomery†Read MoreThe Civil Rights Movement And The American Civil Movement958 Words   |  4 Pages The Civil Rights Movement, also known as the American Civil Rights Movement and other names, is a term that encompasses the strategies, groups, and social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and di scrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968Read MoreThe American Civil Rights Movement1519 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Civil Rights Movement is personified through several prominent personalities. These figures exhibited strong character throughout their careers in activism that revolutionized the ideals and opportunities of the 20th century, standing as precedents for courage and perseverance in the face of widespread systemic oppression. However, not all of these figures received the acknowledgment and acceptance that their legacy deserved. One such figure was Bayard Rustin, a lifelong Civil RightsRead MoreThe American Of The Civil Rights Movement949 Words   |  4 Pagesstatement. As a whole, the Civil Rights Movement accounted for a drastic amount of changes to black businesses that primarily served black consumers. For instance, African American people stayed at blacked owned hotels, resorts, and restaurants, which gave way for African American entrepreneurship (Blackford 149). Once segregation was outlawed, African American consumers leapt at the opportunity to shop at white owned businesses. Post-Civil Rights Movement, the African American community has becomeRead MoreThe American Civil Right Movement922 Words   |  4 PagesIt was just a single line in a speech given more than fifty years ago, yet many still remember it as one of the most important turning points in Southern political history and the American civil right movement. As many civil rights activists were fighting for the abolishment of Jim Crow laws, newly elected Governor George Wallace stood at the podium under the Alabama State House to deliver his inaugural speech which would later cement his legacy amongst the most controversial figures in SouthernRead MoreThe American Of The Civil Rights Movement1886 Words   |  8 PagesFrom slavery to the Civil Rights Movement, the African American community has faced hardships, discrimination and prejudice based on their position in the racial hierarchy in the United States. Although the melting pot called the American population has learned to coexist in the twe nty first century, the African American community continues to face these problem even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress prohibiting discrimination of race, color, religion, sex, or national originRead MoreThe American Civil War And The Civil Rights Movement1725 Words   |  7 PagesAfter the American Civil War (1861-1865), major changes which were crucial to the establishment of African Americans in the American society took place. Before the bloody war, slaves were comprised of thirteen percent of the total population of the United States. The treatments they receive from their masters ranged from generous to abusive. The issue of slavery was becoming more and more apparent in social, economic, and most importantly political aspects of the country. In fact, even before theRead MoreThe American Civil War And The Civil Rights Movement1539 Words   |  7 PagesIn elementary school, students study the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement. Teachers speak a bout slavery and racism as if it were a thing of the past; and juvenile minds are lead to believe that Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream has finally come true. But as these futile minds mature, they encounter different versions of this â€Å"dream†. Caucasian faces may live to believe the world is a blissful place, but scoff at the waitress who struggles to speak english. Brown faces may look at the homosexualRead MoreThe American Civil War And The Civil Rights Movement901 Words   |  4 PagesStates were slave owners (Piersen 1996: 24). However, the controversy over slavery was a hotly debated topic in American society, leading eventually to the American Civil War (1861-1865), which finally brought slavery to an end. After the emancipation, overcoming slavery s legacy remained a crucial issue in American history, from Reconstruction following the war to the Civil Rights Movement a century later. The practice of slavery dates to prehistoric times, although its institutionalization

Roman Gladiators Free Essays

The Gladiators in general were either condemned criminals, prisoners of war, slaves brought for the purpose of the games and people who volunteered on their own will. The gladiatorial games reached their peak between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Men who committed a capital crime were sent to the gladiatorial arena without a weapon defending themselves with their bare hands. We will write a custom essay sample on Roman Gladiators or any similar topic only for you Order Now The men who did not commit a capital crime were sent to training schools called Ludi. The earliest training schools were in Campania. At these schools they did not teach them to kill people but instead taught them to disable and capture their opponent. Criminals who trained in the schools were allowed to pick their own weapon and defence. If they survived a couple of years without dying they would receive freedom. The gladiators had to do what their owners (Lanista) told them to do otherwise they would be punished either by no food or beaten up. The gladiators were given adequate food supplies eating 3-4 times a day and received medical care. The Roman militaries success in war meant a big haul in of prisoners of war for the use in the gladiatorial games. Men who entered the games by free will had to take an oath in which they had to agree to the consequences of the game. This oath was: Being branded. Being chained. Being killed by an iron weapon. To pay for their food and drink they received with their blood and to suffer things even if they did not wish to. In the morning season of the games the Bestiarii or combatants who were taught to fight against animals were sent into the ring to fend for their lives against animals such as lions, tigers and bulls. Thousands of animals were slaughtered due to this proceeding. After these battles, unlucky men who had committed capital crimes were executed in front of the whole crowd by a sword. The winner of the gladiator battles received a palm branch form the editor. If he was outstanding he may even receive a laurel crown and money but the most sought-after award was the wooden training sword or staff given by the editor. There were many different types of gladiators. The Thracian gladiators were prisoners who were sent to Capua to train for the games in amphitheatres. Their uniform consisted of light leather for the body, little helmet, light shoes and a small round shield. They were trained to run around their opponents this is why they only had light gear. They had great mobility and stamina. Reziarius were equipped with a long net which was used to trip and trap their opponents, a fuscina (trident) which was their offensive weapon. They also had a small dagger which they used to give the final blow. They wore leather for protection and no helmet or shield to deflect their opponents strikes this is why they had to by agile and fit. The Dimacheri had two short swords and only two short leather arm guards to protect themselves. Speed was their speciality, they ran around their opponent and quickly evaded them making the opponent tired before killing him. Sannita were part of the heavy uniform gladiators. They wore a metal plate to protect the chest a long shield, a helmet with a grid to cover the eyes and a long sword to attack. These gladiators were slow but effective within the ring. The Generic gladiators had no particular skill they were used to fill up the space when the event went the whole day or more. Other types of gladiators include the Provocatores, Sesterziarii, Catervrii, Mirmillion, Essedarii, Paegnaria (dwarfs). The weapons of the gladiators consist of fascina(harpoon), galea(visored helmet), galerus(metal shoulder piece), gladius(sword), hasta(lance), iaculum(net), manicae(leather elbow or wrist bands),parma(round shield) ,scutum(large shield) and sica(curved scimitar). How to cite Roman Gladiators, Essay examples

Business Information Systems Legacy Technology

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Information Systemsfor Legacy Technology. Answer: Introduction VoIP2.biz deals with the voice communications from the legacy technology to the VoIP technologies. However, this business organization is facing few cash flow issues. Thu, this study is aimed to portray the options for which this organization can stay with the current plan. This report also specifies why the company is closing down or selling to another firm. Moreover, this study also portrays the significance of slowing down the rate of growth and illustrates the ways through which the expenses can be reduced. Staying with Current Plan VoIP2.biz has considered itself as the system integrator that is operated with the business consumers for helping them in terms of moving their voice interactions between the VoIP technology and legacy technology (Brown et al., 2012). The current plan of VoIP2.biz management is for continuing to gain the dominance in to Indianapolis market, expanding the organizational business activities throughout Indiana. Moreover, VoIP2.biz management also intends for opening up an extra sales offices over the entire Midwest by making the position of a first mover within the marketplaces covered by them. VoIP2.biz management also has the belief the fact that the strategic success would make them a significant target for acquisition within 2009-2010 timeframe. Closing Down the Company Milkowski and VoIP2.biz management were aware of the fact that at least few board members were concerned regarding the VoIP future as the feasible commercial venture provided the current history of the Vonage of the best known VoIP organization (Brown et al., 2012). Milkowski has recognized the fact that VoIP2.biz attacked the market of small and medium business whereas Vonage was initially a service for the market of residence. However, VoIP2.biz management believe that the enterprise could not be sold for the lack of a positive cash flow amount (Brown et al., 2012). Thus, the members of this board though that the enterprise should be closed. On the other hand, this organization also knows that closing down the service would cause huge disruptions for his 22 consumers. Selling the Company Instead of closing down the organization, Milkowski has the idea that the enterprise can be sold to another enterprise. Therefore, Milkowski had contacted two enterprises who had related businesses over the Indianapolis area. Thus, Milkowski knew that VoIP2.biz management needs to develop as well as justify a proposed sale price in terms of recommending this course of action (Brown et al., 2012). VoIP2.biz management also had the idea regarding price that should be fixed based on the future earning potential. VoIP2.biz management also aware of the fact that the earlier investors would like to at least recover their investments made till date (Castellanos-Lopez et al., 2014). Apart from that, VoIP2.biz management also knew that this firm should also be concerned in fixing the price for the enterprise that the obtained 22 contracts has already represented pretty specific cash flow for the life of contract. Slowing Down Rate of Growth Slowing down the growth rate or in other words the economic slowdown takes place while the rate of economic growth slows in a certain economy. The rate of growth of Milkowski has been slowed down due to few significant limitations of VoIP services (Brown et al., 2012). The VoIP services provided by Milkowski are annoying as well as its offers are comparatively limited. Moreover, the VoIP complaints can be tolerable usually if the callers can be capable of utilizing a free service (Azfar, Choo Liu, 2014). Apart from that, due to the issues of traffic and latency as well as loss of service during outages, the number of customers has been decreased and the amount of expense has also been enhanced, which ultimately lead to slowing down the growth rate of the company (Mazurczyk, 2013). Asking for a 90-day Extension to take Care of the Cash Flow Problem Due to the issues encountered within the VoIP services provided by Miskowski, VoIP2.biz management has taken a decision to ask for an extension period of 90 days in terms of taking care of the cash flow problem that has been taken place due to certain service issues of VoIP operations (Brown et al., 2012). The key reason of asking for this extension is to reduce the expenditure obtained due to improving the conventional VoIP services to transform it to the contemporary VoIP services. Reduce Expenses In order to reduce the business expenditure and to mitigate the cash flow problem within the 90 days of extension period, VoIP2.biz has to implement few significant advanced and cost effective technologies within their business operations (Azfar, Choo Liu, 2014). This organization should think and take decision by considering the business operations operated by its major competitors like Vonage. This organization should utilize the national IP transport network in term of offering their business customers long distance and most specifically low-cost distance (Brown et al., 2012). On the other hand, VoIP2.biz management can also take the significant step by outsourcing the business operations of VoIP2.biz and avoiding perpetual payments. Other Possibilities Milkowsky started to consider other possibilities for overcoming such negative scenario as he has thought regarding what he was going to present to the board. The first option or possibility was for moving forward with the Phase II Plan (Brown et al., 2012). VoIP2.biz has few accomplishments for the investment about $1 Million to date. These are as follows: Debugged and tested the technology, selecting based on the components to be incorporated in its set of solution (Brown et al., 2012). Completed the network technology installation for supporting deploying the VoIP solutions at the customer sites (Castellanos-Lopez et al., 2014). Conclusion After conducting the entire study, it can be seen that VoIP2.biz is suffering from few major cash flow problems due to the excessive expenditure. Due to such issues, VoIP2.biz has to take a decision of selling or closing down the company. Therefore, this report has successfully portrayed the way through VoIP2.biz can overcome such issue by taking an extension of 90 days so that VoIP2.biz does not need to close the business or sell the company. References Assem, H., Malone, D., Dunne, J., O'Sullivan, P. (2013, January). Monitoring VoIP call quality using improved simplified E-model. InComputing, networking and communications (ICNC), 2013 international conference on(pp. 927-931). IEEE. Azfar, A., Choo, K. K. R., Liu, L. (2014, January). A study of ten popular Android mobile VoIP applications: Are the communications encrypted?. InSystem Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on(pp. 4858-4867). IEEE. Brown, C. V., DeHayes, D. W., Hoffer, J. A., Martin, W. W., Perkins, W. C. (2012). Managing information technology (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Castellanos-Lopez, S. L., Cruz-Perez, F. A., Rivero-Angeles, M. E., Hernandez-Valdez, G. (2014). Joint connection level and packet level analysis of cognitive radio networks with VoIP traffic.IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications,32(3), 601-614. Le Blond, S., Choffnes, D., Caldwell, W., Druschel, P., Merritt, N. (2015, August). Herd: A scalable, traffic analysis resistant anonymity network for VoIP systems. InACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review(Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 639-652). ACM. Mazurczyk, W. (2013). VoIP steganography and its detectiona survey.ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR),46(2), 20. Singh, H. P., Singh, S., Singh, J., Khan, S. A. (2014). VoIP: State of art for global connectivityA critical review.Journal of Network and Computer Applications,37, 365-379. Yousef, M., Fouad, M. (2014). Performance Analysis of Speech Quality in VoIP during Handover.International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,12(9), 43.

Communicating Emergency Preparedness

Governments have assured people that they are ready to handle disasters when they strike. We may classify government disaster preparedness into five categories as planning, exercise, training, equipment, and statutory authority.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Communicating Emergency Preparedness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The first instant of government response to disaster involves the local government. Planning responses to emergency and disaster like Hurricane Katrina of 2005 is necessary and involves several steps. Local governments have learnt that an onset of a disaster is not ideal time to start planning. It must know well in advance what to do when disaster strikes. For instance, response to Hurricane Katrina involved planning what to do, how to do it, what equipment to use, how can and they will assist. Planning occurs in advance. Therefore, government has developed a comprehensive methodolog y known as Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for use and planning for disasters. Government can scale up or down EOP with regard to particular disaster or community needs. EOP can handle several of disaster response and recovery (Coppola, 2007). Regimen always exercises as a part of preparedness in response to emergency situations. Exercise occurs as defined in the EOP allowing people participating in the response process practice their roles and responsibility before an actual disaster strikes. Exercise helps to identify problems in the plan during non-emergency situations. The crew will have enough time to tackle the problems before the actual disaster occurs in order to eliminate unnecessary setbacks. Exercise introduces individuals and agencies participating in response to their services. Pre-disaster introduction enables the officials to call right people in time of needs. Government must train in readiness for emergency. During rescue process, the official put their lives in dan ger. Therefore, adequate training for the response team is mandatory. Insufficiently trained response personnel can contribute to the possibility of a secondary emergency or disaster, and further strain inadequate resources.Advertising Looking for term paper on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The first teams to respond among local government team are mainly police, emergency medical departments and fire services. These groups have basic training in handling all manner of emergency. The US has centralized training facilities where response teams get training at the local levels (McEntire, 2007). Manufacturers have developed special equipment to assist in response, and recovery in emergency situations. These items help to reduce the number of casualties, damages to property, injuries and deaths. These items provide safety to the response teams in order to protect their lives. The only problem is that response items a re not always adequate as we witnessed during response to Hurricane Katrina. In major disasters, there is great disparity of what is available and what the response teams need in order to respond adequately. Some of the items the US government mobilized during Hurricane Katrina included vehicles of all sorts, devices such as fire extinguisher, chemicals and access equipment. The final stage in the US government disaster preparedness is the statutory authority. Government emergency responses involve a large number of stakeholders such the local officials, public, private individuals, and businesses. A proper statutory authority exists to ensure that response agencies can carry out their duties effectively. Statutory authority ensures that response teams and items are always ready and constantly funded. Emergency responses require enormous resources, which local governments are not in a position to mobilize. Therefore, there is always confusion where the resources will come from and w ho will take control. Statutory authority ensures that there is a line of control and succession. The EOP provides guidelines on specific authority in relation to specific disasters and gives them the power to act. There are new and changing disasters such as the 9/11 attacks. This led to the establishment of the US Department of Homeland Security to respond to new threats of terrorist attacks. During first few hours in emergency responses, the resources might not be adequate. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the public to take care of their responses needs. Public preparedness involves education and raising awareness.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Communicating Emergency Preparedness specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The UN (United Nations) notes that public disaster education is fundamental in eliminating countries’ vulnerability to disasters. Preparing public to handle emergency involves giv ing them skills to enable them carry out specialized functions such as search, rescue, first aid, or suppression of other developing incidences. Response Responses to emergency include actions aiming at eliminating or reducing injuries, deaths, property damages and to the environment that the response team takes prior to, during and instantly after the disaster. A perfect example was a response to Hurricane Katrina. The response process began when the people realized that Hurricane Katrina was imminent and unavoidable. It is crucial to note that response is the most complex and critical stage in disaster management because of the high stress environment the response team conducts it. Unwarranted delays turn into tragedy and destruction of lives and property. Response is an intensive process as it addresses the immediate needs such as search and rescue, first aid, and provision of shelter. Response also includes systems that coordinate and supports all these efforts. Response entails rapid and immediate restoration of key infrastructure such as transportation systems, electricity and communication channels, distribution of food and clean water. Response team must restore the infrastructures in order to facilitate recovery, reduce further injuries and deaths, and restore society to its normalcy. Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that each disaster is unique with its own variables sometimes unknown even to the well-planned response strategies. At the same time, the participants, response needs, victims and timing of the order of events were unique in Hurricane Katrina. Responses to disasters rely on the available information and coordination of efforts. All hazardous events involve emergency responses. In emergency situations, both trained and untrained persons must respond to the situations outside the normal life. Emergency situations persist till the response teams eliminate conditions of danger and threats to life and property. Pre-disaster recognitions in New O rleans enabled the response team to plan in advance as designated in the EOP.Advertising Looking for term paper on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A cyclone gives significant leads, and recognition is possible to enable response immediately. Several pre-disaster response processes are available to disaster management. The systems of pre-disaster responses involve warning and evacuation. This may give the public a last minute chance to evacuate the area and seek shelter in safe grounds. The response teams also have opportunities to position their resources and supplies in advance. The response team may position their resources and supplies in safe ground to avoid difficulties of movements after the disaster. Last-minute preparedness and mitigation are only useful when the response team prepares them in advance. Post-disaster recognition responses occur in earnest. Search and rescue is a fundamental part of emergency response that response team must conduct to prevent loss of lives. Hurricane Katrina resulted into trapped victims in collapsed buildings and debris. First aid treatment to the victim of disasters focuses on relocat ion of the injured persons to safe ground. Search and rescue is a fundamental part of emergency response that response team must conduct to prevent loss of lives. First aid treatment to the victim of disasters focuses on relocation of the injured persons to safe ground. Occasionally, the number of the victim may stretch the available resources beyond limit. Transportation of supplies may also be a problem due to access of the disaster scene. Evacuation occur before, during and after the disaster has struck. Rescue team evacuates victims to safe grounds in order to reduce the number of disaster casualties. The challenge with advance notice to evacuate is that people may refuse to move as we witnessed in Hurricane Katrina. There were advance warnings about the growing disaster, but few people responded to the notices. Officials must predetermine effective evacuation processes including the resources the victims will need. Disaster assessment involves collecting data to help with infor mation the officials need in order to respond to the situation. They should be able to know exactly what is going on at any given time. Assessments include situation assessment, which determines what has occurred due to disaster. At the same time, need assessment involves collecting information regarding the resources, services and assistance the disaster victims need. Other response needs include treating the hazard, for instance, during the hurricane, the storm caused havoc on people and their buildings. There were strong winds, storm surges and violet movements. Provision of basic needs such as water, food and shelter is necessary as victims stills need basic in order to continue surviving. Victims need immediate assistance with regard to basic needs (Pinkowski, 2008). Safety and security of the disaster area is a crucial part of a response process. At this point, security officials and other response team experience strain. During this period, victims may experience security and safety lapses. Looting becomes a common security threat to victims of the disaster. Looting even disrupts some evacuation efforts. Assault on the victim of disaster and response team is another safety and security challenge. In most cases, the officials must call off the rescue process until they restore security. For instance, during Hurricane Katrina, response team suspended all their processes after a sniper fired upon response team on the grounds and in the air. Opportunistic criminals take advantage of lack of security and open nature of shelters to cause havoc to the victims. Some safety issues involve domestic violence whereby victims loss control of themselves due to stress. Recovery Recovery is the process by which victims rebuild, repair, and reconstruct all the adverse effects and losses after the disaster in order to return to normality. Just like response, recovery also occurs under a resource-strained environment. Effective recovery operations require skills, resource s, and qualified personnel. The problem with the recovery process is that there is always confusion. People make most decisions in haste, with no analysis and planning resulting into loss of opportunities for improvements. Information gathered during the preparedness stage is useful for planning recovery processes. Managers organize pre-disaster recovery processes because of prior planning organizers are putting in places. They are likely to have long-term effects on recovery processes. The nature and magnitudes of disasters are unpredictable. Therefore, pre-disaster recoveries are hypothetical approaches, which are focusing on broad goals (Gustin, 2002). There are short and long term recovery efforts. Recovery periods depend on specific consequences of the disaster, resources available, and capabilities of the recovery team. These factors determine whether or not the recovery efforts will be either be short or long term processes. Hurricane Katrina was a long-lasting recovery proce ss. Therefore, the resources it needed were tremendous. There were short supplies of other resources, which hampered the progress of recovery (Chandra and Acosta, 2009). Effective recovery process involves planning and coordination of the available resources. Planning and coordination during the recovery processes are sometimes difficult to achieve, but the two processes are necessary in order to reduce the risks and facilitate the restoration process. Success or failures of recovery processes depend on planning and coordination of recovery resources and structures. Recovery process must address the community diverse demographic and socio-cultural orientations and preferences (Damon and Erin, 2009). Recovery planning and coordination should include all stakeholders affected by the disaster. Recovery officials must gather accurate and timely information to assess the extent of the damage. This assists the team to make effective use of the available resources and plan priorities (Oliv er, 2011). There are several types of recoveries. The most common ones include public aid, restoring housing facilities, focusing on economic recovery, and individual, family and cultural recovery. Public assistance covers all areas of public interests. These are mainly structures and systems concerning government operations. Housing sector is another crucial part of a recovery process. Houses exhibit different degrees of damages. In New Orleans after the Katrina, government engaged in provisions of shelter thereafter the rebuilding processes began (Oliver, 2011). Economic recovery is difficult after the disaster. Disasters put pressure on the economy of the affected state. There is widespread loss of jobs, resources, businesses, and other damages to economic infrastructures. Hurricane Katrina terribly affected the economy of New Orleans. Economic recovery process should begin at the local level where majority experience difficulties. How well New Orleans victims recovered from the economic turmoil depended on how their economy was before the Hurricane Katrina. Recovery processes must also involve people and their cultures. Mental health of individuals is crucial for social well-being of the community. Physical restoration of housing facilities, infrastructures, and economy should go together with the social needs of the community. Recovery team must note that all persons in the environment of the disaster must be affected in different ways by emotional distress and anxiety. Disasters cause stress as people confront vulnerability in their lives and may tend to avoid all attempts avoid future catastrophes. People experience loss of families, property, and jobs. They may even experience prolonged stress due to these losses. Recovery efforts must aim at addressing emotional pain, losing, and suffering after the disaster. Vulnerable members of the community such as children and women are more susceptible to emotional stress than males. Therefore, before they exper ience psychological problems and post-traumatic stress disorder, recovery efforts must address their mental health (Miller and Rivera, 2010). Some disasters utterly destroy or devastate cultural heritage of a community. For instance, Hurricane Katrina destroyed historic buildings and other structures with cultural values in New Orleans. People lost their heritages and lived in buildings which did not address their cultural, preferences and customs needs. The Role of IT in Preparedness, Response, and Recovery The fundamental focus of disaster management is to reduce the harmful effects of disasters to society and economy. Disaster management requires managers to reduce doubts, show costs and benefits, and effectively manage resources in wide scale and at fast pace than in ordinary situations (Rao and Eisenberg, 2007). Information technology (IT) is striving to provide capabilities that can enable managers to catch the changing realities of disasters and help them to devise effective decisions in order to manage disaster situations. IT systems will help management to keep better processes and progresses in all stages of disaster management. There are potential opportunities in the use of IT to inform local government, state, federal policy makers, public and emergency management team about disaster management. However, IT is not a silver bullet in managing disaster situations. References Chandra, A. and Acosta, J. (2009). The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Long-Term Human Recovery After Disaster: Reflections From Louisiana Four Years After Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana, WA: The RAND Corporation. Coppola, D. P. (2007). Introduction to International Disaster Management. Boston: Elsevier Inc. Damon, C. and Erin, K. (2009). Communicating Emergency Preparedness: Strategies for Creating a Disaster Resilient Public. New York: Auerbach Publications. Gustin, J. F. (2002). Disaster Recovery Planning: A Guide for Facility Managers, 2nd Edition. New York: CRC Pres s. McEntire, D. A. (2007). Disaster Response and Recovery. New York: John Wiley. Miller, D. and Rivera, J. (2010). Community Disaster Recovery and Resiliency: Exploring Global Opportunities and Challenges. New York: Taylor and Francis. Oliver, C. E. (2011). Catastrophic Disaster Planning and Response. New York: CRC Press. Pinkowski, J. (2008). Disaster Management Handbook: Public Administration and Public Policy. New York: CRC Press. Rao, R. and Eisenberg, J. (2007). Improving Disaster Management: The Role of IT in Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. This term paper on Communicating Emergency Preparedness was written and submitted by user Tianna Lopez to help you with your own studies. 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On A Role essays

On A Role essays The savage persona, the war paint, the feathers and the beating drums are just some of the stereotypical images and attributes associated with Native American culture. The casting of Native Americans into villainous roles of early film and television has perpetuated a false perception of Native Americans that is still tied to their culture today. For centuries, Native Americans have been defined by stereotypical perceptions of Indian culture. These preconceived notions of Native culture are amplified if not derived from, the racially biased portrayal of Native Americans in the mass media and film throughout history. Though some of the modern depictions of Native Americans today are more positive and historically accurate, Indian culture still carries the stigma of the stereotypes and images established in early film and media. Though historical ignorance was partially at fault for allowing society to subscribe to such immense cultural misconceptions, it was film and television that immortalized these images and made them an acceptable part of the American way. Preying on the publics limited knowledge of traditional Indian culture, early filmmakers created the Hollywood Indian, an inaccurate depiction of Native Americans confining them to either an image of a savage warrior or that of the wise medicine man. Michael Hilger describes these representations as the development of Noble to Savage Red Man. (1). Hilger continues to analyze this development by pointing out that both representations were subconsciously laced with racism and miscegenation. For example, even when an Indian is portrayed as a secondary hero he is still deemed inferior to his white counter part and is usually the brunt of racist humor by providing comedy relief which is demeaning to his intelligence and importance in the plot. Also, any interracial romances occurring between Native and non-Native persons were never d...

Business and enterprise coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business and enterprise coursework - Essay Example 45-50). In fact, cross-cultural management seeks to inform business mangers about cultural diversity and its effects on the business (Bhattacharyya 2010, pp. 92-95). Cultural differences influence interpersonal interactions, business management, and intergroup interactions (Tagreed 2012, pp. 105-109). Notably, in the global market environment, managers encounter different cultures and hence the need to understand the differences in these cultures and their effects on management. More so, when two or more companies merge, there must be different cultures in application and hence the need to adopt the best characteristics of the existing cultures (Ghosn 2013, pp. 1). In merging the different cultures, managers must make sure that they do not destroy the best cultural values. In addition, to implement a business strategy in a foreign country, one must consider all the cultural characteristics of the targeted society (Kozenkow 2013, pp. 1). Worth noting is that to increase the cultural k nowledge of an individual or an organization is very challenging. In this context, cross- cultural management addresses various cultural challenges in the global market thus making cross-cultural operations work much more successfully. Indeed, an understanding of the cultural factors that affect a business is very fundamental for any manager. As such, the issue of cross-cultural management is very fundamental in the modern business environment. This paper addresses the main cultural challenges facing the managers of British Multinational; Enterprises in the early 21st century and discusses the main management skills that are required for Cross-cultural Management to be effective. In doing this, the paper will refer to relevant academic literature and draw appropriate examples to support my analysis. Growth in information technologies, advanced communication, globalization (Dong & Liu 2010, pp. 223-228), deregulation, and privatization have led to increased growth in cross-border bus iness in the modern times. As the modern businesses become more global, people with different cultures have learnt to the need of working together by respecting cultural diversity. However, the growth in cross-border business attract cultural challenges which hider the success of such business (Tagreed 2012, pp. 105-109). As a result, managers adopt cross-cultural management strategies to enhance effectiveness in cross-cultural interactions. Nevertheless, managers of British Multinational; Enterprises in the early 21st century face numerous cultural challenges in the business world. One of the challenges that managers face is the difference in response to organizational practices, such as attitude and behaviors between different cultures. For example, people from individualistic and collectivistic national cultures respond differently to organizational practices where collectivistic cultures worked better in a group as individualistic cultures performed better in a specific manager (Johann 2008, pp. 10). The differences in response to organizational practices pose a great challenge to managers of British Multinational; Enterprises in the early 21st century since they may fail to offer harmonized performance in case of a merger. Another challenge relates to the cultural differences that a foreign manager or a company may face in a foreign nation that has a different culture. This inhibits the management since the employees and the managers adopt distinct

Propose an Early Childhood Education Coursework

Propose an Early Childhood Education - Coursework Example It is important to note that each class will have its theme based on each child’s age and development. The daily schedule depends on the teacher and child activities. Globalization means long working hours for the parents and therefore Bright Kids Academy understands the need to offer before and after school care to such parents. The Academy will provide ample time for homework as well as life-enhancing skills and projects during the after-school program. The Academy stands out from the rest due to its mission and vision. The Academy will remain active in a learning environment while building the partnership with the employees, community, and parents in order to provide the best educational experience and a bright future for our children. It will create life-long learning inspiration through working with families ensuring that each child learns, grows, and plays in a rich and safe environment. Bright Kids Learning Academy mission is to provide every child with quality educatio n ensuring that they learn on their own and at their pace while receiving any help they need in their development. The Academy encourages play through various curriculums because it is their only work. It encourages the children to love learning while seeking their curiosity through play. Through learning, children can communicate, explore, hold discussions, and manipulate through group activities. The learning curriculum includes emotional, social, physical, and cognitive developments, and the children are our first and last priorities.

Causes of Stomach Ulcer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Causes of Stomach Ulcer - Research Paper Example It is a common convention that people didn’t identify the features of stomach ulcer until it becomes acute. Early discovery and remedy can secure one from intensified pain even death.   The objective of this research is the examinations of distinctive factors of stomach ulcers, it symptoms, diagnose, and experimental method involved in the case studies. It is believed, H. pyloric and NSAIDs are the potential risk factor behind stomach ulcer;  it interrupts the  stomach’s ability of covering itself from the perilous effect of stomach acids. Therefore, the sensitive layer of a stomach becomes  approachable for the stomach  acid, consequences in stomach ulcer. Introduction The most dilated and important constituent of the digestive system is stomach. It is situated in the midst of the esophagus and small intestine, i.e. in the epigastric, umbilical and left hypochondriac regions of the abdomen. However, due to the property of exact position and shape of the stoma ch is undefined (A). The primary functions of the stomach include; storage of foods and to form chyme by breaking it down with the aid enzymatic effect of pepsin and peptidase. Stomach ulcers (SU) and stomach cancer are the most prevalent diseases of a stomach. Stomach ulcers also known as peptic ulcer, it is the disease of elder people specially men. SU is opening sores in the lining of upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and usually occur due to acidity. Gastric ulcers and duodenal ulcers are the two type of stomach ulcer. The difference between them lies in the affected area, i.e. location of the ulcer. Those ulcers which are present in a stomach are referred as gastric ulcers, whereas duodenal ulcers are present at the duodenum the beginning of a small intestine. Position of ulcer and its magnified cross section is depicted in the Figure 1. Statistician predicts more than 25 million will suffer through a peptic ulcer, and if it remains untreated. SU may become life threatening as well. SU affect around 4 million people every year, forty thousand undergoes surgery because of intensified pain and around six thousand people dies in United States of American only per annum (A). Figure (1): Depicting Gastric and Duodenal ulcer It believes that SU is principally caused by bacterial epidemic, i.e. H. Pylori infection, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and due to unknown reasons (B). Since, SU is reported to be life threatening diseases, if remain uncured. Therefore, studies concerning the timely diagnose; cure and causes behind ulcer are the demand of today. The intention of this research is to analyse causes of ulcer, its symptoms, diagnose and experimental  processes in case studies of SU. Symtoms of Stomach Ulcer Listed below are the most common symptoms of SU. 1. Loss of appetite 2. Frequent stomach burning 3. Loss of weight 4. Vague stomach pain, and 5. Bloody vomitting If one is suffering from any of the named symptoms, he/she must undergo proper medica l checks for early prognosis of SU. Early diagnoses of SU are pivotal because usually  SU affects the surrounding nerves, resulted in intensified pain and anemia. Further, it may cause bleeding, hemorrhages, and obstruction if GIT due to bulging of the affected area. Causes of Stomach Ulcer The fiction of tangy diets, worrying, stress, etc. as a potential factor behind SU proved counterfeit in 1982, when two doctors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren presented their Nobel Prize discovery. They uncovered Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) are the cause behind Ulcer. It is believed that nearly all ulcers are advanced due to H. Pylori, remaining are caused by NSAIDS (such as aspirin, and ibuprofen), and other reasons. However, NSAIDs causes an ulcer once in a moon but almost all

Case Study: Hospital Fall of an Elderly Patient

Case Study: Hospital Fall of an Elderly Patient A case study of a critical incident based on a hospital fall of an elderly patient with memory problems who has had several falls at home and has been admitted to a community hospital for assessment. It is suggested that the consequences of patient falls are a serious issue for patients and society. A fall is defined as an unexpected, involuntary loss of balance by which a person comes to rest at a lower or ground level (Commodore 1995). The older population is growing in number, and falling is common in this group. Up to one-third of people over the age of 65 fall each year, with half reporting multiple falling episodes (Bludau and Lipsitz 1997). Fall-related injury is the sixth highest cause of death in older people Savage and Matheis-Kraft 2001). Half of those aged over 75 years who fracture their hip as a result of a fall die within one year (Rawskey 1998), and those who survive rarely regain complete mobility (Marotolli 1992). Falls are also a leading cause of head injury, the most serious being subdural haematoma (Tideiksaar 1998). Falls are associated with major morbidity, functional decline and increased healthcare expenditure (Tinetti 1994). In a hospital setting, 10 per cent of older patients who have fallen die before discharge, and a clustering of falls in one patient results in increased mortality (Tideiksaar 1998). In the United Kingdom about 310,000 fractures occur each year in older people (Woolf and Akesson 2003). Fourteen thousand people a year die each year as a result of an osteoporotic hip fracture, with up to 33 per cent of hip fracture patients dying within one year of fracture (Department of Health (DoH) 2001). It is posited that the effects of falls extend beyond obvious physical and direct cost. Even if falls do not cause physical injury, the psychological effect can be long-lasting. â€Å"Post-fall syndrome† results in hesitancy and a loss of confidence leading to loss of mobility and independence (Cannard 1996). Arguably, this can cause shame and unwillingness to admit to falls. Consequently, falls are underreported. They may not even be remembered by fallers, especially those with cognitive imp airment (Lord et al 2001). It is debated that the term â€Å"fall† is now considered contentious because those who fall are perceived quite negatively as old, frail and dependent (DoH 2001). Family members are also affected by falls: they may be concerned for the safety of an older family member, his or her ability to remain independent and the possibility of long-term care. There have been few studies investigating nurses’ views of falls in patients, although Fitzgibbon and Roberts (1988) found that nurses experience fear of blame, anxiety, guilt and distress following a fall by a patient in their care. As a consequence of the effects of a fall on the patient, health professional and healthcare organisation, various risk assessment tools and prevention strategies have been developed. This paper will examine the critical incident of a fall by an elderly lady who has had repeated falls at home. She was admitted to hospital for assessment because of the falls at home. However, when she was an inpatient she fell on the ward to which she was admitted. For the purpose of this assignment and for confidentiality reasons as expounded in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC 2004) code of professional conduct, the patient will be know as patient A. Patient A is a 77 year old female who is in frail health. She has experienced numerous falls at home and is showing symptoms of dementia. Patient A was admitted to a general hospital because her diabetes was extremely unstable. Unstable diabetes is a known risk factor for falls in older people with dementia (Lord et al 2001). During her stay in hospital, patient A became disorientated and fell â€Å"en route† to the bathroom. She sustained a neck of femur fracture that required surgery and consequently a long hospital stay. On discharge she was referred to her community hospital rehabilitation unit for assessment. The process of ageing creates irreversible changes in all body systems that can lead to reduced efficiency or performance over time. As physical ability and reactions change, so does cognitive ability. For most people this will have little or no consequence for daily living or independence. However, for older people with cognitive impairment or dementia, changes in mood, memory and thought processes in addition to changed physical health can result in increased risk and vulnerability that includes an increase in the potential for falling, as in the case of patient A (Oliver et al 2007). These risks are greatly compounded by admission to hospital or institutional care (Oliver et al 2007). As already mentioned falls are the most common patient safety incident reported from inpatient services and are responsible for at least 40 per cent of all accidents in hospital (National Patient Safety Agency 2007). By nature of the nurse-patient relationship, nurses are well placed to identify the multiple risks that older people can encounter in hospital from illness and from the care environment, and can work with the patient and care team to identify ways of reducing them. Falls in older people can occur for a wide variety of reasons. In addition to physical disorders, they can also be a feature of a number of neurodegenerative disorders, including dementia. Hospital environments can also present significant challenges and threats to older people with mental health problems, particularly because their functional and/or organic decline can increase vulnerability and their risk of having a fall (Lord et al 2001). It is also suggested that those with dementia are less likely or able to take the initiative in managing their own health in general and that this increases the likelihood of falls (DoH 2001). With regard to patient A, she was exhibiting memory loss and behaviours symptomatic of dementia. She had not engaged with the medical services for some time and her physical health had degenerated leaving her frail and unable to cope with activities of daily living. As a consequence her diabetes had become dangerously unstable resulting in her collapsing at home and then being admitted to hospital where the fall that fractured her hip took place. As mentioned, the consequences of falls are varied but, can be life-limiting and at worst, life-threatening (DoH 2001). As well as the consequences of physical change, the effects on mental state can further delay the recovery process, for example, by inducing depression (Lenze et al 2004). Risk assessment processes therefore should identify those most likely to fall, offer guidance on interventions to reduce those risks and be subject to frequent multidisciplinary review. It is posited that the role of nursing in helping the person with memory loss/dementia to cope with and adapt to changes created by illness relies on a continuous process of assessment of the whole person (Kitwood 1997). The environment, in which this process takes place and the patient’s response to it, should be given equal consideration. Patient A was admitted to a specialist rehabilitation unit that particularly cares for the elderly and their needs. Part of the unit’s remit is to assess an individuals’ risk of falling and put strategies into place for the prevention of further falls, and to that end the unit’s environment is managed in such a way that helps to prevent falls. It is posited that the need to assess risk from the outset of care is paramount for the care to be meaningful, relevant and appropriate (NMC 2004). The support of the nurse in offering interventions that promote recovery and maximisation of potential towards independence or less dependence should decrease the risks of falls and fractures. Assessing the risk of falls can highlight areas of greatest vulnerability and, therefore, direct the formulation of the plan of care towards deficits or areas of unmet need. Debatably, the patient who has been admitted to hospital because of deterioration in mental state or cognitive function will be most at risk because of that change. The person may decline to stay, become distressed at separation from a partner or family, and feel persecuted or vulnerable. Although, patient A was admitted for clinical reasons it is debated that as she had underlying cognitive and memory problems her mental state quickly deteriorated. Biological features may add to the clinical presentation and behavioural changes may create practical difficulties with managing safety (Oliver et al 2004). This was the case with regard to patient A. There are numerous rating scales in existence that measure behaviour, mood and functional abilities of older people (Burns et al 2004). Assessment of physiological aspects of recovery, for example: pain monitoring, tissue viability, nutrition and mobility is often more evident in clinical practice. However, it is suggested that for those with cognitive impairment or dementia, risk-rating scales should be able to combine evaluation of physical and psychological areas of need, as well as the behavioural and functional components of presentation. If a patient is unable to address risks, nursing staff need to consider their role in addressing need and act on the patient’s behalf if necessary. Although comprehensive assessment of the patient’s presentation, needs and abilities is a continuous and evolving process (Oliver et al 2004), it became clear that patient A had immediate threats to her safety and therefore needed to be quickly evaluated and prioritised so that appropriate interventions could be initiated with immediate effect.. It is proposed that the use of a risk factor-based approach to assess older people who fall can prevent more than 50 per cent of falls (Close 2001). Therefore, an assessment tool for falls that took into account both the physical and the psychological risk factors was used to assess patient A on admission to the unit and at specified times thereafter. This enabled issues to be addressed that would otherwise not have been elicited via the Single Assessment Process concept of risk assessment (Burns et al 2004). The assessment tool was used in combination with patient A’s care plan. It is suggested that the combination of an assessment tool with a care plan, as in the Fall Risk Assessment Scale for the Elderly (FRASE) tool (Barry 2001), is an example of best practice. However, the FRASE tool does not allow for assessment of mental impairment so this was added to the tool used for patient A. The tool used enabled the nurses and other multi-disciplinary team members to assess patient A’s risk of falling and it included components such as previous fall history, sensory deficit, medication, presence of secondary diagnosis. Balance/gait, age, mobility status and length of time since admission was added in following assessments. This is important as long stays in hospital can enhance functional decline and consequently â€Å"fall risk† (Oliver et al, 2004). In conclusion, for an older person with cognitive impairment or dementia for whom admission to hospital was necessary, the increased exposure to risk requires swift, comprehensive assessment and intervention to reduce the likelihood of falling. An appropriate risk assessment tool should illicit areas of greatest need or deficit, be proactive in suggesting appropriate interventions and form part of a multiprofessional and multifaceted approach to preventing falls in hospital. References Barry E (2001) Preventing accidental falls among older people in long stay units, Irish Medical Journal, 94, 6, 172-176 Bludau J, Lipsitz L (1997) Falls in the elderly: In Wei J, Sheehan M (Eds) Geriatric Medicine: A Case-based Manual, Oxford, UK, Oxford, Medical Publications Burns A, Lawlor B, Craig S (2004) Assessment Scales in Old Age Psychiatry, (2e), Martin Dunitz, London Cannard G (1996) Falling trend, Nursing Times, 92, 1, 36-7 Close J (2001) Interdisciplinary practice in the prevention of falls: a review of working models of care, Age and Ageing, 30, Suppl 4, 8-12 Commodore D (1995) Falls in the elderly population: a look at incidence, risks, healthcare costs, and preventative strategies, Rehabilitation Nursing, 20, 2, 84-89 Department of Health (2001) National Service Framework for Older People: Standard Six: Falls, The Stationery Office, London Fitzgibbon M, Roberts F (1988) Prevention of accidents to hospital patients, Recent Advances in Nursing, 22, 33-48 Kitwood T (1997) Dementia Reconsidered: The Person Comes First, Open University Press, Buckingham Lenze EJ, Munin MC, Dew MA (2004) Adverse effects of depression and cognitive impairment on rehabilitation participation and recovery from hip fracture, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19, 5, 472-478 Lord SR, Sherrington C, Menz HB (2001) Falls in Older People: Risk Factors and Strategies for Prevention, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Marotolli R (1992) Decline in physical function following hip fracture, Journal of the American, Geriatrics Society, 40, 9, 861-866 National Patient Safety Agency (2007) Slips, Trips and Falls in Hospital: Third report from the Patient Safety Observatory, London, NPSA Nursing and Midwifery Council (2004) The NMC code of professional conduct: standards for conduct, performance and ethics London: NMC Oliver D, Connelly JB, Victor CR (2007) Strategies to prevent falls and fractures in hospitals and care homes and effect of cognitive impairment: systematic review and meta-analyses, British Medical Journal, 334, 7584, 82-89 Rawskey E (1998) Review of the literature on falls among the elderly, Image: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 30, 1, 47-52 Savage T, Matheis-Kraft C (2001) Fall occurrence in a geriatric psychiatry setting before and after a fall prevention program, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 27, 10, 49-53 Tideiksaar R (1998) Falls in Older Persons: Prevention and Management, (2e), Baltimore MD, Health Professions Press Tinetti M (1994) A multifactorial intervention to reduce the risk of falling among elderly people living in the community, New England Journal of Medicine, 331, 13, 821-827 Woolf A, Akesson K (2003) Preventing fractures in elderly people, British Medical Journal, 327, 7406, 89-96 Hewlett Packard (HP): Leadership Crisis Hewlett Packard (HP): Leadership Crisis Case prepared by Rajgopal Iyengar. In the recent years Hewlett Packard (HP) board of directors have been in the limelight for wrong reasons. Four CEOs were hired and replaced in the last decade and three CEOs changes were within a span of 1.5 years. The board has not been able to find the right leader to fit into the HPs Cultures of doing things. The uncertainties in leadership has led to a huge loss for HP in terms of decreased market value, dissatisfied shareholders and blurred strategic vision. In this paper we study the HP CEOs since 1999, their leadership style, their vision and things that went wrong leading to their ouster. Hewlett Packard History (Till 1990s) The company was founded in a  one-car garage  in Palo Alto by  William (Bill) Redington Hewlett  and  Dave Packard. HP is the  worlds leading PC manufacturer. The company focussed on manufacturing of networking and data storage components in addition to designing, development and delivery of software. The key products manufactured were personal computers, enterprise servers, network and storage products, printers and imaging products. HP marketed its products directly and via online to its customers that included individual consumers, SME (Small Medium Enterprise) and large enterprises. HP also had a solid presence in the service and consulting business for the products it manufactured. HPs culture and management practises know HP Way was based on teamwork, transparency, open door management policies and flexibility in work place. HP treated the employees as assets and strived to provide a better work life balance to the employees. The business goals were profit oriented rather than increasing revenues. In late 1980s, HP started building low margin PCs contrary to the companies principle. By 1990, HP was the one of the top technological companies in the world, a market leader in both printers and UNIX based servers, with a growing presence in PC business. HP had a strong leadership under the founders Bill Hewlett (till 1987) and Dave Packard (till 1994). Hewlett Packard History (In 1990s) In the early 1990s, HP focussed on three major businesses: The test and measurement instrument business, the UNIX server business the HP Printers Computer business. The test and measurement business UNIX Server business provided high margins that were in line with the HP Way of working. However the printer business sold low cost printers at high volume and derived high profitability from the ink cartridges. HPs sales grew by 20% between 1992 1996 with an increasing dependency on the low margin PC Printer business. By 1997, HP was among the top 3 manufacturers of PC. HP faced severe competition from Dell and the Asia crisis in 1998 made HP loose margin on PC business. Lewiss Platt the then CEO of HP hired consultant to determine the problem HP was facing. The consultant suggested hiring an outside CEO with a marketing and sales background who can exude Charisma and increase the companys profile. In May 1999, the board decided on Carly Fiorina. Carly Fiorina (1999-2005) Carly Fiorina was born  in  Austin, Texas, on the 6th of September, 1954. Her father  Joseph Tyree Sneed III  was a very talented and multifaceted person. He was a law school professor, dean, and federal judge. In addition he was also an abstract and portrait artist. Fiorina attended Channing School in London, and later attended  Charles E. Jordan High School  in  Durham, North Carolina, for her senior year. She received a  Bachelor of Arts  in  philosophy  and  medieval history  from  Stanford University  in 1976. Fiorina received an  MBA  in  marketing  from  University of Maryland, College Park  in 1980 and later received a  Master of Science  in  management  from the  MIT Sloan School of Management  under the  Sloan Fellows  program in 1989. ATT and Lucent In 1980 Fiorina joined ATT as a management trainee and rose to the level of senior vice president for the companys hardware and systems division. Fiorina led the spin-off of ATT and Lucent; she also played a key role in planning and implementing of the 1996  initial public offering  of stock and company launch strategy.  In late 1996 she became the president of Lucents consumer products business. In 1997, she was appointed as chairman of Lucents consumer communications joint venture with Philips consumer communications.   Changes under Carly Fiorina Leadership Carly Fiorina moved in quickly and tried to revitalize the HP environment. She pruned the reporting units from 82 to 12 and amalgamated back-office functions. She modified the HPs profit sharing program to a performance based incentive program to motivate individuals. She completely rejigged the sales and marketing function. She topped the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list from Fortune magazine for 5 consecutive years. However her leadership style was controversial and many HP employees disliked her. She was regarded as self-centred, demanding leader who completely destroyed the HP culture. Carly spearheaded the merger of HP Compaq that was opposed by the analysts and board members. These differences lead to a public spat between the board members and the CEO. Eventually the deal was approved with a slight majority of 2.1% where 49% opposed the decision and 51% agreed. The Compaq acquisition did not go well as envisaged by Fiorina. Operating margins dropped from 9% in 2000 to 4% in 2005 (Refer Exhibit1 ). Share prices also continued to drop from $34 in 2000 to $21 in 2005(Refer Exhibit2). Following a string of disappointing financial results the board eventually asked Fiorina to resign on Feb 2005. Mark Hurd (2005-2010) Mark Vincent Hurd  was born in Flushing, New York USA on January 1, 1957. He graduated form Baylor University in the year 1979 with a BBA degree. Hurd was the CEO President of NCR Corporation when he decided to move out and join HP. Mark Hurd increased the revenue of NCR by 7% and net income by five times from the previous year by taking a gamut of operational efficiency initiatives. At NCR Mark Hurd held a variety of positions in general management, operations, and sales and marketing. He also served as head of the companys  Teradata  data-warehousing division for three years. Hurd was a member of the  Technology CEO Council, a consortium of chairmen and chief executive officers of IT companies that develops and advocates public policy positions on technology and trade. Changes Under Mark Hurd This time the HP board decided to hire a person with a strong operational experience and hands on execution capabilities. Mark Hurd was well known in Silicon Valley for operational and cost cutting capabilities. Although Mark had never managed a very large company the size of HP, he had a very good success rate. Mark believed in Management by involvement. He tried to get a deeper understanding of the business by dirtying his hands. Mark believed in the concept of management by walking around.. He would stroll through multiple levels of the company and try to get an understanding of the environment. He strongly believed a company can become great if the CEOs ,boards, and management all think alike. Mark Hurd said: I believe in the principle that Company comes first, Employee second and Self is last Mark Hurd was very aggressive in his approach. Within few months of joining he announced broad restructuring initiatives and laid off 14,500 employee. He reorganized the corporate sale group by reducing the group size and assigning the sales team to specific products. He believed a strong knowledge of the product was essential to sell the product. He gave executives lot of flexibility in managing their budgets and held them accountable for their performance. During the 2008-2009 recessions he deducted 5% from the employee salary and 20% from the executive salary to meet the targets. These cost cutting initiatives helped in boosting HPs share value and profitability. The operating margin increased from 4% in 2005 to 9% in 2010(Refer Exhibit3). Share value of HP rose by 129% under his tenure(Refer Exhibit4). The profit generated was used by Mark Hurd to acquire companies in the software and service space like EDS, Mercury Interactive, Peregrine Systems Palm. Things were not completely fine under the leadership of Mark Hurd. Although the company performed well, the employee morale was down. The cost cutting and tightened management completely killed the HP Way work culture. The RD spending plummeted from 4.5% in 2004 to 2.3% in 2010(Refer Exhibit5). The number of patent applications also plummeted during Mark Hurds tenure resulting in loss of strategic advantages for HP. In 2010, HP was mired in controversy and scandal that led to the resignation of Mark Hurd. A company contractor by the name Jodie Fisher filed a sexual harassment case against Mark Hurd. Investigations revealed Mark Hurd had filed inappropriate expenses to skirt the relationship with the women that violated the HP Code Of Conduct. Mark Hurd was asked to resign by the board of directors. HP was again without a leader. Leo Apotheker (2010-2011) Leo Apotheker was born in Aachen, Germany on Sep18 1953. Apotheker studies economics at the  Hebrew University  in  Jerusalem. Apotheker worked in finance and operation function of several European companies before joining SAP in 1988. At SAP, his growth was phenomenal. In 1995, He became CEO and founder of SAP Belgium and SAP France. In 1997, he was made the president of SAPs South West Europe region and by 1999, the president of SAP EMEA sales region. In 2002 Apotheker joined the SAP AG executive board and became the president of global customer solutions and operations from. He was appointed deputy CEO of SAP in 2007; and promoted to co-CEO of the company in April 2008. On February 7, 2010, the SAP supervisory board decided to terminate Apothekers executive board membership. This decision led Apotheker to resign from SAP. HP Under Leo Apotheker The search for the next CEO was riddled with pessimism from the outset. The dispute over Mark Hurds resignation made the task of search committee very difficult. The board was divided over the selection of internal versus external candidate. The resignation of Mark Hurd complemented with the sacking history of past CEOs had created negative publicity about the company in the job market. Highly talented external candidates were not interested in the job. Leo Apotheker was appointed as the CEO of the company in Oct 2010. The appointment of Leo Apotheker received a gloomy response from the market because of multiple reasons. Firstly the credibility and track record of Leo was not great. An article in Wall Street Journal highlighted: Its very discomforting that Mr. Apoteker has never run the show alone. He abruptly resigned from SAP in less than a year Secondly Leo had no understanding of the HP hardware business. Hence he was a misfit for the HP job. The other disturbing fact was Leo was not interviewed by all the members of the board or even met them. Clearly the indifference of the board towards the selection was evident. Tenure of Leo Apotheker was short-lived and disappointing. Initially Leo worked on the strategy designed by Mark Hurd, but in a short time he started making drastic changes to the strategy. He terminated the initiative of HPs venture into the Tablet market and suggested spin off of the PC division. He also suggested purchasing a business analytics company called Autonomy at 10 times the original price. These incoherent action and adhoc strategy was punished by the market. Stock prices plunged and HP lost 45% of its value(Refer Exhibit). Taking cue of the market dissatisfaction, the board of directors fired Leo Apotheker. Meg Whitman (2011 Till Date) Whitman was born on 4 August 1956 in  Long Island, New York. She was the daughter of Margaret Cushing and Hendricks Hallett Whitman Jr. Whitman graduated from  Cold Spring Harbor High School  in 1974. Margaret took maths and science in Princeton university because she wanted to be a doctor. However, after a summer vacation stint in selling magazine advertisements she got inclined to marketing. She studies economics,   and earned a B.A. with honors in 1977. In 1979, Whitman did her  M.B.A.  from  Harvard Business School. Whitman started her career at Procter and Gamble as a brand manager. She later worked as a consultant for Bain and Company and rose to the rank of Senior Vice President in the organization. She joined Walt Disney in 1989 and became the VP of strategic planning. She quit Walt Disney after 2 years and joined Stride Rite Corporation. In 1995 she was named the CEO of Florists Transworld Delivery. Whitman joined  eBay  as CEO on March 1998. At the time the company had only 30 employees  and revenues of $4  million. She grew the company to approximately 15,000 employees and $8  billion in annual revenue by 2008.Whitman resigned as CEO of eBay in November 2007, but remained on the board and served as an advisor to new CEO  John Donahoe  until late 2008 Whitman has received numerous awards and accolades for her work at eBay. On more than one occasion, she was named among the top five most powerful women by  Fortune  magazine. HP Under Meg Whitman The appointment of Meg Whitman was not taken well by the market. Analysts felt Meg Whitman was inexperienced in managing a complex hardware software based business of HP that was already suffering from scandals, low morale, murky vision and unstable leadership. Meg Whitmans strategy was to focus on strengthening the internal business of HP. She wanted to continue with some of the strategies initiated by Leo Apotheker except the spinoff business. Whitman decided to restructure the business by dropping 30000 jobs and using the money to fuel new product development and improvement of sales force6. She merged the PC Printer business to improve the operational efficiency. Clearly Whitman has a strategy in place to get back HP on its feet. She is strengthening internal HP departments, spending money of new product development that are inline with HP Way of working. She has also managed to set a low expectation in the market for the setting low Future The leaders appointed by HP board were not able to align with the HP Culture and make the difference. It needs to be seen whether Meg Whitman will be able to recuperate HP and restore the past glory.

Benefits Of Pet Ownership Essay -- essays research papers fc

“I think I could turn and live with the animals. They are so placid and self-contained,'; writes American poet Walt Whitman (Schellenberg 1). Yes, pets have been part of human culture throughout history, and in American households, they are more common than children. It is reported that 58% of U.S. households have at least one pet, whereas only 35% have children (Whitaker; Witherell 76). Owners spend billions of dollars each year on pet food, accessories, and veterinary care, but apparently pets give back, too (Schellenberg 1). Medical studies show that pet companionship offers concrete health benefits (Simross 14). While only in the past few decades have scientists become interested in the benefits of pets on human health (Schellenberg 2), “as far back as Plato and Socrates, there were admonishments for people to spend time with animals. . .for their health'; (Simross 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “Researchers into the impact of animals on our health points to a clear relationship between the presence of pets and significantly better physical and emotional well-being'; (Witherell 76). Pet owners reported fewer headaches, fewer bouts of indigestion, and less difficulty sleeping in one study (Avanzino). Also, interaction with animals is shown to reduce blood pressure and heart rate, subtle changes with enormous health benefits (Whitaker; Schellenberg 2). For example, a large Australian study reported in 1992 indicated that pet owners are a...