LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

LAW - Essay Example Balancing of an individual’s right to privacy with the media’s right to freedom of expression Domestic courts have adopted a two-stage test in attempting to balance the media’s right to freedom of expression and an individual’s right to privacy. In such cases, where there is a publication of private information, the court decides on two things. Firstly, is the information published private? Private in the sense that Article 8 protects it. If the answer is no, then the case concludes. If yes, the second query arises: must the interest of the holder of the private information or data yield to the right of freedom of expression granted on the publisher by Article 10? (DeCew 1997). Stage 1: Does (A) have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the relevant information? Key Domestic Case Law: Campbell v MGN Ltd [2004] 2 AC 457, HL The fundamental question in cases where there is an allegation of breach of information is whether the information disclosed is priva te and not public. There must be the presence of some interest of a personal nature that the claimant wishes to protect. In some cases, the answer to the question whether the information is public or private is obvious. ... This is because adequate protection was not afforded to her from publication of photographs taken without her consent or knowledge by paparazzi. Freedom of expression extends to publication of photographs, but the reputation and rights of others take importance as the photographs concerned images containing highly personal and or intimate information about an individual. In balancing articles 8 and 10, the contributions that the articles and photographs made to a public debate were the decisive factors. The public did not have a legitimate interest to know her private life. Everyone has a legitimate expectation for protection of his or her life. Therefore, article 8 had been violated (DeCew 1997).. Stage 2: Parallel Analysis In this analysis, neither article 8 or 10 has precedence over the other. If the values in both the articles are in conflict, intense focus on comparative importance of the rights in question is necessary. The justification for restricting or interfering with each right must be considered. In conclusion, there is the application of the proportionality test to each right (DeCew 1997).. Impact of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 on the freedom of the press Contempt of court is the unlawful interference of administration of justice. Contempt of court ensures that the court has the freedom to decide on matters before it, without influence from the press. Contempt of court is directed towards those in the media seeking to obstruct, interfere or undermine the administration of justice and the court. Breach of contempt of court can lead to a fine or imprisonment (Doherty 2003). The law of contempt places restrictions on the freedom of expression which is a crucial freedom to

Climate change Essay Example for Free

Climate change Essay The topic of the dissertation is very clear and well-defined. The problems that have been set forth by the researcher have also been posed with great clarity. To wit, the dissertation aims to ascertaon how green travel blogs perceive the problem of climate change and the manner by which it is affected by the tourism industry; how tourists, in their green travel blogs, choose to go â€Å"green,† looking into their knowledge of the negative effects of tourism on climate change; and how green travel blogs contribute in making tourists aware of the relationship between tourism and climate change. All these have been answered through an analysis of the discourse found in these blogs. The researcher acknowledges the strong relationship that exists between climate change and tourism, and thus analyzing the content of travel blogs will give clear indications about how tourism may further be enhanced through the perceptions of climate change derived from this medium. Simply put, this paper has given valuable input that shall help tourism flourish. Literature Review The literature review is clearly yielded from the most recent sources on the topic. It directly discusses the importance of the subject by beginning with the relationship of climate change and tourism, as indicated by the World Tourism Organization in 2003. It also did mention the requisites that are asked from the tourism industry to help mitigate the problems on environment and climate change, setting a strong rationale for undertaking the study. Empirical studies that further point out the relationship between these two variables were presented such as those of Becken and Hay (2007), Boniface and Cooper (2005), Hall and Higham (2005), Lockwood and Medlik (2002), Jones and Munday (2007), and Belle and Bramwell (2005), among others. From this backdrop, the review of related literature zooms in on the role of travel blogs as a medium for promotion, product distribution, communication, management, and research has been clearly suggested from various empirical studies. These have successfully gained popularity in order to ensure that they communicate initiatives in the fight against climate change and/or global warming. Major books and journal articles have been gathered and synthesized in a coherent manner to allow for an effective springboard for the research. Moreover, relevant transition from each portion of the literature to the next may be observed. There is synthesis and a demonstration of the interrelationships of concepts, making the review cohesive and critical.

A Comparison between My Life and My Mothers Life Essay examples -- co

My Life and My Mother's Life My life compared to my mother's life is in many ways very different and in other ways a lot alike. The differences are there mostly because I was born into a different era. In 1928, my mother's life started out during the end of the Roaring 20's. It was a time of change in America. People were shocked at the short skirts, the drinking and smoking that the young women were participating in then. As the economy came to a crashing halt with the disastrous collapse of the stock market in October of 1929, so did many of the free and "high filutin" attitudes of the 20's. With the 1930's came The Great Depression followed soon after with the election of Franklin Deleno Roosevelt as U.S. President. His administration was responsible for many reform programs designed to help Americans get back on their feet again. President Roosevelt called it the "New Deal". As part of the New Deal, a program called the WPA was created. When I asked my mother what that stood for she replied "I can't remember the real name, we called it "We Poke Along". In my research, I uncovered the real name - Works Progress Administration. It was created in 1935 to combat unemployment at a time when it was at an all time high of 25%. The WPA employed 9 million people in various public works projects between l935 and 1943 of which my grandfather was one. They built roads, schools, dams, etc., which did a lot to improve their communities in those days; in addition, it provided a means to put food back on the table. My mother remembers little from these early days except th at there was not a lot to eat then, potato soup and beans being the constant staple. She and others who survived The Great Depression wanted t... ...ied 52 years now which in its' self says so much for her commitment and dedication. When I asked her what was the secret for a strong marriage she replied, "Never take each other for granted, get fixed up every morning. Try to make the home into a palace, cook good meals, tell each other 'I love you' often and be near him as much as you possibly can be, she said. Then added, "children add a lot to a marriage." Through her life alone, she has taught her children moral values that will be passed down for generations to come. With the faith and courage she has instilled in me, I was able to pull myself up and out of some bad situations where otherwise I would have been lost. I can truthfully say she is indeed my very best friend. Her strength and love for her family have never wavered, and our respect and love for her will always be a testament to her life.

The Privacy Invasion of Consumers Through the Internet and Bluetooth De

The Privacy Invasion of Consumers Through the Internet and Bluetooth Devices ABSTRACT Faster, easier, and cheaper access to a plethora of information, products and people is a primary stimulus for the growing number of online consumers who use the Internet to fulfill information foraging, communication and commerce needs. Oddly enough, these conveniences appear to override users concerns of privacy invasion. As the mechanisms behind information technologies become increasingly transparent, users must trust the companies producing the products to protect them from privacy invasion and refrain from deceitful consumer information practices. Should consumers continue to put faith in companies who may be more concerned about financial gains than consumer privacy rights? Since congress has refused to regulate industry information practices, consumers need to realize that the responsibility of protecting their personal information lies in their own hands. It is the consumer’s responsibility to research company backgrounds, investigate privacy policies, becom e aware of privacy invasion techniques, and learn security safeguards to ultimately make informed decisions and remain in control of how and with whom their personal information is used and shared. INTRODUCTION Do corporations respect consumers’ rights to privacy? In 1999, a Sun Microsystems chief executive riled consumer privacy advocates when he brazenly declared, â€Å"You [as a consumer] have zero privacy anyway. Get over it† (as qtd. in Turow 8). Privacy advocate groups such as the Federal Trade Commission and the American Civil Liberties Union question the ethics of inconspicuous collection of personal information and urge legislative action against privac... ...FTC ‘Tough Love’." USA Today: Cyberspeak. 05 May 2004. 01 Dec 2004 <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/ericjsinrod/2004-05-05-sinrod_x.htm>. Sullivan, Bob. "Online Privacy Fears are Real." MSNBC News. 6 Dec 25 Nov 2004 <http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3078835/> Turow, Joseph. "Americans and Online Privacy: The System is Broken." A Report from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. June 2003. 24 Oct 2004.<http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/jturow/internet-privacy-report/36-page-turow-version-9.pdf> "What is Spyware?" Spy Checker. 01 Dec 2004 <http://www.spychecker.com/spyware.html>. "Yahoo! Privacy." 28 Mar. 2002. Yahoo!. 02 Dec. 2004 <http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/>. Zetter, Kim. "Security Cavities Ail Bluetooth." Wired News. 06 Aug 2004. 27 Oct 2004 <http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64463,00.html>.

Critically Evaluate the Relevance of the Contingency Approach

Jane directly leads a team of seven HRS and communication employees and five operations staff, and has a strong Influence across the organization. Reporting to the CEO, with both board and ASS reporting responsibilities, Cane's role and authority at EX. Wealth Is prominent. As the HRS Director, Jane Is Involved In structure, employment Issues, human resource allocation. Recruitment and retention decisions and sets the people strategy for the organization (J. Smith, peers. Com, 2011). As she faces many different situations everyday in her work, she heavily relies on the contingency approach to management.The contingency approach states that â€Å"organizations are different, face different situations (contingencies) and require different ways of managing† (Robbins, Bergman, Stag & Coulter, 2009 p. 53). The classical, behavioral and systems approach to management theory assumed a universal or ‘one-best-way of management that applied the same techniques to all companies. Ho wever, experienced managers know that not all people and situations can be managed exactly the same. Thus the contingency approach to management suggests that what managers do In practice depends on the situation.However, the contingency approach is not without its critics. A major problem is that it often is used as an excuse for not acquiring formal knowledge about management, but just lets managers make dados decisions. There are four popular contingency variables: organizational size, riotousness of task technology, environmental uncertainty and individual differences (Robbins et al, 2009). In this essay, we will discuss how Jane at EX. Wealth manages each of these variables. The first variable In contingency management theory is organizational size.The way Jane manages her direct team of seven, Is very different to how she is seen as a manager across the 700 staff at EX. Wealth. For example, Jane holds weekly meetings with her team to advise of company-wide news and Information from her meetings at CEO and Board level. In relation to Skate's â€Å"human skill† (Katz, 1974) she Is an effective communicator In tans arena. However, one AT ten roles AT newer team Is to teen disseminate this information through their business groups and across the organization, so that all employees are aware of various company-edicts and general ‘goings on' .They did this through posting memos in breakout rooms, which were rarely noticed. Thus Jane (and in turn, her team) was perceived as having poor human skills' as the information coming from the HRS team was communicated across the larger organization ineffectively. Jane had to change her management style in relation to these larger communications and a company wide intranet was developed as a result. On it, important employee notices were communicated as well as information about the company and it's various activities. 0. Smith, peers. Com).Employees were then able to access the information as it suited them , and remained just as informed as those in her direct team after their weekly meetings. Another variable in contingency management theory is the ‘riotousness of task genealogy. Routine Technologies are those that have little variety and use objective, standardized procedures. They are mostly associated with a mechanistic structure and processes, with formal rules and rigid management processes (Daft, Murphy & Wolcott 2010). An example of this at EX. Wealth is in the Operations Department.Their role is to scan all incoming mail, forward it to the correct person and file the hardcopy. Jane finds managing this department is relatively straightforward. She sets formal Kips at the start of each year and the Senior Operations Officer ensures that the team meets their targets. In effect, Jane is using one of Integers ‘Managing on Three Levels' (being, information) technique (Integers, 1994). Non-routine technologies, however, have high task variety and experience and technical knowledge are used to perform the work and solve problems.Using Woodward's research, organizations with more non-routine technologies are more likely to have organic structures (Robbins et al, 2009) Similar to many companies in finance, EX. Wealth has traditionally had a very bureaucratic structure based around division of labor, central controls and a strict hierarchy – almost Weeper's ideal bureaucratic structure. Robbins et al, 2009) – with the CEO at the top and the majority of staff (in processing and call centre roles) making up the bottom. Divisions were created by Job role and geography and the machinations of the firm had little to do with the head office and their goals.However, since the challenge of Global Financial Crisis (SGF) companies, particularly in financial fields, have had to be leaner and more able to change and faster at doing it. EX. Wealth has started to develop a flatter management structure, with a matrix- reporting style and business units connecting with each other (Chapman, 2001). For instance, instead of all Human Resources (HRS) consultants sitting together in an HRS team environment, those dedicated to a particular business group, now ‘live' with their business, as business partners. Although they form part of Cane's team, they also have a reporting line through to their business manager.Echoing Chessman's (2001) work, Jane feels that this new organizational structure is more desirable as interpersonal relationships are developed and knowledge and understandings are shared between the HRS team and the business. 0. Smith, peers. Com) I en Tanta variable Tort ten contingency approach to management Is environmental uncertainty. Because uncertainty threatens an organizations effectiveness, managers will try to minimize it. (Robbins et al. 2009) Operating in a post-SGF world, EX. Wealth is facing uncertainty on numerous levels. There are constant threats from competitors and the market is still Jittery and unpre dictable at best.EX. Wealth has a large insurance division that has recently been onset by claims from the various natural disasters that Australia has recently faced. In short, there is not a lot about EX. Wealth's environment that is certain. According to contingency theory, stable environments suggest mechanistic structures that emphasis centralization, standardization, and specialization. (Robbins et al. , 2009) Unstable environments suggest organic structures, which emphasis decentralization to achieve flexibility and adaptability (Robbins et al. , 2009).EX. Wealth is effected by a rapidly changing and unstable environment and must evolve to ensure that it is able to operate efficiently through any uncertainty. An example of this was highlighted with an unprecedented retention issue with the Junior clerks in the Perth offices of EX. Wealth. Due to the mining boom, these staff were being lured away from EX. to earn significant amounts working in the mines. As hiring and retraini ng staff is an expensive exercise (and EX. Wealth was in no position to match the salaries on offer), the company offered an extended leave without pay program for Junior employees who had shown potential.This gave them time off to work in the mines and then they were able to return to their previous roles (Smith, peers. Com). The final variable for the contingency approach to management thought is that of individual differences: â€Å"Individuals differ in terms of their desire for growth, autonomy, tolerance of ambiguity and expectations† (Robbins et al, (2009) p. 4). This final variable, makes it clear why so many found the classical theories of Payola and Taylor so limiting.There are Just so many variables that could apply to motivating and leading individuals, that no classical theorist could cover them all. As Human Resources Director Jane Smith leads discussions at EX. Wealth on the remuneration levels of employees. Being a company in financial markets, employees who w ork in this industry are usually attracted by money. Thus, it has always been the main motivator for staff and all employees are eligible for performance related pay and company bonuses. However, since the SGF the focus on money as the main motivational tool has been lessened.Other benefits such as more flexible working practices (either with hours, or working from home), study support or the ability to ‘buy extra annual leave; have also been seen to highly motivate employees (Smith, peers. Com). As Mitchell and Nickel (1999) argue – money is an important motivator, but managers need to understand individuals – their attitudes, beliefs and behavior – before it will act as an effective motivator. In analyzing Cane's work as the Human Resources Director of EX. Wealth, it can be aid that she heavily relies upon the contingency approach to management.

Classical Management Viewpoint of the Worker Essays

Classical Management Viewpoint of the Worker Essays Classical Management Viewpoint of the Worker Essay Classical Management Viewpoint of the Worker Essay The classical management writers had a particular viewpoint of the worker. Discuss what this was. [12 marks] a The evolution of management has been in existence since the construction of massive structures such as the pyramids in Egypt in the ancient days and the Great Wall of China during the Qing Dynasty period. It is thus evident how important the role of management and its application is globally and through the passage of time. The emergence of the classical approach occurred during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and Europe, as it became necessary to have a more formal approach to management. Production shifted away from the cottage industry as large complex organisations sprouted due to new forms of technology. The classical approach places emphasis on purpose, formal structure, hierarchy of management, technical requirements, and common principles of organisation in order to manage efficiently the higher amount of outputs from increased producitivity. (needs emphasis on the workers) The classical management approach comprises of three theories namely- bureacratic management by Max Weber, Scientific management by Taylor and Administrative management by Henri Fayol. Max Weber is a German sociologist who defined an organisation as a well-defined hierarchy of authority and responsibility, following a system of rules and regulations where there is no confusion and conflicts. Under this formal hierarchy structure, workers abide by rules and follow accordingly without question. Official positions exist in their own right and jobholders have no rights to particular positions in the top management, since appointment of staff is based on qualification and competence. This will thus allow for a stable and well-defined job content such that work performance is based on the identified roles. However, the over-emphasis on rules and regulation only serves to dehumanise and demotivate the workers as workers’ initiation and creativity are being stifled. They become inflexible in responding to situations, and reluctant to innovate in time. There are three types of legitimate authority identified by Weber- traditional, charismatic and rational-legal authority. Workers are required to accept those in authority that arises from tradition and custom. They must also be loyal and entrust their confidence in the personal qualities of the leader. Hence, there is no questioning of the authority since the workers are bounded by the rules and procedures of the organisation, and does not have any job movement in their job scope. Nonetheless, Weber see this approach as neccessary at that time in order to achieve stability in the organisation, where rules are implemented to increase efficiency and productivity even though it neglects the social needs of the workers. Another writer who contributed to the classical approach is Taylor. He introduced the theory of scientific management where workers are viewed as â€Å"rational economic man† who are satisfied and motivated by high wages, and are willing to work diligently for the organisation. He was concerned with the efficiency of the working methods, and the question of how to organize different resources into efficient and profitable operations. He wanted to prevent â€Å"soldiering† which he believes arises due to the fallacious belief of the workers that any increase in output will result in unemployment, hence deliberately restrict their work-rate in order to stay in employment. Hence in order to overcome this problem, he came up with â€Å"a true science of work†, referring to the amount to be done by a suitable worker under optimum conditions. Workers are paid their wages according to their productivity. Workers are systematically trained and placed through careful selections, jobs designated for them. Through analysis of the â€Å"stopwatch exercise†, he was able to establish standard time and standard output of work. He argued that workers prefer to be given a definite task with clear-cut standards, then rewarded accordingly for their productivity without limit. However, the scientific approach fails to consider the social needs of the workers as well, and also overlooked the human desire for job satisfaction by labelling workers merely as a â€Å"rational economic man† who works long hours willingly for the sake of higher wages. Workers are viewed as cogs of machines, and exploitation of labour and unfair distribution of wages may occur. Administrative management was prefaced by Henri Fayol. He says that to manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control. In his book â€Å"Administration â€Å"Industrielle Et Generale†, he proposed 14 principles of management which he feels will enable organisations to function efficiently. His emphasis was also on the hierarchical aspects of the business enterprise as a formal organisation, based on the division of work, scalar chain, unity of command and centralisation. This top-down management style shows how authority is limited and restricted from the workers, who are expected to follow the leadership of others. In conclusion, under the classical approaches to management, the theories have similar traits towards their view of the worker. Discuss in what ways, and for what reasons, this viewpoint may be different in the 21st century. [13 marks] The 21st century marks an important pardigm shift in business and management principles. We now live in the Information Age (post-modern) and not the Industrial Age (classical). The 21st century is also a period of great uncertainty where we have se en horrific acts of terrorism against the good of mankind, the SARS outbreak in Asia, which threatened to derail the World Economy in today’s ever-increasingly ‘boundary-less’ global economy as well as many other events. Henceforth, the classical management writers’ viewpoint of the workers has become less relevant in the 21st century as the approach was developed in the 1890 to 1940s. The classical approach’s viewpoint of the workers has become different in the 21st century as the modern era is more focused on the social needs and welfare of the workers. Human’s rights are being advocated, henceforth making it necessary for organisations and their management to take care of the needs of the workers. Workers from the past were also less educated, whereas 90% of the population in the 21st century living in cities are literate. As such, it is more important for managers to focus more on improving the interactions and relations between management and workers at the workplace. This is developed in Hawthorne studies by Elton Mayo, who discovered the importance of informal working group. When workers feel more important at work and being taken care of, their productivity will improve, resulting in an increase in output. This is therefore different from the viewpoint of the classical approach when the social needs of the workers are being neglected. Nowadays, management has adopted a much flatter structure instead of a tall one. Workers have to be convinced of the abilities of their superiors before accepting their management styles. Similarly, top management must also be open to ideas coming from the lower level of workers within the organization. There should be mutual communications between the managers and their subordinates. Managers are encouraged to show care and concern towards the workers so that they will be motivated. This motivation to work will help to keep the productivity and efficiency of the organization going by making the subordinates feel important (encouraging self-esteem), and feel as if they really belong to the organization. As such they will feel that contributing to the organization will not only benefit the organization but themselves through self-satisfaction. However, too much motivation and giving leeway to workers will cause them to be complacent and to lose their sense of working abilities. Hence there should be a proper balance between adopting some of the classical approaches and putting them together with human relations which will be discussed later. The Gilbreths, followers of Taylor in scientific management of classical approaches were convinced with doing things in the one best way through the process of recording techniques done in experiments and motion studies. The Gilbreths used charting and basic elements of on-the-job motions and providing a standardized basis for recording movements. By doing experiments like these, the Gilbreths are trying to anaylse the whole working operations and this, as they believe, will most likely boost workers morale because of its obvious physical worker benefits and involves the managements concern for the worker. In this form of classical approach, every worker will always be a doer, a learner and a teacher that will have new possibilites in the job scope. This method applies mainly in the Industrial as mentioned earlier. However, as a contrast to such a classical theory of managements attitude to the worker, Elton Mayos Hawthorne studies were on the workers rather than on the work. Hawthorne was mainly interested in studying social relationship at work. Human relations have become an important element in management as it is proven by the company is able to thank their workers and show their appreciation is by giving company dinners and incentives like healthcare services that will benefit them, and such activities undertaken by organizations are still practiced in many organizations such s MacDonalds, Federal Express. The systems theory also states that organisations are complex entities, or systems of inter-ralted and independent parts comprising of input, process and output which have interaction with the external environment to arrive at stable state (homeostasis). Under the open socio-technical system, workers need work compatibility with each other in order to work in teams, which is important for work redesign (relevant for motivation). The Volvo experiment at the Kalmer plant has hexagon-shaped factories with assembly lines along glass walls. The autonomous team decides on allocation of work and responsibilities. By specializing and helping each other as a team, productivity and sales quality will improve. (need to relate more to 21st Century) As organizations cannot be totally humanized, managements attitudes and perspectives towards Man have also evolved along with their management ideologies, from Human Relations approach to one of Contingency Approach. Due to factors such as globalization, cultures of various countries (eg asian values that need adaptation), turbulent environment (war on terrorism), deregulation, privatisation, urbanisation and movement towards capitalism and dependence on market economy by countries such as China and India and greater competition, which are prevalent in the 21st century, and therefore old ideas have to be discarded and new ones embraced. As organizations have adapted and become more complex (Peters and Watermans attributes of organizations in the early 20th century, these ideas have become less applicable in changing times of the 21st century), operations have been decentralized and more fluid and flexibility have emerged (Sony and 3M). Therefore Man has evolved due to the demanding nature of today, which require many competencies and skills to deal with any incidences that occur due to the non-ideal (no one optimum) state in the business world. The classical approach have declined over the years but we cannot deny that their usefulness have not totally been eliminated. Some approaches like the structural organizations in the government still adopt its concept which is based on bureaucracy. However, managements must also give consideration to human factors and not simply based it on one approach. The structures of the organization should be more flexible and not rigid in order to adapt quickly to any global changes. Only then organizations can operate well in a globally ever changing integrated precarious world economy (need to emphasize more on 21st century; change conclusion).

Edgewood Lake Hospital Essays

Edgewood Lake Hospital Essays Edgewood Lake Hospital Paper Edgewood Lake Hospital Paper Edgewood Lake Hospital (ELH) which opened in 1945, is a 30-bed, independent, not-for-profit hospital located in rural northern California. It provides inpatient and outpatient services to the close-knit community that resides within the forested and lakeside town the facility is nestled in. Although it is known for its great track record for quality and is held in high regard by the surrounding community, it has steadily experienced financial losses from 2006 through 2009. These losses can be attributed to factors both internal and external to the facility itself. Poor executive leadership by the recently replaced CEO, Richard Fuchs, has resulted in great financial losses for ELH. Further paramount financial losses have resulted from extreme budgeting discrepancies, mismanaged funds and failure to identify loss-contributors in time to rectify them. These losses have resulted in a decreased morale of the existing staff and have made recruiting for open positions difficult. The staff’s faith in the facility and its longevity has wavered and diminished as a direct result of mismanagement and the resulting financial instability. Nearby competition from a newer and better-equipped for-profit hospital that offers specialty care is a direct and impending threat. Increasing billing regulations from Medicare that call for replacing/purchasing new computer systems are sure to add to the surmounting financial pressures. The Board of Directors has hired a new CEO, Shannon Johnson, who comes from serving 5 years as CFO to Rocky Hills Valley Hospital, a critical access facility in rural northern California. She will be faced with the challenge of employing effective leadership in order to make ELH profitable within a 2-year time span. By examining the current state of the hospital, identifying its key stakeholders and scanning its internal and external environments for contributing factors and possible areas for improvement, strategies aimed at better positioning ELH both competitively as well as financially will be recommended. Key Stakeholders ELH has various stakeholders, each of which has a different relationship with and varying interests in the community hospital. One group of stakeholders would be the close-knit, small community that is offered inpatient/outpatient services by this facility. This stakeholder group boasts a county-wide population of 5,135 citizens. A more distinctive stakeholder group would be the elderly sector of the population, as they make up 54% of the payer mix that is responsible for all revenue received by ELH. The healthcare costs of these senior citizens are funded by the government through the Medicare program. Another group of stakeholders is the primary care providers within ELH. Although the hospital does afford them a facility to practice medicine in, growing discontent has resulted as of late within this stakeholder group. Due to the lack of specialty physicians in this facility, these providers have been forced to provide care that is out of their scope of practice and out of their comfort level. Another principal stakeholder is the newly hired CEO of ELH, Shannon Johnson. She is a graduate of a major university and is also a certified public accountant. Her role will be a vital one in whether ELH recovers from its recent history of financial losses as her executive leadership spearheads this effort. She was chosen by the board of directors as she brings with her experience in managing a hospital in a rural setting. Another stakeholder, as well as direct competitor, for ELH is Creekside Trails Hospital. Although each hospital serves distinct patient populations, a competition for patients in recent years has developed. External Environment In order to arrive at a well-rounded and all-encompassing solution to ELH’s critical state, the external environment must be examined. Looking closely at the environment external to ELH will allow for possible threats to the hospital’s success to be revealed and curtailed if possible. Upon scanning the external environment, opportunities for improvement should be identified and made an integral part of the final strategy to restore and revitalize ELH to its former glory. Threats The most direct threat to ELH is the strong community competitor, Creekside Trails Hospital. It is a 45-bed, for-profit facility located 35 miles away on the other end of the lake and is 50 years newer than ELH having been opened in 1995. It is a for-profit organization and offers more specialty services, namely cardiology care. This threatens ELH’s livelihood not only by creating a more appealing alternative for citizen seeking medical attention but also by becoming a viable option for current ELH staff looking for a more stable and promising place of employment. Another threat is the current state of rural hospitals nationwide. According to the case study, about 25% of Americans live in rural areas and only about 10% of physicians actually practice in rural areas. There is a 15% gap in the ratio of rural citizens to available practicing physicians. This is a threat to ELH’s need to attract and hire more physicians. In relation to rural hospitals, citizens have longer drive times to their medical facilities. This causes them to delay routine visits which subsequently exacerbates illness. National health policy and government reimbursement standards are also threats external to ELH. There are increasing regulations on quality, privacy, efficiency, costs and services while government reimbursement rates are declining. Increasing demands for quality and compliance while funding is steadily declining will lead to a growing gap in healthcare costs and affordability. The Medicare program is increasing its quality and compliance demands putting rural hospitals at a disadvantage to their inner-city counterparts. Reason being that rural hospitals have fewer coders and internal auditors to stay abreast of changing regulations which results in increases in fines and denied claims. Some demographics of Edgewood County are also a threat to the overall welfare of ELH. The following table was created from figures provided within the case study: Table 1 Income and Median Age: Edgewood County versus National Average | Median Household| Median Age| | Income| (Years)| Edgewood County | $ 44,238.00| 40. 8| National Average| $ 59,948. 00| 33. 3| Table 1 shows that Edgewood County’s median household income is 26. 2% less than the national average median income. This not only provides the population of Edgewood with less disposable income but also results in ELH having a smaller revenue pool than the national average. Another notable difference is that Edgewood County’s median age is 22. 5% higher than the national average median age. This will at some point mean a higher number of elderly patients, who if subsidized by Medicare, will create a need for more billing/coding staff to be hired creating yet another expense. Opportunities| | ELH and its surrounding community have historically shared a good relationship. When the former CEO proposed and built a wellness center dedicated to enriching the healthcare experience of its patients, the idea garnered much support from the town. The former CEO’s ability to raise $120,000 in community donations alone to fund the construction of the Edgewood Lake Wellness Center demonstrates that there once existed, and can again exist, a viable source of plentiful community support. The customer base was proven to be strong and loyal in favor of and support for the medical facility. ELH is the sole, or one of very few, healthcare facilities within a commutable distance for citizens of the town. This could provide a competitive advantage above larger hospitals in metropolitan cities which require extensive travel and great expense for citizens to reach. The new CEO, Shannon Johnson, has seen hospitals with bleak outlooks benefit greatly from joining healthcare networks. There are also other designations, such as that of being a Critical Access Hospital (CAH), which could prove helpful in turning ELH into a profitable and successful facility. Shannon Johnson’s previous place of employment was a CAH and so converting to this designation might be in her prospects for corrective strategies. The reimbursement for CAH’s is cost-based as opposed to the current diagnosis-related reimbursement. To be eligible for designation as a CAH, the facility must be at least 35 miles from next nearest hospital, operate fewer than 25 beds, have an average length of stay less than 96 days and must offer emergency services 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position: Structure Analysis Issues After careful review of the external environment, several structural issues were identified related to Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position. One is the limited geographical coverage of ELH’s reach. It services a county of just above five thousand residents and also shares that small population size with another competitor. The geographical factors also work against ELH in that it is located in a rural area making it challenging and difficult to attract/hire physicians to fill vacancies on medical staff. Legislative effects threaten the solvency of ELH’s finances because while regulations are increasing and becoming stricter, funding is being decreased making it difficult for smaller hospitals to remain compliant. Internal Environment An examination of the internal environment of ELH is an equally important aspect of arriving at a solution methodology for this hospital’s current difficulties. The internal scan will be comprised of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment as well as revealing any resources, competencies and capabilities of the same. Strengths  Its most notable strength is that ELH is held in high regard by members of the surrounding community. It is one of only 2 healthcare facilities easily accessible to residents of Edgewood County. Of the 2 facilities, it is the only one to have its own dedicated wellness center. Furthermore, ELH has been an integral part of the town for 50 years, a fact that provides an unattainable status by its nearby competitor. In addition, its medical staff has a very low turnover, measuring at 6% in 2008. Despite the misdirection under the previous CEO, ELH has a strong middle management with a significant tenure. It is this group that is responsible for maintaining morale positive and consistent. Now that Shannon Johnson has been brought on board, she is also a great strength ELH can draw from as the facility can only stand to gain from her bountiful experience with rural hospitals and steering them towards success. The hospital itself has a great track record of quality: it scored 100% for delivering discharge instructions versus national average of 69% and also scored 100% for providing smoking cessation counseling for congestive heart failure cases versus national average of 89%. Weaknesses  Prior to the hiring of the new CEO, lack of executive leadership was possibly the greatest weakness of the internal environment. In order for all the individual parts of any organization to function cohesively and properly, there must be solid and strong support from the top. Executive management holds the power to make or break its organization and when this position is filled by an unqualified weak-minded individual, only failure can result, as it did in the case of ELH and former CEO Richard Fuchs. The facility itself also has structural limitations that create yet another weakness. With 30 beds and a surrounding population of 5,135, ELH only has resources to service 0. 6% of the population at one time. Its capability to serve in the grand scheme of things is diminutive and very possibly one of the reasons new talent will not join the existing staff. Although the hospital has a history of outstanding quality in service, it also has a standing track record of poor financial performance. This is in large part due to the poor financial decisions made by the former CEO but is also a product of uncontrollable forces. For example, declining reimbursement by Medicare has resulted in extensive losses on Medicare patients. As seen in the case study’s Exhibit 1, which charts the various parties contributing to ELH’s payer mix, more than half of the patients are Medicare beneficiaries. Further financial weakness is identified in the steadily increasing operating costs. A collective bargaining agreement with a local union resulted in higher salaries for RN’s. Also, the inability to permanently fill physician vacancies has resulted in having to pay higher costs to temporary physicians. Low physician recruitment is a weakness that not only affects the bottom line but also the quality and continuity of healthcare offered to ELH patients. The areas that are most affected by this are that of general surgery and primary care. Resources, Competencies and Capabilities ELH has a variety of resources at its disposal. Careful identification and scrutiny of them will allow them to be called upon during the initiative to restore financial stability. The previously mentioned positive relationship that exists between the facility and its surrounding community leads to one  very valuable resource. Garnering support from the surrounding community it serves, both in terms of financial contributions and in terms of building loyalty, is an existing and proximal resource. The reputation enjoyed by ELH of having superior quality of care is a resource that should be placed at the forefront of the efforts to attract new physicians and new patients. The newly hired CEO, Shannon Johnson, will be an invaluable resource based on her previous experience and her CPA license signifying her great understanding of finance. Another resource, that currently seems to be the reason for the financial turmoil being faced by ELH, is the Edgewood Lake Wellness Center. This facility has already been constructed and paid for. It could prove to be a great resource if its use were maximized to provide a competitive advantage over Creekside Trails. A final resource and competency housed within the walls of ELH is the existing staff that has a proven record for performing quality service and whose ability to excel in healthcare as well as contribute in community service certainly provides a differentiation between ELH and its competitors. Not only is the staff capable of meeting and surpassing the expectations of quality held by the surrounding community, but ELH goes above and beyond to offer value-added services. The hospital created the Mobile Health Service Unit (MHSU), a large utility vehicle servicing residents at the perimeter of the county. It is equipped to perform physical assessments and other primary care services. Strategies and Recommendations. In order to make recommendations on how to make ELH profitable, secure fiscal solvency, address the physician recruitment problems, increase staff productivity/performance and stabilize the executive leadership team, environmental scanning was performed. The importance of environmental scanning is that it will reveal the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the entity. Identifying these characteristics will assist in creating a strategic plan meant to help the facility reach the aforementioned short-term and long-term goals. ELH should implement a new marketing strategy while maintaining its core competencies that have awarded the facility recognition and customer loyalty. The first strategy to be recommended is one of concentric diversification. ELH will not only serve as a medical facility like its competitor, but will also open up its wellness center to host community fitness events/initiatives, intramural sports activities of local youth and informative seminars open to the public. Another strategy is one of branding. The Mobile Health Service Unit seems to be one of its kind in the area – taking health to homes. The great service it offers to residents at the perimeter of the county should be marketed as a backdrop of care, concern and initiative by ELH for its patients, all patients, not only the ones who are able to commute to the facility. This existing resource could possibly be turned into a mode of offering transportation services to and from ELH for needy patients with scarce resources. A strategy that could be used as a last resort would be one of divestiture whereby ELH could be purchased by or integrate on some level with its competitor, Creekside Trails. A less drastic and very feasible strategy would be to change the designation of ELH to one of a critical access hospital. The new CEO has full working knowledge of how to obtain this designation, and the current size and location of the hospital make it a possible alternative as it would be easy to reduce number of beds from 30 (current) to 24 or less (required) and meets the requirement of being at least 35 miles away from nearest hospital, which it is. An aggressive proactive strategy for filling physician openings has been developed. A team must be created that is dedicated to attracting and recruiting specialty physicians. This team should at minimum include the Human Resources Director, middle management (who is tenured and can offer valuable insight into why ELH is a great place to practice), current over-worked caregivers as well as a representative from the town’s visitor center who can in collaboration create an attractive portfolio of the town itself and the quality of life it offers to its inhabitants, a listing of the quality recognitions and resulting loyalty ELH has acquired, a commentary of the excellent environment ELH provides for its staff as well as its plans for the future and growth prospects. Critical success factors have been identified to be the dire need for top management support, funding whether it be from local community or government, employee buy-in which middle management could easily obtain with their tenure and strong impact on internal culture and time efficiency which has been mandated by the board of directors to be 2 years to reach profitability and  meet physician staffing needs. With strong leadership from Shannon Johnson and buy-in via employee involvement from existing staff, it is not only possibly but highly likely ELH will differentiate itself enough to regain its competitive advantage and dominant position in the healthcare of Edgewood County.

The eNotes Blog 2013 National Book AwardWinners

2013 National Book AwardWinners Is your Kindle finger itching? Do you have a yearning to go to the bookstore or library but dont know what sounds good? Well, maybe this will help.   Last night, this years National Book Awards were announced. Here is the complete list of winners and finalists. James McBride took the fiction prize for his novel The Good Lord Bird (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group USA): Abolitionist John Brown calls her â€Å"Little Onion,† but her real name is Henry. A slave in Kansas mistaken for a girl due to the sackcloth smock he was wearing when Brown shot his master, the light-skinned, curly-haired 12-year-old ends up living as a young woman, most often encamped with Brown’s renegade band of freedom warriors as they traverse the country, raising arms and ammunition for their battle against slavery. Though they travel to Rochester, New York, to meet with Frederick Douglass and Canada to enlist the help of Harriet Tubman, Brown and his ragtag army fail to muster sufficient support for their mission to liberate African Americans, heading inexorably to the infamously bloody and pathetic raid on Harpers Ferry.   Starred Review, Booklist   Carol Haggas Finalists for the prize included: Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers (Scribner/Simon Schuster) Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House) Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge (The Penguin Press/Penguin Group USA) George Saunders, Tenth of December (Random House) The winner for non-fiction is George Packer for The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) How have we come to feel that neither the government nor the private sector works as it should and that the shrinking middle class has few prospects of recovering its former glory? Through profiles of several Americans, from a factory worker to an Internet billionaire, Packer, staff writer for the New Yorker, offers a broad and compelling perspective on a nation in crisis. Packer focuses on the lives of a North Carolina evangelist, son of a tobacco farmer, pondering the new economy of the rural South; a Youngstown, Ohio, factory worker struggling to survive the decline of the manufacturing sector; a Washington lobbyist confronting the distance between his ideals and the realities of the nation’s capital; and a Silicon Valley entrepreneur pondering the role of e-commerce in a radically changing economy. Interspersed throughout are profiles of leading economic, political, and cultural figures, including Newt Gingrich, Colin Powell, Raymond Carver, Sam Walton, and Jay-Z. Also spr inkled throughout are alarming headlines, news bites, song lyrics, and slogans that capture the unsettling feeling that the nation and its people are adrift. Packer offers an illuminating, in-depth, sometimes frightening view of the complexities of decline and the enduring hope for recovery.   Starred Review, Booklist Vanessa Bush Finalists in the Non-Fiction Category were: Jill Lepore, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House) Wendy Lower, Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 (W.W. Norton Company) Lawrence Wright, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, the Prison of Belief (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House) Mary Szybist took the Poetry Prize for her collection,   Incarnadine: Poems (Graywolf Press) Love poetry and poetry of religious faith blend and blur into one transcendent, humbled substance. . . . Whether or not readers are attuned to the religious content, these are gorgeous lyrics, in traditional and invented formsone poem is a diagrammed sentence while another radiates from an empty space at the center of the pagewhich create close encounters with not-quite-paraphrasable truths. This is essential poetry.  - Publishers Weekly Poetry finalists included: Frank Bidart, Metaphysical Dog (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Lucie Brock-Broido, Stay, Illusion (Alfred A. Knopf) Adrian Matejka, The Big Smoke (Penguin Poets/Penguin Group USA) Matt Rasmussen, Black Aperture (Louisiana State University Press) The winner for young peoples literature is Cynthia Kadohata for The Thing About Luck (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon Schuster) It seems that if Summer’s Japanese American family didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all. Certainly good luck (kouun) is elusive. Consider that Summer has had malaria; her little brother, Jaz, is friendless; her parents have to fly to Japan to take care of elderly relatives; and her grandmother (Obaa-chan) and grandfather (Jii-chan) must pay the mortgage by coming out of retirement to work for a custom harvesting company. When the siblings accompany their grandparents on the harvest, Summer helps her grandmother, a cook, while Jaz is Jaz: intense, focused, and bad-tempered. At first, things go reasonably well, but then Jii-chan becomes sick, and it appears that it might be up to Summer to save the day. Will she succeed? Kadohata has written a gentle family story that is unusual in its focus on the mechanics of wheat harvesting.   (Grades 4-8) Starred Review,   Booklist Michael Cart Finalist for the young peoples literature award included: Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp   (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon Schuster) Tom McNeal, Far Far Away (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House) Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group USA) Gene Luen Yang, Boxers Saints (First Second/Macmillan)

Analysis of China Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Analysis of China Airlines - Essay Example The extent of political multiplicity is not necessarily relevant for understanding the global airline industry, nor is the technological environment as this is relatively homogenous for airlines utilising similar support IT such as e-commerce, on-board entertainment, social media, and software for enterprise resource planning. 1.1 Social Factors The social factors associated with the different target customer segments in the regions serviced by the global airline industry and its competitors is critical to understanding how the business maintains competitive advantages. Each regional culture maintains differing societal views that impact dimensions of service quality, marketing and promotion, and customer relationship management. Customers in Japan maintain distinctly unique cultural values from other Asian nations, scoring high in areas of masculinity as identified by Geert Hofstede. Japanese customers with high masculinity characteristics have significantly high expectations for to p quality service and in product presentation (Hofstede Center 2012). Service failures or product quality occurring on-board will be the most predictable elements of service development with this important revenue-generating market segment. Japanese customers are also recognised as being one of the most risk averse cultures on the planet (Hofstede Center 2012), therefore once a business has managed to establish brand loyalty there is little risk of brand defection (Boone and Kurtz 2007). Customers in China, however, are very hedonistic which was established on the foundation of Confucian-era values (Farh and Cheng 2000). Hedonism involves characteristics of self-indulgence and maximisation of self-utility (Lemos 2004; Overskeid 2002), borne of a collectivist culture where saving face is one of the most top valued social characteristics to achieve group affiliation (Hofstede et al. 2010). This highly collectivist culture demands more attention to achieving excellence in service which translates into a hedonistic measure of self-expansion. Influence from Chinese consumers exert new service quality pressures on labour systems charged with service delivery, thus distinguishing Chinese consumers from that of Japanese high-resource buyers. Social factors continue to impose risks on companies operating in this industry sector, forcing transparency in operations and demanding new emphasis on competency in service delivery. There are global consequences in international markets that have reached market maturity and where airline companies must utilise culturally-sensitive promotions and advertising in order to gain market attention that stresses places more emphasis on culturally-based market research to gain market prominence. 1.2 Economic Factors The fiscal situation in China is relevant for analysis since many airlines in this industry service customers from or to this destination. In 2012, China’s fiscal leadership injected 57.92 billion USD into a strugglin g economy to stabilise interest rates and influence new corporate borrowing (Safe Trading 2013). This has opened new avenues for foreign direct investment and has served to create more favourable exchange rates between Taiwanese currency values and

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Discussion - Essay Example Ethics on the other hand forms the framework that acts as moral guidelines. Ethics is much more subjective and although it also establishes sets of normative codes of conduct, these codes are heterogeneous due to their subjective origins. If however, we assume Ethics to set the standards of social conduct and moral judgment then ideally, laws should enforce these (Blackburn, 2003). The importance of Ethics in spite of many laws arises precisely from the fact that finer ethical considerations and morality are often beyond the defined conducts that the limited scope of Laws are able to enforce. The necessity of ethical consideration irrespective of the legal framework of any nation can be best understood by considering historical instances where Laws were in conflict or at least not in support of what is now understood to be ethical. Until the 13th amendment of 1865 revised the Law, slavery was entirely a legal practice in the U.S.A. Prior to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; child labor was a legal practice as well. African American people had very little civil rights and when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger on Dec. 1, 1955 she violated the law (Townsend, 1998). It is in the present day almost surprising to note that women were accorded voting rights only in 1920. Such instances of something considered legal in the past later being rectified, reflect that Laws may not always be aligned with what is ethically right and the adjustment can be a time consuming process. Instances of legal binds being constraining from the perspective of ethical actions and decision making is certainly not a matter of only the past. In present days also, issues like Abortion and Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide leads to a debate due to the inherent conflict between the associated laws and ethical

Collaboration in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Collaboration in Business - Essay Example Effective leadership steers the community towards achieving the set objectives of which can be customer satisfaction, profit maximization, market dominance among other business objectives. The goals and objectives of the business community will provide a frame work for laying out the policies and guidelines that will be used for running the community. Collaborative business communities employ collaborative problem-solving techniques to enhance their performance. The individual business goals and objectives of each member have to be put into consideration when formulating the overall goals of the business community (Welborn & Kasten, 2003). In order for a business to successfully collaborate with external partners it should have the ability to successfully collaborate internally. A business firm should develop strategies and practices that enable the culture of collaboration internally (Welborn & Kasten, 2003).This may be done in various ways such as inter departmental collaboration w here each department has mechanisms for dealing with their other counterpart departments effectively. Collaborations can also be exercised within the firm’s management structure whereby at each level of management there are effective methods of collaboration that ensure the smooth running of activities within the business. Barriers that may be encountered in collaborations such institutional, legal and psychological barriers should be anticipated and preventive measures taken in advance. Institutional barriers involve the internal activities of the individual potential member. These barriers may arise due to the internal policies of the potential member of the community such as their policies on expansion whereby they might not be interested in expanding to the level that will result from the collaboration. When it comes to legal barriers, these are barriers that may arise due to the legal framework of the country that the company is. For instance in for the multi – na tional firms, the firms intending to form the collaboration might be located in different countries with different set of laws regarding the activities they intend to engage in as a collaboration. The psychological barriers are related to the mindsets of the potential customers of the collaboration, the present customers of the individual members, their employees and other stakeholders. Some might have a negative attitude towards the company that is being brought into the collaboration and these might have an impact on issues to do with sales, worker motivation incase of the employees. The legal framework of the countries intending to form the collaboration should be studied especially concerning the practice of business collaborations and measures should be put in place to ensure that the potential collaborators do not contravene the law. For institutional barriers between the members intending to form the collaboration, they should be both prepared to cede some ground regarding th eir internal policies so as to successfully build the collaboration. Finally, the potential collaborators can carry out consumer and employee education in order to inform them of the potential impact that the collaboration will have (either directly or indirectly) on their lives in order for them to make informed decisions (Welborn & Kasten, 2003). The collaborative communities should deliver tangible value to each member, to ensure engagement and commitment to the common goals, and

The origins of jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The origins of jazz - Essay Example Where did it begin? What makes it distinct as a musical style? Most people equate jazz with the early to mid 20th century. However, many music historians today believe that the earliest seeds were planted in the United States as far back as 1819, when African-American slaves were performing public African tribal dances and playing string and percussion instruments, the sounds of which would be hinted at later in the jazz music to come.(Gioia 1) That said, it validates the ideals that jazz has strong and deep connections to African sounds and musical influence that contribute incredibly to the art form known as â€Å"jazz.† Historically, the â€Å"Original Dixieland Jass Band,† is credited with the first â€Å"jazz† recording intended for distribution. However, many experts believe that the band was a â€Å"copycat† group and not one of the true â€Å"pioneers† of the jazz genre; but the recordings popularity gave the music exposure all over the country.(Parker) The jazz that the public is most familiar with wa s that which was born and cultivated in New Orleans, Louisiana, when great performers, like King Oliver, a cornet player, began entertaining in the early 1900s. The sound was, also, gaining even greater exposure and popularity because many jazz bands traveled as the onboard entertainment on passenger river-boats. By the 1920’s jazz began evolving towards the big band formats, which allowed for different influences from blues, ragtime, African American spirituals, and European music.(Parker) In the 1930s and 1940s the jazz epicenter had become New York City, particularly the clubs of Harlem being the most popular. Jazz as a musical movement was born in the south, then grew and evolved as it migrated to the east, and has maintained itself as one of the most beloved musical forms across the country and throughout the world. Musically, many historians explain that there are specific elements that are expressed that are unique to jazz music. The

Economic Order and Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Economic Order and Democracy - Essay Example For this reason especially, experiments with various kinds f worker ownership have increased sharply in the United States in the past two decades as a response to the problems f capital flight, runaway shops, bureaucratic waste in the managerial sector, and industrial decline. In the Progressive era, when theologians such as Rauschenbusch and Temple made the case for economic democracy, there were few examples f cooperative ownership or decentralized social ownership to which they could point. But today there are thousands f worker-owned firms in the United States and, though they have been characteristically slow in rising to the challenge, many American unions have begun to bargain for worker ownership, worker control over pension funds, and worker management rights. These developments are not yet, but have the potential to become, the building blocks f a genuine movement for economic democracy. (Krimerman 1-4) The Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region f Spain offer one instructive example f economic democracy at work. In the 1950s a Catholic priest, Jose Maria Arizmendi, inspired a group f students to launch a cooperative stove factory (Ulgor) that quickly grew into a network f foundries incorporated as agricultural cooperatives. Mondragon has since grown into a highly successful and diversified network f worker-owned enterprises that are democratically managed on the basis f cooperative membership. Between 1966 and 1975, sales rose from $47 million to $336 million, and in the 1980s Mondragon became Spain's largest exporter f durable goods. In over forty years, it has witnessed only two closings. The Mondragon cooperatives employ over 100,000 workers in an integrated network f more than 125 financial, industrial, and service companies in virtually every economic sector, including robots and mass transit. Mondragon contains over 75 industrial firms, an agricultural cooperative, five schools, a technical college, and a central bank -- the Caja Laboral Popular -- which is half-owned by its own employees and half-owned by other cooperatives. Founded in a church basement in 1958, the Caja Laboral Popular has become a bank with $2 billion in assets that specializes in making loans to cooperative firms and providing industry-specific consulting assistance. Each Mondragon worker/owner holds one share f voting stock, and profits are distributed in the form f additions to a capital account on which 6 percent interest is paid annually. Seventy percent f annual profits are distributed to worker/owners on the basis f salary scale and seniority, 10 percent are donated to charity, and the remaining 20 percent are reinvested. Because the network's worker/owners cannot withdraw money from their capital accounts until they retire, Mondragon is able to make long-term investments in expansion, diversification, research and development, and reinvestment from its accumulated capita l stock. [TM] The Mondragon network consistently outperforms comparable capitalist enterprises throughout Europe, and thus demonstrates that worker empowerment and cooperation can be turned into economic advantages. Without question, the cultural variables are daunting; it is difficult to imagine how a similarly integrated network f pure-form cooperatives could be established in individualistic

The origins of jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The origins of jazz - Essay Example Where did it begin? What makes it distinct as a musical style? Most people equate jazz with the early to mid 20th century. However, many music historians today believe that the earliest seeds were planted in the United States as far back as 1819, when African-American slaves were performing public African tribal dances and playing string and percussion instruments, the sounds of which would be hinted at later in the jazz music to come.(Gioia 1) That said, it validates the ideals that jazz has strong and deep connections to African sounds and musical influence that contribute incredibly to the art form known as â€Å"jazz.† Historically, the â€Å"Original Dixieland Jass Band,† is credited with the first â€Å"jazz† recording intended for distribution. However, many experts believe that the band was a â€Å"copycat† group and not one of the true â€Å"pioneers† of the jazz genre; but the recordings popularity gave the music exposure all over the country.(Parker) The jazz that the public is most familiar with wa s that which was born and cultivated in New Orleans, Louisiana, when great performers, like King Oliver, a cornet player, began entertaining in the early 1900s. The sound was, also, gaining even greater exposure and popularity because many jazz bands traveled as the onboard entertainment on passenger river-boats. By the 1920’s jazz began evolving towards the big band formats, which allowed for different influences from blues, ragtime, African American spirituals, and European music.(Parker) In the 1930s and 1940s the jazz epicenter had become New York City, particularly the clubs of Harlem being the most popular. Jazz as a musical movement was born in the south, then grew and evolved as it migrated to the east, and has maintained itself as one of the most beloved musical forms across the country and throughout the world. Musically, many historians explain that there are specific elements that are expressed that are unique to jazz music. The

Chapter review with news article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chapter review with news article - Essay Example approaches that are included a wide range of activities that are undertaken in the bid to obtain the best results from a group of people or employees of an organisation or firm. The system is a continuous concept that involves developing the employee’s goals as well as objectives, supervising the procedures concurrently with the goal that need to be achieved, analysing the outcomes and finally noting their performance. The whole of the process involves the technique of receiving and giving out feedback information. Performance management systems are usually carried so as to address various key issues; the first concept covered by performance management systems is the strategy. The strategy is important in the determination of the relationship between the various individual output in relation to the strategic objectives. Performance management systems are also responsible for the evaluation processes that are essential in the analysis of the objectives that have been obtained. Additionally, development is also a key factor that can be determined through performance management systems. Finally, diagnosis is also an aspect that can be evaluated through performance management system. Performance debates or discussion are the means by which the managers are able to come up with personalised work objectives together with their employees. This is the opportunity that the managers are able to talk about the measures that need to be undertaken in support of development of the work performance. On the contrary, the types of discussions that are held are always dependent on the various stages of the management cycle whilst the principles are always constant. It is preferable that there be at least one meeting session of discussing the performance schedule and at least two meetings for the discussion of the objectives that have been achieved. On the other hand, instances of informal meeting always create the opportunities to have discussions that are related to the

Personality and Intelligence in a Distance Learning Environment Essay Example for Free

Personality and Intelligence in a Distance Learning Environment Essay Individuals tend to be different, to a degree, from one another especially in terms of personality and intelligence. As one may expect, such distinctions may also have an effect upon the task of selecting the most suitable study technique in a distance learning environment. Personally, after completing the personality assessment, I found out that I am best considered as a thinker. Those mainly categorized as such, characteristically approach challenges and tasks through a validity-based approach always emphasizing the need to determine whether a method to be followed is logically plausible or not (Cater, Bishop, Kravits, 2007). In agreement with this, the result of the intelligence evaluation highlighted the fact that I have advanced logical-mathematical skills while being least familiar with being naturalistic. Thus, it would be best to reflect upon the possible implications of such information in the context of the distance learning environment. As being independent in accomplishing tasks is one of the suggested study techniques for thinkers (Carter, Bishop, Kravits, 2007), doing so would not be difficult in distance learning. Since most of the time I am able to complete requirements at my own pace, it also becomes possible for me to comprehend and internalize lessons without intrusion at an efficient rate bringing forth positive results. The suggested study techniques for those with proficient logical-mathematical intelligence, such as analytically designing a solution based on trends in data (Carter, Bishop, Kravits, 2007), are similar to those given for individuals with a thinker type personality; hence, studying a task in advance in order to logically establish possible approaches and solutions would also be beneficial in the pursuit of achieving an optimal performance throughout the distance learning process. Improving upon ones less established aspects is without doubt an essential endeavor as well. In this sense, trying study techniques better suited to other intelligence or personality types may be the ideal approach to consider. Particularly, as mostly a thinker and least an adventurer, it would be best to try and merge problem solving approaches with more unconventional ideas from time to time. For example, since one of the study techniques for adventurers is to think outside the box (Carter, Bishop, Kravits, 2007), doing so when there seems to be a lack of proven approaches for task might result in appreciable results. As for the attempt to become more naturalistic, it seems that the only possible way to develop such intelligence would be to frequently reflect upon the connections between the lesson being tackled and the environment as a whole. Learning my strengths as well as weak points, in addition to knowing such details about my classmates, is essential in establishing an optimal learning environment; through such, it would be possible for learners to complement one another and further develop simultaneously. When faced with the need to accomplish a collaborative work despite having to do so online, knowing each other’s strengths and limitations would allow for a more efficient process of completing the task; distributing responsibilities for example would be done in a more suitable manner. Knowing when to provide proper support to fellow learners in parts of the task which they may not be highly capable in, such as the need to design and comprehend diagrams for those who are not adept in visual thinking, would be significantly easier. Therefore, identifying the personality and intelligence types of ones self as well as those of other individuals is indeed a practical and advantageous pursuit especially in distance learning.                  Reference Carter, C., Bishop, J., Kravits, S.L. (2007). Keys to College Studying: Becoming an Active   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thinker (2nd ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Concept Of Role And Role Episode Model

Concept Of Role And Role Episode Model Role stress is highly inevitable in nature and has become problem at workplace for employers and organization. The main purpose of this paper to study the concept of role, role stress, their biosocial variables as well as role episode model. . Number of studies found that there is difference in the impact of role stress across occupations..This paper also deals management of role stress with the help of mentoring and role episode model. Role episode model is a classical model used to measure role stress. Key words: Role episode model, Role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload, bio-social variables, job stress, job satisfaction, job performance. Introduction : The concept of stress was first proposed by Hans Selye (1936). Selyes well-known definition of stress, based on his research, is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it (Selye, 1974).Stress is broader in term and to define stress is very difficult. Due to its complex nature most of the researchers cannot agree on a single definition ( Kahn Boysiere ,1992). Stress can be a motivator and get the job done .Some stress researchers ( e.g Golembiewski, Munzernrider and Stewenson ,1986;Sharahan and Mortimer ,1996),distinguish between negative stress ,termed distress and positive stress, termed eustress. This good stress or eustress can be defined as is actually a positive and healthy form of stress and some people enjoy it .Eustress activates and motivates people to accomplish goal. The Distress is when the good stress becomes too much to bear or cope with. It is important to note that there are three levels of stress -low level, moderate or optimal level and high l evel. Moderate or Optimal level of stress may acts as a motivator. On the basis of literature survey it is clearly understood that too much stress is toxic to employees and too little stress can also lead unexpected problem.e.g too little stress can result in boredom apathy and can be accompanied by low performance and too much stress can cause depression, dissatisfaction, anxiety, tension and low performance. An optimal level of stress results in high energy, motivation and high performanceThe cause of stress is known as stressors stressors are conditions and events that evoke strain (Kahn Byosiere, 1992). According to Cooper Marshall (1978) sources of managerial stress can be categorized into six components -intrinsic to job , role in organization , career development ,organizational structure and climate, relationship within organization and organizational interface and outside .Matteson Ivancevic (1999) and Cook Hunsaker (2001) identified that stress can be caused by envir onmental, organizational, and individual variables. Role stressors belong to organizational variables. Role stressors are major antecedents of job stress among employees in organization .According to Ivancevich Matteson (1980) and French Caplan Harrison (1982) ,role ambiguity and role conflict have been identified as a major source of stress and job tension. Work overload both quantitatively and qualitatively has been empirically linked to a variety of physiological ,psychological and behaviour strain symptoms(Beehr Newman, 1978; Roberts et al., 1997; Miller Ellis, 1990).It was found that role stress variables are associated with job dissatisfaction, lower performance ,increased stress , lower commitment and intention to leave the organization .According to various researchers ( Fisher and Gitelson, 1983; Jackson and Schuler, 1985;Van Sell et al., 1981; Lee, 1997; Jones, 1993),role stress is responsibile for individual as well as organizational outcomes ,such as job tension ,job dissatisfaction , employee turnover and employee burnout and low organizational commitment and performan ce (Johnston et al., 1990; Jackson and Schuler, 1985). Concept of Role Role episode model The term role can be defined as a expected mode of behaviour. There are three types of roles (I) the expected role, (ii) the perceived role and (iii) the actual role. The expected role is what other people expect from an individual. The perceived role is how the individual thinks he or she should behave to fulfil the expected role and the actual role is the way the person actually behaves in the organization. Linton (1936) defined role from culture perspective . Role episode model is known as interactional management tool between Role Set Members Role Incumbent given by Katz and Kahn ( 1978) . In order to examine and integrate the research on role conflict and ambiguity, Khan et al. role episode model is very useful. The model depicts transactional relationship between role senders and focal person. Focal person or role incumbent occupies a particular position (social location) within organization. Individuals who send role expectation to the focal person regarding his or her activities in the role compromise role set ( Merton 1957) .They are called role senders or Role Set Members. When Role Set Members communicated their expectations are called sent role carries role pressure .The set of expectations a role incumbent or focal person receive from Role Set Members is the received role. The role episode model consists of a cyclic series of communications between Role Set Member and the Role Incumbent. This process continues until the role ep isode finishes, creates shared expectations or postpone negotiations. Fig 1 suggests that there are organizational, personal, and interpersonal factors which affect the role episode model. The organizational factors consist structure, level in the organization, role requirements, task characteristics, physical setting, and organizational practices. The personal factors (which can be applied to both the role senders and focal person) refer to such variables age, sex, and tenure in the organization. The interpersonal factors in the relationship between role senders and focal person include frequency of their interactions, mode of communication, importance of senders to focal person, physical location, visibility, feedback and participation. The role senders can be the focal persons supervisors, clients, co-workers, or subordinates. Role sender focal person relationship have generally been investigated by gathering perceptual data on role conflict and ambiguity from the objective responses. Affective responses include job satisfaction, job involvement, tension, threat, anxiety, and propensity to leave the organization. Interpersonal Process Focal Person Experience Response Role Sender Expectations Sent Role Inter Interpersonal Factors Personal Factors Organizational Factors Structure Status Mode of Communication Level Needs Frequency of Interaction Role requirements Values Importance of sender Task Education Mode of Interaction Physical Setting Ability Physical location Practices Age Visibility Sex Feedback Tenure Participation [Source Van Sell et al (1981)] Fig:1 Literature Review Role stress/Role stressors and Bio-social Variables: Role stressors can be defined as anything about an organizational role that produces adverse consequences for the individual ( Kahn and Quinn,1970). Role related stress are concerned with how individuals perceive the expectations others have of them and includes role ambiguity and role conflict ( Alexandros -Stamatios et. al.,2003) .According to Schafer (1998) role stressors are associated with social roles, which are social positions with clustered expectations .Role problems that may cause occupational stress include role overload, role insufficiency, role ambiguity and role conflict (Greenberg, 2009).S ( Kahn,1980; Scbauberock ,Cotton and Jenning,1989;Kellaway and Barling,1990) role stressors are made-up of three variables but related constructs :role conflict ,role ambiguity role overload.The major role stress variables are -role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload/work overload . Role conflict Role conflict takes place when individuals simultaneously perform multiple roles and they conflict each other. Drafte (1998) defined role conflict job roles that interfere with on another and Schafer (1998) defined incompatible expectations associated with a social position, such as student, employee, or mother. Kahn et al (1964) have defined role conflict existence of two or more roles such that to manage with one would make difficult to manage with other.Kahn et al. identify five major forms of roleconflict: 1. Intra-sender conflict:- 2. Inter-sender conflict:- 3. Inter-role conflict:-4.Person-role conflict:- 5. Role-overload: -conflicting prescriptions/proscriptions from the same sender.conflicting prescriptions/proscriptions from different senders.conflict between roles in situations where an individual holdsmore than one role.where an individuals role requirements are incompatible withhis/her own beliefs, values, and norms.reasonable expectations may have been received from rolesenders, but he/she may not have enough time to address them all. Role ambiguity occurs when an individual does not .possess requisite information to enable effectiveexecution of his/her role. The type of infmmation normally required by the role incumbent includes[Kahn et al., 1964]: 1. relevant expectations relating to the role such as rights, duties, and responsibilities; They identified five major forms of role i) Intrasender Conflict -This type of conflict occurs when a Role Set Member requires the Focal person to perform contradictory .For example a Role Sender may request the Role incumbent to perform task and task cannot be completed without disturbing rules. But Role Sender attempts to enforce the rule. ii)Intersender Conflict -The Focal person experiences this type of conflict , if the role behaviour demanded by one Role Set Members incompatible with the role behaviour demanded by another Role Set Members. iii) Interrole Conflict -This type of conflict occurs when the Focal person receives two or more role at a time which are incongruence in nature. iv) Intrarole conflict ( Person-Role) Conflict Intrarole conflict occurs when the role requirements are incongruent with the focal persons attitudes , values and profession behaviour. v) Role Overload Role overload occurs when the Focal person is required to number of tasks by different Role Set Members . Gender Women experienced more role conflict than men ( Frone et al. (1992); Gutek et al. 1991 and Duxbury et al. (1994).Working women face more inter-role conflict role overload as compare to men /or non-working women ( Kapur,1974).Cooper and Davidson ( 1982) reported that the female executives have more role conflict and role overload because of dual responsibilities. According to Sangamitra, Buddhapriya and Preetham Khandewal (1995),female executives face conflict between job demands and family obligations than the male mangers. Age There is contradictory findings were obtained between age and role conflict .Most of the studies support negative relationship between age role conflict (Peltit,1973: Simpson, 1979:Schwab,1981 Parasuraman Alutto, 1984) and some studies which prove the opposite (Redfeck,1973; and Flora 1977, Madhu Harigopal, 1980 Marital status (Married / Unmarried) It was found that married person experience more role conflict than unmarried person Married working women have to perform dual role and child bearing could be one reason. Number of Children- According to Itshree Padhi,1999 working mothers with more number of children experience high -level of conflict than those who have fewer children.Kala Rani (1976) also found a similar correlation pattern in her study. On the basis of above literature review of role conflict conceptual framework can be designed Role Ambiguity Role ambiguity arises when focal persons do not have clear authority or knowledge about how to perform the assigned jobs (Rizzo, House Lirtzman, 1970; Ivancevich Matteson, 1980; Ashforth Lee, 1990;Kahn et al ,1964) .Individuals having unclear plans and objective ,lack of clarity of ones duty and uncertainty about the amount of authority to perform assignment ( Rizzo et al ,1970) . Role ambiguity occurs when employees perceive a lack of clarity in the behavioural requirements of their job (Kahn et al., 1964; Rizzo et al., 1970). The focal person is likely to experience two types of role ambiguity. One, concerning the task and the related adivities; the other concerning the feedback regarding his performance of the task.RoleFor e.g in case of academics, lack of regular feedback about how well academics were doing was the highest source of stress ( Dua;1994 Sharpley et al.1996). Feedback is important to enable the academics to evaluate their performance on the job and how they are p rogressing in their effort toward task accomplishment. Since positive feedback may serve as higher performance and less stress, academics who do not receive regular feedback may experience considerable uncertainty about their role performance (Bandura Locke, 2003). Higher ambiguity may also arise due to lack of clarity regarding how to prioritize different academic activities of teaching, research and professional services that are necessary for the successful accomplishment of academic role. Regular feedback from a supervisor may acerbate role ambiguity, which in turn reduces stress. Bio-social Variables that are associated with role ambiguity. a) Gender- b) Age- Peltit (1973) reported a negative relationship between role conflict and role ambiguity and age. Similar findings were obtained in an educational setting (Elsenhauer, 1977; Simpson, 1979; Schwab, 1981) but this was not supported by Redfck (1973) and Flora (1977) who conducted studies in a similar background.Pandia (1991) reported that there is no relation between role ambiguity and age.Increasing age was associated with ambiguity ,according to Sreelatha ( 1991) finds a positive relationship between age and job ambiguity .But contradictory findings was obtained by Peltit (1971),he found negative relationship between age and job ambiguity.Increasing age was associated with role ambiguity ,Sreelatha ( 1991) finds a positive relationship between age and job ambiguity . Studies reported that role ambiguity is maximum at lower age group. It has been established that females experience more role ambiguity at lower age group because of the adjustments they have to make at the beginni ng of their married life and the presence of infants in the house etc. c) Length of service / Tenure -According to Madhu ( 1982) Nath ( 1980) there is negative relationship between length of service role ambiguity . Malhan, Agarwal Krishna (1983) reported that managers with relatively less number of years of service might experience role ambiguity detrimental to their performance. There found to be a negative correlation existing between role ambiguity and length of service. Pandia (1991) reported that there is no relation between role ambiguity and age. Role Overload /Work Overload Work overload also known as role overload role overload is a complex form of role conflict. According to Kahn et al ( 1964) role overload is a kind of person-role conflict and it is combining aspects of intersender and person-role conflicts .It occurs simply when employees have more task than he or she can handle. Role overload occurs when role expectations are higher than the focal persons capabilities ( terms taken from Kahn et al ,role episode model) .It can be either qualitative quantitative .Quantitative task can be defined as the person has too many tasks to perform or too little time to perform them and Qualitative occurs when person lacks ability to perform task . Workload stress can be defined as reluctance to come to work and a feeling of constant pressure (i.e. no effort is enough) accompanied by the general physiological, psychological, and behavioural stress symptoms (Division of Human Resource, 2000). a) Gender-Cooper and Davidson ( 1982) reported that the female executives have role conflict and role overload because of their dual roles in the family and the office. Mehta ,Chandwani Mehta were of the opinion women face more workload as compare to men. Coverman (1989)) found that the role overload scores of women were higher than men .But men have higher overall satisfaction than women .Role overload could be one of the major reason of womens psychological stress. Pleck (1985) has suggested that women complain of role overload not because of exhaustion or doing too much, rather her husband is doing too little. b) Age or Length of service span of control Researchers( Philip C Koshy ,1994 ,Gupta Pratap,1987 ;Pestonjee ,1992 ; Sen ,1981) explored that there is negative relation between work load and length of service ,age span of control . Managers who are younger and those having lesser tenure of service experience more role overload. But contradictions finding was obtained For example Johnson et al .(2005) conducted comparative studies of 26 occupations(2005) concluded that teaching is one of the most stressful occupations. The most stressful aspects of the job perceived by teachers include workload, time pressures and no guidance pertaining to various teacher roles (Hui Chan,1996). There was a national survey on occupational stress in Australian universities, research shows that employees at senior level face more workloads and more role-overload (Dua, 1994; Lease, 1999; Winter et al., 2000). Consequences of Role stress: Researchers had proved that role stress affects individual and organization both .Kahn et al , concluded from their study role incumbent experiences low job satisfaction ,lower confidence in organization ,high degree of tension intention to quit organization. Role ambiguity was found to be prevalent as role conflict and the consequences are similar. Netemeyer , Johnston and Burton (1990) , role conflict and role ambiguity may responsible to leave job indirectly through other factors such as job dissatisfaction and low organizational commitment. According to Division of Human Resource, (2000) Workload stress is responsible for physiological, psychological, and behavioural stress symptoms. A number of studies by various researchers ( Behrman Perrault ,1984;Brief and Aldag ,1976;Fisher Gitelson ,1983;House Rizzo ,1972) Relationship between Role stress Job Stress A number of studies proved that role stress are positively associated with anxiety, tension ,low performance and job dissatisfaction. RHL ( Rizzo ,House and Lirtzman ,1970) identified that role ambiguity responsible for job dissatisfaction , anxiety , tension and poor performance. Rosenheim (1976) found that anxiety is directly related to role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload. A number of studies by various researchers ( Behrman Perrault ,1984; Brief and Aldag ,1976; Fisher Gitelson ,1983;House Rizzo 1972;Jackson Schuler ,1985;Johnson Stinson ,1975;Miles,1975;Miles and Perrault 1976; Rizzo at al ,1976;Sohi ,1996) found that role conflict is associated with low job involvement organizational commitment , tension , anxiety intention to leave organization.According to Caplan Jones (1975) role ambiguity was positively associated with anxiety, depression, and resentment. Keenan and McBain (1979) found positive relationship between tension and role overload Similarly, mos t studies report a positive relationship between role ambiguity and tension or anxiety. But two studies report no relationship (Tosi, 1971: Tosi Tosi,1970). Relationship between Role stress Job Satisfaction According to Miles ( 1974 ) that role stress ( role sonflict role ambiguity ) were related to job dissatisfaction . Rosenheim (1976),Organ Greene (1974), Bemardin (1981), Coldwell (1981), Keenan (1981) and Madhu (1982) found same thing .Jackson and Schuler, 1985; Brown and Peterson, 1993; Tubre and Collins, 2000; and Ortqvist and Wincent, 2006 ,they revealed that both role conflict and ambiguity have negative influences on job satisfaction. It has been found that the higher the role conflict, the lower the job satisfaction.( Srilatha ;1991,Keller ;1975,Krant ;1966,Senatra ;1977,Carter ;1878,Singh ;1983, Coldwell ;1984.Jagdish and Srivastava; 1984. Libby, 1978; Simpson, 1979; Price, 1971; Flora, 1977; Wilson,1980; Miller 1979; Riggling, 1979; Yarworth, 1979; Monnelt, 1980; Ahrens, 1977) . But according to Hamner and Tosi (1974) reported no relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction in a study among a sample of managers. Christopher Orpen John Bernath (1987) report that correlation between role conflict and job satisfaction is not significant. Miles (1974) ,Roseenheim( 1976) ,Organ Greene ( 1974),Bemardin ( 1981) .Coldwell ( 1981) , Keenan ( 1981) and Madhu ( 1982) concluded that both role conflict and role ambiguity were negatively related with Job satisfaction Batesman (1981) in his study, reported that role overload resulted in poor job satisfaction. Note-On the basis of various literature reviews I came to know that relationship between role conflict role ambiguity with job satisfaction varies among a variety of occupation. Occupation Job satisfaction. The major outcomes of role conflict are job dissatisfaction and job related tension, which have been isolated among a variety of occupational groups (Beehr, Walsh Taber, 1976; Brief Aldag, 1976; Brief, Aldag, Van Sell Melone,1979; Gross et al., 1958; House Rizzo, 1972;: Miles, 1976; Oliver Brief, 1977-78). According to Hamner and Tosi (1974) reported no relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction in a study among a sample of managers.They reported a positive correlation between role conflict and job threat among a sample of managers.Tosi and Tosi (1970) found a negative relationship between role conflict and job related threat and anxiety. Keller (1975) observed negative relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction among research and development professionals but no such negative. The observation suggests the effects of role conflict vary with various occupations. There are number of studies shown a difference in the impact of role ambiguity across occupations. According to Beehr et al. 1976; Caplan et al. 1975; Greene 1972; Hamner Tosi, 1974; Johnson Stinson 1975; Paul 1974;: Rizzo et al. 1970 role ambiguity to be associated with job dissatisfaction, studies among nurses aides (Brief Aldag, 1976) managers (Tosi, 1971) teachers (Tosi Tosi, 1970) and supervisors and operating employees (Ivancevich Dobbelly, 1974) found no relationship. Relationship between Role stress Job Performance Shrtom , Fried and Cooper (2008) reported that the negative relation between job performance and role overload was higher for managers and non-managers.According to Kahn Boysiera 1992;Mc Grath ,1976 Sahi ,1996 ,there is deleterious effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on Job performance . On the basis of above literature review conceptual framework can be designed : Major Consequences Job Stress Job dissatisfaction Job Performance Role conflict + Role ambiguity + Role overload Fig:2 On the basis of above literature review of role conflict conceptual framework can be designed Management of Role stress in Organization Mentoring -Mentoring can be one effective tool to manage role stress at workplace .According to Hunt Michael, (1983) mentors are highly experienced person in organization who is interested in guiding and promoting individuals career and also members of that Role Set. In addition mentors can provide role clarifying information to focal person and alternatives for dealing with role demands including role expectation that may create conflict. According to Griffin ( 1992) suggest that role ambiguity occurs because a person is not clear about her or his role. Role ambiguity occurs when there is non-existent of information or there is no proper communication between Role Set Members and Role incumbent .Mentors can provide information that can clarify role expectation. Sawyer, 1992 found that quality feedback from Role Set Members or supervisors and co-workers is responsible to minimize role ambiguity. According to Major, Kozilowski ,Chao Gardner (1995 ) ,intentions to leave organization can be minimized by high quality exchange between leaders and sub-ordinates. Role sender / Role Set Members / Mentors Clear Role expectations Quality feedback Focal Person /Role Incumbent Experienced less Role conflict / Role ambiguity Feedback loop Note- Adapted from Role Episode Model , Mentors can be treated as a Role Set Members . Fig :3 Role Episode Model classical tools to minimize level of role conflict and role ambiguity Role Episode Model ( Kahn et al ,1964) ,which is most suitable model to explain variables related to role conflict and role ambiguity and is widely used by researchers to study role stress variables among workers (Schuler, 1975; Fisher Gitelson ;1973) According to Doughtery and Pitchard ,1985 ,the role conflict and role ambiguity measurement captured somewhat global perception of role stress and can be used with any job. Role conflict occurs in organization with the conflicting demands from There are various factors related to role stress such as organizational factors, interpersonal factors and attributes of person ( Role Set Member Focal Person both) . For Examples:Faridah Ibrahim ( Predictors of Role Stress Among Malaysian Journalist in Newsroom Decision Making Process ,Journal Komunikasi 2001 )conducted research on journalist to identify the predictor variables involved in role stress( Role conflict Role ambiguity) and he adopted Role Episode model which consists of organizatio nal variables , interpersonal variables personal variables. According to Kahn et al ( 1964) role stress occurs as enacted by role behaviours could be associated with these factors. Researcher taken 12 independent variables ( organizational variables are participation in task decision ,participation in decision making ,leadership behaviour supportive ,task characteristics ,leadership structure deadline pressure .Interpersonal variables are communication relationship and Interpersonal relationship .Personal variables are age ,years in formal education ,salary years of working) for investigation and out of the 12 variables four variables ( working experience beta =-.29;deadline pressure ,beta=-.25 ,task characteristics beta=-.20 and participation in task decision, beta=.13) were found to be good predictors of role conflict and for role ambiguity ,out of the 12 variables four variables ( interpersonal relationship ,Beta= -.39;;participation in decision making ,Beta = -.17, task chara cteristics ,beta= -.17 and years of experience ,beta = -.11) were found to be good predictors. it can be said that working experience is the strongest predictor for role conflict . Conclusion : There are independent biosocial variables are responsible in contributing stress in role stressors.in role ambiguity. .Biosocial variables are independent variables which interact with role stressors to produce negative consequences such as job stress, job dissatisfaction and low performance .Researchers found that there is positive relationship between role stressors and job stress, job dissatisfaction and role performance. Contradictory findings were obtained by some researchers in relationship between role stress and job dissatisfaction. It was found that difference in the impact of role ambiguity and role conflict across various occupations. Studies found that role ambiguity to be associated with job dissatisfaction, but studies among nurses aides, managers, teachers and supervisors and operating employees found no such relationship. Number of researchers explored that there is negative relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction but in case of research and developmen t professionals but no such negative relationship had been found.Role stress can be managed by mentoring as well as role episode model .Role Episode model is one the classical tool to identify significant predictors associated with role stress and predictors can be analysed to minimize role stress. In mentoring role sender can play role of mentor ,who can communicate clear role expectations as well as expectations that match the focal persons expectation . In addition quality feedback from role sender to the focal person can monimize the effects of role stress on individual as well as organization. Intrapersonal conflict involves diagnosis of and intervention in ,conflict . Diagnosis Intrapersonal conflict can be diagnosed by self report ,observation and interview method .Rizzo et al designed questionnaire to measure role conflict and role ambiguity and is frequentely used in organization studies. Conclusion: Role conflict , role ambiguity and role overload are associated with biosocial variables such as age , gender , years of experience , marital status and number of children .Biosocial variables are independent variables which interact with role stressors to produce http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4lk2zrg8e8y8jki/images/27-9e40fbd968.jpg