Wk4Dis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wk4Dis - Assignment Example he tasks and resources needed to realize the strategic goals, budget planning details how the resources will be acquired and distributed across the various tasks and departments. Therefore, budget planning helps the organization realize the tasks that are detailed in the operational plan by allocating human and financial resources. Budget thus planning helps the organization prioritize the activities included in the operation plan based on the required resources and expected returns. Since system thinking is a holistic approach in understanding the organization, it helps improve operation decision making by examining the interactions between various parts of the organization. It helps show how a change in one section will affect other sections in the organization, thereby allowing for well informed decision making. For example, through the system thinking approach, an organization will understand which areas modifications need to be made. In addition, system thinking allows for an organization make decisions that tackle the specific cause of a problem or specific areas where the problem lies since the entire system is analyzed. Deliberate strategies involve the set of intended actions that are taken after careful planning and deliberation. Deliberate strategies require that actions undertaken are not influenced by external forces, and must be accomplished as originally earlier agreed. For example, as noted in the article by Moore (2011), deliberate strategies are formulated based on a preexisting model that is made to fit the organization or industry. Emergent strategies on the other hand are those decisions taken and adapted over time and are not intended. This involves the organization understanding what best works in practice, and such actions are not pre-planned. Emergent strategies are useful in a future strategic planning process because they help the organization when plans fail. These strategies help the organization cope with unexpected events or

International Terrorism and terrorist organizations Essay

International Terrorism and terrorist organizations - Essay Example These acts driven by the ideas of a group causes terror in the lives of a larger set of people and is commonly termed as terrorism. This essay would concentrate on various perceptions regarding terrorism that covers international terrorism, the structure and organization of terrorist groups, their views in the support of their actions, historical events that possibly led to revolutions which in turn gave rise to terrorism. A list of possible actions that can be taken to combat against terrorism is presented at the end. Defining the term terrorism would be a relatively tougher task. Not because of the political and emotional charges that the word carries but because of the flexibility in which the word could be (Hans, 1988). This had been defined by many organizations and institutions and individuals. The US army's study in 1988 counted that about 109 definitions of terrorism existed (Schmidt, 1988). In these definitions almost 22 different elemental definitions were found. A study in 1999 by terrorism expert Mr. Walter Lacquer also concluded that more than a hundred definitions of this word existed and focused on a point that the only general characteristic common to all the definitions about terrorism was that terrorism is closely associated to violence or threat of violence (Hans, 1988). Terrorism is different from criminal activities done for various purposes and it is important that this difference be brought out while defining terrorism. Many regions, countries have taken this issue into cons ideration while defining the word terrorism. Now let us brood over some important definitions of terrorism. The word terrorism happens to have its first appearance in "The Times" on 30th January 1795 (Hans, 1988). It was put in an excerpt to signify the changes taking place during rising of revolutionary government in France. One of the early definitions of terrorism was given by Maximilian Robespierre in 1794 which says that terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible and it is not a unique principle (Schmidt, 1988). He regarded this as the consequence of democracy. The word terrorism got its place in English dictionary in the year 1798 and had a meaning "Systematic use of terror as policy". However it is interesting to see that the usage of the word terrorism and its meaning are quite controversial (Hans, 1988). The definitions used at found in the recent days are biased in a sense that they do not clearly specify the dividing line between groups who use the v iolence to achieve political goals that include government and other terrorist groups. Terrorism is labeled with tags that denote lack of legitimacy and morality. Let us first look at how the United Nations defines the word terrorism. United Nations does not accept any predefined definition of this word however, the UN academic consensus definition by Alex Schmidt is widely used by socialists and it is as follows "Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to assassination - the direct targets of violence are not the main targets."(Schmidt, 1988) Its short definition is the peacetime equivalent of war crime. However on 17th March 2005 the UN described that

Analysis of Hp Financial Statement Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Hp Financial Statement Essay Kenneth Lay formed Enron in 1985, when InterNorth acquired Houston Natural Gas. It was once the seventh largest company the United States of America. Enron branched into many non-energy-related fields over the next several years, including such areas as Internet bandwidth, risk management, and weather derivatives (a type of weather insurance for seasonal businesses). Although their core business remained in the transmission and distribution of power, their phenomenal growth was occurring through their other interests. Fortune Magazine selected Enron as Americas most innovative company for six straight years from 1996 to 2001. Then came the investigations into their complex network of offshore partnerships and accounting practices. The Enron scandal was revealed in October 2001 that eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation and the de facto dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron was attributed as the biggest audit failure. Several years after it inception when, in 1992, Jeffrey Skilling was hired as the President of the company, he developed a staff of executives that, by the use of accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, and poor financial reporting, were able to hide billions of dollars in debt from failed deals and projects. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and other executives not only misled Enrons board of directors and audit committee on high-risk accounting practices, but also pressured Andersen to ignore the issues. From the early 1990s until 1998, the stock prices of Enron rose by 311%, only slightly higher than the rate of growth in the Standard Poor’s 500. But, after which the stocks shot up. They increased by 56% in 1999 and another 87% in 2000, compared to a 20 percent increase and a 10 percent decline for the index during the same years. As on December 31, 2000, Enron’s stock was priced at $83.13, with market capitalization exceeded $60 billion, that was 70 times earnings and six times book value, an indication of the stock market’s high expectations about its future prospects. Enron was rated the most innovative large company in America in Fortune magazine’s survey of Most Admired Companies. Despite of which within a year, Enron’s image was in tatters and its stock price had tanked nearly to zero. The Enron Scandal was a legend of document shredding, restatements of earnings, regulatory investigations, an unsuccessful merger and Enron filling for bankruptcy. Notwithstanding an elaborate corporate governance network, Enron was able to magnetize large sums of capital to source a moot business model, masking its actual performance through a series of accounting and financing ploys, and increasing its stock prices to unmaintainable levels. Shareholders lost nearly $11 billion when Enrons stock price plummeted to less than $1 per share, by the end of November 2001, from a high of US$90 per share during mid-2000. As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated an investigation, rival Houston competitor Dynegy bid to purchase the company at a very low price. The deal failed, and on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy, with $63.4 billion in assets made it the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. How it happened? Enron had a rather complicated business model, stretching across many products, incorporating physical assets and trading operations, and crossing national borders. This element stretched the limits of accounting. Enron took full advantage of accounting limitations in managing its earnings and balance sheet to portray a rosy picture of its performance. The trading business of Enron involved complex long-term contracts. The accounting rules then, used the present value framework to record these transactions, requiring management to make forecasts of future earnings. This approach, known as mark-to-market accounting, was significant to Enron’s income recognition and resulted in its management making forecasts of energy prices and interest rates well into the future. Enron relied expansively on structured finance transactions that involved setting up special purpose entities. These transactions shared ownership of specific cash flows and risks with outside investors and lenders. Traditional accounting that focuses on arms-length transactions between independent entities faces challenges in dealing with such transactions. Unconscious resolutions were used to record these transactions, creating a discrepancy between economic realities and accounting numbers. (Healy Palepu, 2003) Financial Reporting Issues Trading Business and Mark to Marketing Definitions: * A measure of the fair value of accounts that can change over time, such as assets and liabilities. Mark to market aims to provide a realistic appraisal of an institutions or companys current financial situation. (Investopedia) * The accounting act of recording the price or value of a security, portfolio or account to reflect its current market value rather than its book value. (Investopedia) In Enron’s original natural gas business, the accounting had been fairly straightforward: in each time period, the company listed actual costs of supplying the gas and actual revenues received from selling it. However, Enron’s trading business adopted mark-to-market accounting, which meant that once a long-term contract was signed, the present value of the stream of future in flows under the contract was recognized as revenues and the present value of the expected costs of fulfilling the contract were expensed. Unrealized gains and losses in the market value of long-term contracts (that were not hedged) were then required to be reported later as part of annual earnings when they occurred. Enron’s primary challenge in using mark-to-market accounting was estimating the market value of the contracts, which in some cases ran as long as 20 years. Income was estimated as the present value of net future cash flows, even though in some cases there were serious questions about the viability of these contracts and their associated costs. â€Å"Mark to market† was a plan that Jeffrey Skilling and Andrew Fastow proposed to pump the stock price, cover the loss and attract more investment. But it is impossible to gain in a long-term operation in this way, and so it is clearly immoral and illegal. However, it was reported that the then US Security and Exchange Commission allowed them to use â€Å"mark to market† accounting method. The ignorance of the drawbacks of this accounting method by SEC also caused the final scandal. Thus, an accounting system, which can disclose more financial information, should be created as soon as possible. Reporting Issues for Special Purpose Entities The accounting rule, then, allowed a company to exclude a special purpose entity (SPE) from its own financial statements if an independent party has control of the SPE, and if this independent party owns at least 3% of the SPE. Enron need to find a way to hide the debt since high debt levels would lower the investment grade and trigger banks to recall money. Using the Enron’s stock as collateral, the SPE, which was headed by the CFO, Fastow, borrowed large sums of money. And this money was used to balance Enron’s overvalued contracts. Thus, the SPE enable the Enron to convert loans and assets burdened with debt obligations into income. In addition, the taking over by the SPE made Enron transferred more stock to SPE. However, the debt and assets purchased by the SPE, which was actually burdened with large amount of debts, were not reported on Enron’s financial report. The shareholders were then misled that debt was not increasing and the revenue was even increasing. (Li, 2010) Enron had used hundreds of special purpose entities by 2001. Many of these were used to fund the purchase of forward contracts with gas producers to supply gas to utilities under long-term fixed contracts. Other Accounting Problems Enron’s accounting problems in late 2001 were compounded by its recognition that several new businesses were not performing as well as expected. In October 2001, the company announced a series of asset write-downs, including after tax charges of $287 million for Azurix, the water business acquired in 1998, $180 million for broadband investments and $544 million for other investments. Enron’s gas trading idea was probably a reasonable response to the opportunities arising out of deregulation. Conversely, extensions of this idea into other markets and international expansion were unsuccessful. Accounting games allowed the company to hide this reality for several years. The capital markets largely ignored red flags associated with Enron’s spectacular reported performance and aided the company’s pursuit of a flawed expansion strategy by providing capital at a remarkably low cost. Investors seemed willing to assume that Enron’s reported growth and profitability would be sustained far into future, despite little economic basis for such a projection. Governance and Intermediation Failures at Enron Most of the blame for failing to recognize Enron’s problems has been assigned to the firm’s auditors, Arthur Andersen, and to the analysts who work for brokerage, investment banking and research firms, and sell or make their research available to retail and professional investors. Role of Top Management Compensation As in most other U.S. companies, Enron’s management was heavily compensated using stock options. Heavy use of stock option awards linked to short-term stock price may explain the focus of Enron’s management on creating expectations of rapid growth and its efforts to puff up reported earnings to meet Wall Street’s expectations. Role of Audit Committees Corporate audit committees usually meet just a few times during the year, and their members typically have only a modest background in accounting and finance. As outside directors, they rely extensively on information from management as well as internal and external auditors. If management is fraudulent or the auditors fail, the audit committee probably won’t be able to detect the problem fast enough. Enron’s audit committee had more expertise than many. But Enron’s audit committee seemed to share the common pattern of a few short meetings that covered huge amounts of ground. Enron’s Audit Committee was in no position to second-guess the auditors on technical accounting questions related to the special purpose entities. Nor was it in a position to second-guess the validity of top management representations. However, the Audit Committee did not challenge several important transactions that were primarily motivated by accounting goals, was not skeptical about potential conflicts in related party transactions and did not require full disclosure of these transactions. (Healy Palepu, 2003) Role of External Auditors Enron’s auditor, Arthur Andersen, had been accused of applying lax standards in their audits because of a conflict of interest over the significant consulting fees generated by Enron. In 2000, Arthur Andersen earned $25 million in audit fees and $27 million in consulting fees. It is difficult to determine whether Andersen’s audit problems at Enron arose from the financial incentives to retain the company as a consulting client, as an audit client or both. However, the size of the audit fee alone is likely to have had an important impact on local partners in their negotiations with Enron’s management. Enron’s audit fees accounted for roughly 27% of the audit fees of public clients for Arthur Andersen’s Houston office. When the credit risks at the special purpose entities became clear, the auditors apparently succumbed to pressure from Enron’s management and permitted the company to defer recognizing the charges. Two major changes in the 1970s in the legal system, created substantial pressure for audit firms to cut costs and seek alternative revenue sources. In response to the changes, the audit firms lobbied for mechanical accounting and auditing standards and developed standard operating procedures to reduce the variability in audits. This approach reduced the cost of audits and provided a defense in the case of litigation. But it also meant that auditors were more likely to view their job narrowly, rather than as matters of broader business judgment. Furthermore, while mechanical standards make auditing easier, they do not necessarily increase corporate transparency. Role of Fund Managers Investment fund managers failed to recognize or act on Enron’s risks because they had only modest incentives to demand and act on high-quality, long-term company analysis. These managers are typically rewarded on the basis of their relative performance. Flows into and out of a fund each quarter are driven by its performance relative to comparable funds or indices. If the manager reduces the fund’s holdings of Enron and the stock falls in the next quarter, the fund will show superior relative portfolio performance and will attract new capital. However, if Enron continues to perform well in the next few quarters, the fund manager will underperform the benchmark and capital will flow to other funds. In contrast, a risk-averse manager who simply follows the crowd will not be rewarded for foreseeing the problems at Enron, but neither will this manager be blamed for a poor investment decision when the stock ultimately crashes, since other funds made the same mistake. Role of Accounting Regulations Many U.S. accounting standards tend to be mechanical and in flexible. Clear-cut rules have some advantages, but the downside is that this approach motivates financial engineering designed specifically to circumvent these knife-edge rules, as is well understood in the tax literature. In accounting for some of its special purpose entities, Enron was able to design transactions that satisfied the letter of the law, but violated its intent such that the company’s balance sheet did not reflect its financial risks. The Sarbanes Oxley Act In 2002, President Bush passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law to re-establish investor confidence in the integrity of corporate disclosures and financial reporting. The act was brought in as a result of the large number of corporate financial fraud cases (such as those of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, AOL, and others) and by the end of the boom years for the stock market. The Act requires all public companies to submit both quarterly and annual assessments of the effectiveness of their internal financial auditing controls to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Each companys external auditors must also audit and report on the internal control reports of management and any other areas that may affect internal controls. The companys principal executive officer and principal financial officer must personally certify that the financial reports are true and that everything has been disclosed. Many of the Acts provisions apply to all companies, United States and foreign. However, some provisions apply only to companies that have equity securities listed on an exchange or NASDAQ. While refocusing public company management on shareholder interests was the central purpose of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance reform law, years later there are sharp disagreements on both sides as to whether the effort has been a success. Did it help? Considering foreign firms that listed on either New York or London exchanges in addition to their home markets between 1990 and 2006, the researchers found that those firms were six percent less likely to choose New York over London after Sarbanes-Oxley was implemented. This suggests that foreign executives, accustomed to laxer regulatory environments at home, were convinced that the act’s deterrents against self-dealing and fraudulent accounting were serious. Those who criticize the Act claim that the Act is unnecessary and too expensive to implement. The most ardent criticizers of the bill claim that not only has Sarbanes – Oxley failed in its mission to ensure honest financial recordkeeping and disclosure but that it has also stifled new business development in the United States. Some criticizers point to the Madoff scandal as an example of the failure of the Sarbanes – Oxley Act. Yet, not all analysts share in this type of criticism. Many analysts believe that more precise financial statements are now being prepared for public companies and that shareholders have greater confidence in their investments as a result of Sarbanes – Oxley. In order for these benefits to be realized, however, the S.E.C. must ensure that all of the requirements of the Act are carefully and universally followed and that exceptions, such as those for certain accounting firms, are not permitted. Bibliography * Wikipedia. (2012, December 18). Enron Scandal. Retrieved December 26, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal * Obringer, L. A. (n.d.). How cooking the books works? Retrieved December 26, 2012, from How Stuff Works?: http://money.howstuffworks.com/cooking-books7.htm * Healy, P. M., Palepu, K. G. (2003). The Fall Of Enron. Journal Of Economic Persepectives , 9. * Investopedia. (n.d.). Mark to Market MTM. Retrieved December 26, 2012, from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marktomarket.asp#axzz2G9qt6COE * Li, Y. (2010). The Case Analysis of the Scandal of Enron. International Journal of Business and Management , 37-41.

Changes In The Roles And Responsibilities Of Nurses

Changes In The Roles And Responsibilities Of Nurses Nursing staff have seen their roles and responsibilities change considerably within the modernisation of the NHS, but is this a good thing? There are some big changes in the nursing field in the last 50 years such as, uniform, salaries, job demand, the roles of nurses, the different roles for men and women nurses, the technology used, Litigation and Documentation, Holistic Care and patient load. Nurses are becoming more popular and demanding in all sorts of different working environments such as, working in nursing homes, hospitals, home help, travel nurse, school nurse and more. Years ago, nurses were seen just as little more than helpers or assistants for doctors. Today in 2010, nurses are health care professionals in their own right. They are bright, capable, and often have a clearer picture of the overall situation than the doctors they work alongside with. Nursing has not only changed on the face of it but the background work of a nurse has changed to, for example the education given to nurses, the scope of policies and practice, the structures of nurses and the principles of the care of the patient. People are lead to believe that the modernisation of the NHS will be beneficial to the care of the patient, but is this really the case? Due to the increasingly shortage of nurses, they have learned to be more independent which is an outstanding way to increase skills and keep up to date with the new trends in health care. As well as nursing changing, health care in general has changed too. Within the modernisation of the NHS and nursing the care of the patients is still the everlasting goal. This means that there is more work for the nurses, which then has a knock on affect leading to less satisfaction of patient care. Although the NHS and government are doing their best to modernize nursing with the patients interests are heart, it seems like there is less time for care due to time, but more time for paperwork. The Department of Health has laid down certain policy initiatives, targets and structural and organizational changes that can improve the quality of care received by patients through the NHS. These changes are emphasized along with the need for multi-agency and multi-organizational collaborative working acros s disciplinary boundaries. The four key interfaces for which collaboration and coordination measures are being suggested are health and social care; general medical and community health services; primary and secondary care; and interface with carers (DoH, 1996). The education of nurses now days are a lot more intense and harder than it was 10 years ago. Over the last 10 years, there has been a gradual shift for the education and training of nurses. Currently all nurses have to be trained to a degree university level before they can practice as a fully qualified nurse. Opportunities for nurses have increased by large, with one training opportunity being through the internet although this method of training has to be approved by the NHS. On the other hand, years ago nurses only had to have a diploma or LPNS. Now days all nurses have to attend and complete continuing education courses to keep up to date with the new trends and information used in the current day. In addition to the higher and more advanced education, which nurses now have to have, there comes an increases scope of practice. In the current worlds, nurses are doing more and going places that in the past they would not be allowed to have done. The scope of practice is an expression used for various professions that define the procedures, actions, and processes that are allowed to be used and practiced. In the health care profession, there are many different jobs with very different defined scope of practice laws and regulations. These include nursing, social workers, speech and language pathology,  audiologists,  training, radiography,  nuclear medicine, dentists, surgeons, paramedics, physicians and many more. In the interest of the patients, it is a good thing that nurses are allowed to do more and more as there are more doctors than nurses, so the patients may be seen quicker, but on the other hand, it is not a good thing as nurses are doing more and maybe caring for th e patient need and wished less. Nowadays in hospitals, the wards are not gender mixed although the nurses are gender mixed between wards. The stereotypical roles of a nurse have change a lot since the 1990s. There are more male nurses but still not enough. However although there are still not enough male nurses, the female domination of nurses is slowly decreasing and now more men are entering the caring profession. For patients the more male nurses is a good thing because some patients i.e. men prefer to be treated by a man. For example, a man may like to be washed by a man and not a woman for dignity reasons. In addition, for years, the majority of nursing was thought of as a female profession but every year more and more males are joining the nursing profession. Nowadays being a male nurse does not have a stigma attached to it and is now seen as a very good career. The demand of nurses now in 2010 is by large massive. The NHS is always asking for more nurses. When the baby boom started there was a very large need for nurses but as the baby boom is decreasing now there is time and money for improvement of standards of living and disease control, our citizens are living longer. As the general population increases, so too does the demand for nurses. Now more than ever nurses are overworked but with the increasingly shortage of nurses they have to work harder and longer hours, which again is not benefiting the patients. Because of the nursing demand and staff shortage, staffs are taking more sick days due to excessive stress and lack of sleep and self-time. This is because nursing is very demanding on a person not just mentally but physically too. This is seriously compromising the NHS. In 2010 compared to 1980, there is a lot more technology for nurses to use and to be trained to use. Nurses today have to keep up to date with a lot more technology than a nurse 50 years would have had to. Technology can be seen as a good gadget and as a bad gadget, because not only do nurses have to provide basic and skilled care, they also have to learn how to work with many types of equipment that are specific to their area of expertise. The more popular piece of technology used every day by a nurse is a computer. Nurses use them every day as a way to document the care given to a patient. Although new technology is a good advantage for health care, it has its negatives, for example training the staff to use it costs a lot of money, but on the other hand, it can save lifes. Other important technology that is used every day that benefits a patient is, air mattresses as they help to prevent DVTs and assistance with IV insertion which has made things a lot simpler. All of the new high tech equipment being simplified is for user- friendliness, which means that the new methods are speeding things up. Lastly, infection control plays a big part in the NHS every day, so new technology is being developed all the time, although the basic hand washing procedures remain very much the same. There are many different approaches to nursing care, one being the holistic care. This type of care has become more and more popular. The commutations between the Health and Allied Health services improving, a total Patient Care Model has come about. Resulting in decreased in-patient times and better health outcomes. The holistic care has been seen more popular within the complementary therapies and concepts. The patient load that a nursed has is massive. In America, there was a debate about the amount of patients under care of nurses. In 1999, the debate was won and there was a cap of the amount of patients allowed under care of one nurse. The results have been very effective from happier staff and better care for patients. There should be a cap in the UK. The changes of nursing over the last 10 years have been welcomed with open arms, but there are still teething problems and views that need to be heard. Optimal patient care is in a constant battle with budget and we can expect to see new policy reforms, new technology, and new demands created in the decade to come. It remains the responsibility of not only the nurses, but also the patients of the future, to voice their opinions in order to guide the Industry in the right direction. Nurses are now expected to come with a bigger patents load but more paper work as well. The importance of the paper work has increases over the last 10 years. This is due to the society that we now live in as it has been raised to need someone to blame for everything. As a nurse or doctor there are many emotional people around you every day as people are dying all the time. Therefore, sometimes people sue the nurses and doctors as they are upset and think the person died due to the NHSs fault. Following this, nurses and doctors keep finding themselves in court. Even if they have not done anything, all allegations have to be investigated. This is the reason for paperwork there is to write up. Paperwork is the only solid setting stone and proof/ backup of a nurses care. A nurse is required to document every blood pressure reading, every medication, every incident, and every day. They have to  account  for every action, and put it all in writing. The problem with documentation is th at it takes time. More time for documentation means less time for patients. Plain and simple. The polices that nurses have to follow are very similar across the whole world. In Australia, the no-lift policy was introduced in the late 1990s. To date the policy is still used and the nurses are trained using this policy. No-Lift means using Lifting Machines to mobilise patients, using slide sheets to manoeuvre them around the bed and promoting back care in general. Although this concept is yet to be adopted in the UK, the benefits are becoming obvious and discussions have begun on the implementation of a similar policy in the UK. There are many different types of nurses that work in the community and in the hospitals. These can range from, Adult nurses, mental health nurses, Childrens nurses, Learning disability nurses, District nurses, Neonatal nursing, Health visitors, Practice nurses, Prison nurses, School nurses and Healthcare assistants. There are also many different levels to being a nurse. A health care assistant is under a nurse, and then you have staff nurses, then sisters and ward sisters and then nurse manager/ matron. All in all these all make up our NHS and work as a team to provide the best possible care for the patient. There is a large scale of pay, which starts at around  £13,000 to  £67,000. The above table shows how the NHS works. The last 40 years nurses uniform has changed but not that much. In the 1960s nurses still wore dresses and stocking .In the 1970†²s more changes came to the way nurses dressed. Dresses were a little shorter and the white caps were beginning to lose importance in some hospitals across the country. In the 1980†²s there was an end of the nursing caps altogether. Nurses also began wearing disposable aprons at this point rather than cloth aprons and medical facilities became much less militant in regards to restrictions on jewellery and cosmetics. During the 1990†²s and today, nursing dresses have been replaced with much more user-friendly scrub suits. Scrub suits can be found in a wide variety of colours and styles. Some hospitals have specific scrub suit colours for different types of hospital staff and others allow nurses and other staff to choose colours and styles that appeal to them. Todays nursing uniforms are designed more for function than form but are also conside red much more comfortable than those worn throughout history are. There are many different theories towards nursing. The three main ones are needs based theories. The main point being that the focus of nursing is the assessment and care of the patients / clients needs, which they are unable to meet for themselves. The second theory is interactions theories. The main point of this being the focus of nursing is the relationship between the nurse and the patient / client. Lastly, the other theory is the goal-based theories. The main point again being that the focus of nursing is the outcome and emphasis is placed on facilitating the ability of the patient / client to adapt to changes in their health and regain stability and harmony. Today in the NHS nursing takes on a role of the biomedical model. The biomedical model has been around since the mid- nineteenth century as the most common model used to diagnose diseases. The biomedical model states that All illness and symptoms arise from underlying abnormality in the body, all diseases give rise to symptoms and that health is absence of disease. The model overlooks the fact that the diagnosis is a result of commutation between doctor and patient. Biomedical model has no doubt led to huge medical advances although the patient has little responsibility for presence /cause of illness. In conclusion, the changes in roles and responsibilities of nurses in the modernisation of the NHS can beneficial towards the patients but can also be damaging towards the patients. This is due to lack of staff and increased working hours, more paperwork, and more tasks that a nurse has to do and there are generally more patients now than 10 years ago. Therefore, a nurse has less time caring for the patients needs. On the other hand, the modernisation is seen as a good thing because there is more technology nowadays to make the nurses life easier, which also get a more persist result. Within the context of policies and procedures there are no many more rules than year ago, which does make a nurses life maybe easier but maybe harder. With all of these changes to nurses and the NHS in general, is the modernization is good thing, does it have the patients interests are heart or is it about saving money?

Technologys Impact on Recreation Essay -- Computers

Recreation is not often thought about as something that is impacted by technology. Technology has impacted recreation professionals and costumers. It has also changed equipment that people use for recreational activities. All of this has had both positive and negative affects. Computers and technology have a tremendous influence on recreation and they will continue to do so in the future. It is safe to say that computers or some piece of technology are used in most offices today. This includes recreation offices. Computers make it easier for staff to communicate together. It is an essential part of the office. â€Å"Many users today are so dependent on their computers that they cannot perform their jobs if the computer they use, or the LAN they are on, is not functioning† (Murphy, 3). This is extremely true. I worked at a county campground over the summer where we used computers to register our campers. There were many times, especially in the mornings when the computers wouldn’t work. When this occurred we had to tell the costumers to come back later, or call our main office. Things went a lot smoother when the computers worked. We were able to tell people what sites were available and when in just a couple of minutes. It was impossible to look up that information by hand, because it was all on our computers. Recreational costumers benefit from computers. They are able to use the internet to sign up for classes and other recreational programs. â€Å"Park district Web sites will allow residents not only the ability to get into classes, but also to change classes, drop classes, request refunds, and to manage their accounts online† (Murphy, 3). This speeds up the process of many things, because a person doesn’t ha... ...urred at the campground I worked at over the summer. Some people just did not want to learn how to use the computers. This made it hard on everyone, because then only certain people could register campers. Technology in the recreation field has pros and cons. I do believe that the positives do out weigh the negatives. It has created more and different types of equipment for activities. This allows people with special needs to participate in activities they would otherwise not have the chance to do, because of the advancements in technology. It has broadened the world of recreation, and will continue to increase with time. Works Cited Edginton, Christopher R., et al. Leisure and Life Satisfaction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Murphy, Jeff. Technology in the Park and Recreation Workplace. 9 November http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ip011119.html.

Enron Essay -- essays research papers

Integrative Case – The Downfall of Enron Part I 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ken Lay served as CEO and chairman and Jeffrey Skilling also served as CEO. They both were responsible for planning, organizing, controlling and leading the company. They set goals for the company and organized how they would be achieved. Kay’s role was as the figurehead and the leader. He also served as the spokesperson for the company and made many of the decision on the future of the company. As CEO’s they both possessed effective communication skills, where decisive, which was evidenced by their vision for the company and refusal to admit wrong even at the end, and visionary. Throughout Lay’s tenor the company continued to grow and prosper at a fast pace. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The challenges faced were those of a changing workforce, competitiveness, and globalization, as well as ethics and social responsibility. While many companies were downsizing in the mid-1980s, Enron continued to grow and expand despite their lofty goals. They ventured out into foreign markets to be more competitive. The workforce also became more diverse and the characteristics changed. Employees during Enron’s tenor were less devoted to long-term career prospects; instead they were more interested in financial gain at any cost. Ethics seemed to be a secondary thought for most people during Enron’s time. To meet these challenges Enron executives had to make working for their company more attractive and lucrative. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The contributing factors to their ineffectiveness were poor planning and leadership. The company grew to quickly. In their desire to grow and expand, the company’s senior management did not establish and follow ethical practices that would sustain the company. Controls were not established in key places, such as, accounting practices and principles. Senior management failed to appropriately manage the activities of lower level managers and set a bad example. Part II – The People 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Enron sought out young, ambitious, recent college graduates and placed them in entry-level positions and then gave them the autonomy to make big trade decisions. The few star performers were promoted very quickly. Taking this hiring approach benefited the company because it kept labor costs low due to the employee’s inexperience. It also ... ...y grew and prospered very quickly. Employees were motivated to be creative and come up with the next great idea or innovation to increase revenue. These values also hurt the company because it put constant pressure on employees to achieve and constantly pushed them to excel in order to produce more revenue for the company and advance in the company. This forced employees to use unethical practices. They were often left to use their own devices to achieve the aforementioned results. There were no checks in balances in place with respect to managing subordinates. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Organizations must change in order to meet the needs of the changing workplace, environment, technology, and economy in order to be competitive. Change is good for an organization if it is done in a controlled and structured manner. Change is also risky because it is often met with resistance. For example, people may feel threatened and fear power loses and subsequently, resists the change. Change can also be ineffective if it is narrow and doesn’t concern itself with people and is over determined. In Enron’s case, the organization was constantly changing with no collective rhyme or reason.

High Needs School Teacher Application Essay Essay

As a human with a certain compassion for those who are less fortunate than myself, I believe it is my innate responsibility to ensure that low-income school children receive the same educational benefits through my methodology of teaching. My past experiences in the field of education such as a piano teacher, a Spanish tutor, and childcare food program representative demonstrates my love for aiding children in every capacity. The fact that the school is high need only makes my commitment more substantial. I have also completed 12 units of early childhood development at Pattern University in Los Angeles, California in preparation for any situational concerns that may arise in coping with students who are of low-income communities. It is without a doubt that I am ready for the challenges that may face me in the quest to provide educational support and attention for every individual student under my auspice within the high needs school. Also, I will always ensure that all the needs of each student are met at my best ability through the use of observational techniques, setting goals for each student to achieve and executing a reward system for exceptional achievement. I believe that certain qualities I possess such as attentiveness, great communication skills as I speak three languages—Spanish, English and Korean, which makes me a great commodity or assistance for many low-income area schools as the area may be diverse. Explain how a skill or ability that you possess will help you ensure high academic achievement for all students and provide an example of how you have effectively demonstrated this skill or ability in the past. The counseling skills I obtained from working as an administrative assistant at the Student Assistant Center gives me a keener understanding of how to communicate effectively in the enhancement of academic achievements for all students. My intentions are to help these students make the daily transition from hardship at home to a serene enjoyable environment where the focus will be solely on the acquisition of knowledge. I will implement conflict resolution initiatives in an effort to promote rules and regulations if a situation arises contrary to the policies of the school and the classroom. I am also committing myself to providing additional help to ensure that my students perform to the best of their ability. While working in the capacity of Spanish tutor at Beverly high school, my dedication to promoting excellence was exemplified by taking the time to assist students with their grammar skills, composition, and reading—all essential elements in effective ways of communication whether writing or speaking. Although, it took great diligence, it was worth working because of the benefits the student would receive as a result of enhancing these skills. Briefly describe a professional, personal or academic challenge you have overcome. What steps did you take to address the challenge, and how will that experience contribute to your success as a Teaching Fellow? As an administrative assistant at the Student Assistance Center at Los Angeles City College, I encountered many students who lacked the knowledge in the process of applying appropriately to be admitted into college. They were often overwhelmed with anxiety and fear due to the intricate process of applying to college. I became their support system as I assisted them in the application process. Although I was not directly connected with these students, they felt a dependency towards me because of their unfamiliarity with what they needed to do to successfully submit their college application. To address this particular challenge though would seem simple in the eyes of many, I sat and reviewed all the requirements needed for the process and assisted them with whatever questions and answers they required to be addressed. There were still many limitations as I could not go beyond just assisting them but as policy I was unable to write their application as that would be an unethical method of assistance and completely inappropriate. It is quite obvious that I do not support any unethical means to any given situation. If there are rules and regulations to be upheld, I will always adhere to them, as that is my duty as a Teaching Fellow. Teachers must always be guided by their own discretion as well as I intend to do. This is an important factor because any misguided situation can become a major issue. As a Teaching Fellow, I will allow my past experiences to complement my future successes in the educational field by learning from mistakes in an effort to achieve a high standard of expectations necessary for great achievement for my students as well.