Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 4

Assignment - Essay Example In reality however excellence has a dimension as limited as the companies itself. It means that the organization strives to find the best available practice rather than following market leaders or competitors. This finding the best practices and implementing them will result from an exhaustive self assessment and investigation by the organization itself. The level of excellence that an organization has achieved is generally measured by the results the organization has delivered and is very greatly dependent upon the performance management systems used. Organizational excellence is an overall way in which organizations work from balancing stakeholders interests to the management of profits and prioritizing ones needs without losing control with such operational efficiency that doesn’t lead to doubts about its performance and utilization of resources. The achievement of such excellence has since always been a dilemma with multiple theories based on it. But in a nutshell it should be understood that the means of achieving excellence were always and will always be an item of great interest and research and though unanimity will never be achieved, the best way is to strive hard to question how to achieve it and then implement those solutions with utmost efficiency. What should be remembered however is that in the race of excellence there is no finish line. The business excellence model largely determines how organizations all over the world handle their operations and how decision making takes place. Different parts of the world have different excellence models which are dependent upon the organizational structure in those regions as well as the preferences of customers and the mindset of the employees. Customer focus and logical decision-making, form the core of all models. One of the earliest excellence models is the Deming Excellence model which is based on

Admission Essay Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Admission Essay - Personal Statement Example n identifying major failures of businesses that have taken place throughout the history and it will even help me analyze how corporate governance and better corporate practices can assist organizations in avoiding such failure and save one self from entering the phase of bankruptcy in case of complete failure. This course will even help me in learning how organizations from different fields such as steel and auto industry have failed and what the repercussions of these failures were. In these subjects I will even learn what other options are available to organizations other than accepting bankruptcy. Assignments that I will do during these courses will help be conduct in-depth research in the field of corporate governance as well as organizational restructuring. These subjects along with various other legal topics and courses will assist me in understanding the technical details of law and the rules and regulations surrounding business environment. In future I aim at working for the legal department of an organization and want to ensure that the organization experiences success under my

Nursing Children and Childbearing Families Essay - 2

Nursing Children and Childbearing Families - Essay Example Health conditions like protein energy malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, recurrent infections and multivitamin deficiencies can also occur. Consumption of illicit drugs, smoking and alcohol abuse during pregnancy leads to development of growth retardation and fetal anomalies in the baby. Children are often neglected when parents are indulged in these activities. They also follow the foot prints of their parents and resort to illicit drug abuse, smoking and alcohol abuse. Stressful relationship between family members, especially between parents causes emotional and psychological turmoil to the child. The parents, who are engaged in their personal stress are unable to take care of their children resulting in poor nutrition and poor health. These children also do not receive timely medical attention. Stress during pregnancy can lead to premature death, premature rupture of membranes, postnatal feeding problems and intrauterine growth retardation. Single parent is as such a stressful condition to the parent and the child and can result in decreased care and monitoring of the child leading to poor nutrition. Single mothers do not have any support to take care of the baby after birth (Atrash, 2006). Question 2.

Problems encouter by patients without health insurance in America Essay

Problems encouter by patients without health insurance in America - Essay Example Nearly 46 million people living in the United States are uninsured, majority of them of color, are likelihood of not receiving medical advice that they cannot afford and it is a reality. As per the survey conducted by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that works to advance health care quality and insurance coverage, national health care spending is growing at a rate of 7% per year that is faster than the U.S. economy. There are 16 million American people who are considered underinsured and many people who are unable to pay for these rising rates will become one of them or they will join the ranks of the uninsured. As per the Kaiser Family Foundation reports 40% of uninsured adults do not have a regular primary health care checks. That means no annual physicals or other preventive care. Consequently, many uninsured patients are ignorant that they have a medical problem until they have an emergency situation. Tribal and ethnic minorities are overly affected by the absence of health care coverage. A report by the U.S. Census Bureau 2004, discloses that almost one third of Hispanics, 20% of African Americans, 29% of American Indians/Alaska Natives and 17% of Asians lack health insurance. These facts indicate that there is a substantial portion of population lacks adequate health insurance or has no coverage at all. Health care is a mounting problem in the United States. Medicine has developed great ways to deal with many of the problems, but the treatments are not cheap and the combination of improved life expectation and an enormous growth in the population of the United States has increased health care costs very high.

A critical book review 5 to 8 page paper (approximately 250 words per Research

A critical book review 5 to 8 page (approximately 250 words per page) - Research Paper Example They are Western Eastern Orthodox, Latin American, Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hindu and African. Samuel P. Huntington, was foreign policy aide to President Clinton, in addition to being a political scientist at Harvard University. Whenever one country interferes in other nations affairs, the cultural factor surfaces predominantly. He clearly visualizes the growing momentum in this direction. He is specific when he writes, â€Å" In the post- Cold War world, flags count and so do other symbols of cultural identity; including crosses, crescents, and even head coverings, because culture counts, and cultural identity is what is most meaningful to most people. People are discovering new but often old identities and marching under new but often old flags which lead to wars with new but often old enemies.†(20) How to meet the increasing threat of violence arising from renewed conflicts between countries and cultures that rely on traditions on religious faith and dogma? Huntingtons thesis is provocative in the sense that he gives a go the the traditional views that world is bipolar or the collection of states. He classifies them as a set of seven or eight cultural â€Å"civilizations†. Conflict will arise on account of identity of civilizations. Thus he has divided the world, without the actual geographical division! Along with this startling innovative concept, he raises some vital issues. He categorically states that modernization is not tantamount to westernization; links economic progress with the revival of religion; ethnic nationalism scores over ideology in the post-war politics, according to him. The lack of leading "core states" hampers the growth of Latin America and the world of Islam. Huntingtons views on Islam are hardcore. He points out that Muslim countries are involved in many inter-group violence as compared to

Attachment theory Essay Example for Free

Attachment theory Essay Attachment is an important factor in a childs life. It makes them feel safe and secure.  The infants tendency to seek the closeness to particular people and to feel more secure in their presence. (Erikson 1976)  I think that when Erikson made this statement, what he was actually saying was that an attachment is when a child is more comfortable in a setting if they are with the people they are closest to and the people that they like to be with and seek attention of these people more than others. Attachment is like a piece of invisible string that binds individuals in a way that allows a healthy development (psychology for AS level).  This statement in my opinion states that an attachment which forms a bond between the people involved is important for good development for the child.  What happens if there isnt a bond or an attachment in the childs life? I am going to look into three different psychologists theories on attachment and see what their opinions on the subject are. The first psychologist I am looking into is Bowlby. Bowlby had very strong opinions on attachment and the long term affects a lack of a bond or attachment can have on a childs life. Bowlby believed that a child should form one and only one strong attachment which should be with the mother of the child. This is known as monotrophy. The father in Bowlbys eyes was there for the making of the baby only and would show no input or importance in the childs upbringing. Bowlby came to the conclusion that children who failed to form this bond with their mother in the first three years of the childs life would have problems in later life bonding with people and trusting people. He also described a child with a lack of bonding to be an affectionless psychopath, which he described to be someone who shows lack of guilt when done something wrong has difficulties showing emotion to things around them or someone with behaviour problems. Another affect of not having an attachment in this critical period as it was also known in Bowlbys eyes was development retardation which meant the child may grow up with learning difficulties or slower intellectual skills. The next psychologist I am going to discuss is Mary Ainsworth. Ainsworth investigated bonding and broke it down into different sections. She broke it down it to three different types of attachment. These were secure attachments, anxious avoidant attachments and anxious resistant attachments.  Secure attachments were described as the strongest of the three. This is where the children know they are loved and cared for and they feel secure with the person they have bonded to. When they are left without their attachment figure for the first time they will show lots of distress and upset. However after time they will get used to being left and they will not be as distressed as time gos on. Anxious avoidant attachment is not as strong as the secure attachment and the bond it weaker. These children seem more independent and can manage small tasks on their own. This may be due to a change in the attachment figures attitude or behaviour towards the child which may be caused by death or separation from a partner. This can also be caused by separation from child and attachment figure due to illness or separation at birth. This attachment is usually weaker because of the lack of full trust from either party.  Anxious resistant attachment is similar to anxious avoidant attachment but the child often is more clingy and seeks more attention to people as well as the attachment figure but when people tries to comfort them they will often not accept the comfort. The last psychologists I am going to look at are Shaffer and Emerson. Shaffer and Emersons theory is the one Ainsworth used to conclude her investigations. They looked more at children with multiple attachments which contradicts Bowlbys theory which said only one strong attachment can be made. They broke their findings down in to four sections. These sections are Asocial stage which is children of 0-2, the indiscriminate stage, children of 2-7 months, specific stage which is children of 7 months plus and then finally multiple attachment. Asocial stage is described to be where the children aged 0-2 months will respond to human faces but will not show any main distress towards whom it is they are with. This means that if you placed a 0-2 month baby in a day care setting then they will not really kick much of a fuss when their mother leaves them they will usually be happy and content as long as they are getting some attention. On my placement while I was working in the 0-2 room the youngest child there at the time was only 6 weeks old she would come to nursery with no hassle every day after her nap she would sometimes cry a little bit until she got some attention. She was happy when her mum came to get her but she didnt cry for her when she wasnt there. Where as one of the oldest children who was nearly 18 months used to cry for her mum nearly all day, she only seemed happy when she was eating. The indiscriminate stage is for children from 2 month up until 7 month. These children are more aware of what is happening and they know who they prefer to spend time with usually in most cases it is the main care giver, but they will still be ok and not too worried around strangers and unknown faces.  The specific stage is where one strong attachment is clear and the child becomes very weary and anxious around unknown people. This is usually why when a child over 7 months is brought into a child care setting, they take a while to settle and cry for their carer. Multiple attachments are where the child is close to or has an attachment with more than one person. This is often when they spend a lot of time with these people as well as their care givers. These people can include grand parents, extended family, neighbours and realistically people who they spend a lot of time with and they feel safe around.  As some of the theorists mentioned above said they would be distress when a child was left or was separated from their attachment figure its is important that children get used to a setting before being brought and left alone. In some child care setting they hold visits for the children where they can come with their attachment figure and see the setting and play with the other children to see what it is like and to get to know the care workers faces first. In my placement they do this over a period of 6 visits(longer if child is very unsettled) to avoid too much stress and upset for the new children coming to nursery each time a visit takes place the attachment figure will stay a little bit less than the time before leaving the child with the other children and care givers. This way they feel that the child gets used to not having their mother there all the time and also gets to know the other people in the setting and environment.  Another way the children help settle in the nurseries or child care setting is they are allowed to bring with them a transitional object with them to comfort them when they get upset. One child in my placement had a pink cushion which she has all the time when she is upset. When she settles down she often puts it down a leaves it on the floor, at this point the care worker picks it up discreetly and puts it in her box. They do this because they feel if she is playing nice and contently then she sees the cushion she will pick it up and carry it round again where as if it is out of the way the child will hopefully play for a longer amount of time. The child gets it back if she asks for it or if she becomes distressed on upset in anyway. In my placement to avoid too much stress and upset for the new children coming to nursery, they have an induction period. This is where the child will come in to the nursery with their parent to have a look around, meet the staff and the other children in the setting. The child gets to play with the toys and will start to get used to the setting so when its time for their parent to leave then it wont be so distressing. When a child is in the setting some of the parents come and visit the child during lunch time or if they get a break at work. This was good for some children as it reassured the children that their parents were coming back for them and they hadnt just left them forever. For some children however this was not beneficial and the situation was more distressing for them having to say bye to their carer all over again.

Leadership Theories and Styles

Leadership Theories and Styles Leadership theories refers to the approach that a manager adopts in order to exercise authority in the work place and be able to direct staff towards meeting the organizational mandate as outlined in their job descriptions. It is the way that a manager resorts in order to discharge all the sum total of responsibilities that entails management and leadership. Leadership theories have just recently been advanced and well understood, earlier literature that is available which attempted to identify and classify leadership theories focused on personality aspects that defined leaders and which defined followers. It was not until 1939 when, Kurt Lewin as the lead researcher was able to provide a well documented and thorough research of leadership theories at the time in a study that formed frameworks and references of future studies in leadership theories and styles. The results and finding of the research were published in the U.S Army Handbook. Current available literature on leadership theories in the context of modern organization is still varied in terms of the number of the main leadership theories. In the journal of Harvard Business Review, Schmidt and Tannenbaum has summarized the four common leadership theories that can be identified in modern organizational leaders. First theory of leadership is referred as Autocratic or authoritative style, as the name would suggest it refers to an approach where a manager maintains and run an organizational with a tight leash on the apparatus of power. A manager is this type of style expects his word to be law and employees do not have room to present their suggestion for consideration. Decisions are made at the highest level of an organization and handed down through established protocols to be implemented across the appropriate levels by the employees through existing organizational procedures. In this type of leadership motivation among employees is very minimal or nonexistent and the techniques that are used to provide motivation apply a combination of threats and promises such as benefits and retributions (Tannenbaum Schmidt, 2008). The other type of leadership theory is bureaucratic style of management. In this type of management a manager requires that all work procedures within the organization be done in such a way as clearly outlined in the organizational manual or according to the set policy. Regardless of situations that are unique and in which the organizational policies might not apply, a bureaucratic leader is more likely to insist on sticking to the organizational way of doing things (Tannenbaum Schmidt, 2008). This leadership kills creativity in the work place and might give rise to work burn out, however it is appropriate in a work setting such as in laboratory research environment where all variables of interests are carefully controlled in order to achieve desired results. The third type is democratic leadership style also referred as participative style since it strives to involve employee in organizational management and decision making. In this type leadership a manger understands that employee are more informed in some instances than their leaders and can therefore provide valuable insight that can enable informed decisions at the management level. It makes an employee feel important and appreciated at the work place and is therefore a very motivating method of running an organization. By involving employees in organization management and decision making serves to impart this skills in their routine job requirements besides grooming them for their next career levels within the organization (Tannenbaum Schmidt, 2008). However this style is only effective in an organization where employees are skilled and very knowledgeable in their areas of specialty since they are less likely to make work related mistakes that might be costly to the organization. The final and fourth leadership style is the Leissez-Faire a French word that loosely translated describes lack of interest, and rightly so because in this case a manager is almost detached away from the intricacies of organization and employee management. Much leeway is given to employee to use their best judgment and achieve individual or teamwork requirements, meet targets and work deadline (Hofstede, 2007). The manger hardly ever supervise employee or follow up on their progress but relies on internal organizational systems. As with the democratic style this style too should be adopted where the employee are qualified and competent in discharging their duties without direction and are mature to achieve self motivation. This being the styles that a manager can use in organization and people management, there are other factors that are crucial in determining which leadership style a manager is likely to apply or indeed must apply in order to efficiently provide leadership. One is the managers personality type that is usually determined by the level of education, skills, experience, and previous work environment, this factors will significantly determine which approach a manager will use. For instance previous work environment could shape a managers future leadership roles to match with that experience. Another factor is the personality type of the organizational employees that is also shaped by other factors such as skills, competence, experience and their level of position. Depending on the employees personality a manager might not have choice on the type of the leadership to use (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). Finally an organizational values, traditions, and policies will also provide bearing as to how an organization is run and a manager might find that deviating from previous managers leadership approach might result in management crisis. Geert Hofstede, the Germany psychologist who researched the revolutionary findings that provided the first measurable evidence between association of culture and organization in what he termed as power distance, explains that the approach that a leader adopts to manage people is as a result of the attitude of the manager towards the employees (2007). Positive leaders he notes are likely to adopt the democratic or Leissez-Fare style that places much trust in employees and sets to achieves motivation through providing rewards. Negative managers on the other hand are more predisposed to adopt authoritative leadership style that uses set of punishments to achieve employee cooperation and ensure motivation. Leaders also use consideration and structure in employee and organizational management. In consideration the managers seeks to ensure that employees concerns are addressed and their need met. A manager therefore is aware that these way employees are more likely to perform well in discharging their duties through undivided attention. The other approach is structure where a leader approach to employee management is through increased task and job output assessment. The focus is on continuously providing employee with duties as the only way to measure employee performance (Hofstede, 2007). Let us now do an analysis of leadership style in practice using examples of known organizations that are managed by leaders that we are familiar with. Google incorporation recently found in early 2000 is now worth billions of dollars and has revolutionized the way internet search is done; they have the most efficient online search engine which is the company trademark (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). Google CEO Eric Schmidt organizational leadership perhaps is the single most significant factor that has contributed to the success of the organization besides it ability to continuously launch online innovate products compared to their rivals, Microsoft incorporation. Microsoft Incorporation that was establish decades ago by it founder and present CEO Bill Gates has been in the business of developing consumer softwares and recently has increasingly ventured towards cutting a niche of market share that is presently found online. Microsoft incorporation has decades of experience in consumer development products and marketing strategies that rivals Google, now it biggest competitor and the undisputed leader on online advertisement and its search engine thats can now been enabled through use of 36 languages (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). Microsoft Incorporation strengths lies in it experience and domination of the market for many years and it organizational strengths. Bill Gate the leader and CEO of Microsoft has over time adopted leadership style that has been instrumental in defining Microsoft organizational values, traditions and management approaches at other levels. The management style that Bill Gate has now used for a long time and which defines Microsoft Incorporation is the one where employees are managed top down by their manager with the managers exercising great control and clout in decision making process (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). Bill Gates is the leader who has largely shaped the vision and organizational direction that Microsoft has so far taken over the years. Being the founder of the company it is right to assume that Bill Gates would exercise more control and authority on where he would want his company to head. But this authority is in no way limited to making important decisions in that pertains to the future of the organization. In employee management Bill Gates has put internal mechanisms that provide oversight of employees performance and usually provide direct supervision to ensure that organizational project are on course and employee are adequately involved in the process. Each department manager is supposed to oversee and provide directions to junior staff on the shape that project are expected to focus on in line with decisions made at higher levels. This leadership style of Bill Gates therefore seems to be a blend of democratic and authoritative, which tends to lean towards authoritative style (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). As a result employee creativity is hampered and channeled to focus towards pre-arranged lines of ideas on which they are managed in order to deliver. For instance decisions arrived at board meetings of senior management personnel might decide that Microsoft as an organization need to focus more on developing an online search engine that is more superior to Google in order to remain competitive, as recently happened. Then employees are given directives that are supposed to implement this strategy without deviations, an employee who might be having a fresh idea that could be pursued to redefine the organization product might therefore have no platform for presenting such an idea and the organization innovativeness is likely to slump back as is now the case at Microsoft Incorporation (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). In Google Eric Schmidt prides himself in running an organization where less time and effort are delegated in terms of employee management. Back in 2002 when Eric Schmidt was hired as the CEO of the Google Incorporation he never realized that an organizational vision and direction could be largely defined by the creativity of the employees. The Google Incorporation founders Larry Page and Sergy Brin are even less involved in providing leadership and employee management. The leading factor that is used in staff recruitment at Google incorporation is the ability of a person to be creative. At Google incorporation employee are not managed per se but are put in very small teams of 3-5 persons and have as much leeway on any area they wish to focus that they believe hold potential of defining future opportunities with consumers. After a team comes up with an idea that they think the company should pursue they present all the facts in support of the idea including the budget requirement and possible time frame that might be required before initial results can be achieved for assessment, additional resources that would be necessary are also requested at this point (Tannenbaum Schmidt, 2008). The report is then presented to a committee comprised of very senior and experienced employees that would go through the report for vetting based on its strengths, resource requirements, time frame, and relevance of the application to consumer among other variables. Since employees are in an environment that continuously nurtures and encourages creativity at work place, more ideas keep coming from the employees that are as varied as the breath of products that Google incorporation keeps launching in the market place with an astonishingly regular rate. It is this Leissez-Faire leadership style by Eric Schmidt that is also the culture of the organization that has enabled Google to remain competitive and above all define new frontiers in the industry that some years back was unheard of. In just about ten years Google Incorporation has launched more consumer online products and applications than Microsoft has achieved in the decades that they have been operational (Kovacevic Builder, 2010). The future of Google as a company is going to be more influenced by the diversity of it employee which is the key to its strength besides the Leadership style that continues to encourage workplace creativity. As is now the norm Google is in a position to continue dominating the market share not only in online products but will continue chatting the future and the shape that future products will take and where online market wars will occur (Tannenbaum Schmidt, 2008). References Hofstede G. (2007). Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw- Hill Publishers. Kovacevic, L., Builder, A.U. (2010). Google Incorporation Vs Microsoft Incorporation. Retrieved April 9, 2010 from http://www.builderau.com.au/strategy/soa/Google-vs-Microsoft/0,2000064882,339290499,00.htm Tannenbaum, R., Schmidt, W. (2008). How to Choose a leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review, 733(23), Retrieved April 9th 2010 from http//www.havardbusinessreview.org U.S. Army Handbook. (1973). Military Leadership. Washington DC. Government Press.