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The Issue Of Underage Drinking Social Work Essay

The Issue Of Underage Drinking Social Work Essay The issue and commonness of youngsters (under 18) savoring liquor ongoing years has gotten a matter of expanding open worry, with current patterns among the most exceedingly awful in Europe (Gunning et al 2010). Drinking during adolescence, especially overwhelming drinking is related with a scope of issues including physical and psychological wellness issues, liquor related mishaps, viciousness, and against social conduct (Gunning et al 2010). Youthful bodies are as yet developing, and liquor can hurt their turn of events; standard drinking can prompt malignancy, liver malady, and heart issue in later life (Bateman 2011). Passings from liver infection have risen incomprehensibly in the 25-34 age bunches in the course of the most recent 10 years; thought to be a result of expanded drinking beginning from a prior age (Thomson et al 2008). In England in 2007/2008, in excess of 7600 kids under 17 were admitted to medical clinic because of drinking liquor (Gunning et al 2010). It is accepted that youngsters who begin drinking liquor at an early age, drink more, and drink more regularly than the individuals who postpone the beginning of drinking until they are more seasoned. They are additionally bound to create liquor misuse/reliance issues in puberty and adulthood; reliance is likewise liable to happen from an a lot more youthful age (Gunning et al 2010). An ongoing study did in 2010 by the National Center for Social Research (NatCen) to decide the smoking, drinking and medication utilization of optional school students matured 11 to 15; (7,674 understudies in 247 schools using surveys) curiously found that the extent of youngsters who have flushed liquor had diminished in examination with before discoveries from 28 percent in 2001 to 21 percent in 2006 (DH 2008). Anyway it must be expressed that despite the fact that there had been a checked diminishing in the quantity of youngsters who had flushed liquor; a significant number of the 11 to multi year olds who do drink were depicted to be expending bigger measures of liquor, all the more frequently, to intentionally become inebriated (Bateman 2011). This examination likewise passed on that 18% of students had flushed liquor as of late, is proportionate to around 540,000 youngsters (Gunning et al 2010); proposing that all the more despite everything should be done to invert these unmis takable patterns, as in spite of the checked diminishing liquor abuse in youngsters is as yet a significant issue that is influencing the strength of the adolescent today and enormously affecting the more extensive network, in that liquor abuse worries about a monetary concern; and has been evaluated to cost almost  £11,000 million every year, as far as wellbeing, social government assistance and criminal equity assets (Waller et al 2002). Gathering this sort of information can demonstrate troublesome, as medication and liquor abuse are of a delicate sort and regularly people don't wish to share this data genuinely when addressed. It is especially hard to get from youngsters (younger than 18), as this regularly must be completed inside a school domain, by means of surveys. The degree to which legit revealing happens is again perplexing, as youngsters will frequently overstate to peers, and hide from guardians (Gunning et al 2010). Trustworthiness isn't the main factor influencing exactness of reactions in youngsters, accuracy of appraisals and the review of the measure of liquor alcoholic can likewise be tricky, given that understudies examples of conduct between the ages of 11 and 15 might be depicted as test and irregular contradicted to routine and normal (Gunning et al 2010). The National Treatment Agency (NTA) has as of late expressed that youthful people groups substance abuse is a generally new region of scholas tic examination thus inquire about on viable treatment mediations are conflicting (NTA 2010). It is generally recognized that liquor abuse in youth is inseparably connected to various elements; including the impact of guardians/family, peers, condition, culture and financial status (Templeton et al 2006). As per the Acheson report (1999), reliance upon liquor is fundamentally associated with financial position, recommending that the issue is one that is past the synthetic effect of the substance itself (Nacro Youth Crime Section 1999) matching with later National measurements and research examines that demonstrate, just as sex and age, financial status, ethnicity and land territory of home are among the variables connected to levels and examples of hurtful liquor utilization (Waller et al 2002). So as to focus on the issue of liquor abuse inside youngsters, these elements should have been considered and have since been the guide by which approaches with respect to youth and liquor are executed (DH 2008); subsequently giving liquor instruction in schools; starting in the essential stage, a long time before examples of customary drinking become built up, intended to teach and exhort youngsters on reasonable drinking designs and the perilous impacts it might have upon them (DH 2008). Guardians and carers additionally have an obligation regarding whether their kids drink, by any means, and in the event that they do, how much and how as often as possible they drink. Nonetheless, for guardians to feel sure when conversing with their kids about liquor and to engage them to define proper limits they need direction from the suitable administrations (DH 2008). Regarding government procedures, to focus on the issue of liquor abuse in youngsters; the alliances program for government distributed in May 2010, diagrams recommendations intended to limit the gracefully of liquor to youngsters, under 18 years old, by expanding the control given to committees to close outlets that perseveringly offer liquor to kids; and to build the greatest fines for under-age liquor deals. Moreover, there will be a restriction on the deals of liquor at beneath cost value (Gunning et al 2010), and an audit of liquor evaluating and tax collection, the two approaches expected to have specific effect on youthful consumers (Gunning et al 2010). While these approaches are at present weighted towards counteraction, and receiving deterrent systems, ongoing measurements propose that most of youngsters getting to administrations and mediations have issues with liquor (37%) and cannabis (53%) (NTA 2010), along these lines recommending that all the more should be done in the precaution phases of liquor mindfulness in kids; as proof proposes that the issue is obviously still on-going. The decision and viability of treatment approaches is normally subject to a scope of variables, for example, the individual attributes of the customer for instance inspiration, family life, social conditions and condition; notwithstanding the specific medication or medications that are being utilized (Crow Reeves 1994). The National Treatment Agency (NTA) characterizes youthful people groups treatment as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢ ¦ care arranged clinical, psychosocial or authority hurt decrease intercessions planned for lightening current mischief brought about by a youthful people substance abuse (NTA 2010). Youngsters with tranquilize related necessities are bolstered by intercessions and administrations inside a four-layered model of medication and liquor mediations which comprises of a General Frontline administration conveyance for youngsters and their families (first port of call) (level 1), open-get to administrations, (for example, drop in) (level 2), Drug treatment inside the network (Shared consideration) (level 3) and private medication treatment (master administrations) (level 4) (NTA 2006). Youthful medication and liquor clients are accepted to vary from grown-ups as they will commonly not have utilized medications for a delayed timeframe, so as to have built up a reliance to a substance; and subsequently influencing the sort of treatment for the most part gave to youngsters (Frontier Economics 2010). Youngsters are well on the way to require psychosocial, hurt decrease and family intercessions, contradicted to treatment for habit, which most grown-ups however just a little minority of youngsters require (Frontier Economics 2010). Psychosocial intercessions are known as non-pharmacological mediations ordinarily including organized advising, inspirational improvement, case the board, and care-coordination, psychotherapy, and backslide avoidance. The expectation is to empower social and passionate change, with the help of way of life modifications and the improvement of adapting aptitudes (Frontier financial matters 2011). The most well-known type of treatment offered for substance abuse is some type of guiding; this may appear as directing for the medication issue itself, for instance contemplations about utilizing, adapting techniques for diminishing or advising concerning the encompassing issues that sway on tranquilize use (Lewis et al 2009). Directing is an adaptable approach and can be utilized to react to a wide assortment of conditions encompassing abuse (Rounsaville Carroll 1992). It is conceivable to distinguish two general ways to deal with guiding being used in network tranquilize administrations, the first being, advising to handle the individual issues, basic medication abuse and the second being that of help and exhortation to help deal with the outcomes of medication abuse (Bryant-Jeffries 2001). By far most of youngsters getting to master treatment require and get directing, here and there close by their families to address the fundamental causes and results of substance abuse. Such ps ychosocial mediations are the most widely recognized type of help got to by under-18s (Frontier Economics 2011). The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) concurs with the possibility of the directing hypothesis, and has suggested that offering brief, coordinated guidance on the unsafe impacts of liquor use, and how to diminish the dangers and discover wellsprings of help, is a viable methodology for handling hurtful drinking among kids and youngsters (NICE 2007). The most well-known directing way to deal with medicate treatment has been subjective conduct draws near. The psychological social methodology depends extraordinarily on getting the client to concentrate on ide

Recruiting Strategies that Attract Talented Jobseekers

Recruiting Strategies that Attract Talented Jobseekers © Shutterstock.com | Jacob LundMany companies seem to approach their recruitment processes with a prejudiced view: they are the ones offering a job, so they are the ones with all the power. They call all the shots, and the jobseekers have to be the one to stay on their toes. In short, the jobseekers should be the one to impress them, and their role is to simply sit back, watch and observe, and make their choice on who to hire.But some hiring companies are much smarter than that. They know that recruitment does not merely involve telling the world and sundry that you have an open position, and wait for the applications to pour in.Let’s have a brief recap of the recruitment process: the first thing that a company does is to perform a job analysis, resulting in a solid job description to base their advertisement and screening processes on. When that is done, they have to get to work in sourcing talent, where they hope to attract the best talents, or jobseekers with the highest qualif ications and skills. When the applications have come in, screening of the applicants will commence, through examinations, tests and interviews. Depending on the company and its need, a series of tests and interviews will be conducted until they are left with a handful of applicants to choose from. The cream of the crop, or so they call it.From the shortlist, the hiring and recruitment managers will finally make their selection, make a formal job offer to the selected candidate and, once the latter accepts, induct and introduce him into the organization as a new employee.Let us backtrack to the second phase of the recruitment process, or the sourcing of talents. Of course, every company would want to hire the best person for the job, but this is easier said than done. The company needs  to put in some work in order to attract the talented jobseekers, instead of simply waiting for them to come in.Now what about the large companies such as Google and Apple? They seem to attract the top candidates without much effort at all. While it may seem that they are not doing anything, they actually have strategies that they have put in place since the beginning.It is a reality that the most brilliant minds, or those with a lot of talent, will also want to work or be employed in a company that meets their exacting standards. This is why companies also have to adapt recruiting strategies in order to ensure that they attract the talented and skilled jobseekers.RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES AND TRENDS TO FOLLOWMake sure your company offers good products and servicesSurprised? You may think that this has nothing to do with recruitment, but you would be wrong. Compare Apple and another lesser known company (let us call it Company B) that also offers the same products and services. Company B still has not been able to come up with a product that resonated well with the market, and even had to field complaints on quality and performance. When the two companies had open positions, Company B offers a significantly higher salary and more benefits than Apple. But guess which company will receive more applications, especially from the top candidates?If your answer is Apple, you would be correct. This is because Apple is known for its quality products and services, even paving the way for other companies (including Company B). Even if the pay is lesser, the fact that Apple has a history of releasing quality products makes it the more appealing employer prospect.Pay attention to your company’s branding as an employerYes, organizations should also maintain a strong, “best-in-class employment brand”. In a study conducted by CareerBuilder, it was proven that organizations with strong employer brands are able to attract 3 to 4 more applicants for each job posting than one with a weak branding. This is for the simple reason that talented jobseekers are more drawn to companies that are known for being good employers, and have strong recruitment and employment practices. I n another survey by Glassdoor, it was revealed the 69% of candidates will not be interested to work for a company with a bad reputation as an employer (or a recruiter), not even if they are unemployed.Make sure you have a well-crafted employer value proposition. Clear mission and vision.You can start by having a clear mission and vision, and sharing your values regarding employee culture. You will find that some companies even include employee facts and stories in their websites. They make use of images, graphics, videos and other content to attract potential jobseekers into checking them out and considering them as a potential employer.Cultivating an “employees first” attitude is a sure-fire way of hiring and keeping the top talent within the company. If emphasis is placed on having respect for employees and their welfare, then it will make the company into one that anyone (and everyone) would want to work in.Be transparent with applicants.Some companies hold out specific infor mation, such as the salary of the position. Let us face it: people look for jobs to earn money. Talented jobseekers know they are talented and skilled, and would naturally want a job that will pay them adequately and handsomely for it. If the company withholds information regarding the salary or pay, it will likely turn applicants away.Think carefully through the complete recruitment process.Your employer  branding will also be affected by how you reject candidates and provide feedback. This is a problem for most companies: once they have made their selection and a position has been filled, they entirely forget about the other candidates or, even if they do, how they deliver their messages of rejection leave nothing to be desired. This will, predictably, have a negative impact on the employer’s brand as an employer.Make sure that, after the recruitment process is done and the best candidate has been selected, feedback is duly provided to those who were not chosen. Not only is this a way to protect the company’s reputation, it is also a basic form of human courtesy.Respect the fact that applicants have time, too.Scheduling tests and interviews, and cancelling, especially on the last minute, may come across as blatant disrespect for their time, even if it is not the intention of the company or the recruiters.Do not make them wait too long during interviews, because this will only make it appear as if you are showing them who has the upper hand in the situation, letting them become nervous and agitated with the wait.Regulate the speed of your hiring.You do not have to necessarily speed up the hiring process, since they may lead you to overlook some important aspects. However, you should make sure that the pace is not sluggish.Let us say that the job posting was made on January. You only started screening applicants on March, and commenced the initial interviews on April. That’s a four-month waiting period for the jobseekers, and the top talents are not like ly to halt everything in order to wait for you to move the recruitment process along. By the time you get around to interviewing them, the top candidates would have already been hired by the competition.This will also reflect badly on your employmer brand, making your company appear disinterested in actually filling up the open position.Make sure that your company is worth working for.And we are not just talking about giving competitive salaries and generous bonuses and incentives. Yes, people work primarily to earn money, but there are other considerations that are taken into account, especially by the top candidates, when considering which company to work for. They include:Work environment: Is the workplace highly functional? Will the employee be working with a strong and united team of people? Are there safety precautions in place? Is the workplace attractive enough? Generally, people would want to work in a place that looks nice, orderly, and welcoming. They want a place they ca n be comfortable in, especially if they are going to spend the better part of the day in it. Therefore, you have to take into account factors such as exterior and interior design, ventilation, lighting, and layout. An engineer will not want to work in a company with a factory known to have poor facilities resulting to high rates of workplace injuries and accidents. One way for the company to lift its image in the eyes of prospective jobseekers is to provide a good working environment â€" one that is safe and conducive to working.Quality of management: Naturally, jobseekers would want to know who they will work for, or who their superiors will be. If the company proves itself to have effective management in place, then it will have higher chance of attracting top talents for its open positions.Opportunities for professional growth and development: Top candidates aren’t the best in their fields for nothing. They are the ones who are most keen on looking for ways to advance themselve s. Of course, they would not want to stay with a company that will leave them in one corner, to rot and stagnate. Companies with excellent professional development programs for their employees are the most attractive prospects for jobseekers. Not only does this mean that they care about their employees, it is also an opportunity given to the employees to become better, preparing them for the next steps in their career paths.Rewards and recognition: Employees getting compensation for work or services rendered is their right. They are entitled with their basic pay and other benefits. But rewards and recognition do not come only in the form of cash and additional perks such as trips, vacation days, housing and auto benefits. Words of praise, commendations, public recognitions… these also work well in boosting an employee’s self-esteem and motivation. A potential jobseeker will definitely be more attracted to a company that obviously values its employees (and their accomplishments) highly.An interesting perspective on recruitment strategies and balancing hiring the right talent and putting them in performance optimized environments. Make sure you hire the best recruiting staffIt will take talented recruiters or hiring managers to attract and eventually hire top talent. When a company has its in-house recruitment team within its human resources department, then there is a need for that team to be composed of people who are also talented at what they do, which is recruitment. If the company decides to outsource their recruiting and acquires the services of a third-party recruiting agency or recruiting professionals, then it should also make it a point to choose those who are known to be excellent at their jobs.Following the principle of “like attracting like”, top talent will also attract top talent. Talented jobseekers will feel more motivated in applying for an open position with the knowledge that the process will be handled by reputable recruiters. They will feel more at ease that they will be given fair and equal treatment throughout the process.On the other hand, talented jobseekers are likely to avoid having to interact with recruiters that are known to do their jobs haphazardly. For them, it would simply be a waste of their time, so they will look elsewhere for employment prospects.But it should not end at hiring. Members of the in-house recruiting team should also undergo continuous learning and development on any area related to recruitment. In fact, they should also have more than basic knowledge of the various functions of the jobs within the organization, so they will be in better position to carry out the recruitment processes.Use a user-friendly application systems and processJobseekers, especially those who are not employed or are currently between jobs, do not really fancy themselves having a lot of free time. More often than not, they will feel more pressured to find the job of their dreams, so they will try to avoid those that will waste their time, or take up too much of it.Let us say, for example, that a company makes postings for an open position, inviting interested applicants to send their initial intention to apply by filling up a form on their company website. The candidate visits the website, but then it turns out that, in order for him to view the job posting, he has to register for an account. So he does exactly that: he signs up for an account, then waits for half a day for a confirmation email to be sent, notifying him that he can now log in to the website using his account.Then he views the job posting, and there is a link to the application portal. He clicks on it, and is directed to a series of pages with questions that he must answer regarding his personal information, education, work experience, skills and other qualifications. It ended up being an in-depth personality test, and it takes an applicant 45 minutes to an hour to accomplish all forms before he could click Submit.For a jobseeker without a lot of time on his hands, this long and arduous process will be a major turn-off, and he may decide to stop halfway through and decide not to apply for the job after all.Make sure that the process will be relatively easy for the applicants. Do not make them jump through hoops â€" and at the initial stages of their application, to boot! Maybe you can let them upload copies of their resume instead of letting them fill out half a dozen online forms. Or you could revisit the questions, keeping in mind that you are only getting their application, and not yet conducting assessment tests.You should also keep a close eye on the technical side of things, especially if you are accepting primarily online applications. There may be technical problems that are encountered by the applicants at specific stages. If these persist and remain uncorrected, they are likely to take their applications elsewhere.Leverage technologyIt is time to put technology to good use, and you wil l be surprised at how useful it will be for your recruitment programs.Use social media, and use it well.According to Barbara Mitchell, HRM consultant and author of “The Big Book of HR”, social media has affected the recruitment playing field by accomplishing what traditional job advertisements failed to do: attract passive jobseekers. Passive jobseekers are those candidates who are not actively looking for a job, primarily because they are already employed and are not motivated to look elsewhere for another job.With social media becoming an active platform for job postings, even passive candidates are becoming interested in applying for jobs. Similarly, many jobseekers are also visiting social media pages to research on various companies, and when they like what they see, they are more likely to apply for the open jobs once they are advertised.Some companies also make it a policy to maintain their own social media profiles in various platforms to keep people informed of any of t heir job postings. Some of the most leveraged social media platforms include LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+.Do not forget that social media utilization works both ways: use it so that your candidates can find you, and use it to find the best candidates.Go mobile.So you have your own company website and even successfully established your presence in social media. In this day and age, where mobile recruiting is starting to gain traction, consider becoming more mobile.Consider the fact that more and more jobseekers are also active in using their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. This will increase your reach and will make your company more accessible to the candidates. If there are new jobs open, the updates may be made instantly via the mobile devices.Interaction will also be greatly facilitated. The company may use the mobile platform to provide immediate feedback to applicants regarding their application.Learn more about why mobile recruitment is gaining tracti on.[slideshare id=27115841doc=mobilerecruitingstrategiesstidhamunderhill-131011200029-phpapp02w=710h=400]Do not hesitate to embrace digital.These days, it is no longer a new concept for candidates to be interviewed over the internet, through a video call. These video interviews are actually fast replacing the traditional phone calls.Recruiters prefer this method, actually, since it will give them a more personal atmosphere during the interview, without the interviewer and the interviewee being physically present in the same room.Obtain good ratings from accredited companies.You will need reinforcement for your good and clean reputation as an organization and as an employer. Here, you can enlist the help of review sites and groups such as Glassdoor and Better Business Bureau.Naturally, you’d have to make sure that you, indeed, have a good reputation before aiming for good reviews from these sites and bodies.Ask for help from your employeesThis is another highly suggested method of attracting passive jobseekers. If there is an open position in your company, let your current employees know about the job and the need to fill it. Then inquire if they know of anyone who meets the qualifications and skills required in the job.Chances are high that at least one or two of them know of someone.Your employees are in the best and unique position of being a spokesperson of the company â€" not only of its products and services, but also of its corporate culture and employment practices. The public is more likely to believe the words that come out of an employee’s mouth on how the company is as an employer, over the words that were crafted by a professional copywriter or advertiser to market the company. Therefore, you have to make sure you engage your employees and involve them in the recruitment process as well.Many companies implement these employee referral programs where the employees are asked for recommendations or suggestions on potential candidates for open posi tions, and give them incentives or rewards once their referrals work out and the company is able to fill those positions.Through these referrals, you will have higher assurance of getting the best candidates. Naturally, the employees will not risk recommending someone whom they know is mediocre or will not be able to deliver on the job that is being filled. Since they will also be rewarded for bringing a talented or skilled employee on board, then they will be motivated to recommend well.Another advantage of these employee referral programs is cost savings. It is seen as one of the more efficient forms of advertising jobs, because the company does not have to pay costs of advertising or posting; the employees will take care of it for them. They may even encourage their employees to make postings about the open positions on their respective social media accounts.Use a targeted approach for the candidatesOn the job descriptionOften, the message is the problem. When sending out a messa ge about the job position, keep in mind that you are not just talking to a group of people; instead, you are talking to the person who will fill the open position. Thus, you have to craft a targeted message to that person.The job descriptions have to be clear, easy to understand, and contain all the specifics about the job. There is no way you will attract top candidates if you fill your job descriptions with too many jargon, rendering them incomprehensible and ambiguous.Say, for example, that the open position is a job in the finance department. The posting should speak the finance language, something that the person who has the skills and qualifications for the job will easily understand. If you are looking for a graphic designer, the job posting should make that absolutely clear and specific.What if you take the easy way out and talk in general terms, thinking that this will hit a hundred birds with one stone? This will be less effective, since it will seem more generic. By using a targeted message, you will be able to make the jobseeker feel like you are talking to him personally, inviting him to apply for the position that you have open.Learn how to write an effective job description.[slideshare id=40302867doc=writeeffectivejobdescriptions-141015091444-conversion-gate02w=710h=400]On the cultureIn the context of a multinational company, where the recruiters are looking to fill open positions in various countries, there is an even greater need to craft targeted messages to potential applicants.People all over the world are largely shaped by the culture in the country they live in. You cannot expect an American IT professional to have the same response as that of an Indian IT professional to the same job posting for an IT position, especially if it was crafted specifically with the American applicant in mind. In the same way, if the message is meant for an IT professional working in New Delhi, it might not get the same response from the IT professional based in Silicon Valley.And it is not just the language. A candidate from a well-developed economy such as the United States will have different motivations and career goals from that of a candidate in an Arab country. Thus, you have to make sure that the job description and the job posting, as a whole, will appeal to the candidate that you have in mind.Be innovative in your postingsEncourage candidates to show their innovation and creativity. A method adapted by several companies is to stage a competition where the participants will have a potential to be employed with the company. This is a tactic usually used by companies that are in web and mobile development. They make an announcement about a certain design contest, and the winners will also get a position in the company.Certainly, this is an effective way to ensure that the person hired is the best among the pool of candidates.RECRUITMENT MISTAKES TO AVOIDWe have covered the strategies that you should implement if you want to attra ct the talented jobseekers into applying to your company. Looking at the other end of the spectrum, what are the   practices that should be avoided?Starting the recruitment process with a job posting.If you go back to previous discussions on the recruitment process, you will notice that advertising a job or creating a simple job posting is not the first step. You see, the danger with jumping straight to posting about a recently vacated position is that the posting may be exactly the same as the previous one, without taking into account intervening circumstances and changes that took place since then. Trust me, there is bound to be at least one change that must be applied to keep the posting updated.This is why we stress once again the importance of performing a job analysis, whether it is for a newly created open position or a recently vacated one.Sticking to what you are used to, even when you know it is no longer working.At some point, your process may become stagnant. It may no l onger be current, and you have observed that the quality of candidates applying for your company’s open positions is declining. You are no longer satisfied with what these applicants bring to the table.It is clear that the processes you have been applying in your recruitment programs since the company started its operations say, ten or twenty years ago, are no longer working. But you refuse to change anything or applying radical shifts to correct this. In all likelihood, it may be due to fear and apprehension about trying something new. However, you will never really know if changing things up will actually change anything or make anything better unless you try it.Treating every job recruitment in the same mannerIf the company is advertising multiple open positions at one time, there is the chance that the job postings will be made uniformly, without taking into account the differences in the jobs. Some jobs may be critical than others, or have more stringent requirements than the other positions. One job may even require more tests or interviews than the other openings.Again, this is why job analysis prior to making any posting is important for each of the open positions. This is so you can identify those that have more requirements than others. It will also help the company to prioritize, giving more attention to the more critical jobs so they will be filled up before the other less critical ones.

German Easter Traditions

Evaluating Effectiveness And Efficiency Paper - 1655 Words

Evaluating Effectiveness and Efficiency Paper Madison Yohe Roberts Wesleyan College Evaluating Effectiveness and Efficiency Paper Implementation Process The new intervention that I would like to implement at Huther Doyle is meditation. Using meditation and mindfulness will help patients be able to center themselves and provide a time for centering in their hectic lives. Normal group sessions are two hours long. When implementing meditation the same length of group time will be necessary for billing purposes. The two hour session will be distributed with the first 30 minutes consisting of meditation and the last hour and a half consisting of discussion. The meditation will be lead by the primary group counselor or myself. The†¦show more content†¦Meditation has not been introduced as an intervention technique yet. I have not yet suggested the new intervention technique to my task supervisor or supervisor yet. After I make the suggestion I will need to first make sure meditation is a billable intervention technique for chemical and substance abuse. Ideally, I would like to begin implementing this interve ntion technique in January 2016 when I return from my Christmas break. Evaluating Intervention Effectiveness Outcome and Process Evaluation Since I have not yet implemented this intervention technique I have not yet evaluated the effectiveness of meditation as an intervention. When evaluating the technique I will need to evaluate the outcome evaluation as well as the process evaluation. In regard to outcome evaluation I would like to see if meditation decreases substance abuse in the patients, which is a group of women. I am going to measure the amount substance abuse by each individual by conducting urine screens twice a month and breathalyzers once a week. I will also record observations in every group session and save them into the computer system. Open-ended questions during the group sessions will also be asked about how the individual is doing, especially in regards to her drug use. These open-ended questions will be asked every session and again recorded into the computer system. These multiple methods of assessments will be conducted over eight weeks. All of

The Movie Antz Compared To Real World Political Systems Free Essays

In the movie Antz, the colony’s government was set up with the Queen as the supreme ruler over the entire colony. All decisions for life in the colony were made by the Queen. All ants were required to work together for the greater good of the colony. We will write a custom essay sample on The Movie Antz Compared To Real World Political Systems or any similar topic only for you Order Now Ants were not allowed free thought or to be individuals and make choices for themselves. The Queen’s daughter, Princess Balla, was to take over the Queen’s position and rule the colony simply because she was the Queen’s daughter. She inherited this right. There were three social classes of ants that were determined at birth, Royalty, Soldiers and Workers. They remained in that class their entire life and are not allowed to mix between the classes or change. Each of the classes entitled ants to different rights and styles of living, with Royalty being the top citizens and workers the bottom citizens. Within each of the classes, all ants were equal and expected to follow the rules of the colony. There was a General appointed by the Queen that ruled over the soldiers. The purpose of the army was to protect the colony. The Queen ruled the Ant Colony in all of the ways of a Monarchy. The right to rule the Colony is inherited at birth. In this case, the Queen, is the supreme ruler of the Colony. The Queen has all of the wealth of the colony and determines how it is divided among the colony. As in a Monarchy, the Queen will rule the Colony for her entire life and then control will be inherited by her family. The Queen makes all final decisions for the Colony. She also rules with with the idea to â€Å"work together for the greater good of the Colony†. The Colony Government also resembles a Communist government because they were not allowed any free thought or choice. All of the ants carried out life like programmed robots. This was true under both the Queen and General Mandible. However, her goals were for the greater good of the colony as a whole which is more like a Monarchy. General Mandible’s goals were self serving which is like a Dictatorship. General Mandible lead the soldiers with an iron fist. His leadership style was very much like that of a Dictatorship. A dictatorship does not allow any freedom or individual thought to the people. Many of General Mandible’s traits were the same as Adolph Hitler’s dictatorship way of ruling. General Mandible felt the way to total control was to â€Å"cleanse the colony† and make a new â€Å"pure colony† according to his ideas of the perfect class of people. Hitler had the same goal. To achieve this they needed complete and total control of everything. They did not allow anyone to question their directions, not even their second in command. To do so would mean death in a dictatorship. General Mandible stated â€Å"do as I say or suffer execution†. Both General Mandible and Hitler had commanders under them that were required to enforce and carry out their orders. They were both planning to use genocide to get rid of the classes of people they felt were inferior to themselves. General Mandible’s dream was for â€Å"the strong to rise above the weak and wash away the past for a new day to dawn†. He wanted to build a colony with none of the â€Å"worker filth†. Even though General Mandible told the soldiers it was bad to act as an individual, that is exactly how he behaved. Under General Mandible’s rule there would be no private ownership of property and he would determine how the wealth was to be divided which is another trait of a Dictatorship. Insectopia is an example of Anarchy because there are no leaders, no rules and no government. Each individual does whatever they want all of the time. The goal is peace and harmony. Although there is the ultimate freedoms with Anarchy, the system can quickly become chaotic due to the lack of any government authority if any one group tries to control another. Z wants to experience all there is to life and not be told what to do and how to do it. He sees Insectopia as the perfect place to live because of the total freedom. The changes that occurred at the end of the movie with the General being defeated and royalty, soldiers and workers coming together reminded me of the changes that occurred in the USSR with the fall of the controlling government and the beginning of a democracy. The new Colony recognized the good that can come from individual freedoms and choices that are allowed in a democracy. The Colony came together as one whole and chose their new leaders the way an election happens in a democracy. These leaders would work with the Colony to carry out the wishes of the majority of the Colony with no one class being better than another. The individuals would now be free to make their decisions of daily living based on what they wanted. There were still some basic rules that would need to be in place to assure no one group got too powerful and tried to take over control. This is how democracy works in the USA with the people electing their leaders based on the majority wishes for a representative democracy. How to cite The Movie Antz Compared To Real World Political Systems, Papers

Loving From Vietnam To Zimbabwe Essays - British Poetry,

Loving From Vietnam To Zimbabwe After reading Janice Mirikitani's poem "Loving from Vietnam to Zimbabwe" there is a profound amount of imagery used by Mirikitani that explains a reality of sex, love, and war. Mirikitani uses an interesting and unique format in the way she has written her poem. The "I" that Mirikitani uses is not referring to herself but rather another woman who is Vietnamese, or many women whom are Vietnamese. She has essentially divided her poem into two sides. One side, the left side, is where she reveals images of sex and love. On the other side, the right side, is where she reveals the imagery of war. By dividing her poem into two sides, she is able to describe two conflicting issues that are part of the woman's life or at some point had an impact on her life and emotions. It seems as though Mirikitani is explaining images from Vietnam. These images of sex, love, and war that she has written in respect to, are not the sex and love that we know as Americans, but the sex and love that was prevalent during the Vietnam War. Mirikitani wrote this poem in 1980, so it is possible that, she has some repressed images and feelings about the war or war in general. Mirikitani begins her poem with images of sex and love. By writing this poem, she has given a voice to many women from a country torn apart by War. It is almost as if every image she has of sex is matched with an image of war. This reveals how the woman must deal with two realities. One reality is the life of a Vietnamese woman and another reality of sleeping with the enemy. These two realities seem to be conflicting with each other and it ultimately makes the Vietnamese woman feel that her situation is unresolved. Mirikitani draws the reader into the subject matter of her poem by the use of her figurative language imagery. She describes a relationship between a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier who is of color. By defining the soldiers skin color, she metaphorically correlates his appearance as, "large/black like the shadowed belly of a leaf."(Stanza 16, lines 3-4) By this she is defining his appearance visually so that we see him as dark as a shadow is. It also gives the feeling that this soldier is mysterious, and cold blooded. The relationship that the woman has with the soldier is quite difficult to understand, but without reasonable doubt, these two people have engaged in sexual activities. On the sex side of her poem, which is the left side, she visually interprets her experience with the man. Mirikitani uses several extended metaphors to describe his body, "As I move into the grassy plain of your chest" (Stanza 12, lines 3-5) is an example. Not only does she use figurative language to describe the man, she also uses it to describe the physical interaction between them. For reference, stanza seven is an example of her figurative language that I am referring to. Because of their relationship, the Vietnamese woman feels troubled because there is anger within her due to what she feels the American soldiers have done to her people and their land. She is un-eased about having sex with this man because of her anger. One way to look at their relationship is to visualize that this woman and man are in a relationship of love and that one woman's lust for a man ultimately leads her to pain when he is killed. The woman is left in a painful and agonizing state after the man has been murdered; which gives the poem a slight twist at the ending. After she has left the images of the man's death with us, she reveals that love is dangerous and that, "loving in this world, is the silver splinting edge." (Stanza 20 line 1-3) Love has been painful to her and she has been maddened and angered by it. Another way to understand their relationship is that these two characters in Mirikitani's poem do not love each other and are with each other only for the means of sex. Mrikitani metaphorically describes the parts of the man's body as physical places on earth, "As I reach down onto Mt. Inyangani." She is not actually referring to Mt. Inyangani, but to the man's private parts. The relationship between the Vietnamese woman and the black man seems cold and awkward. There is no love involved in their sex;

The Girl and the Man, from Hills Like White Elephants. essays

The Girl and the Man, from Hills Like White Elephants. essays In Hills Like White Elephants the author begins with a description of the place where the story develops; a rural town in Spain, where the two main characters, a man and a girl, are seated at a restaurant drinking beer as they wait for a train. While seated in the table the girl notices distant hills on the other side of the town, and instantly says that they look like White Elephants. The mans unimpressed response along with the girls reaction triggered a tension between the parties that eventually would lead to one very delicate topic. The tension between them kept rising while they were drinking, which lead to the ordering of a few more beers, and eventually on the third drink, the man raises the subject of an operation hes encouraging the girl to have. As the conversation developed it became apparent that they were talking about an abortion. Offering his unconditional support and friendship to the girl, the man encouraged the girl to go ahead and do the operation as planned. She would ensure him that theyd go on as before accorded. The girl is rather inexperienced and new to the operation, which can also be applied to her maturity and boldness. Certainly the girl is unsure about having the operation; shes young, inexperience and naive about the abortion. She does not seem to know much about the consequences and risks of it, but still remains fairly aware of them. Though shes not completely sold on it the man keeps manipulating and convincing her about having it, saying that hes know lots of people who have done it and if she does not want to do it, she does not have to. In addition, she does not know if things will be the way they were before, and whether the man will still love her. All these show a lack of character and security from the girls side, since the only things she cares about are their romantic relationship, the m ...

Writing Techniques To Improve Reading Comprehension

Writing Techniques To Improve Reading Comprehension Periodically, I watch episodes of the TV show â€Å"Numb3rs† on Netflix just to pretend that I’m a math genius. My friend and I have made an inside joke about one particular writing technique the show has used to help dull audience members like myself understand the math technique they are about to use. We mouth â€Å"It’s like†¦.† to each other whenever a character mentions some obscure math approach, and then we wait for the characters to launch into the illustration. Moving past the hilarity of that particular video on so many other levels, you can see how the writers of that show made the math geniuses spout off the math technique they were going to use and then follow immediately with a more understandable example the lay person could grasp. I appreciate these more understandable illustrations. How To Discover Awesome Writing Techniques That Will Improve Reading ComprehensionBranching Your Ideas The â€Å"what if† and â€Å"it’s like† writing techniques  are a kind of â€Å"branching† approach to both idea generation and reader understanding. Following an idea down a singular path is a way to get things done, but it’s not a way to generate future ideas or think creatively. For example, when I set out to write about content marketing game theory  for this blog (and was hopelessly out of my element, believe me), I decided to branch out in a couple of directions so that I could better understand the topic as a writer and, perhaps, better explain the topic to the reader. By branching my idea and asking â€Å"what if†, I managed to come up with two examples (â€Å"it’s like†) for readers. Only by branching and traveling down various paths to see where they might take me was I able to do this. Writers' block? Branch your ideas with 'what if' and 'it's like' #writing techniques.Some content marketers prefer to have one idea and shoot straight for the finish line; that’s perfectly acceptable. But others, like myself, enjoy the happy accidents that occur when you allow your ideas to branch. Don’t be afraid to branch out; you won’t be left out on a limb. (rimshot) Recommended Posts  To Improve Reading Comprehension: 5 Teaching Theories That Will Improve Your Educational Content Marketing How To Use The Best Content Types To Boost Reader Learning How To Communicate Effectively With Your Blog Readers To Keep Them Reading Using â€Å"What If† To Generate Ideas The â€Å"what if† writing technique is usually something used by fiction writers to help them develop characters and plot, but it can still be helpful in a slightly different version for content marketers. Let’s use that game theory post of mine as an example. As I researched the topic more and more, the idea of a tree came to mind. What if I approached this as if it were a tree?  I wondered. I was struggling to understand the topic in a way that allowed me to explain it, but the tree idea seemed to have promise. Then I set about to talk about matrices and competitors. What if I used â€Å"The Fugitive† as an example?  It was a popular movie and seemed to fit perfectly. There were a few other â€Å"what if† approaches that led to dead ends, but by the time I finished with these two, I understood much better what I wanted to say in the rest of the post. Here are a few â€Å"what if† approaches you could use when writing blog posts. You can see they are much more than just about finding ideas, but also about the order and structure of the actual post, too. What if (I): Put the conclusion at the beginning? Used a recent hit movie as the foundation for this post? Played the devil’s advocate until the final conclusion? Said the exact opposite of what is expected/I believe? What was true was not true? Used a different search engine/resource? Learned how it was done five years ago? My blog could speak for itself?What if you played the devil's advocate until the final conclusion of your post?Sometimes silly questions lead to fresh ways of thinking about a common thing, even if the answer to the question itself is irrelevant to the branch you ultimately end up on. The â€Å"what if† writing technique is definitely part of your brainstorming toolbox  when it comes to finding ideas. It helps you write beyond the typical boundary and find research you otherwise wouldn’t have considered looking for. Using â€Å"It’s Like† To Explain Ideas Using the â€Å"it’s like† writing technique will help you do three crucial things with your content: Understanding:  Obviously, the â€Å"it’s like† approach helps your reader understand an idea in a different way. It’s a classic method teachers use. Hook:  The â€Å"it’s like† technique can also grab your reader’s attention if you approach this method with a certain level of non-conformity and use comparisons the reader doesn’t expect. Convince:  When you’re selling a new idea or product that is unfamiliar to your audience, there’s a barrier you need to overcome. Using â€Å"it’s like† and explaining it as something familiar helps reduce that barrier  and make it easier for a reader to buy into what you have to say. But first: If there’s one thing you don’t want to do on social media, it’s misuse the words â€Å"metaphor† and â€Å"simile†; the grammar police will correct you. Metaphors simply make a comparison, while similes use the words â€Å"like† or â€Å"as† to compare things. For example: I tend to think of metaphors as all about making a strong statement with language (it’s not  like  something, it is  something), while similes are all about helping readers understand a bit more gently. Using â€Å"it’s like† is the simile approach to explanation, though you are taking it a bit further than a simple simile comparison most of the time. If you’re following the lead of the writers in the show â€Å"Numb3rs†, you are looking for an in-depth explanation that matches ounce for ounce the concept you want your reader to comprehend  in their own terms. You are looking for an analogy. Similes can spice up your copy and create a playful collection of words that pique a reader’s interest, but analogy is the true workhorse of the â€Å"it’s like† writing technique, a kind of extended version of a simile. When creating analogies, remember: Your audience matters.  Analogies work best when you use an example that your audience understands. I could use a variety of farming analogies that I know from growing up on a farm, but most of the readers of this blog aren’t farmers. That kind of analogy won’t help at all. Knowing what experiences your audience will identify with is crucial when choosing a simile or analogy. To make things better.  Not all complicated topics need an analogy; some just need to be clearly discussed. Analogies work best when a topic is so far out of the range of your audience, either through lack of knowledge or because they’ve never experienced it, that the only way to make the concept resonate is to repackage it with the familiar. Sometimes I write analogies and then eventually edit them out and the reader never sees them. Yet by writing that analogy, I helped myself understand the topic better and was able to explain it better without the addition of an analogy. To shed light on the larger concept.  Some topics are better served simply by breaking them down into bite-sized chunks than through analogy. You would better understand the process of changing the oil in a car if I explained the actual process step-by-step rather than me saying, â€Å"It’s like cleaning files off your hard drive.† Analogy is less useful in teaching step-by-step instruction (i.e. how to specifically change the oil in your car) and more useful in teaching the larger idea that those step-by-step instructions make sense in (i.e. you need to change the oil because your engine will be ruined if you don’t). That less is more.  Use one or two analogies, but don’t use too many more. Lots of analogies make things more confusing and actually dampen the power they might have if you used them more sparingly. Consider what you absolutely want your reader to take from your content, which topic is difficult or unfamiliar, and use your analogies for that. You don’t leave your audience with the analogy.  Once you’ve explained a concept through an analogy and your audience understands the underlying fundamentals, you should go back and reiterate what you wanted them to understand in the first place, drawing direct comparisons between the analogy again if needed, so they understand the actual topic and  the analogy. Recommended Posts  To Improve Reading Comprehension: Are You Making These 5 Assumptions About Your Audience? 4 Lessons From Psychology That Will Help You Grow Your Blog Analogies are all about helping your audience experience a moment of Gestalt, where they finally â€Å"get† the bigger picture of something that was confusing before. So, how do you find the perfect analogy? Figure out what the main point is.  Ask yourself what the most important thing is that you want your reader to understand about your topic. There is a lot they could understand, but what is the most important concept that you need them to take away in order to understand the rest of what you have to say? You could probably compare just about anything to everything, but you need to find something that gets a specific point across. Life is like a box of chocolate, is like a beach, is like an oyster, is like anything at all- but what is it you’re trying to say about life? Keep it mostly (but not too) familiar. As I mentioned above, your audience has to be familiar with the analogy you are about to use or they won’t understand it, either. However, by choosing or using a scenario that is slightly surprising, you’ll keep them interested in reading. We’re all pretty used to the â€Å"life is like a box of chocolates† saying by now, but when it first came out with the movie â€Å"Forrest Gump†, it was very novel and new. People wondered â€Å"how in the world could life be like candy?† and it made them read on. In the book Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, author Douglas Hofstadter referred to boring analogies as â€Å"banalogies.† Generally, the first analogy you come up with is not the one. Go nuts and think of two or three or ten or twenty, and then choose from your list. Turn the distasteful into something good.  A great analogy not only explains a concept to help your reader understand, but it can also help them understand something differently. An idea that isn’t appealing from one angle can, with the help of an analogy, look a lot better from a different angle. For example, I’ve gone on record  stating that I’m not much of a salesperson. A few years back, though, I was reading a book on selling art which used an analogy to help me see sales differently. Instead of it being an exchange of money for goods or services (which it is, technically, and which seems tawdry at times), the author illustrated how sales is also problem solving (for the customer), an exercise in creativity (finding a market that fits the product), and so on. Through analogy, I was able to see things from a different viewpoint. Maintain your desired focus.  Analogies can get out of control. If you use sailing as an analogy, for an example, remember what your main point is and keep to it. Avoid veering off into using every aspect of sailing- ropes! knots! wind! boom! tacking!- and stick to just the parts of the analogy that will sell your main point the best. An analogy isn’t an anecdote; it’s a highly persuasive tool that can make the unfamiliar into something familiar. Maintain focus if you want the tool to work. Don’t forget the visual.  Depending on the content you are creating (e.g. written vs. spoken), you may find a visual helpful as your analogy, or alongside your analogy. In the â€Å"Numb3rs† clip, the imagery of the boats helps illustrate what the actress is saying. We visual learners appreciate it! For Fun:Which of the following similes would you love to see expanded into analogy? Why do some stand out for you and not others? Which ones make you curious enough to keep reading? Which could be used to clarify a particular aspect of content marketing? Run with them in the comments if you’d like to take a crack at it.Content marketing is†¦ Like a box of old pencils. A  camera without film. Like a movie without credits. Like a buoy in the Pacific Ocean. What happens when polar bears meet penguins. Superman with an extra cape. Superman without a cape.

Budgeting and reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Budgeting and reporting - Essay Example With such dominance in prices and number of consultations it is a disappointment that the firm has lower net income than the competitor. The advisory scheme is underutilized by the clients of the firm. On average they use around 75% of all prepaid consultations, which is not an advantage for the firm. The firm would prefer to have clients use all 100% and pay extra hours with regular fees. However, it has to be balanced with the satisfaction of the clients that might be happy to prepay current levels. Overall the firm looks more inefficient in managing costs compared to the competitor. Appendix 2 also reveals that the competitor attracts more new enquiries and gives more consultations to new clients. This is a sign of strong growth (Chadwick, 1997), combined with the number of complaints it indicates that the competitor is better at attracting and retaining new clients, which might provide substantial future advantage in the business development. The worrying number is the number of successful claims for negligent advice. Each successful claim undermines the reputation of the firm and projects a negative image to prospective and existing clients. It can be a big driver for clients to switch to the competitor in the future as it is a strong indicator of the service quality. The decision of the production director to source cheaper material and to use lower grade labour is reflected in the variance analysis. Material price increased, however, the material usage gace adverse effect due to increased wastage. Overall, the material variance is negative 5100-7500=-2400$, which signals that the benefit of using cheaper material with higher waste is questionable. The same goes for the lower grade labour, which improved labour rate and worsened labour efficiency. It shows that number of hours spent by the lower grade labour is higher than

Organizational Behavior Analysis Proposal for McDonald's Essay

Organizational Behavior Analysis Proposal for McDonald's - Essay Example McDonald is not living up to its stated set of vision and values. The company allegedly uses unethical methods to make increased profits at the expense of customers’ health and social condition of the employees. McDonald has also been criticized for targeting children with their advertisements by exposing them to unhealthy eating habits. This has contributed to the high levels of obesity and other health complications. The company has also been accused of passing their French fries as vegetarian, whereas they add beef broth. The company has failed to provide nutrition information about its food products to the public. The company has also contributed to environmental degradation. An organization named People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has accused the company of using cruel means when slaughtering chicken (Derdak 107). The analysis also involves analyzing organizational factors that have an influence on individual behaviors. The big five personality trait can be used to analyze individuals within the organization. The big five personality traits include extraversion, which refers to a person who is talkative social and assertive. Agreeableness describes a cooperative, trustworthy and accomplished person. Conscientiousness refers to a person who is responsible, orderly, and dependable. Neuroticism describes a person who is anxious and is prone to depression and worries. Openness means a person is imaginative and independent minded. Personality in organization analysis refers to individual and group level performance. A personality trait such as cooperative or deviant behavior and performance affects the overall performance of an organization.

Wireless Communication Security Essay -- Research Paper Technology Pap

Wireless Communication Security Abstract In today’s society advances in technology are growing rapidly. Businesses and people are taking full advantage of the improving ways of transmitting data internally and externally. One of the mediums today in transmitting data is via wireless communication systems. It is obvious that this data will need to be secure for many reasons. These will be the questions I will pose in this paper. Will this be a secure means of transmitting data? How sure are we of the means of security that we have available to us as consumers of this technology? The answers to these questions will be in a form of an opinion that I will have developed myself. I am not qualified to give a determination. I hope one day with continuing my education and work experience I will develop that qualification. Introduction This research paper is on a very important topic (Wireless Communication Security). The security of wireless communication is becoming more critical in today’s society and its future as well. While the technology is rapidly growing, businesses and people are eager to embrace the technology and use it to become more competitive in the business world and even more convenient with daily use in the personal setting. The question concerning this fast growing technology will be the issue of security and the integrity of the data being transferred over these systems. In most cases, having this data seen by someone other than the client that it is intended for could be detrimental in both cases (professionally and personally). For example if you have certain financial account numbers that are exposed, this could result in catastrophic problems. If a business has some protected... ...y of 802.11 Retrieved June 22, 2003, From: Galileo, Computer and Information Systems Abstracts, http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/cgi-bin/hompage.cgi d NASA Advanced Super Computing Division Category Development, Class public, Revision 3.0. 09-13-02 Retrieved on July 8, 2003 from: http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/Networks/Projects/wireless/index.html William A. Arbaugh, YC Justin Wan, Naren Aar Shankar, 03-30-01 Your 802.11 wireless networks has no clothes University of Maryland Department of CSIS Retrieved July 8, 2003, From: http://www.cs.umd.edu/~waa/wireless.pdf Sultan Weatherspoon, Security (Intel)Intel Technology Journal Retrieved July 8, 2003, From: http://developer.inte.com/technology/itj/q2200/articles/art_5.htm Henry Norr, 2001, Security Fix for Wireless Retrieved July 8, 2003, From: http://sfgate.com/cgi_bin/article.cgi?file

Panasonic and Japans Changing Culture Essay

In Japan in 1918 Konosuke Matsushita founded Matsushita Electric a consumer electronics company which is known today as Panasonic. Panasonic has offices in 58 different countries and is regarded as one of the world’s largest electronics companies. (Panasonic, 2013) Panasonic alike many other Japanese companies was established on a Confucian value system. The Confucian value system consists of three main elements; reciprocal obligations, honesty and loyalty. These elements form a majority of traditional Japanese values. (Smits, 2010) Hofstede, even though his work has been criticised, recognised some significant aspects of Japanese culture. These aspects included high uncertainty avoidance, high masculinity and a swing towards collectivism. These aspects also contribute largely to traditional Japanese values. These values were represented in such policies as lifetime employment and generous retirement bonuses. (Hofstede, 2013) However cultures are dynamic, they change over time. The major shift in Japanese culture occurred during the 1990’s, which was mainly attributed to the change in perspective of the generation born after 1964. This change was evident in 1999 when Panasonic gave its new employees a decision between different employment packages. The first package gave the employees a large retirement bonus, subsidised housing and services and company social events. The second package gave the employees the same perks except instead of a retirement bonus a larger starting salary. The third package gave the employees an even larger still starting salary however none of the other benefits. In contradiction to traditional values 41% of new employees chose the second package. (Hill, 2011) This shows a move away from high uncertainty avoidance which was triggered by an increase in average wealth and a move towards individualism. The primary criticism of this generation was their lack of commitment to traditional Japanese values in comparison with their parents. One of the more perceptible changes was a switch from a collectivist culture to a more individual culture. (Hill, 2011) It has been theorised that there is a correlation between economic development and a shift towards an individualistic society. This theory correlates with the article which states that a cause for the shift is the fact that the generation born after 1964 grew up in an economically richer society. This shift also affected organisational loyalty in the form of people changing jobs with greater frequency than ever before. (Reiner, 1991) This shift in the paradigm of Japanese cultural values has an effect on traditional values. The ‘modernised’ value system in effect is polar opposite to traditional values which were achieved by a complete cultural shift. Which in turn insinuates that the further the culture evolves the less tradition is left in the value system, if trends current stay constant. This shift in cultural dynamics changes the undercurrents of doing business in Japan. A major change is going to be retention of employees. This is due to the switch from collectivism to individualism and the decrease in personal identification based on company strata in conjunction with decreased company loyalty. The implication of this is companies are going to have to build their HR departments and find ways to lower employee turnover to reduce training costs. However if trends continue the average worker is going to have an increased understanding of a wide range of markets due to numerous career changes whic h allow firms access to a greater number of ideas to cope with increasingly dynamic business conditions. If companies want to optimise the new cultural principles of lowered uncertainty avoidance and the shift towards individualism they are going to have to encourage new product development and add funding to research and development. (Reid, 1999) Panasonic have already identified this and moving towards a greater number of policies in this area. Panasonic have also identified the lack of traditional aspects in the business environment and have implemented policies such as; bonuses based on performance and the new employment package plans. (Hill, 2011) If uncertainty avoidance and individualism continue to increase to Western levels there may be an increase in start-up companies which would increase competition in the market and possibly decrease the market share of existing companies. These changes could also have been influenced by a greater presence of western culture within Japa nese society. However there could be the adverse effect of decreased productivity attributed to a decrease in the number of employees having a personal identification with the company, decreased loyalty as well as a move away from reciprocal obligation and towards entitlement. This also works in the opposite direction and companies may not feel loyalty or obligation to Japanese employees and instead off-shore operations to lower wage countries in order to increase margins. (Reid, 1999) Between 1986 and 1989 there was a rapid acceleration of asset prices in Japan. This also caused uncontrolled credit expansion and money supply in addition with overheated economic activity. Due to speculation and overconfidence of asset prices, the asset prices began to drop in 1991 and collapsed by 1992. The asset bubble collapse lasted for more than 10 years and was generally referred to as the lost decade for Japan. This also led to economic stagnation and as result of lower net income Japanese families decided to pay off debts which caused a deflation spiral. (The Economist, 2010) Since these events the Japanese economy has struggled to recover. Even though recent decisions by the Japanese government has caused the Nikkei to recover slightly it is currently roughly a third of the value it was in 1990. Currently the cash rate in Japan is 0% which means that changing monetary policy cannot increase GDP. This means that for Japan to obtain a substantial increase in GDP it has to increase its goods market. Japan has a debt to GDP ratio of 214% which is the highest in the world. (US CIA, 2013) Therefore an increase in consumption, investment or net exports is needed to advance Japans economy. Panasonic as well as a number of other companies have realised this and has moved to encourage individualism. Individualism encourages entrepreneurship which currently could boost the Japanese economy if successful new product development takes place. (Saito, 2000) The traditional Japanese culture was a benefit to Panasonic during the period of 1950 to 1980. A group orientated culture assisted with strong teamwork between employees allowing greater productivity within the workplace. Due to the element of reciprocal obligation in the Confucian value system policies such as lifetime employment and cheap housing were seen as gifts and in reciprocation of these gifts employees worked harder. Loyalty played a large part in building strong business performance, this is because employees would stay in a business for the entirety of their career so they were able it learn all aspects of the business and better manage it. This amongst other factors also lead to identification with the business by employees, instead of saying â€Å"I am a web developer† they would say â€Å"I am from Panasonic†. This identification encouraged employees to work harder so that their company would succeed. A high uncertainty avoidance allowed managers to only take a calculated risk when the needed to, which reduced the companies liabilities. (Strath, 1996) However even though the traditional Japanese culture was a benefit to Panasonic in the period of 1950 to 1980 it was a liability post 1989. Even though Confucian values encourage team work and other positive attributes it discourages individualism. During this time period due to the economic crisis in Japan Panasonic would if benefited more from an entrepreneurial drive towards new product development. A high uncertainty avoidance also meant that managers were not willing to take risks unless they knew what the outcome was going to be, due to the economic pressures and heightened pace of change within the business community managers were less likely to change things in an environment where the only way to survive is change. During this time period business was becoming more dynamic due to globalisation and increased competitors which meant that Panasonic needed to change its strategy, however managers did not know how to do this because they had only ever worked in the one company an d only knew one way of doing things. Panasonic alike other Japanese companies eventually had to lay people off and cut benefits due to economic conditions. These acts were seen as a dismissing employee’s loyalty and to a point betrayal due to the strong identification with the company which caused productivity changes. (Huffman, 1997) In the last financial year Panasonic recorded a loss of 754 billion dollars and forecasts a loss of 765 billion dollars next financial year. Even though there is no best culture for a business environment, Japanese companies including Panasonic are move towards integrating the current cultural changes into their practices in order to achieve greater efficiency and productivity. The question is will Japanese culture continue along its current trends or do an about face? (Panasonic, 2013) References Hill, Challes. 2011. Gobal Business Today. 7th Edition. McGraw-Hill. Pp 125-128 Hofstede, Greet. 2013. Japan – Geert Hofstede. [ONLINE] Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/japan.html. [Accessed 24 August 2013]. Huffman, James. 1997. Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities). Edition. Routledge. The Economist (US). 2010. Japan syndrome, the future of Japan. ISSN 0013-0613 Volume 397, Issue 8709, p. 18 Reiner, Thomas. 1991. Legacies and Ambiguities: Postwar Fiction and Culture in West Germany and Japan. 1 Edition. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Panasonic. 2013. Annual Report. [ONLINE] Available at: http://panasonic.net/ir/annual/. [Accessed 26 August 2013]. Panasonic. 2013. Global Network – Panasonic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.panasonic.com/global/global-network.html. [Accessed 22 August 2013]. Reid, David. 1999. Changes in Japan’s Post-Bubble Business Environment: Implications for For eign-Afflilated Companies. Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 38-63 Saito, Mitsuo. 2000. The Japanese Economy (Economic Ideas Leading to the 21st Century). Edition. World Scientific Pub Co Inc. Smits, Gregory. 2010. Economic Thought in Early Modern Japan (Monies, Markets, and Finance in East Asia, 1600-1900). Edition. Brill Academic Pub. Strath, Bo. 1996. The Organization of Labour Markets: Modernity, Culture and Governance in Germany, Sweden, Britain and Japan (Routledge Explorations in Economic History). annotated edition Edition. Routledge. United States Central Intelligence Agency. 2013. The World Factbook, Public Debt. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html. [Accessed 22 August 2013].

William Butler Yeats The Great Irish Poet & Playwright

William Butler Yeats was both poet and playwright, a towering figure in 20th-century literature in English, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, a master of traditional verse forms and at the same time an idol of the modernist poets who followed him. Childhood William Butler Yeats was born into a wealthy, artistic Anglo-Irish family in Dublin in 1865. His father, John Butler Yeats, was educated as an attorney but abandoned the law to become a well-known portrait painter. It was his father’s career as an artist that took the family to London for four years during Yeats’ boyhood. His mother, Susan Mary Pollexfen, was from Sligo, where Yeats spent summers in childhood and later made his home. It was she who introduced William to the Irish folktales which permeated his early poetry. When the family returned to Ireland, Yeats attended high school and later art school in Dublin. A Young Poet Yeats was always interested in mystical theories and images, the supernatural, the esoteric and the occult. As a young man, he studied the works of  William Blake and Emanuel Swedenborg and was a member of the Theosophical Society and Golden Dawn. But his early poetry was modeled on Shelley and Spenser (e.g., his first published poem, â€Å"The Isle of Statues,† in The Dublin University Review) and drew on Irish folklore and mythology (as in his first full-length collection, The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, 1889). After his family returned to London in 1887, Yeats founded the Rhymer’s Club with Ernest Rhys. Maud Gonne In 1889 Yeats met Irish nationalist and actress Maud Gonne, the great love of his life. She was committed to the political struggle for Irish independence; he was devoted to the revival of Irish heritage and cultural identity—but through her influence, he did become involved in politics and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He proposed to Maud several times, but she never consented and ended up marrying Major John MacBride, a Republican activist who was executed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising. Yeats wrote many poems and several plays for Gonne—she earned great acclaim in his Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Irish Literary Revival and the Abbey Theatre With Lady Gregory and others, Yeats was a founder of the Irish Literary Theatre, which sought to revive Celtic dramatic literature. This project lasted only a couple of years, but Yeats was soon joined by J.M. Synge in the Irish National Theatre, which moved into its permanent home at the Abbey Theatre in 1904. Yeats served as its director for some time and to this day, it plays an active role in launching the careers of new Irish writers and playwrights. Ezra Pound In 1913, Yeats became acquainted with  Ezra Pound, an American poet 20 years his junior who had come to London to meet him, because he considered Yeats the only contemporary poet worth studying. Pound served as his secretary for several years, causing a ruckus when he sent several of Yeats’ poems to be published in Poetry magazine with his own edited changes and without Yeats’ approval. Pound also introduced Yeats to the Japanese Noh drama, on which he modeled several plays. Mysticism Marriage At 51, determined to marry and have children, Yeats finally gave up on Maud Gonne and proposed to Georgie Hyde-Lees, a woman half his age whom he knew from his esoteric explorations. In spite of the age difference and his long unrequited love for another, it turned out to be a successful marriage and they had two children. For many years, Yeats and his wife collaborated in a process of automatic writing, in which she contacted various spirit guides and with their help, Yeats constructed the philosophical theory of history contained in A Vision, published in 1925. Later Life Immediately after the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Yeats was appointed to its first Senate, where he served for two terms. In 1923 Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. It is generally agreed that he is one of a very few Nobel laureates who produced his best work after receiving the Prize. In the last years of his life, Yeats’ poems became more personal and his politics more conservative. He founded the Irish Academy of Letters in 1932 and continued to write quite prolifically. Yeats died in France in 1939; after World War II his body was moved to Drumcliffe, County Sligo.