Computer Based Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Computer Based Learning - Essay Example Others find that it hinders their efforts, as secondary education students tend to use it for entertainment and not as intended. Within the context of writing classes and writing research, Computer Based Learning (CBL) / Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) have been employed primarily to support collaborative writing endeavours. (Zakrzewski 2003) The feature sets of CBL and CAAs provide a rich environment for the activities of group writing tasks, peer reviewing, and information exchange. Further, CBL and CAAs provide opportunities for instructors to expose secondary education students to knowledge, as well as opportunities for secondary education students to build their own knowledge through interaction via an electronic communications medium. (Mccabe 2000) The exposure to and development of secondary education student knowledge transpires as a function of the dynamic interaction process within the learning environment. Thus, usage of CBL and CAAs may promote active learning of course material by engaging the secondary education student in communication activities and behaviours that stress interaction among secondary education students and between the secondary education student and the instructor(s). (Salmon 2003) However, secondary education students must use (and adapt usage of) the CBL and CAA in a manner that supports effective interaction to gain such benefits. (Zakrzewski 2003) Research has shown the following characteristics of some students who tend to have and unfair advantage in CBL and CAA, communicative interaction significantly influence such student's effectiveness: communication message content, communication exchange format, and communication exchange timing. The secondary educator of today faces a difficult challenge when given the choice of employing CBL and CAAs in traditional face-to-face or distance learning situations. Administrators facing pressures to cut university costs (and maximize usage of faculty resources) argue for the use of CBL and CAAs, whereas conventional secondary education students research presents conflicting results regarding the effects of CBL and CAA use in higher education settings (see, for example, Alavi; Alavi; Leidner and Ruberg). What is an educator to decide The purpose of this study is to shed light on this very real problem today is higher education faculty face. In this study, we focus on exploring secondary education student interaction within the context of CBL and CAA usage to gain a deeper, situated understanding of how secondary education students choose to use the CBL and CAA to meet assignment requirements, and ultimately to uncover factors that may influence secondary education student learnin g outcomes. (Mayer 2003) Nevertheless, before we can isolate factors that influence secondary education student learning, we must first have a well-grounded understanding of the type and kind of interaction that actually occurs when secondary education students complete computer-based communication assignments on their own, with minimal instructor intervention. (Mandinach et al.

What Should Medicine Do When It Cant Save Your Life Essay

What Should Medicine Do When It Cant Save Your Life - Essay Example Atul Gawande sees hospice as a morphine drip. It serves as a way to minimize the terminally ill patient’s anxiety on death and provides the family with opportunities to accept and seize every important moment that can make it easier for the patient and family to accept the natural course of faith resulting from the disease. I do believe that hospice care has relatively high importance with the families of patients suffering from terminal illnesses, not only that it addresses the sufferings that are bound to be experienced by the patient but also some observations indicate that hospice care prolongs the survivability. Creed refers to patients that are in a situation in their life wherein they have already understood that they have a have a fatal illness however they do not fully consider it as a condition which will end up in their demise. There are various approaches, some of which may not be applicable to other patients. This is primarily due the differences in the character of each individual. However, Dr Creed is able to effective apply this approach to patients. Instead of explicitly conveying a notion of being sorry for the condition of the patient, Creed says to her patients that she there to make their life better and that they have a lot of time to waste, given such condition. Dr Block focuses more on helping the patients identify what is most important to them and provide them with information and advice on the best approach that could help them address the salient activities that would the most impact on those important matters that the patient pointed out.  

Example Answer On Multinational Corporations And Complexity

Example Answer On Multinational Corporations And Complexity Multinational corporations (MNCs), in their effort of globalisation normally face complexity that caused by multiculturalism and geographic dispersion. There are three characteristics of complexity in globalisation. 1) Multiplicity reflects the need of MNCs to be responsive to different viewpoints, public opinion concern and government rules and regulations. 2) Interdependence will means all operation and business activities are interrelated that can not be treated alone. 3) Ambiguity means the lack of information clarity that will lead to difficulty in interpreting events and people. Complexity in the international operating environment will then lead to various global challenges. It is difficult for MNCs to achieve organizational effectiveness and sustainable competitive advantage locally as well as globally if it is operating without an efficient and systematic HRM practices that align with the business strategy. Paine Co. which is building its international presence is facing some HR issues and challenges that typically will happen in MNCs. From the case study, the following main HR issues had been identified. TABLE 1: MAIN HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES FACED BY PAINE CO. A. Communication Do not have a clear view of the corporate mission statement and vision set within the group. Lack of communication channel between the management and the employees. Do not have get-together among staff for idea exchange and employees feedback sessions. B. Recruitment, selection and retention Decentralised recruitment policies. Do not have good image branding and company reputation. C. Performance management and reward system Do not have well designed performance review and appraisal system. D. Training and development Do not provide staff intensive training for all new employees. Do not have further on-job or off-job training for improvement of skills and knowledge. Do not have interchanging of staff between subsidiaries. Communication being one of the most important components in human life is also the key of success for HR management. Effective communication is essential throughout an organization to ensure transpire of all information and knowledge sharing can be achieved. Communication is also vital for the organizational objectives setting. Effective communication between the employer and employees can lead to a greater understanding in achieving organizations goal. Study by Lindholm, N. (2000) found that it is important to communicate the company goal and job objective clearly to the host-country employees in MNCs to increase their job satisfaction. Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric Co. (GE) had introduced the informal culture across the company. The Informal by Jack Welch means violating the conventional chain of command, creating communication across all layers of the organization and everyone can talk to the boss. During his tenure as GEs CEO, Jack Welch organized a lot of corporate events that provide opportunities to all the employees to get-together and at the same time the management can communicate the company values and vision effectively to the employees. Besides that, Jack Welch also made unexpected visits to plants and offices abroad as well as scheduled luncheons with his managers to achieve good leading, guidance, and influence the behaviour of complex organization. The weakness in communication within Paine Co. can be seen in a few contexts. The communication problems started from their international expansion with some of the subsidiaries running on decentralised basis. There are no common strategies and objectives been set and communicate across all subsidiaries in the overall business operation. There is also no interchange of people between subsidiaries which can help to promote knowledge sharing and team spirit. Collecting workplace feedbacks from employees can facilitate in creating two-way communication which is important in an organization. Annual staff opinion survey is one of the methods that can be introduced to collect feedbacks from employees. In Paine Co., the occasion that consultants from France made direct complaints to their MD bypassing their local manager had shown the lack in proper channel of communication within the organization. Besides that, Ferguson as the MD of Paine Co. did not emphasize on knowledge sharing and t eam work but only see personal results and performance as the key factors of determining the business success. Therefore, overall synergy can not be achieved for a greater sustainable competitive advantage. Human assets are important for service industry as their people are core part of the source of services that have direct visibility from a customer point of view. Stringent recruitment and selection processes must be implemented to ensure the right people are to be engaged. Employers reputation and corporate branding are other crucial factors that will affect the recruitment and selection process. Highly talented people are always looking for their employer of choice in seeking their job for better career advancement. Singapore Airlines (SIA) for example had been the employer of choice for many educated young people due to their reputation as a service leader in the airline industry. On the other hand, SIA adopts a highly rigorous and stringent selection process which the applicants are required to meet various criteria from outlook appearance, age ranges, academic qualifications as well as physical attributes. The stringent selection process is to ensure the right people bee selecte d for the right job and at the same time improve the service quality of the organization. In this case, Paine Co. failed to carry out the best-practice in the recruitment and selection strategies. The company has had problems in developing a brand with a good company image in Germany, both for clients and staff. While facing the problem in recruiting good staffs, at the same time it also fails to retain the talented young employees. These have affected the efficiency and smoothness of the project and business operation and at the same time will incur higher cost for recruitment purpose. As recruitment and retention of employee is another challenging task in IHRM. Employers need to select the right people and put them to the right jobs, as well as managing their performance effectively and at the same time retain the quality employees from leaving the organizations. Only the right people will take the organization where they need to go. Hadhiphanis (2010) highlighted three issues that need to be considered by management when recruiting employees: Value of experience and s kills for the proposed position; behavioural and technical competencies based in making hiring decision; and pre-screen candidates before interview. While for retention of staff, Hadhiphanis (2010) again suggested that three strategies need to be carefully implemented in order to ensure the company provide better value to their employees as compare to their competitors. Options of remuneration, fringe benefits and rewards system to employees. Clear in communicating expectations and ability to gauge the performance against expectations. Rotational assignments, career development and planning as well as financial support (job-related and non-job related) to employees. The implementation of good staff recruitment and retaining strategies will not only build good employees capability for today but also for the future. Paine Co. should identify the needs of their employees and should not assume employees in every country having the same needs. Most of the time, the employees needs are reflected in the social-economy and culture of the country. Besides that, employees needs will not be the same all the time and review should be carried out periodically to ensure the HR practices are being implemented correctly to suit the current conditions. As for the performance management and reward system (PMRS) in Paine and Co. Although employees bonus and rewards are performance based, the final decision still subject to the senior management discretions without going through a proper appraisal and performance review system. Therefore their bonus system is not well-regarded. Performance management (PM) was defined as a HRM process involving constant evaluation of individual and corporate improvement progress against the predetermined objectives which are correlated to the company business strategy (Dowling et al., 1999 cited by Lindholm, N., 2000). The extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, understanding of job task and job satisfaction of the employees are mainly influenced by PM practices of a company (Lindholm, N., 2000). PM that is properly planned and implemented will also help in the objectives setting, reducing job errors as well as maximizing employees satisfaction and motivation in achieving not only individual job objective s but also align with the companys business strategy in achieving organizational goals. Evidence from research had shown that cultural differences among countries will affect the elements in implementing PM. PM practices will not be successful if MNCs implement and standardize their PM policies at both home country office and the overseas subsidiaries without consideration the cultural differences among the countries. Hofstedes cultural dimensions theory had been applied by researchers in their studies in relationship between the cultural differences and the transferability of PM as well as job satisfaction in MNCs. Lindholm, N. (2000) suggested that PM system should be modified to suit to the culture of host-country. Modular type PM system that can suit to different cultures in different countries can be developed to improve the job satisfaction and performance of host-country employees. Besides that, the design and implementation of a fair performance evaluation system by taking host-country employees feedback into consideration is crucial to create job satisfaction o f employees in MNCs. IHRM issue is one of the greatest challenges for all MNCs. Even world class companies like General Electric Co. and Black Decker Corp. will face some challenges in managing HRM issues when it first going global. Mendenhall, M.E et al, (2003) had identified the following Big Five global HR challenges for MNCs. Enhancing global business strategy Aligning HR issues with business strategy Designing and leading change Building global corporate cultures Developing global leaders The implementation of good IHRM practices has become very crucial in the success of all organization regardless their sizes and industry (Ulrich, 1997, cited by Nicolaou, N. and Costea, E.S). The fit of this type of culture HR system shall be given more attention in order to create an effective organization. In todays highly competitive globalization business environment, human resource become the main assets of an organization and therefore the implementation of IHRM strategy is the key to the success of the organization and its continuous competiveness in the global market. ANSWER FOR QUESTION 2: Barlett and Ghoshal (2000, cited by Harzing, A.W and Ruysseveldt, J.V., 2004) highlighted the three types of strategic objectives for MNCs are: meeting the challenges of global efficiency; multinational flexibility, and worldwide learning. Porter (1990, cited by Truong, et al, 2010) pointed out that the most significant source of competitive advantage for an economy is a skilled, flexible and well-educated workforce. While Heneman et al. (2000, cited by Truong, et al, 2010) stated that HR is important for all types of organizational sustainability. Many companies had realised the importance of strategic HR practices but only a few can implement it strategically in conjunction with the business strategy to gain competitive advantage (Schuler R.S MacMillan I.C, 1984). The following table shows the core components of HR practices that had been identified and the proposed HRM strategies in order to help Paine Co. in building their corporate business strategy to gain long-term competitive advantage. TABLE 2: CORE HRM COMPONENTS, CURRENT STATUS AND PROPOSED STRATEGIES FOR PAINE CO. HRM Core Components Current Status Strategies Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and selection procedures not regulated or standardised Do not have clear and stringent criteria in selection To use value-based hiring method To carry out proper job analysis and description Specification of minimum criteria in selection Standardisation of recruitment and selection procedures (i.e. interview, psychometric test and social test) Compensation and Benefits Remuneration system not standardised or according to industry standard To carry out industry remuneration review To introduce profit sharing scheme Performance Management and Reward System Do not have proper appraisal review system Rewards do not reflected on the individual performance No relationship between reward policy and corporate business development strategy To carry out KPI as PMRS To create link between goal-setting and performance achievement Training and Development Do not have proper training and development program To have intensive training for new staff To provide continuous training throughout employment Retention of Talents Lack of support from management to staff Lack of communication between employer and employees Lack of motivation Do not have succession plan To create multiple channels for information sharing To rewards the staff with innovative ways To carry out employees satisfaction survey To develop career advancement plan for employees Schuler R.S and MacMillan I.C (1984) suggested two ways for HRM practices to help in gaining organizational competitive advantage: by helping themselves and by helping others. They also clarified that good HRM practices should be first be targeted within the company before implement to the external parties (i.e. customers, suppliers, distributors). Strategic HRM practices should be ideally integrated with the business strategy of an organization in building long-tern competitive advantage. Wirtz, J., et al, 2007 believed that The wrong people are liability. Recruitment and selection is an important process in HRM that will decide whether the right person will be doing the right job at the right place. Value-based hiring method can be utilised by Paine Co. in their recruitment and selection process. A detail job analysis and job functions description should be carried out before determining the selection criteria in their recruitment exercise. Other than qualifications and experiences, criteria like physical attributes, social and emotional competency should also be considered when selecting their consultants who are the front-line staff that serve their clients. Therefore, other than structured interviews, psychometric tests and social competency tests should also be included in the screening process to ensure high quality consultants are recruited. By having stringent selection criteria, the uncertainty of hiring the right applicants with the expected qualities will be reduced. In long run, the cost for recruitment and selection process can be reduced due to the increased in efficiency of recruitment and selection process. Besides the selection and recruitment process, Paine Co. also facing problems in managing their compensation and benefits as well as PMRS. It is suggested that profit sharing scheme to be introduced to the consultant advisers and senior consultants. This will encourage employees to be part of the business partners and increase their commitment towards the company performance. While for PMRS, Paine Co. should implement the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) system to ensure fair evaluation of performance review and structured appraisal throughout the whole group. Implement of KPI system will not only guarantee fair treatment to all staff but also make the objectives setting and performance management process more effective. Training is one of the key components of success for service industry like Paine Co. For organizations that are seeking competitive advantage through HR, Khandekar, A., and Shama, A. (2005) suggested that they should design their HR systems so that human resources can be utilised efficiently and enabling knowledge been used by employees to maximize their organizational competitive. In this situation, Paine Co. is suggested to plan and provide an intensive training program to all its new employees before they carry out their duties. Intensive training programs are effective HRM tools because it can help the newcomers to master their jobs which probably causing fewer anxieties among them. Besides that, company values, objectives and the expectations from the employer can also be clearly communicated across to the new staff through intensive training. Subsequent off-job and on-job trainings should be planned and provided regularly throughout the employment period to improve knowledge and skills of employees. The training and development program is part of the strategic HR management that is essential for Paine Co. to obtain sustainable service excellence and long-term competitive advantage in the industry. Last but not least, the talents retention is another area that needs to be strategically implemented. Tobia, P.M (1999) mentioned that lowering turnover of staff will increase profits of a company. Besides that, only employees who are motivated and satisfied with their working conditions are able to produce good services and products for better competitive advantage in the industry. Many young consultants in Paine Co. left the company by joining the competitors proofed that its employees are not satisfied with their working conditions as compare to the competitors. Paine Co. need to improve the provision of resources to the employees in carrying out their duties. Implementation of some long-term retention programs such as innovative and fair PMRS; people friendly policies and carry out employees feedback survey will definitely help in reducing staff turnover rate. Opportunity for career advancement is another determinant of retention success. Succession plan and career path plannin g is important to retain talented employees and increase productivity. By implementing all the above proposed HRM strategies will not guarantee the ultimate success of the company in achieving the long-term business competitive advantage if there are no continuous reviews and improvement plans on its strategies. Besides a good HRM systems, products and brand differentiation; focus orientation; global thinking; a sensitive radar system; perpetual spirit of innovations; social and environmental responsibilities are some of the other criteria for MSCs to become a real World Class Company and achieve long-term business competitive advantage. All the above mentioned criteria will need to link people with the strategic needs of the business as people is the most valuable asset of an organization. If the business needs of an organization can be clearly identified and be integrated effectively with the HRM practices, long-term sustainable competitive advantage will not be far from achievable. REFLECTION Planning and formulating the HRM practices with business strategy for competitive advantage will be meaningless if the management do not understand the basic needs of their employees. Therefore, communications play an important role in the analysing and understanding the employees behaviour so that the right HRM practices can be strategized. All employers know what the company goals are, but not everyone is able to articulate their products or services with the market-place effectively to determine the types of employees needed. The needs-matching process to get the right person to do the right job is another great challenge in HRM. Another concern will be the consistency in the implementation of the best HRM practices in an organization. Only long-term consistency in the practices can bring great results and achieve sustainable competitive advantage instead of just short-term success. Commitment from the top management is an important factor that will determine the success. Total organizational commitment can not be achieved without starting from the top and working down. If the top management started to demonstrate good practices, concern and commitment to their job and products, the employees will also begin to follow the same practices and further synergizing their contributions to perform for sustainable competitive advantage. END ABBREVIATIONS GE General Electric Co. HRM Human Resource Management IHRM International Human Resource Management KPI Key Performance Indicator MD Managing Director MNCs Multinational Corporations PM Performance Management PMRS Performance Management and Reward System SIA Singapore Airlines

Fiscal Policy In The US Essay -- essays papers

Fiscal Policy In The US â€Å"Real plans for real people.† This was the coined theme for the Bush campaign back in September. As far as I can see with his tax cut plan in doesn’t involve â€Å"real people†. It may just depend on your definition of the term, but the â€Å"real people† of America are the middle class, hard working families. Bush’s tax plan is now said to be $1.6 trillion over a ten year period of time. Most of this money will go to the upper brackets, the â€Å"better off†. Granted they do pay the most money, but then when you think about it, why do they need the cut? Can they not afford to pay their taxes? In this economic time of a feared recession our government should be doing everything in their power to avoid this situation. Having a prolonged tax cut does nothing to help the economy now. By the time the money is given back we and more than likely to have already succeeded this economic down low. The economist will tell you the in order to dodge this the money must be given back now. If the money is given back earlier there is a better chance of people spending it and stimulating economic activity. When looked at by this point of view I most definitely agree with Laura D’Andrea Tyson when she said, â€Å"Bush wants a large tax cut for political reasons, not economic ones.† When Robert J. Barro discuses how he thinks the tax cut will stimulate investment and growth, increase incentives to work and save, and lower the amount of money Congress can spend, I find myself d... Fiscal Policy In The US Essay -- essays papers Fiscal Policy In The US â€Å"Real plans for real people.† This was the coined theme for the Bush campaign back in September. As far as I can see with his tax cut plan in doesn’t involve â€Å"real people†. It may just depend on your definition of the term, but the â€Å"real people† of America are the middle class, hard working families. Bush’s tax plan is now said to be $1.6 trillion over a ten year period of time. Most of this money will go to the upper brackets, the â€Å"better off†. Granted they do pay the most money, but then when you think about it, why do they need the cut? Can they not afford to pay their taxes? In this economic time of a feared recession our government should be doing everything in their power to avoid this situation. Having a prolonged tax cut does nothing to help the economy now. By the time the money is given back we and more than likely to have already succeeded this economic down low. The economist will tell you the in order to dodge this the money must be given back now. If the money is given back earlier there is a better chance of people spending it and stimulating economic activity. When looked at by this point of view I most definitely agree with Laura D’Andrea Tyson when she said, â€Å"Bush wants a large tax cut for political reasons, not economic ones.† When Robert J. Barro discuses how he thinks the tax cut will stimulate investment and growth, increase incentives to work and save, and lower the amount of money Congress can spend, I find myself d...

Madeliene Leininger

Nursing Theorist M. Leininger: Culture Care Theory Nursing Theorist Madeliene Leininger: Culture Care Theory Madeliene Leininger was born in Sutton, Nebraska in 1925. In her early life she lived with her brothers and sisters on her father’s farm. She received her high school education from Scholastica College. She furthered her education at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C. and then went to the University of Washington, Seattle. Upon completion of her education she became the first professional nurse to complete a PhD on anthropology. Due to the broader approach in her education, she became the first to bring knowledge of anthropology and nursing together to develop the concept of transcultural nursing as an area of study necessary in the nursing field. She developed the Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory with special focus at culture care. To date, due to the uniqueness of her perspective this theory is used across the world. She developed the theory in 1978 when she established the first caring research conference in which she established the ethnonursing method of research. Leininger conducted the first transcultural study in the field of research in the 1960s while she lived in the Gadsup villages of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. After publishing her first book in the field of transcultural nursing, she established the first graduate program. In the study, Leininger focused at enhancing emic, generic and etic professional care through establishing their similarities and differences to prevent possible gaps and conflicting areas which are non therapeutic to clients. While her prowess in the field of nursing developed, she established the Transcultural Nursing Society as the organization that officially governed the new discipline. This was established in 1974. Afterwards, she established the first journal of transcultural nursing and became the editor. Due to her progressive performance in the discipline of transcultural nursing she has received many honors and outstanding awards. Her significant worldwide breakthrough in encouraging advancement of health discipline has lead to her nomination for a Nobel Prize. Based on the theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality, Leininger tries to describe and predict similarities in nursing and inherent differences which are focused at human care and cultures. The theory pays no attention to medical symptom, diseases and treatment but focuses on the methods of approach to care that gives significance to the person to whom the care is given. The theory was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to give care to people with cultural differences in lifestyles and values. Training nurses in this field enables them to offer care suitable to the people being administered. Due to focus on client nurse interaction the approach places the client at a better position of receiving better care and attention than when the medical approach to care is adopted. The focus is wide enough to serve not only different needs of individual but also communities, groups, families and institutions (Andrews & Boyle, 2007). Her first model in Culture Care Theory is called the Sunrise Enabler which offers the conceptual framework and guides a systematic study to the varied dimensions of the theory. This model is distinct in that it identifies three activities which include identification of the goals of nursing by addressing client oriented practices; assessing cultural factors affecting the care to the client and making appropriate judgment about the situation; making decision about the measures to be taken and taking action as influenced by the cultural context. The model uses information attained through research that identifies areas of congruence between cultures and nursing care especially in cultural values, lifestyles and beliefs of the client. In Culture Care Theory, Leininger identifies client caring as the heart of nursing which is unique to the field. While priming this focus, she criticizes the other four nursing concepts of person, environment, nursing and health arguing that nursing is both a profession and discipline and therefore the term ‘nursing’ cannot adequately explain the phenomenon of nursing. She views the concept of nursing as made of compassion, interest and concern for people. In this, concept care becomes central activity, the dominant and distinct unifying factor. Secondly, she views culturally founded care as useful for good health progress even when a client faces challenges such as handicaps or even when sick to the level of death. Thirdly, the healing of a client is based on care that is culturally driven and that there is no cure without this nature of care. Fourthly, care that is based on culture is characterized by comprehensiveness of service delivery, which is holistic and offers explanation to the areas of commonness between the nursing care practices and the culture of the client (Huber, 2006). Leininger views client care as an activity that occurs within a cultural context. She argues that culture is universal and diverse. Due to this, care must adapt to specific patterns of behavior distinguishing each society from another. According to transcultural scholars culture is distinguished by behavioral issues that are explicitly different from another. Leininger defines culture as ‘the lifeways of an individual or a group with reference to values, beliefs, norms, patterns, and practices’ (Leininger 1997, 38). She says that culture is an entity of a group of people which is transmitted across generations or across groups of members of the community. Leininger also holds the view that in order for nursing care to be effective, there is need to consider the ethnohistorical factors of the client, which hold a great value when examined from the ethnocultural perspectives. The ethnohistorical factors help in understanding the environmental context which involves the sociopolitical, ecological and cultural setting. In order to effectively make use of the ethnohistory of a community she calls for proper understanding of past occurrences of an individual and community which in one way or another influences a people’s lifeways. All the environmental factors give sense to the overall meaning of nursing care. The components which influence the theory are represented in the diagram below; Educational factors Technological factors Religious & philosophical factors Kinship & Social factors Environmental Context, Language & ethnohistory Cultural values, beliefs and lifeways Political & Legal factors Economic factors Care expressions patterns & practices Holistic Health/illness and death In the center of care, expressions, patterns and practices is the holistic health or illness or death approach with special focus to individuals, families, groups, communities or institutions founded on generic care, nursing care practices and professional care practices. These three practices of care are closely influenced by different factors; 1. Technological factors: Technology has been an essential element in offering nursing care. Development of technology has enhanced efficiency in operations of nurses across the world. Similarly, the quality of services offered, as well as, the diversity has immensely improved. Application of modern technology enhances operations of nurses especially when the technology is developed in a manner that creates congruence with the cultural values of a particular society. However, if technology does not support the cultural values of clients’ society the nursing care offered may fail to succeed as required. Even when there is an attempt to form a congruence of the technology and cultural factors, there may exist differences within groups, individuals and families. 2. Religious or philosophical concepts: Understanding cultural values entrenched in the people’s religious practices is necessary to enhancing ethnocultural nursing care. Across the world people view religion as an integral part of their life and seek to form congruence between the religious values and care activities, provided there is room for effectiveness in enhancing a healthy society. In addition, philosophical concepts that exist within a society determine how the client responds to care. In some instances, the philosophical doctrine may help develop congruence between the culture and care but in other instances the aspects may act as a deterrent if active measures are not taken into consideration in identifying the inherent gaps and the people’s ideological foundation. Therefore, there is a need to study the philosophical elements of a culture in which the nursing care need is to be offered. 3. Environmental factors: These include social factors and kinship; cultural values, beliefs, and lifeways and political and legal factors. The social factors include the issues surrounding the families or members of the community in their day to day activities. These include activities such as rituals and nutritional values. These may act as either a boost to nursing care or a deterrent. For instance, some cultural social practices and beliefs may deter a certain group of a larger society from eating some nutritional components, such as animal proteins. In such situations understanding other essential nutritional components that would offer similar nutritional value and which is allowable within the society can be encouraged. This helps in avoiding conflict of nursing care practices and cultural values. While the cultural and social factors may be conducive in enhancing care, the political factors may act as a deterrent to effective nursing care. This challenge may be based on the policy development, which may encourage the society to practice certain aspects of care while preventing others. Policy development may be either based on the cultural values of a society or influenced by the ruling class. Understanding the disparity between the expected target situation in nursing care and the available opportunities in achieving such a target may be a breakthrough in overcoming political hurdles in the nursing care profession and discipline. 4. Economic factors: Delivery of proper nursing care is dependent on the economic potential of a family, community or group of people within a community or a nation. The activities conducted towards effective nursing care have financial implications, some of which might be beyond the capability of many clients. In this case, the target population may fail to access the nursing care services (Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Health Care, 1994). In other cases, holistic care may be challenged by the degree of financial sacrifice that individuals may be able to make. The nursing care offered may only be relative to the people’s economic prowess and as a result meeting the care target may be challenging. The community or a nation may also be discouraged in offering the comprehensive nursing care, opting to channel the funds to other development activities. For instance, the ongoing United States comprehensive care debate is a response to a situation whereby only a few people are able to access comprehensive care, either culture care or otherwise, while the large group of the society remains unable to access the care (Leininger, 1991). The need for such comprehensive care has also raised queries on the increase of national spending. 5. Educational factors: The level of information available either to the clients or to the culture care specialists may influence the level of delivery of client care. Leininger argues that comprehensive research is necessary in providing information that would necessitate filling the gaps between the cultural values or other influencing factor and professional approach to nursing care. In a community where sufficient research is conducted to identify common areas of interest or similarities, the services offered would be in less conflict with the community’s cultural values and thus increase the possibility of holistic approach to client health. Similarly, the level of education of clients would influence the level of adherence to the nursing care practices, which would directly impact on the health of the individuals or community (Leininger, 1991). Increased levels of literacy in culture care among clients and nurses offer a common platform for nursing care service delivery. The culture care theory has to date stood out as the most widely used and established theory used by nurses world wide. According to research on the influence of the theory in development of the nursing profession, many nurses believe that the theory has made the highest level of break-through in enhancing health practices through the 20th century and even getting much more attention in the 21st century (Bolsher & Pharris, 2008). Leininger gives an example of the role that the approach played after the terrible terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 in United States. In the contemporary, there has been increased need to understand factors surrounding the motive behind increased hatred which has led to transcultural hatred and subsequent killing of innocent people. Due to this transcultural knowledge for use worldwide has been essential in the care and nursing profession. The theory has been applied in broader and holistic manner in efforts to discover and offers substantial care to clients of different cultures (Leininger, 1991). In advancing the field of research, the theory has provided a basis of research in the fast developing discipline of transcultural nursing. This research has been useful in enriching the discipline with content for which it is gradually transforming the field and profession of nursing. There is progressive change in the nursing practices and thus contributing to a healthier population across cultural divide. Notably so far, the information gained through transcultural research exceed the full use as nurses trained in this field continue to look for more ways of putting the concepts into practices. Interestingly, the theory is further being applied by other nursing theorist to advance a holistic approach to client health (Leininger, 1991). In conclusion, all the components influencing the quality of nursing care are based on the society’s cultural and social structural dimensions. This approach to nursing care puts Leininger at a very central position especially so through the theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality. References Andrews, M. & Boyle, J. (2007). Transcultural concepts in nursing care. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Bolsher, S. & Pharris, M. (2008). Transforming Nursing Education: The Culturally Inclusive Environment. Springer Publishing Company. Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Health Care. (1994). The journal of multicultural nursing & health: official journal of the Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Health Care, Inc, Volumes 1-3. Riley Publications. Huber, D. (2006). Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences. Leininger, M. (1991). Culture care diversity and universality: A theory ofnursing. New York: National League for Nursing Press. Leininger, M. (1997). Overview and reflection of the theory of culture care and the ethnonursing research method. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,8(2), 32-51.

Facebook Essay

Facebook is a social network created in 2004 and has over 21 million registered members. It is the newer version of MySpace and has taken over cyberspace. Facebook allows you to stay connected with friends, classmates and old friends. It was originally created for college students, but people of all ages all over the world have now become part of the social network. There are many activities you can do when you join virtual groups based on common interests, see what classes they have in common, and learn each others’ hobbies, interests, musical tastes, and romantic relationship status through the profiles. If used properly there can be many advantages of Facebook in the life of a college student. Some colleges set up facebook groups for future classes of students to meet online. The University of Chicago had several groups of students getting ready to graduate high school already beginning online friendships with possible future classmates. They all talked about and shared their goals, what classes they planned to take and shared in the anticipation of receiving their acceptance letters. Students across the country are connecting with future classmates as well. Some students in New York arranged to meet there facebook group friends in person. These new facebook friends will probably rarely see each other on campus. These facebook forced friendships do not last for long, but it makes the students feel more comfortable about their first day of College. If you are a college student like me, chances are you probably have a Facebook. You probably log on more than once a day and you probably spend at least an hour on it per day. You sit down to write a paper or study for a test and somehow you end up on Facebook. Before you know it an hour has passed and you haven’t gotten anything done. This is the case for majority of college students. We do not know how to manage our time or priorities. It is easier and more entertaining to spend time on Facebook than to spend time studying. There is a quote that states â€Å"The reason why people fail is that they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment. † In this moment college students want to socialize and have fun, they put their future on the back burner because they cannot feel the effects of their underachievements. Facebook also has its advantages as well. For example many college students can use facebook market place to sell their cars, books, computers etc. With such a large number of people in this network it makes it easier to sell your items. â€Å"According to a 2008 Kaplan study, one in 10 college admissions officers routinely check out college applicants’ Facebook and MySpace pages. And some 38% of them found posts and pictures that reflected poorly on those prospective students. A study conducted at Ohio State University concluded that students who were Facebook user had a GPA 5-10 points lower than non Facebook users. Students who did not use Facebook dedicated more time to studying than users. It is important to keep everything on your facebook mutual. You do not want someone to be able to look at your profile picture and know everything about you. If you are a prospective college student, or a college student ready to find a good job, or apply for an internship it is import ant to sensor your profile. Your profile picture should be of you at a party with a drink or cigarette in your hand, kissing your significant other, or anything sexy or provocative. It should be a mutual picture of you in a nice setting. You should also be cautious of what you put in your profile description. The way you talk, and describe yourself shows a lot about your character. College students talk in slang amoung there friends, which is not a bad thing, but it should be limited to just that, amoung your friends. A young college graduate applied for an internship in a consulting company in Chicago, when the company looked up his facebook this is what they found in his profile description â€Å"†smokin’ blunts† (cigars hollowed out and stuffed with marijuana), shooting people and obsessive sex† Though this individual may have been joking or trying to be funny, it made him like he lacked good judgement and very unprofessional. They found things that went against the values of the company. These are not the kind of people companies are looking to hire. They are interested in responsible and modest people. Facebook and MySpace are only two years old but have attracted millions of avid young participants, who mingle online by sharing biographical and other information, often intended to show how funny, cool or outrageous they are. † For some Facebook is a new identity, you can be whoever you want because you are hiding in front of a computer screen. You can make you rself seem however you would like by just an update of a status. It can also hinder your social ability to communicate with people. A cell phone build one wall between two people, texting and social networking builds two. Many college students have â€Å"hooked up† with and gone on blind dates with complete stranger they have met over Facebook. Most facebook users including myself have accepted friend request by strangers. Maybe you accepted them because of your mutual friends, or maybe other reasons. Whatever the reason, someone who tries to hit on you, or ask you out on facebook can manipulate your profile. They know which friends your both have in common because of the â€Å"mutual friends list† they know what type of music you listen to, what your religious and political views are, even your favorite quotes. A friend of mine met an attractive guy over facebook. They started chatting a few times a week, and eventually set up a date. She said she had a good time, but that it was almost too perfect because they had so much in common. It was obvious that he had done his research, and did it well. He used her facebook information to get her to like him, he knew exactly the right things to talk about and say. For all she knew he could have been a crazy stalker with bad intentions. If you have just graduated and you are looking for a job, Facebook could either make or break your career. Most companies take the time and research potential employees. They would like to hire people with a clean record and reputation to represent their companies. Many have lost their jobs because of their Facebook profiles. Though you may try to keep your profile as clean as possible, the comments your friends leave you also count. You are who you hang out with and if your friends leave you inappropriate comments or tag you in an old party picture it could very well jeopardize and close doors for your future. According to Alex Patino, a Resident Assistant here at Kean University, the Office of Residence Life requires that you sign a contract disclaiming that no inappropriate pictures and/or comments are posted on your Facebook or any social networking site you belong to. Any Resident Assistant caught or reported to have any offensive material of his or her website can be put on probation, and if serious enough the student may be fired. I decided to conduct my own research to find out how many hours a day college students spend on facebook and how it affects their work and study habits. I made a multiple choice and one open ended question survey and sampled about 115 students from all different colleges. I posted my survey from survey monkey to my facebook status. From there I waited for students to respond. Out of the 115 students who participated in the survey, 46 % spent two to three hours on facebook per day. That is almost half of those who participated. 11 % spent two to three hours, and 8 % spent an unhealthy 5 hours or more on facebook, that is almost a whole day at work. 35 % of students said they spend an hour or less on facebook which is the amount of time we should be limiting ourselves to being online. When asked what activities they do online, most students said they spend most of their time on facebook checking for notifications, chatting, and said most of their time was spent browsing through user’s profiles and pictures. One student said: â€Å"I do not use facebook anymore. Have no use for it†¦ It is nothing but a ‘Hackers’ paradise. † The Face book dos and don’ts -Do not post to much personal information about yourself. Remember that your reputation is important and your information should be mutual Also remember strangers can view your profile. Ex: address cell phone number place of work) Your close friends already know that information you do not need to post it for everyone else to see – Be careful what pictures you upload of yourself. Many people do not personally know you, and can get the wrong idea of who you are by the way you present yourself in photos. Employers like to keep an eye on their employees, drunken pictures or provocative pictures can ruin your chances of landing a job -Do not ever post on your status where you will be, and who you will be with. There are such things as facebook stalkers and they might really show up – Do not believe everything you see online. More than 75% of students who participated in my survey said they spend most of their time looking at other user’s profiles. People can pretend to be who ever they’d like online â€Å"Everything you say can and will be used against you. † We all have heard that saying somewhere or another that is used in court or upon arrest. But did you ever think everything on your facebook could be used against you in some way? Well think again. According to one East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania professor, a joke she made about students on her facebook was not taken lightly. She posted comments joking about killing students. The comment stated â€Å"Had a good day today, did not want to kill even one student 🙂 Now Friday was a different story. † What she thought were playful joking comments led to her suspension at the University. Even upon her return students were very angry that she was allowed back into the classroom. The jokes were strictly meant for family and friends, but when posting something on a public website, others who may not know u as well may feel threatened and take â€Å"jokes† to be serious.