Statistics and Stress in Medicos Essay Example for Free

Statistics and Stress in Medicos Essay There is a lot of anxiety among medical practitioners, both senior and junior concerning certain topics like statistics and epidemiology. The anxiety in some situations becomes quite acute causing stress to themselves as well as their students. Good research draws on statistics to prove certain findings and to establish associations. However statistics is definitely not everything in research. Identifying a topic of research, writing up the objectives, planning the right design, coming up with a water tight methodology, estimating an adequate sample; all these are equally important. Even as judging of studies in conferences goes, most experts are carried away by some fancy statistical methods used rather than other criteria. Unfortunately our current medical society is captivated by statistics in a love hate relationship, with a significant overlay of fear of the subject. This fear is being passed on to the new generation. Let us face the facts. Statistics is a subject associated with mathematics. Most degree courses in universities combine statistics with math. Biostatistics is one field where we have borrowed some principles of statistics to assist in our medical research for the common good of the society. Just like there are surgically inclined and non surgical people in our medical fraternity, there are those who are statistically inclined and those who are not. Some of our medical people have taken to statistics well and kudos to them. We depend on them to unravel a few of the mysteries of this predominantly mathematical subject to us; just enough maybe to help us do our research well and come up with scientific inferences. We can continue to draw more and more complicated statistical precepts into our medical field. But at what cost? After a post graduate subject like General Medicine, many doctors feel the need to specialize in a particular sub specialty like nephrology, cardio, gastro etc. In the current age, due to rapid advancements in technology and newer knowledge, there is much to learn in each sub specialty and now we are seeing higher and finer specializations. One would not expect a general medicine specialist to have a nephrologists’ knowledge or diagnostic skills and also an endocrinologist’s knowledge. Similarly after an MD in Community Medicine we cannot expect one to have full knowledge in all the subspecialties for example epidemiology, nutrition, health economics, project evaluation etc. Trying to do that would cause a lot of stress and anxiety. However it is desirable to get a good working knowledge of each. This will also help one to decide what subspecialty they would like to take up in the future. There are user friendly statistical packages; Epi Info, SPSS etc. which can help us analyse our data quickly and efficiently. We do need to know some of the simple applications of these packages as it would make our research work very easy. The techniques are simple but need a practical work shop (hands on) approach. I am sure that we can identify resources within our group to help familiarize ourselves with these valuable skills. In conclusion I would like to say that we should stop being fearful of statistics. If I want to travel to a certain city by train, I need to know certain things like which train to catch and how much it would cost and how to get to the station in time. It would be redundant for me to know how to engineer the train to that city. There is an engine driver for that and he is well trained to do just that. The statisticians in our departments are also there to help us. If they are not good enough, it would be appropriate to help them get the required skills. However it is not fitting for us to give too much importance to one topic like statistics at the cost of other perhaps more important fields. We must also keep in mind the younger members in our field who may needlessly develop a phobia for epidemiology and statistics which will then handicap their future.

In a World of Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

In a World of Stereotypes Essay What is a stereotype? Stereotypes are characteristics ascribed to groups of people involving gender, race, national origin and other factors. (Nadra Kareem Nittle. Para 1). Most of these characteristics are over exaggerated opinions of the groups. The next few paragraphs in this paper will identify three examples of a stereotype one may encounter in their everyday lives, an argument that may support the stereotype, and any mistakes that may be found in the argument. One stereotype that is very common but a lot of people may not consider a stereotype is age in the work place. This may sound a little ridiculous but there are â€Å"persistent negative perceptions pertaining to older workers† ( Ostroff Atwater, 2003, p. 729; see also Posthuma Campion, 2009). An employer might think that a younger worker would have more energy or stamina, less health issues, and more of an open mind when learning new technologies. An older person might be considered stuck in their ways rather than a fresh young employee right out of college. Nonetheless an older person in age might have more experience that would require a higher paycheck, as where a younger person may take less money in order to gain the experience. Although some of these arguments may make sense to the average person reading this, the same feelings can go for someone in the younger age groups. â€Å"Young adults might also feel stereotype threat in the workplace, as younger workers are often perceived to be less reliable, less committed to the organization, and less socially skilled† (Nadra Kareem Nittle. Para 31). Moral of the story is that there are good points and there are bad points for any worker no matter what there age. These are all assumptions of an age group instead of the true characteristics of the person themselves. An employer may not higher a sixty year old man who has a better work ethic than a twenty five year old man and he will never know because he judged the older man based on a stereotype and vise versa. As a result to stereotyping he will continue to go through employees during his entire career. Here the employer commits the fallcy called a Hasty Generalization as well. Drawing broad and very general conclusions based on insufficient evidence can therefore lead to harmful results, not only for the victim of the stereotype but also for the person doing the stereotyping. † (Mosser 2011, para 33). The next common stereotype is called a racial stereotype. In 1933 Katz and Braly did questionnaire method research using American students on racial stereotypes. The results are quoted as follows: â€Å"There was considerable agreement in the traits selected. White Americans, for example, were seen as industrious, progressive and ambitious. African Americans were seen as lazy, ignorant and musical. Participants were quite ready to rate ethnic groups with whom they had no personal contact. † (McLeod para 15). Although this kind of behavior could be very well just plain human nature t stereotype a group of people based on their race, the face just aren’t there. Look at President Obama for example; he is by far not a lazy man just because he is a black man. A lazy man would not have the ability to run a country. Yet he is black, so he must be pretty lazy. Fallacy? The last stereotype to address in this paper is sports stereotypes. Some may say that only men play sports like football, wrestling, or hockey and women only play volleyball, tennis, and badminton due to how much physical contact women should have verses men. (Million Views para 1). One would say these stereotypes do not seem to far fetched because football is a very rough sport and most men are bigger and stronger than a woman so if she were to join the football team she may very well get hurt. But why cant men play tennis? Does this make him girly? Or not a man? Some would say yes because the sport is less aggressive and a man needs to act in rough sports if they want to be considered a man. There are women wrestlers today and plenty of men play tennis without losing their so-called manhood. These things we all do everyday, sometimes without even realizing it. We are all categorized in some sort of stereotype more than we would like to admit. But the bottom line is that we all bleed red, we all breathe the same air, and we all have to die one day. We are human. Instead of being separated into generalized groups based on or age, religion, race, etc. we all should be as one in the same group of humans. Because weather we like it or not, we are human.

Effects of Globalisation on Operations Management

Effects of Globalisation on Operations Management Global operation management in financial institution has seen unpredictable activities in recent years due to global economic downturn and competition for market share. The key element which underpin global environment will be internationalisation and globalisation. Global operation refers to dynamics which affect the world economy and successful integration of global dispersed function or activities. According to Yip(1995) global operation can be refer to, among others global sourcing, to have manufacturing or service facilities world wide or to supply drivers of globalisation including global market, each of which increase competitiveness through increase sales by expanding into new market. On the other hand, Slack, et al (2001) argues that globalization is the opportunities for operation managers to develop both supplier and customer relation in different part of the world. Recent tactics in global competition among organisations require extension of trade internationally by the pattern of foreign direct investment which has resulted emerging newly industrialising nation. In a highly competitive global environment, companies need to set a well define operation objectives and plans to successfully compete in both domestic and global market. This assignment critically analyses the key global operation management techniques adopted by Barclays bank for its innovative process to distinguish itself as a unique global asset management firm offering tremendous service to institution and individuals. Barclays global investors are one of the worlds largest asset managers and the world largest providers of structure investment strategies. The company operation strategy should reflect its position in global, economic, political and social environment. (See Appendix one) According to this assignment there are 8 major key factors for global operation management to be considered below; Global Total Quality Management in service industries (TQM gurus) Global Inventory Planning and Control Management Strategies for Global Change Management Global Operation Design and Process Global Operations Planning, Scheduling Global Distributions and Supply Chain Management Strategy for Global Human Resources. Global strategy for operation Management Global strategies for operation management Operation management is a systematic approach to address all the issues pertaining to the transformation process that convert some inputs into output that are useful and could fetch revenue for the organisation. According to Slack, et al (2001) global operation management is the term used for the activities, decision and responsibilities of operation managers who manage the production and delivered of produce and service. The operation strategy should be part of the organisation total strategy to achieve global dominance. Financial service product faces unique challenges which need customers present during the production and service delivery. This requires Barclays to improve its operation process that will add value to achieve competitive advantage. Strategy for Managing Global Operation Effective operation through efficient use of resources world wide drive towards a globalize economic system. Global market imposes new standards on quality and time requires operation managers to think domestic market and penetrate the global market. To achieve its objectives towards globalization, there should be improve communication technologies and open financial system. The company strategy should achieve adequate utilisation of resource and adequate customer service. This strategy has prove success by positioning itself as customer-oriented organisation and empowering customers world wide to make different choices of innovative financial product to meet their needs. However, global strategy has the following draw backs; To manage multinational operation faces challenges of language and customs difference, different management style and different laws and regulation. The current economic downturn has affected consumer spending and confidence in the banking industries. Complex global operation by multinational faces ethical and environmental challenges. Operation Strategy contents In global operation content, the decision and action should be specific to achieve the objective. The content reflects the four perspectives; Operation strategy as top- down perspective Operation strategy as bottom-up perspective The market requirement perspective The operation resources perspective Global total quality management in financial service industries Total quality management The business leaders face immense pressure in todays turbulent competitive environment thats move forward by globalisation, macro-environment factors and advanced technological growth of internet. The strong market forces within this competitive environment have developed global customers who are more aware of changes in the global market. Total quality management is an important tool in any business to surmount future challenges within the turbulent financial service environment. TQM provides the financial business leaders with a formalised process in setting clear and achievable corporate objectives and at the same time guides the management in planning strategies to maximise resources and to achieve win-win partnership. Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide process that revolves around  the Total Quality Triad. It assumes that there is never a state of perfection (Kelada, 1996). Hence, in order to that plans are developed in an integrated manner, three important total  quality principles must be adhered to participation and commitment by stakeholders  and senior management team, employee involvement and continuous improvements to  meet customer satisfaction. Source: Bradford University Total quality management in global financial services environment In the global financial services environment, Total Quality Management (TQM) provides the overall concept that fosters continuous improvement in an organization. The implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) does not equate to self-generated results. Continual improvement Continuous improvement of the QMS is of paramount importance for meeting and satisfying clients ever changing needs and requirements. The purpose of the project is to identify quality improvement through Kaizen program, performance measurements; benchmarking with appropriate key performance indicators; and essentially designing a balanced scorecard to achieve continual improvement. Practices by non-financial organisation Good practices implemented by construction organizations in strategic partnerships alliances and knowledge management was identified and developed recommendations for improvements to gain competitive advantage in the construction industry. TQM not suitable for financial services environment TQM is not really suitable for any service organisations but it really helps the service organisations to focus on the participation of senior management team, involvement of all employees and managing internal process towards achieving customer satisfaction. Long Term client relationship In global financial services environment business strategy is building on long-term client relationships. Over 90 percent of the work is repeated business from loyal clients. This strategy yields cost advantages, profits, and growth, allowing them to attract and retain investors and thus fuel further growth. Quality Gurus There are a number of writers whose work dominates the quality movement. Their ideas and approaches have stood the test of time and have come to from a body of accepted knowledge, to lead and advise their own movement in quality. They have become known as gurus Crosby Philip B. Deming W. Edwards Feigenbaum Armand V Ishikawa Kaoru Juran Joseph M Oakland john S Shingo Shigeo Taguchi Genichi All the above Gurus have presented their own work on quality management and have made a significant impact on the world through their contributions to improving not only businesses, but all organizations including national governments, public organizations, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and many other establishments and organizations. Global inventory planning and control management What is planning and control? The purpose of planning and control is to ensure that operations are working effectively and the production of products and services as required. There is another purpose of planning which is to minimise uncertainty and risk and a clear view of future forecasting. Financial planning and control It is a well known fact that a successful business helps organisations to generate enough cash in order to cover costs and make some profit. The difference between sales and cost is profit. The businesses are not always expected to be profitable from the very first day but there should be an expected plan for them to become profitable. There should be proper financial controls for all the businesses. The records should be accurate and complete and should fulfil the legal requirements. The tight financial control always helps the financial organisations or any organisation to monitor their current situation and always predict the future environment. The information derived from financial statement analysis can be used to establish future operating goals (financial planning) and to determine how to meet established goals (financial control). Developing pro forma financial statements is an important part of the planning and control processes. Inventory planning and control in financial services environment Inventory planning and control in financial services environment is the method of organising the difference between demand and supply of financial products and services. Inventory control is not a small matter from a financial perspective way. Inventory is really important and major current asset for any business including financial services organisations.  As a result, there are always policies of businesses to keep the inventory as low as possible because too much cash hold up in inventory. The objective of reducing the inventory can be accomplished with modern inventory management processes that are working effectively. INVENTORY PLANNING AND CONTROL Supply The Operation Operations resources Demand The Market Customer requirements Global change management strategies in financial environment In todays world of economic and technological development, the organisations have changed significantly. The change had only been possible through restructuring, technological improvement and merging with other businesses. The most important challenge for the organisations is to implement such change to achieve the behavioural and cultural change that is most likely required to achieve the planned benefits. Behavioural change does not just happen in the organisation. Change will only occur if there is leadership, clear goals and planned benefits for its stakeholders. All of these should be properly communicated in a timely manner. Strategy for Change Three important principles to manage change are: Change management is not the goal in itself: For an organisation to be successful, change management plays an important role. Change management is all about managing the process effectively and leads to an environment where an improvement in performance are realised. The change targets must play an active role in realising the change: Change in projects will identify and successfully communicate the image, therefore letting the employees know that the planned benefits have changed and play an active role in realising those planned benefits. Employees are the greatest asset for any organisation: Employees are potentially the greatest challenge for any organisation. The image or goal of any purpose can only become reality if the employees believe in the project and have the desire to achieve it. Financial services environment In the last decade, financial services sector has undergone major changes. The financial sector is a rewarding field in which there is every chance to make or improve a career, particularly if staff is loyal, hard working and have given the correct back up support. It cannot be ignored that the current process of globalization and market deregulation has often led to restructuring within organisations. If these major changes have been mis-handled, then it would bring job insecurity and resulting increased pressure on work forces, which in turn can lead to higher work related stress, and a possible lack of commitment and motivation. Change requirement in current financial environment Capital, currently, is grossly overvalued. Company objectives are all about maximizing value for shareholders, the providers of capital. This can lead to companies adopting strategies that do not necessarily benefit stakeholders such as customers and staff. The same emphasis on capital, and shareholder value, breeds an unhealthy focus on short-term results. Shareholders of stock listed companies want better results every quarter, leading management to take decisions that are not necessarily in the longterm interests of the company and its stakeholders. This needs to change. Global Operations Design A global operation must be designed to enable efficiency and effectiveness. It must not happen by default. To design is to conceive the looks, arrangement and workings of something before it is constructed. (Slack, chambers and Johnston, 2007). Global operations design consist of process design, products or service design, process technologies and layout design. Process Design Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007; defined process design as the overall configuration of a process that determines the sequence of activities and the flow of transformed resources between them. Process design should reflect process objective. Processes should be designed so they can create all products and services which the operation is likely to introduce. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007) The Volume-Variety Effect of Process Design Normally, the design of a process for a financial services organisation within a country is based on volume-variety. This also applies globally. Process type in service operations Process design will be determined by the volume and variety. When volume is low, there is the possibility that variety will be high. When volume is high, there is the possibility that variety will be low and so there will be standardisation. Professional services provide high levels of customised services based on customer needs. As a result may have high level of variety and low volume. Mass services process have a high number of transactions, often involving limited customisation, example gocompare.com. As a result there will be high volume and so variety may be low. Service shops process are positioned between professional services and mass services, usually with medium levels of volume and customisation. In global operations design, FSO falls within the Mass Services category. This is high volume and less variety. Therefore, there is standardisation. This is because; Uniformity Due to globalisation, there is more movement of people across the world. It is therefore important to create a uniformity of processes so that customers from different part of the world who have seen such a product or services at other parts of the world could easily identify and understand the processes. Cost Saving In FSO, it cost of money to create a process. Some of the cost are the amount paid to consultants and key management staff to design a process to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. Hence such a process is copied by other branches throughout the world to save money. Time There is also a lot of management time in process design. It is therefore better for other branches in other part of the world to copy so that management time will be saved and spent on other activities. Human Resource Management Globalisation has also lead to the movement of staff, especially senior and management staff across the world. To ensure that they fit into the system easily, process are standardised. Global Management Strategy Most FSO now see the world as a global village. For that matter, top management see the world global operation as one unit. As a result, they adopt similar processes across the whole global organisation. Products or Service Design Products and services are often the first thing that customers see of a company, so they should have an impact. A good design is to satisfy the customer. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). As customer gets satisfied, the organisation can achieve its vision (Lynch and Cross, Performance Pyramid). According performance pyramid developed by Lynch and Cross (Advanced Performance Management, Essential text, 2007); Customers base their satisfaction on quality and delivery time. The organisation bases their satisfaction on process time and level of waste. This is known as level four. As level four is achieve, leads to level three. That is customers becomes satisfied, the organisation becomes flexible to meet customers needs and so productivity as whole increases. Level three leads to level two. The organisation then get market share and high profitability as a result of level three. Finally, the organisation finally achieve its vision. Aspects of products and services All products and services can be considered as having three aspects. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). That is, concept, package and process. The concept, which is the understanding of the nature, use and value of the service or product. FSO may manage the three aspects mostly through both external and internal environmental analysis by using SWOT Analysis (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat), Porters five forces and Porters Diamond. Supply network design Supply network includes suppliers and customers. It also include suppliers suppliers and customers customers and so on. It is the network of supplier and customer operations that have relationships with an operation. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). The network has a supply side. That is, network of suppliers, suppliers suppliers that provide resources to an operation. The demand side is, chains of customers, customers customers that receive the products and services produced by an operation. The supply network must be designed to reduce time and cost. The shorter network, the shorter the cycle time and so the delivery time to the customers may also reduce. Process Technology Sometimes, FSO outsource some activities to reduce the supply network to save cost and increase speed. Furthermore, information technology has also help to reduce the supply network by eliminating intermediaries. Example, e-procurement can enable FSO to access a pool of suppliers directly. For the demand side, websites like moneysupermarket.com can be accessed by a wide range of customers directly. Global Operation Planning and Control Most FSO fail because they fail to plan and control their resources globally. The situation of most banks in the current global recession is a typical example. Apart from HSBC and Barclays Bank to some extent, most banks nearly collapse. Northern Rock and Lloyds TSB are a example of failure to plan and control globally. This shows that planning and control are very important because global operation for FSO is a very high risk. Therefore, planning and control is important. This is to ensure efficiency and effectiveness globally. The whole world economy is interlinked. There is free movement of capital across the world. As a result, an economic downturn in one part of the world could affect the rest of the world. Example, the downturn of the housing market in U.S.A. nearly leads to the collapse of Northern Rock as a whole. Furthermore, the current recession in Dubai has affected the Lloyds TSB in the U.K. Some of the things that are planning and control globally are; Capacity Planning and Control This is the task of setting the effective capacity of the operation so that it can respond to the demands placed upon it(Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). That is how to deploy resources to able to meet demand. That can be termed as flexibility of resource utilisation. Globally, FSO must be flexible enough to cope with changing levels of operation. Failure in capacity planning and control normally lead to delay of delivering on time. As a result, customers get dissatisfied and the long term effect is lost of market share. Some of the factors that may affect global capacity planning and control are; Political Example are; political instability, government regulations Economics Recession, Exchange rate, Foreign exchange control. Social Culture, Religion, Availability of staff Technology Level of technology Environmental Activities of environmental agencies and international policies on  environmental issues. Legal Legislation like health and safety, anti monopoly laws Project Planning and Control A project is a set of activities with a definite start point and a definite end state, which pursues a defined goal and uses a defined set of resources. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). It involves five stages. They are; Understanding the project environment Defining the project Project planning Technical execution Project control Global project planning and control is difficult and risky. This is because, it is very big, it covers wide area, time differences and it may involve a lot of resources. Poor planning and control of project can lead to failure. That is, more resources may be used than anticipated and the project may also not finish on schedule. A project can be planned and controlled by techniques such as critical path analysis and Gantt charts. The introduction of information technology has help to manage global projects. The most popular software for managing global projects is Groupware. Global Supply Chain Management Global operations managers of FSO have to look beyond internal view if they want to manage their operations effectively. This is because, an organisation depends on other organisations for survival and so there is the need to manage the supply and distribution of product and service. Decisions have to be made regarding supply and distribution, to ensure that the needs of end customers are met. That is, supplying customers with the appropriate products and services when needed at a competitive price. The objectives of supply chain management are quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. Internet and mobile phone have helped most global FSO to make relationship between suppliers and customer work more efficiently and effectively. Through internet, global FSO has gained access to wide suppliers and also has used internet and mobile to deliver banking services to remote customers in different countries. STRATEGIES FOR GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES Human resources have got a key role in entering in to a new market to find out the risk and opportunity of the market. Human resources are concerned about staffing, recruiting and retain employees, training and development, cultural compatibility, communication and technology, and policies, procedures and structure. As organizations expand worldwide, human resource management has become increasingly more complex and challenging. The global business needs highly skilled and educated people for the operation and the HR management support these people to work as a team. Many companies have developed technological tools to address and overcome the HR challenges. In the global operation the HR managers struggled to communicate with the entire workforce effectively as they are spread all over the world. Many businesses develop innovative tools to communicate effectively to the workforce. Some years before the managers are sending from the headquarters to the overseas business. With efficient HR management many companies recruiting people from local area and employing managers without concerned of their origin. The HR managers have to understand the issues arise in the global operation. Global human resource management mainly focussed on recruiting key professional. By establishing ethical standards and maintain these standards HR involved in the new operation, mergers and acquisition. The human resource management should have a thorough knowledge of companies business strategy, product and services to be successful in global business development. If the HR managers have no business knowledge their role will be limited to administrating and staffing. If the HR takes initiative responsibility for developing resource plans and solution for staffing they will have a key role in global business development. When staffing for global operation the HR management should taken consideration of the timelines of establishing the new operation, the skills and expertise required the long term and short term staff requirement, the availability of local candidate and the position which need to be filled soon. The terms and condition of the employment includes payroll and compensations has to make clear before recruiting the employees. As in the global business many countries have different rules and regulations and its HR managers responsibility to change the terms and condition according to the country in which it operates business. The HR has to maintain a policy to all employees regardless of the place they work. There are four principle alternative between local adaption and global integration. They are international strategy in which knowledge transfer from head quarters. It is suitable for the when there is only few foreign business. The second one is multinational strategy which is local adapted. The next alternative is globalisation strategy which is centralised strategy for all the global operation. The final alternative is the transnational strategy. The HR manager should involve in the due diligence process before acquisition or merger occurs. The due diligence includes analysing the experience and expertise of the proposed merging management, the employment practices and the pay and benefit practices. The consistent HR strategy would improve the efficiency of workforce and can retain trained employees which will reduce the recruiting and staffing cost. The HR should establish a consistent HR strategy as well as a consistent localisation strategy. Without a consistent HR strategy it is hard to recruit, retain and train employees. GLOBAL OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT All the operations have got scope of improvement regardless of how well they managed. The managers should know their business and need to know how well they are operating at the present. The five performance objectives- quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost can be measure how well they are operating at the moment. The customer satisfaction is other tool for measuring the performance. The performance measures should be compared with a target. The target can be historically based, external performance based or absolute performance target. It can be also done by bench marking which is comparing with own performance or some others in the similar industry. The priority for improvement can be assessed from their performance and importance. The important-performance matrix can be used for this, which is a technique to compare the relative importance and performance to prioritize the improvement. Some other methods are using for improvement, such as break through improvement which is innovation based improvement, and the continuous improvement method as the name says it following the gradual improvement method. The business process re-engineering process is another method of improvement which recommends redesign of process to fulfil customer needs. To improve the operation, it should know the cause of failure of the operation. There are many reasons for operational failure. It could be design failures, facilities failures, people failure like errors and violation, supplier failures, customer failure and environmental disruption. Most of the failures root cause is human failures. As the failures can be controlled and improve the failures are an opportunity. Once the failures cause and effect understand the next step is try to prevent the failure in future. By maintaining the operation with care will minimise the chances of failure. The Total Quality Management could be use to improve the operation, by inspecting, controlling and assuring the operation will lead to improve the operation. The companies are improving their operation and product by experience and learning from the world to be competitive in the global business. The companies have to innovate new product and service to win the world. The traditional operational functions have to be change with the demand of the global economy for multinational organisations. The new technologies and sources able the companies to discover and access knowledge before their competitors. Therefore multinational companies have to act up on quick to the new knowledge they gain to sustain in the industry. The companies need to practice to learn from wherever the knowledge is generated. Once the knowledge is brought together it should be turned as an innovative product service or process which will help in global operation. The globally successful companies have the ability to spread their innovation across the global market. The companies have to obtain wide range of technology and techniques to be successful in global operation. GLOBAL OPERATIONAL CHALLENGE The challenges of operational management are many, but the major challenges are the impact of the globalization of markets, the changing view of the social responsibility, the environmental responsibility of businesses, the influence of technology development on operations management and the emergence of the concept of knowledge management.(Nigel slack, Stuart chambers, Robert Johnston). The challenge for operation is that it has to understand the changes in the economy

Stress in R.C. Sherriffs Journeys End Essay -- Journeys End Essays

World war I broke out in 1914 and lasted until 1918 when the armistice was signed. Throughout this period great destruction was suffered across the world and in particular in 1918 when the German army was preparing a massive attack against the allies. 'Journey's End' was written by R.C.Sherriff in 1928. It is set in the British trenches a few days before the expected attack and Sherriff re-creates the moments leading up to it. This drama is based upon Sherriff's real-life experiences as he himself was a captain of the East-Surrey regiment and played a part in the First World War. Sherriff's understanding of the relationships between men and the morale of soldiers living in the confines of the trenches are portrayed through the characters features in the play. Sherriff's purpose when writing the play may have been to celebrate the ten year anniversary as there were floods of memoirs, poems and reminiscences coming out around this time, however he may have more importantly wanted to ensure that war doesn't break out again by illustrating the pain and hopelessness he endured at was to convince his audience. 'Journey's End' gives the reader/audience a clear insight into the reality of life at war and explores the harsh conditions experienced by the men/officers at the front line. Despite Sherriff's ability to re-create the soldiers lives, staging the play is a main difficulty in which many things would need to be considered before-hand such as the audience he is targeting, sound, lighting and props. It is vital that what happens on stage is realistic to the audience so that their interpretations of trench conditions is genuine. He would also need to make things realistic as he may well find that ex s... ...ers died when the trench collapsed including Raleigh however we are still unsure about what happened to Stanhope, Hibbert or trotter. The death of Raleigh's character symbolises the appalling waste of lives during World War 1 but it also has an intense moving effect on the audience. We had warmed to him at the beginning of the play because of his eagerness and excitement however he never realised the full extent of war until the raid. I think that Sherriff's message was to show people the effects of war on soldier's minds. Stanhope's character was a prime example of this as he was psychologically damaged by the effects of war. I also feel that Sherriff had a hidden message of wanting to convey the full scale horror of war, both physically and mentally. A small disagreement between two countries or two opposing sides can result in a massive loss of life.

Quote Analysis from Shakespeares Hamlet :: essays research papers

Hamlet, a play written by the prominent writer, Shakespeare, is about a Danish prince whose father was murdered by his uncle who then married his mother. The story follows Hamlet for a time period of a few months while he decides how to deal with the situation of his uncle and mother. An important rising conflict is Hamlet?s soliloquy during act III scene I, where he finally realizes the significance of his actions towards his uncle, Claudius. Fortinbras? prompt rebuttal against Denmark for his father?s murder intrigued Hamlet and made him examine the emphasis needed to be placed on the death of his own father. Throughout the soliloquy, Hamlet mentions many thoughts surrounding this dilemma and shows a deeper, more will-powered side of himself. ?To be or not to be- that is the question, although this quote is only a mere ten words, its value is innumerable. Hamlet is contemplating life and death, not only for himself, but also for Claudius. He is considering committing suicide with all the pressures placed on him by his father?s ghost and his conscience knowing the truth regarding his predecessor?s murder. Hamlet is questioning whether or not it is better to live everyday waking up and seeing his step-father who had once been known solely as his uncle, and acknowledging the crime committed. Or is it more beneficial to simply to concede defeat and kill himself, relinquishing himself from performing the very deadly sin he condemns Claudius for doing. Hamlet then moves on to discuss death and metaphorically relates it to an endless sleep that ends all heartache. The thought of eternally sleeping seemed appealing for him, but then he continues to analyze it, and determines there must be a reason people live miserable lives. Simply put, humanity is afraid of death, but if it is merely a long nap, what is there to fear? Therefore, Hamlet decides that the dreams experienced after death is worse than those wretched lives. This thought may have given him new look on life, or he could have just possibly realized that he was the only person left to defend his father?s honor, but later in the story, Hamlet has a sudden change of heart and resolves that he will kill Claudius no matter the obstacles in his path. Quote Analysis from Shakespeare's Hamlet :: essays research papers Hamlet, a play written by the prominent writer, Shakespeare, is about a Danish prince whose father was murdered by his uncle who then married his mother. The story follows Hamlet for a time period of a few months while he decides how to deal with the situation of his uncle and mother. An important rising conflict is Hamlet?s soliloquy during act III scene I, where he finally realizes the significance of his actions towards his uncle, Claudius. Fortinbras? prompt rebuttal against Denmark for his father?s murder intrigued Hamlet and made him examine the emphasis needed to be placed on the death of his own father. Throughout the soliloquy, Hamlet mentions many thoughts surrounding this dilemma and shows a deeper, more will-powered side of himself. ?To be or not to be- that is the question, although this quote is only a mere ten words, its value is innumerable. Hamlet is contemplating life and death, not only for himself, but also for Claudius. He is considering committing suicide with all the pressures placed on him by his father?s ghost and his conscience knowing the truth regarding his predecessor?s murder. Hamlet is questioning whether or not it is better to live everyday waking up and seeing his step-father who had once been known solely as his uncle, and acknowledging the crime committed. Or is it more beneficial to simply to concede defeat and kill himself, relinquishing himself from performing the very deadly sin he condemns Claudius for doing. Hamlet then moves on to discuss death and metaphorically relates it to an endless sleep that ends all heartache. The thought of eternally sleeping seemed appealing for him, but then he continues to analyze it, and determines there must be a reason people live miserable lives. Simply put, humanity is afraid of death, but if it is merely a long nap, what is there to fear? Therefore, Hamlet decides that the dreams experienced after death is worse than those wretched lives. This thought may have given him new look on life, or he could have just possibly realized that he was the only person left to defend his father?s honor, but later in the story, Hamlet has a sudden change of heart and resolves that he will kill Claudius no matter the obstacles in his path.

Helping Children Handle Stress :: Stress in Children

Stress is a common emotion or state that is experienced at difficult or threatening times. This is often not attributed to children, however, and can be even more detrimental to their mental and emotional state. High stress in children is both physically and psychologically harmful, which can affect behaviors and attitudes in the future.  High stress can cause children to lag in academic settings and turn to detrimental social behaviors. This can even lead to heart disease, depression, and other serious complications later in life (Segal and Smith, 2014). Taking preventive measures or intervening early in childhood can greatly decrease these risk factors and consequences. High stress in children interacts with a variety of factors, including attachment style and biology of the developing brain. Based on the social learning theory, caregiver’s active role and community care programs are essential in the intervention and prevention of high stress in children. Prevention and intervention of high stress in children is possible and necessary.There are many suggestions for parents on how to manage this. As mentioned above, the attachment style between the parent and child is crucial in how the child thinks and behaves. According to  Dozier and Cicchetti, interventions should concentrate on attachment styles in order â€Å"to increase parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to foster more secure parent-child relationships and alter the child’s inner working models† (2003, 2005). This emphasizes the importance of a â€Å"secure base† for the child in order to be active in their environment but also feel comfortable and safe that they have someone to fall back on in times of stress or trauma (Book). It is also important to note that the caregiver is more likely to affect the attachment relationship than the child (Goodman, 2007). Parenting style also affects the environment of the child, particularly on an emotional level. According to Baumrind’s theory on parenting styles, parents should be high in responsiveness and demandingness (1973). The social learning theory supports this and parents should be aware that they should â€Å"use clear, consistent, non-hostile guidance and discipline technique† (Fisher, Burraston, & Pears, 2005).  A clear relationship has been seen with the responsiveness and attentiveness of a parent and the stress levels of a child. In a study done by Gunnar and Fisher, parents were tested for responsiveness and sensitivity to the child several times as the child aged. The children were later tested and found to have greater levels of cortisol, which is a hormone released in response to stress (2006).

Mercy killing Essay

The first reason we support mercy killing is it does relieve the pain that the patient suffer. For patients that terminally ill, there no need to make any actions to prolong their life because this may make them struggle and suffer in the last moment of their life. All those chemotherapy and medicines may prolong the patient life but also torture them physically and mentally as these treatments have side effects on human body. It is quite depressed when seeing the patients having all these treatments. It is a way for the patient to release themselves from all these pain. Another reason we support it is it will reduce the burden of the patient’s family especially from the economically aspects. From the day the patient started to hospitalise, the medical fees for the patient started to count into the bill. For patient that is not capable to carry on these medical fees, they will feel stress to find money to pay for this large amount of bill. They may start to think of selling their own properties and even loan money from loan sharks, just to pay the bill. The medical fee in a hospital is not cheap, if the patient stays one more day in the hospital, the family need to more money to the hospital. Even the patient will also feel stress when know his or her family members are funding for the medical bills. The third reason is euthanasia can save life. For example, a coma patient who has laid on bed for about 10 years. For this 10 years, he is occupying a hospital bed, medical equipment and medicine that sustain his life. As we know, almost every day, the spaces in hospital are inadequate for incoming patients. Instead of letting the coma patient to suffer and wasting a bed space, mercy killing an incurable patient can definitely save lots of life. Besides, if the organs of the patient are still functioning well, his organs can donate to other patients who are in need and have higher probability to survive. In short, euthanasia not only bring the grief suffered by a patient to an end, but this method too, can save many others lives. This reason should compensate the ethics problem that the public are discussing for decades.