Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Necessary Physical Contant in D.H. Lawrences Women in...

Necessary Physical Contant in D.H. Lawrences Women in Love and Platos Symposium D.H. Lawrence’s novel, Women in Love, presents a complex model of female-male and male-male relationships. Lawrence’s model relies heavily on a similar model presented in Plato’s Symposium. The difference between the two works lies in the mode of realization; that is, how one goes about achieving a ‘perfect’ love relationship with either sex. Lawrence concentrates on corporal fulfillment, characterized in his recurring reference to obtaining a â€Å"blood oath,† while Plato concentrates on a mental, or â€Å"divine† bond. Lawrence’s concentration on corporal fulfillment of love only superficially differs from Plato’s concentration on the mind: both come to the†¦show more content†¦This interpretation does not draw a distinct enough line between Plato and Lawrence’s philosophies: whereas the â€Å"dark flood of electric passion† may be transcendental, the connection itself, rooted solely within co rporal exchange, is not. Lawrence narrates that the â€Å"strange fountains† of Birkin’s body are â€Å"more mysterious and potent than any she had imagined or known, more satisfying, ah, finally, mystically-physically satisfying† (359). The mysteriousness of this connection is how, â€Å"in touch,† the body functions to bring about â€Å"the maximum of unspeakable communication †¦ that can never be transmuted into mind content †¦ the mystic body of reality (366). Lawrence is stating that the body functions much like the soul in Plato’s philosophy in that both are â€Å"mystic.† Lawrence’s description of bodily exchange being â€Å"mystically-physically satisfying† conveys that both the mind and body are inextricably linked: the body is needed to establish a mental connection. That mental connection is explained when Ursula describes to Hermione that Birkin â€Å"wants [her] to accept him non-emotionally,† and, â€Å"He wants [her] to accept him as †¦ an absolute (333). In other words, Lawrence’s view of a perfect union comprises of two human beings accepting each other as they are: neither has to conform to the other: they exist as separate and distinct entities. When their love is finally consummated, Lawrence states that â€Å"[Ursula] acquiesced—but it was accomplished without her

Monday, December 16, 2019

What It Takes to Be a Manager Free Essays

nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A MANAGER: THE CASE OF MALAYSIAN FIVESTAR RESORT HOTELS Rozila Ahmad (rozila@uum. edu. my) Noor Azimin Zainol (azimin@uum. We will write a custom essay sample on What It Takes to Be a Manager or any similar topic only for you Order Now edu. my) Universiti Utara Malaysia Sintok, 06010 Kedah ABSTRACT This article investigates the requirement for managerial posts in five-star resort hotels in Malaysia. Despite the growth of hotel industry in Malaysia, academic literature especially qualitative empirical study focusing on the human capital needs of the industry in the country is scarce. Different from other industries, in the hotel industry a Bachelor’s Degree hardly guarantees the attainment of management position. Based on interviews with 42 hotel employees including 19 managers from six hotels, this article suggests that work experience and leadership skill is crucial for hotel managers to perform their job. Other requirements are knowledge, education and English proficiency. This suggestion is supported by the employees’ profile. The implications are discussed, emphasizing the need to consider increasing hotel students’ work experience in the industry and enhancing their leadership skill. Keywords: human resource management, hotel industry, career, leadership, education, communication INTRODUCTION There is a shortage of skilled workers in Malaysia due to its rapidly growing economy (Business Monitor International Ltd. , 2010). Tourism is among the main contributor for the economic growth and its alignment with hotel industry has created many job opportunities to the local population. Based on the statistics by Malaysian Association of Hotels (2011a) from 2007 to 2010 the number of tourist arrival has increased from 20. 9 million to 23. million and this was followed by the increment in the number of hotels and motels from 1567 to 2005. This has led to the continuous growth of public and private institutions offering hotel management courses to fill the workforce needs of these hotels. Despite the increasing number of hotel graduates, hotels are still facing worker shortages (Malaysian Association of Hotels, 2011b). As in developed countries, Malaysian hotels are having problems in attracting and retaining skilled and knowledgeable workers (Patah, Zain, Abdullah Radzi, 2009; Cheng Brown, 1998). On one hand, the shortage of skilled workers in Malaysian hotels is caused by the unattractive work atmosphere of the industry. On the other hand it is caused by Malaysian workforce inferiority to attain management position. Similar to the developed countries, Hotels in Malaysia are facing problems in attracting and retaining skilled and knowledgeable workers due to low salary, rigid job traits and conventional style of top-down operation (Ahmad, Solnet Scott, 2010; Yamashita Uenoyama, 2006; Davidson, Guilding Timo, 2006). However, such problem is less prevalent in Multi National Corporation (MNC) due to their strategic human resource management practices that managed to attract and retain skilled workers from competing hotels (Ahmad et al. , 2010). MNC are required to involved more locals in middle and top management position. However, after three decades of growth foreign international hotel managers still dominate the Malaysian hotel industry and this could be due to the decreased level of human capital among the Malaysian workforce (Lazzeretti Petrillo, 2006). Numerous academic literatures in Malaysia have discussed on how the industry can retain their skilled employees. However, literature on how academicians can increase their students’ employability for 2040 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING management position is scarce despite the indication of Malaysian workforce inferiority to attain management position. This deficiency in the literature gives rise to the research question of this article. The research question of this article is, â€Å"What are the requirements for managerial post in Malaysian five-star hotels? Although articles on required skills for managerial post or similar articles from other countries can serve as a guide, such articles based on empirical study in Malaysia is beneficial to provide a more specific information. Furthermore, to maximize the foreign exchange revenue and the employment of the local population, local colleges and universities need t o increase their graduates’ employability. Prior to that, the students must be equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities required for managerial post. The purpose of this article is to investigate and highlight what are the knowledge, skills and abilities required by the local graduates to attain management position in Malaysia. This article makes theoretical and practical contribution. It increases the number of academic literatures concerning human resource issues in the Malaysian hotels. It investigates the practitioners’ perception of what is required for management post. By including non-management employees’ perception, it provides comprehensive information of the requirements. This article will benefit the hotel industry in the long term. With the aim to reduce skilled workers shortage and hotel graduates’ unemployment, it coordinates industry demand with academic institutions supply. LITERATURE REVIEW Skilled Workers Shortages Since 1970 there has been a rapid growth of tourism industry in Malaysia (Goldsmith Zahari, 1994). To cater tourists’ needs the supply of hotel and motel rooms has been increased to 158,480 in 2010 (Malaysian Association of Hotels, 2011). The rapid expansion of the hotel industry has exaggerated the demand for employment of competent people. This resulted in skilled workers shortages (Malaysian Association of Hotels, 2011; Business Monitor International Ltd. , 2010). Based on Malaysian Association of Hotels Workforce Survey reports, in 2008 there was a shortage of 2113 workers in the hotel industry. To mitigate the problem hotels employed foreign workers to work in all the departments except finance and human resources. This has reduced workforce shortages to 1146 in year 2009. In both years Food and Beverage (restaurant) department faced the highest worker shortages while the housekeeping department employed the highest number of foreign workers. The high percentage of foreign employees in housekeeping (10%), stewarding (9%), and food and beverage (restaurant) (5%) is understandable because Malaysian could earn more doing other jobs such as rubber tapping. Furthermore, the Malaysian Muslims are forbidden from serving liquor and this makes occupation in food and beverage (restaurant) department less favourable to them. However, the employment of foreign workers for top management posts (6%), executives (3%), and other posts in sports and recreation (5%) and front office and reservation (2%) is disturbing. It suggests that Malaysian workforce (including hotel management graduates) is not skilled enough for these posts. Existing literature lends some support to this suggestion. Hospitality Education in Malaysia The employment of foreign workers to mitigate skilled workforce shortages is acceptable in the past but now it is a dilemma. Such practice may lessen the benefits (such as employment opportunities for the locals and foreign exchange revenue) gained from tourism activities. In 1994 colleges did not have the capacity to produce sufficient number of graduates to meet the increasing demand for skilled workers because there were only ten private schools and colleges and two public institutions (Goldsmith Zahari, 1994). To date, there is at least 61 private colleges and universities, five public universities, five polytechnics and six community 2041 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING colleges (Ministry of Higher Education, 2011). Some of these colleges and universities have a number of branches. Despite the rapid growth in the hotel education sector, shortage of skilled workers in the industry still persists. In Malaysia, local graduates’ Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel Management hardly guarantees the attainment of management position. This is different from other countries. Besides recruiting management employees internally, hotels also recruit graduates straight from the university (Mullen, 2007; Yamashita Uenoyama, 2006). Therefore, the attainment of a managerial position is either through hard work by starting from an entry level position or by a ‘fast track’ through having an academic qualification (Mullen, 2007). Hence, there are managers who have never graduated from the university. They started their career as non-managerial employees and by being among the best performers they have been promoted to a managerial position. While internal promotion is common in Malaysia, direct recruitment from the local university for management posts is rare. Hotels, especially MNC prefers to recruit by advertising through the internet, newspaper and â€Å"words of mouth† in addition to establishing links with government agencies and related associations (Ahmad, 2010). Fresh graduates are perceived to be incapable of handling management duties. Reduced human resource capital in Malaysia is among the reasons for skilled workers shortage in the hotel industry. Human resource capital is at a lower standard than the 1980s because the level of English proficiency and service orientation is lower among the young workforce (Lazzeretti Petrillo, 2006). Different from their juniors, the senior workforce’ early education was in English (Lazzeretti Petrillo, 2006; Hanapiah, 2002). Thus, their English proficiency is better. They are looked upon as those who can epresent the organization because of their ability to communicate and deal in English language (Hanapiah, 2002). The importance of English proficiency is more obvious in MNC hotels whose customers and managers usually communicate in English. Besides English proficiency, other requirement for hotel management post is education, skills and knowledge (technical, human resources, finance and market ing), personality (dedication, creativity, sociability, adaptability and ambitious), leadership quality and work experience (Jayawardena, 2000; Hanapiah, 2002). However, recent academic literature on these skills within the context of Malaysian hotel industry is scarce. There are a number of hotel management literatures from developed countries which discussed about management skills with implications for educational institutions. Kay and Moncarz (2004) stressed on the importance of knowledge in financial management and human resource management competencies. They suggest educational institutions provide proper coverage of financial management course. Likewise, they encouraged the industry to recruit graduates from hospitality programs with strong financial management curriculum. Their opinion has deviated from earlier research on management skills that suggested leadership and interpersonal skill as the most significant skills for hotel managers. However, the significance of leadership skill has continuously been supported by recent academic literatures (Boone Peborde, 2008; Brownell, 2006). According to Boone and Peborde (2008), there are five fundamental leadership skills and these are establishing credibility, managing time, being proactive, empowering others to act and networking. Based on their article, credibility concerns on constituents’ trust and confidence of their manager, being proactive is knowing and executing what needs to be done for the organization’s benefit, empowerment includes enabling self leadership, providing choice, developing competence and confidence and fostering accountability and networking is developing personal contacts to get valuable support, feedback, insight, information and resources. They argued that leadership is not a charisma that one may or may not possess; it consists of attitudes, behaviours and skill that can be adopted, learned and mproved through practice. Therefore, they 2042 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING suggest college students and early career workers to master the fundamental leadership skills to build a strong leadership base. Hotel management students should be properly tooled with the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to attai n management position and then, face and handle the industry’s challenges (Kay Moncarz, 2004; Boone Peborde, 2008; Brownell, 2006). Prior to that, it is beneficial to investigate what are the knowledge, skills and abilities required to attain management position within the context of the local hotel industry. With the aim to equip Malaysian students with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities, the skills required for management position in Malaysian five-star hotels are assessed in detail. METHODOLOGY The methodological approach used in this study is framed within qualitative research. Respondents were contacted through e-mails and phone calls to request for an interview. A personal interview method was used for data collection which was carried out in May and June 2008. Interviews were conducted according to the respondents’ schedule and availability and at their preferred location. It is important to provide a relaxed environment during the interview to encourage the respondents to openly and fully discuss the topics (Cooper Schindler, 2003). The interviews were unstructured to give respondents the opportunity to provide more information. The interview started with informing respondents the purpose of the research and their right to withdraw from the research at any time to ensure they were comfortable. To ensure confidentiality, develop trust and encourage the respondents to provide full information, names were coded. M1 refers to the first managerial employee interviewed while NM2 refers to the second non-managerial employee interviewed. Interviews were recorded on tape with the respondents’ permission. Taping the interview allows the researcher to concentrate on the discussion and listen to the interview as often as needed. Repeatedly listening to a taped interview enables the researcher to capture the essence and meanings of words, which facilitates quality analysis of data. ANALYSIS The data collected was analysed using content analysis. To capture the emotion, content analysis of transcripts was conducted manually and respondents’ answers were quoted in the findings. A software program was not used to analyse the data because relying on computers can â€Å"run the risk of trivializing the meaning of texts† (Krippendorff, 2004). â€Å"Content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use† (Krippendorff, 2004, p. 18). Qualitative content analysis allows a researcher to discover what the text reveals. All interviews were transcribed. The transcripts were read multiple times to understand the context of each statement and to enable the researchers to become immersed in the data The sample size for the study was 42 respondents, 19 managerial employees and 23 non-managerial employees. All respondents were from six Malaysian five-star resort hotels that employ more than 300 fulltime employees and have been in business for at least 12 years. All respondents had more than one year’s working experience with the hotel industry to ensure that they had the capability to provide the in-depth information required. Twenty-one respondents were employees of three MNC hotels. Four of the hotels employed expatriates for general manager post. Foreign workers were employed for management and nonmanagement post. The respondents’ profile is described in Table 1. An exploration of respondents’ views on requirement for managerial post was sought. 2043 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING Table 1: Respondents Profile Respondents Post Work Experience Education MNC M1 HR Director 20 years Non Hotel Diploma v M2 Chief Security 16 years Non Hotel Diploma v M3 HR Officer 17 years SPM M4 HR Manager 18 years Hotel Diploma M5 Senior Security Officer 19 years STPM M6 Security Officer 11 years SPM M7 Assistant Front Office Manager 10 years Non-Hotel Diploma M8 Training Manager 10 years Hotel Diploma M9 Landscape Executive 9 years Primary School M10 HR Officer 15 years Hotel Diploma v M11 Assistant Pastry Chef 20 years A Level v M12 Assistant Chie f Engineer 17 years Non Hotel Certificate v M13 Executive Housekeeper 19 years SPM v M14 Executive Housekeeper 16 years Hotel Certificate v M15 Executive Chef 15 years SPM v M16 HR Manager 20 years Non Hotel Degree v M17 Executive Housekeeper 18 years Hotel Certificate M18 Food and Beverage Manager 21 years SPM M19 Personnel Manager 10 years Non Hotel Diploma NM1 Housekeeping Supervisor 17 years SRP v NM2 F Captain 12 years Non Hotel Certificate v NM3 F Captain 9 years SPM v NM4 F Cashier 8 years SPM v NM5 Recreation Coordinator 14 years SPM NM6 Senior life guard 18 years SPM NM7 Account Clerk 18 years SPM NM8 Driver 15 years SPM NM9 Accounts Supervisor 12 years STPM NM10 Hostess 6 years SPM NM11 Commis/ Cook 14 years SPM NM12 Laundry Supervisor 13 years SPM NM13 Receptionist 12 years Hotel Diploma v NM14 Public Area Supervisor 8 years Islamic School NM15 Laundry Supervisor 5 years SPM v NM16 Driver 11 years Primary School v NM17 Room Attendant 9 years STPM v NM18 Housekeeping Coordinator 15 years SPM v NM19 Technician 13 years SPM v NM20 Public Area Supervisor 14 years Primary School NM21 Landscape Supervisor 9 years Non Hotel Certificate NM22 Housekeeping Supervisor 15 years SRP 2044 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING NM23 Food and Beverage Supervisor 7 years Islamic School FINDINGS To answer the research question, respondents were asked to describe the requirements for a hotel managerial post. The requirements mentioned by respondents were positive attitude, leadership skill, communication skill, interpersonal skill, self-motivation, determination, emotional intelligence, knowledge, experience, education and English proficiency. Experience was most frequently mentioned followed by leadership skills, knowledge and education. Table 2 summarised respondents’ views of the requirements for a managerial post in the hotel industry. Work experience was the most frequently mentioned criterion. Majority of the respondents perceived it to be the most important criterion to attain managerial post. Unlike other industries, those people with education but without experience are least likely to be in managerial positions. This assertion is supported by the examples below: In the hotel industry, an applicant for a managerial position requires more than a degree. Most of the university send students here for three to six months industrial training. But that isn’t enough. That is not good enough. You can be a manager in some hotel, but how are you going to make decision†¦ If you don’t have enough experience and you make the wrong decision, you’ll become the laughing stock to your staff. You have pioneer staff in the hotel. You have supervisors who will question you back. If you work in the government sector or any other sectors, that’s a different story. In hotel industry, you really need the experience. (M7) The importance of having work experience in the hotel industry was mentioned by most of the respondents. According to the respondents, even those with a diploma must start from the entry-level position, and from there it depends on their performance. While M17 clearly stated that work experience is more important than education, NM4 gave example of problems faced by new managers without working experience. Even the managers started at the entry-level like us. Then, they learned and learned. High education without work experience is not good enough (for managerial position). From what I’ve seen, fresh graduates who started at management level have difficulty to organise things. (NM4) The next criterion most frequently mentioned was leadership. Some managerial respondents highlighted the importance of leadership qualities. The managerial respondents stated that managers who seek excellence from employees should have leadership qualities. Those with leadership qualities are respected by their subordinates. They are able to make subordinates embrace the organization’s culture and they manage to get things done and obtain good results. 2045 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING Table 2: Requirement for Managerial Position Respondents Leadership M1 v Knowledge Experience Education English Proficiency v v v v v v v M5 v v M6 v M7 v M8 v M9 v M2 M3 v v M4 M10 v M11 v M12 v v v v v v v v M13 M14 v v v v v v v M15 M16 v M17 v M18 v NM1 v v v v v v v v NM2 v v v M19 v v v NM3 v v NM4 v v NM5 v v NM6 v v NM7 v v v v NM8 NM9 v v v NM11 v NM13 v NM14 v v NM15 v v NM16 v v v NM12 v v NM10 v v v NM17 NM18 v NM19 v NM20 v NM21 v v v NM22 v v v NM23 v v v 2046 v v nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING A leader’s personal characteristics mentioned by respondents were determination, positive attitude, selfmotivation, emotional intelligence and efficiency. In addition, they felt th at managers should be smart, creative and credible. M1 stated the followings: 1. A leader has positive attitude, emotional intelligence, self motivation and determination. . Managers must have leadership quality to spread the organization’s culture to all their subordinates. 3. Leaders guide their subordinates and makes them realised the importance of satisfying guests which leads to customer loyalty in addition to employees’ loyalty. Therefore, the organization will attain long term profitability. 4. â€Å"We train them, we guide them, we coach them, and if there’s derailment, we put them back on the track†. The influence of a great leader is evident in some of the non-managerial employees and given below is an example. I enjoy my work because I got the chance to meet the guests†¦ My former general manager used to say â€Å"You must take good care of the guest because if you don’t, they will go to other hotels. When this hotel is out of business where can you work? † He advised us to make the guests happy and to do what we should do. It is not difficult at all. When the guests come, I open the door for them, greet them†¦ they are like kings and we must treat them well. (NM8) The importance of knowledge was also frequently mentioned by the respondents. Knowledge is gained from experience, education and training: We must be knowledgeable in all aspects; the department that we’re handling and the departments that are related to us. We must at least have the basic knowledge of the functions of front office, maintenance, food and beverage and kitchen. Another thing is how to manage human. This is important. If you want to be a good manager, you must know how to manage your subordinates. (M18) According to M11, those who have worked in many places, including overseas, are knowledgeable and they bring in new ideas. M15 stated that it is also important that managers know the current issues in the hotel industry. Other knowledge listed by the respondents as important included â€Å"how to do paper works† (NM21) and â€Å"how to communicate with colleagues† (NM15). Although education is not the most important requirement for a hotel managerial post, it is compulsory in order to be promoted to a higher-level management position. In some five-star hotels, employees are required to have at least a university certificate in order to be promoted to a management position in addition to other requirements. In other five-star hotels having a university diploma is a necessity. Now we require at least a diploma. In the past there were not many hotel schools. Only those who are rich can afford to study overseas to learn about hotel management and hotel industry. But now, even Malaysia has Hotel Management School. However, for me, education is secondary because in hotel industry you need experienced people. Experience comes first. (M18) Of the 19 managerial employees interviewed, five managers had a certificate (including STPM and A Level) seven managers had a diploma and one manager had a degree. Seven of these managers were MNC hotel employees. Based on the respondents’ profile, even those without college or university certificate had the opportunity to be managers in MNC hotels. At present, only those with certificates are appointed as managers. 2047 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING Another requirement mentioned by respondents was English proficiency. Out of 42 respondents, only eight mention about the importance of English proficiency. According to the respondents, to be a manager they must be able to communicate in English. While the inability to communicate in English will disqualify them for managerial positions, fluency in English is an advantage for them to further develop their careers. M18 stated that English proficiency is important because majority of their guests are foreigners. Interest to work in the industry is another important criterion that is rarely mentioned in the literature. According to a managerial respondent, students’ interest to work in the industry is important because it might affect the quality of their work. Whenever students come and work in the hotel industry, I ask them â€Å"are you here because of your father, or you yourself want to come here†. If someone says, â€Å"I don’t like hotel work, my father asks me to come here†, I will say, â€Å"Pack up your bags and go home†. Seriously, if you want to work in hotel industry, you must have the interest. If not, you will waste money, time and effort to do something that you don’t like. So you better don’t do it. Make your decision now, do you want to be a hotelier or not? Honestly, the quality of workers now is very different compared to the last fifteen years. Now there are so many opportunities. So the quality is not there anymore. (M18) Communication skill and interpersonal skill was also listed by the respondents as one of the necessary skills. However, it was mentioned by very few respondents and not much was said about the two skills. Majority of the respondents mentioned about the importance of having work experience. Although it is clear that work experience is more important compared to education, this finding does not suggest that work experience is more important compared to other skills such as leadership and interpersonal skill. The objective of this study was to investigate what are the equirements for managerial post and not to rank the skills’ importance. DISCUSSION Based on the literature review and the findings of this study, the requirement for managerial post in Malaysian five-star hotels is work experience, leadership skill, knowledge, education, English language proficiency, communication skill, interpersonal skill and interest to be a hotelier. Th e significance of most of these skills for managerial success has been mentioned in existing literature. However, the significance of work experience and English language proficiency is more pronounced in the Malaysian context. This study found that having work experience is a necessity for graduates’ employment for managerial post. Knowledge and leadership skill are developed through education and work experience. While management theories and basic technical skills can be taught by academic institutions, leadership skills such as analytical and conceptual thinking, relationship building, and self control requires experience in the field (Brownell, 2006). Furthermore, work experience enhanced students’ technical skill. Technical skill efficiency is important for the first level managers due to their proximity with the non-managerial employees (Daft, 1998). Therefore, a partnership with the industry through industrial training is crucial to develop students’ leadership skill which is necessary to foster high-performing organisation (Brownell, 2006). Sending students for industrial training is a normal practice for hotel schools. However, it was perceived insufficient by the hotel managers. Therefore, it is beneficial to lengthen the industrial training period and to encourage students to do part-time at hotels. Part-time employees are employed during peak season when there is abundant of task to be completed. Therefore, besides earning some money, students can gain experience and enhanced the required skills. 2048 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING Different from developed countries, education is perceived as secondary to work experience in Malaysian five-star hotels. However, the importance of education keeps increasing due to the increasing number of hotel management schools and hotel management graduates. The findings of this study reveal that currently even those without higher education could attain management position in MNC five-star hotels. However, these managers have had many years of working experience and have gone through a number of supervisory and management trainings conducted by the hotels. Even the local independent and chain hotels provide continuous training to their employees (Ahmad et al. , 2010). Due to the social and demographic changes, at present more educated individual is required for management post. Thus, only those with sufficient work experience and academic qualification could attain management position while others have to start from entrylevel position. To encourage hotels to recruit management candidates straight from the university like in the developed countries, local universities need to produce graduates who have sufficient work experience and are capable to handle management duties. The importance of English proficiency for graduates’ employment and career development especially in the hotel industry is prevalent in Malaysia (Hanapiah, 2002). Although English proficiency was mentioned by few respondents, it does not suggest that it is not as important as other skills. Furthermore, none of the respondents stated that it is less important compared to other skills. In fact, they stated that it is significant for the labour market employability and workforce advancement. The importance of English language proficiency has been highlighted in existing academic literatures (Lazzeretti Petrillo, 2006; Hanapiah, 2002; Brownell, 2006). Due to the importance, Malaysian five-star resort hotels have been providing English language training to their employees (Ahmad et al. , 2010). Academic institutions can produce graduates who are fluent in English by using the language as the medium of instruction. Other than that, it is beneficial to interview students during their admission process to assess their personal characteristics and English proficiency (Brownell, 2006). Selecting the right candidates for the industry can make producing quality graduates easier for the academic institutions. Interest in the field is another factor to qualify candidates for management post. Unlike other professions such as architecture and engineering, it is difficult to find students whose ambition is to be a hotelier or hotel employees. Academic institutions play an important role to develop students’ interest. Such interest can be developed by inviting successful guest speakers from the industry to share their experience and provide information of their job and how much they earn. However, the interest built can be destroyed overnight if the students encounter negative experience such as workplace bullying during their industrial training or part-time employment in the industry (Patah, Abdullah, Naba, Zahari and Radzi, 2010). Therefore, practitioners have to ensure that their employees can be a role model to the students and not someone they want to avoid. On the other hand, students should be groomed to face the challenges at the workplace. LIMITATION AND CONTRIBUTION OF THE RESEARCH This study lists the requirements for managerial posts but it does not rank the requirements based on their importance. Although it states that work experience is more important compared to education, such statement is made based on respondents’ words. The qualitative nature of this study does not allow for ranking. Skills listed in the findings came from respondents’ mind. Respondents were not given any list of skills for them to rate and rank. Therefore it is imprecise to suggest that work experience is more important compared to leadership skill just because more respondents mentioned work experience as the requirement for managerial position. This article contributes to the hotel management literature by explaining about the requirements for the attainment of management post in Malaysian five-star hotels and provides suggestions on how to develop and enhance the skills needed in the industry. The suggestion is based on practitioners’ view that is supported by 2049 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING he previous literature. This article can serve as a guide to the academicians, the university and colleges’ students and to those in early career positions in the hotel industry. CONCLUSION It is essential for the industry and the academic institutions to have a partnership and unity of effort to mitigate the issue of skilled employees’ shortages. T he academicians need to realize the importance of producing skilled workforce compatible with the industry human capital needs and the industry need to provide a more favourable workplace that graduates may perceived as an avenue to build their career. Increased unemployment of hotel management graduates coupled with increased dependency on foreign workers does not benefit the country, the industry and the academic institutions. Parents will eventually stop sending their children for hotel management programme when they realized that it does not guarantee a good future for their children. To be in business, academic institutions need to produce quality graduates rather than merely high quantity of helpless graduates. REFERENCES Ahmad, R. , Solnet, D. , Scott, N. (2010). Human resource practices system differentiation: A hotel industry study. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 17, 72-82. Business Monitor International Ltd. (2010). Chapter 5: Business environment. Malaysia business forecast Quarter, 47-59. Retrieved from report, 2nd http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true=buh=48002789=ehost-live Boone, L. W. Peborde, M. S. (2008). Developing leadership skills in college and early career positions, 28(3), 3-13. Brownell, J. (2006). Meeting the competency needs of global leaders: A partnership approach. Human Resource Management, 45(3), 309-336. Cheng, A. , Brown, A. (1998). HRM strategies and labour turnover in the hotel industry: A comparative study of Australia and Singapore. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(1), 136-154. Cooper, D. R. , Schindler, P. S. (2003). Business research methods. New York: McGraw-Hill. Daft, R. L. (1988). Management (3rd. ed. ). Orlando: Dryden Press. Davidson, M. , Guilding, C. , Timo, N. (2006). Employment, flexibility and labour market practices of domestic and MNC chain luxury hotels in Australia: Where has accountability gone? Hospitality Management, 25, 193-210. Goldsmith, A. , Zahari, M. S. (1994). Hospitality education in Malaysia: Filling the skill gap. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 6(6), 27-31. Hanapiah, M. F. (2002). English language and the language of development: A Malaysian perspective. International conference IPBA, 1-15. Jayawardena, C. (2000). International hotel Manager. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(1), 67-69. Kay, C. Moncarz, E. (2004). Knowledge, skills and abilities for lodging management success. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 45(3), 285-298. 2050 nd nd 2 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH (2 ICBER 2011) PROCEEDING Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology (2nd ed. ). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Lazzeretti, L. , Petrillo, C. S. (2006). Tourism local systems and networking. Oxford: Elsevier. Malaysian Association of Hotels. (2011a). http://www. hotels. org. my/home. asp? hdnMRef=57 Malaysian Association of Hotels. http://www. hotels. org. my/home. sp? hdnMRef=58 Hotel (2011b). Ministry of Higher Education (2011). List http://www. portal. mohe. gov. my/portal/page/portal/ExtPortal/IPT Statistics. Surveys. of university. Retrieved Retrieved Retrieved from from from Mullen, R. (2007). Careers in hotels. Caterer and hotel keeper, 197, 119. Patah, M. O. , Zain, R. A. , Abdullah, D. , Radzi, S. M. (2009). An empirical investigation into the influences of psychological empowerment and overall job satisfact ion on employee loyalty: The case of Malaysian front office receptionists. Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts. 43-62. Patah, M. O. , Abdullah, R. , Naba, M. M. , Zahari, M. S. , Radzi, S. (2010). Workplace bullying experiences, emotional dissonance and subsequent intentions to pursue a career in the hospitality industry. Journal of Global Business Economics, 1(1), 15-26. Yamashita, M. , Uenoyama, T. (2006). Boundaryless career and adaptive HR practices in Japan’s hotel industry. Career Development International, 11(3), 230-242. 2051 How to cite What It Takes to Be a Manager, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Patient Safety - Satisfaction and Hospital Care Quality - Sample

Question: Discuss and Critical Analysis of Safe Staffing Levels Of Nurses How It Has Impact In Patient Care In Relation To Health Policies? Answer: The nursing workforce is an integral part of the health care settings as nurses have a major role in achieving better patient outcomes, and they can be considered as an important care provider among the whole health care setting (Potter et al. 2013). Staffing levels of nurses is an ongoing concern and influences the safety levels of both the nurses and the patients. Nurse staffing refers to the mix of registered nurse expertise with the appropriate needs of the people receiving nursing care in the context of situation and practice settings (Mashimo et al. 2013). The provisions of suitable nurse staffing are required for reaching safe and quality outcomes. This is achieved by multifaceted and dynamic decision making processes that consider a wide range of variables (Yang, Hung and Chen 2015). Staffing shortage refers to an insufficient mix, number and experience level of registered nurses and ancillary staffs to proper care of the patients. Hospitals that have low nursing staffing hav e a tendency to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes. There lies a strong relation between adequate nurse-to-patient ratio and safe patient outcomes (Fram and Morgan 2012). Nurse staffing policies increase nurse staffing (Shin, Park and Huh 2014). However, authorised nurse staffing ratios without suitable mechanisms to provide help achieve targeted ratios have a tendency to force the health care settings, especially those settings which are concerned about safety, to develop tradeoffs in other investments or services that can have unintended negative results for their patients (Shin 2013). The present writing is a critical analysis of safe staffing levels and its impact on patient care and the health policies on this concern. Health care systems across the globe, including the United Kingdom, are facing many struggles to improve the quality of care and control the costs of care. In some countries, greater investment in hiring qualified nurses is an integral part of the strategy used by health care settings for improving the quality of care. However, in some, policymakers of health care sector seek substitute qualified nursing workforce with less expensive assistive staff. Many researches are present that throws light on this debate and tries to draw the conclusion on the relation between nursing staff and quality of life in hospital settings (Van den Heede and Aiken 2013). Higher registered nurse staffing has a vital relation with low rates of hospital-related mortality, cardiac arrest, failure to rescue and hospital-acquired infections. The influence of inadequate registered nurse staffing on the safety of the patients is strong and consistent in almost all care units in a hospital setting (Aiken et al. 2012). No studies directly do the task of examining the aspects that significantly influence policies for nursing staffing. Very few studies address the role of agency staff (Paek et al. 2015). In the context of nurse staffing issues, it is desirable to throw light on incidences that have taken place in the past and throw light on the impact of inadequate nursing staffing on patient care quality and overall functioning of the health care setting. One such incidence in the history of public health issues is the Stafford hospital scandal. The Stafford hospital scandal was a major concern in the history of public health as it highlighted poor care and the high rate among patients at a city hospital in England. The scandal took place in the late 2000s. Around thousand patients were found to be dying due to poor care over the time span of four years (Mohammed et al. 2013). In 2010, a complete public enquiry took place chaired by Robert Francis. The inquiry considered of strong evidence based on which actions were taken against the nurses. One of the reasons that contributed to such drastic decline in patient care was inadequate staffing. As a result of poor nursing staffing, dev astating results were witnessed. Issues of unsafe nursing staffing were thus highlighted (Francis 2014). The Nursing and Midwifery Board (NMC) of the United Kingdom held hearings for the nurses who were adjudged to be unfit for nursing practices (dailymail.co.uk 2014). The different health organisations of the country put forward guidelines for maintaining an appropriate nursing staffing levels at the hospital settings. Staffing levels have always been an issue. Patients have the ultimate right to receive care by appropriately experienced and qualified nurses. This right of the patients is enshrined within the National Health Service (NHS) Constitution (Nice.org.uk 2014). The NHS ACT 1999 makes overt the corporate accountability of the board for delivered nursing quality. The responsibility of the nurses regarding safe staffing is stipulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This covers the overall registered nursing force in the country (legislation.gov.uk 2016). The report of the Health Select Committee 2009 states that insufficient staffing levels have been a major factor in undermining patient safety in many cases. In one year, more than 30,000 patient safety issues were recorded by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) that has r elation with staffing issues. Short staffing can compromise on the care of the patients in a direct and indirect manner. Recurrent short staffing causes increased stress among the staffing and reduced staff well-being. This leads to high sickness absence and more leaving of the staff. No proper evidence suggest that NHS ward level staffing has witnessed improvement. NHS recommends that staffing planning must be taking place at all levels-regionally, locally and nationally. The results would ideally use regional and local plans. Having a strong base for planning staffing is critical, and it must be an integrated form (Safestaffing.org.uk, 2016). Ensuring staffing levels solely rely on the right establishment. To adjudge the number of staffs required for appropriate care requires the deep look into competencies and roles of all staff groups. Staffing levels will be affected to a great extent by how certain things are carried out, in terms of effectiveness and efficiency of processes. Changes that need to take place by the help of initiatives may bring alteration in the staffing level required for maintaining same care quality (England.nhs.uk 2016). Policy making for patient safety in relation to nursing staffing has some issues in it. One such key issue is that more work needs to be undertaken for determining optimal nurse staffing skill mixes and how needs have the tendency to vary across different health care settings. The limited evidence are not in the support of introducing a nurse in the direct role of care-giving below the highest level of registered nurse. The cost effectiveness of nursing staff decisions depends on short term and long term considerations. Evidence on relationships between patient outcomes, skill mix and costs is limited. Most researches are from the other countries, mainly the United States. More research in the United Kingdom is required to confirm whether relationships and assumptions of present studies hold for other health economies and nurse education systems (kcl.ac.uk 2016). Nurses must have a greater role in making up policies for health care. The reason is attributed to the fact that nurses ha ve a strong influence on the reduction of medical errors, improvement of patient safety, promotion of wellness, improvement of care quality and coordination of care by the healthcare system (Kitson et al. 2013). The NHS puts forward a policy to standardise staff groups of the procedures and processes for addressing staffing shortfall. It also addresses the expectation of National Quality Boards recommendations for policies for addressing staffing shortfalls. The policy has been implemented from March 2015, and the next date for review is February 2018. The aim of the policy is to promote safe staffing levels and adequate skill mix. This is in order to deliver high quality care. Patients have a right to be cared for by appropriately qualified and experienced staff in safe environments, and this is enshrined in the NHS Constitution. Trusts must ensure that they have the right staff, with the right skills, in the right place. This is a duty of the Trust Board and the Trust must demonstrate safe staffing in order to comply with Care Quality Commissions (CQC) regulatory framework and standards. Furthermore, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2008) makes it clear that all Registered Nurses a nd Midwives are professionally accountable for safe practice in their sphere of responsibility, ensuring that risk is managed appropriately. The roles and responsibilities of the health care settings are outlined in the policy. Each health care setting must have an agreed position in relation to safe nurse staffing and skill mix. Another responsibility is the final sign-off of safe nurse staffing and skill mix establishment, and to conduct regular establishment reviews to ensure that safe staffing and skill mix are being delivered operationally. All health care settings must comply with the national requirements (NQB) for monthly submission of Nurse staffing fill rates. Evidence based staffing levels must be taken to the Board for sign-off at least every six months. Any proposed changes to the nurse staffing and skill mix establishment, required to deliver service redesign projects, must be discussed at Board level. Heads of nursing teams must be accountable for staffing and skill mix in the clinical areas they are responsible for. They also hold responsibility for escalating the concerns present to the executive teams. L ead Nurses to have responsibility for managing day-to-day and potential risk in relation to nurse staffing and skill mix establishment in accordance with Trust policy, escalating to the Head of Nursing as required. Moreover, they are responsible for investigating any adverse effect related to skill mix and nurse staffing. Senior nurses are professionally accountable for safe nurse staffing and skill mix. They have responsibility for managing day-to-day actual and potential risk in their ward or department relating to nurse staffing and skill mix establishment. All staffs must ensure that insufficient staffing is addressed and taken into account on a daily basis. If inadequate staffing and skill mix is not resolved, it is identified via incident reporting and red flag events are recorded. They are also accountable for working with fellow staff to position staff effectively in line with their job description and code of conduct (Nursing Staffing Shortfall Escalation Policy 2016). The National Quality board (NQB) guidance 2013 outlines the expectations of NHS organisations regarding need of strong escalation processes of nurse staffing. The NQB guidance states that staff should be aware of the escalation policies in place, flag where they think staffing capacity and capability falls short of what is required and be able and prepared to use the escalation policies. All lead nurses must maintain a record of escalation, the reasons why and mitigations taken to address nurse deficiencies. All other nurses must undertake evaluation and risk assessment of the staffing levels by shift basis. All wards must have a record of decision making around nurse staffing where escalation has been required. Nurses may have a strong influence on health policy and this would protect the quality of care by access to required recourses and opportunities. Nurses have individual views on health care issues and influence health care policies in different ways. With a common understanding of nurses policy influence as a concept, nurses will recognize the importance of policy making in the health sector and their influence on this process and also on patients outcomes. Nurses have their own views on maintaining staffing levels and skill mix in health care settings. Therefore they must be taken into account and their views and opinion must be put focus while making policies in relation to nursing. NHS Trust Development Authority and Monitor recognise that agencies play an important role in the health care sector. National organisations including Monitor, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), NHS, Department of Health (DH), Cabinet Office and the Treasury, are leading other workstreams to help trusts manage their temporary workforce spend. This includes increasing supply of permanent staff and clarifying guidelines on safe staffing. The proposed agency spending rules outlined in this paper are therefore part of a national programme of work to help trusts meet the complex workforce challenges facing the healthcare sector. In June 2015, the Secretary of State announced rules to help organisations reduce their spending on agencies. The proposal put up was that maximum hourly rates are to be paid by the trust. Use of approved frameworks for procuring agency staff must be mandatory. There must be an annual ceiling for total agency spending. The NHS spending has b een put focus on due to the overspending. It has been described as the worst for a generation. The seriousness of the spending allocation of NHS was thus highlighted. Overspending on shortfall of permanent staff, agency staff, inefficient use of permanent staff and difficulties in recruitment are constantly affecting NHS (gov.uk 2016). The Health and Social Care Act 2012 puts forward major changes to the NHS in England. The progressions specifically gives attention to general practitioners and different experts known as clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The Act brings about the transfer of of a large portion of the obligations that previously resides with the Department of Health to politically independent NHS Commissioning Board which was then later called NHS England. Moreover, the Act brings into focus the health related monetory controller with a demand for making preparations for anti-competitive actions. The Act has provisions for extensive refurbishing of the basic structure of NHS England. It sets recommendations for options on financial matters. There has been much critical analysis of the actions taken up by the NHS. On on hand, the Health Minister was found to be stating that NHS has been doing good in maintaining fund over the lasr few years. On the other hand, the Health Secretary stated that the p resent government cannot be trusted with the funding issues. There may be a collision in the actions taken up the NHS. The policies have resulted in a downfall in services which has put forward longer waiting lists, difficulties for patients to access GP services. It has been noticed that 3billion has been wasted on reorganisation which sees frontline staffing levels reduced. With the NHs struggling to make sure that there is a safe staffing levels, there is a shortage found in nurse workforce. Cummings (2003) opines that by ensuring the proper right staff at the right palce nad at the right time, patients would be given the care they need and is supported by NICE. The author also suggests that on safe staffing for nursing care must be given by introducing red flag events that warn staff in charge that there are insufficient staffing levels on wards (massnurses.org 2016). The Royal College of Nursing recommends that health departments must undertake work needed for identifying the efficacy and prevalence of planning approaches for better nurse staffing. Inexpensive and effective systems need support by the different health departments. Staffing reviews require board level commitment. Decisions must not be taken in the vacuum, and all significant decisions must involve the nurses. Regular evaluation is needed and the results must be heeded and implemented in a constant manner (rcn.org.uk 2016). UNISON is a large trade union in the United Kingdom. A significant part of the organisation are NHS registered nurses and NHS managers and clinical support workers. The organisation puts up valuable comment in relation to nursing staffing (Gillen 2015). UNISON states that safe staffing levels have not witnessed improvement over the past year. This comes up in spite of the fact that government claims to have an increase in nursing numbers. The annual UNISON study conducted on 2015 showed that there is an issue of overstretched and demoralised nursing workforce, and inadequate staffing delivers undignified, unsafe and uncompassionate care for the patients. The respondents of the survey think that staffing levels have got worse since 2010. The survey carried out by UNISON states that staffs are still not able to take care of all the patients they are supposed to take care of. Some comments included that the government must always put patient care on the top of the priority list, and mon ey must not be the concern and that staff stress must be given more attention. Moreover, UNISON says that NHS is under operation in an environment where financial straightjacket is prevalent. As there is no money for funding adequate staffing levels, midwives and nurses are finding it difficult to keep their health services going. There is no doubt that midwives and nurses have no acceptance of the guidance that is present for nursing staffing as such guidance does not meet the requirements and need of the nurses either. This puts up the need for having a nationally set compulsory minimum patient-to-nurse ratio that is solely based on the needs of the patients (unison.org.uk 2015). The report comes up a year after the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) put up guidance on safe staffing levels. More than sixty percent of the respondents stated that NICE guidelines have not made any significant differences and staffing levels have not seen improvement. The survey reveals that when red-flag events occur as a result of a nursing staffing shortage, actions are not taken up in an appropriate manner at all times (Nice.org.uk 2014). UNISON is suggesting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance to be amended so that care for eight patients or more is classed as a red-flag event. Red-flag events are those events that indicate emergency or need for immediate action on a certain issue. It is a demand that actions need to be taken up. NICE has drawn up a list of such red-flag events that can be reported by omissions in medication administration, lack of patient monitoring and delays made in pain relief intervention (Kleebauer 2014). The Berwick review into patient safety, undertaken on 2013, is an independent report from the Department of Health, the United Kingdom, on how to improve patient safety in the NHS. A significant part of this element is nursing staffing. The review puts up some valuable recommendations. Staffing levels must be steady with the proof on safe staffing and must be adjusted to the local context and patient acuity. The primary recommendation is that NICE must undertake steps for developing guidance based on data. Organisations must routinely analyse and give the proper response to local measures that are warning signals of safety issues like staffing levels (gov.uk 2016). The Department of Health, the United Kingdom, has put forward a report called Hard Truths that is a government response to the case of Staffordshire hospital scandal. In the report, it has been mentioned that all NHS bodies must ensure that all shifts and all wards must ensure that they have the necessary staffing level for patient care. The Care Quality Commission will monitor the actions taken and performance delivered so that no patient is put on the risk of harm and suitable staffing levels is one the core elements of the registration regime of the Care Quality Commission (gov.uk 2016). The Department of Health, the United Kingdom, has put forward a report known as the Patients First and Foremost report that is the first government response to the report of the NHS public inquiry on the scandal of Staffordshire. This report stated that proper staffing as measured by skills and a number of nurses is vital for giving proper care but minimum ratios, and staffing numbers lead to a lack of flexibility to seek a minimum level of staffing. The report recommends that the Care Quality Commission needs to use evidence-based tools for determining staffing numbers (gov.uk 2016). Ethical principles of health care comes into focus in the context of the need of delivering high quality care. Proper staffing is needed for maintaining ethics in the delivery of quality care. The ethical concerns that are present in delivery of nursing care are autonomy, beneficence, no-maleficence, justice or fairness. Emphasis is on establishing a relation, collaborative care and maintaining human dignity. The main aim is to do no harm to the patients and not neglect the needs of the patient. They must be given justified care (Lillemoen and Pedersen 2013). In conclusion, it can be said that on an overall basis, there is an accumulating proof of the relation between nurse staffing and outcomes of patients. This is specially in relation to higher skill mix of the nurses. There is emerging evidence that curvilinear relation lies between the two aspects, suggesting that cost-effectiveness of using registered nursing levels, as a tool for quality improvement will become less cost-effective. Policymaking must be done according to the fact and evidence present for the particular issue. A rapid change in thr health care sector, by implementing different policies, is crucial for enabling effective care to patients. Fundng issues is a major challenge in the path of high quality care. One such aspect is nurse staffing. In spite of political differences between all parties, the funding system within the NHS is in crisis it is under-resourced and unfair. Insufficient budgets appear to take the frontline. Changes in financial concerns are needed. In adequate staffing levels are impacting on treatment and the recovery process for patients within the NHS and other services including the adult health care service. A call for action is needed once achieved tangible rewards are ahead for the NHS staff and patients. There is a need to incentivise good health a better future is possible and nurses and other professionals are the leaders who can influence changes in a system that is under enormous pressure. References Aiken, L.H., Sermeus, W., Van den Heede, K., Sloane, D.M., Busse, R., McKee, M., Bruyneel, L., Rafferty, A.M., Griffiths, P., Moreno-Casbas, M.T. and Tishelman, C., 2012. Patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of hosptal care: cross sectional surveys of nurses and patients in 12 countries in Europe and the United States.Bmj,344, p.e1717. dailymail.co.uk, (2014).Just ONE nurse for 84 patients at Mid-Staffs death hospital: As court lays bare scale of neglect, still no official is held to account. [online] Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2564962/Nursing-staff-scandal-hit-Stafford-Hospital-set-fail-court-told.html [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. England.nhs.uk, (2016).NHS England Safe staffing. [online] Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/safe-staffing/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Francis, R., 2014. Culture, compassion and clinical neglectprobity in the NHS after Mid Staffordshire.Journal of medical ethics, pp.medethics-2013. Gillen, S., 2015. Unison calls on nurses and midwives to take part in staffing levels survey.Nursing Standard,29(22). gov.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/170701/Patients_First_and_Foremost.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. gov.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/270368/34658_Cm_8777_Vol_1_accessible.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. gov.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/226703/Berwick_Report.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. gov.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/453181/Agency_engagement_document.pdf [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016]. Hyun Shin, J., 2013. Relationship between nursing staffing and quality of life in nursing homes.Contemporary nurse,44(2), pp.133-143. kcl.ac.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/research/nnru/policy/Policy-Plus-Issues-by-Theme/Whodeliversnursingcare(roles)/PolicyIssue21.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Kitson, A., Marshall, A., Bassett, K. and Zeitz, K., 2013. What are the core elements of patient centred care? A narrative review and synthesis of the literature from health policy, medicine and nursing.Journal of Advanced Nursing,69(1), pp.4-15. Kleebauer, A. (2014). NICE calls for use of red flags to trigger immediate review of care.Nursing Standard, 28(46), pp.7-7. legislation.gov.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/8/pdfs/ukpga_19990008_en.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Lillemoen, L. and Pedersen, R., 2013. Ethical challenges and how to develop ethics support in primary health care.Nursing ethics,20(1), pp.96-108. Mashimo, A., Akiyama, T., Fukui, T., Ueno, M. and Tanaka, A., 2013. Survey of the nurse staffing system including the patient classification system and issues in nurse resource management in japan.Journal of Nursing and Care S5-005. doi,10, pp.2167-1168. massnurses.org, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.massnurses.org/files/file/Legislation-and-Politics/hospital_costs.pdf [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016]. Mohammed, M.A., Lilford, R., Rudge, G., Holder, R. and Stevens, A., 2013. The findings of the Mid-Staffordshire Inquiry do not uphold the use of hospital standardized mortality ratios as a screening test for badhospitals.QJM, p.hct101. Nice.org.uk, (2014).NICE unveils safe staffing plans for nursing care in wards | News and features | News | NICE. [online] Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/nice-unveils-safe-staffing-plans-for-nursing-care-in-wards [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Nice.org.uk, (2014).NICE unveils safe staffing plans for nursing care in wards | News and features | News | NICE. [online] Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/nice-unveils-safe-staffing-plans-for-nursing-care-in-wards [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Nursing Staffing Shortfall Escalation Policy. (2016). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://file:///C:/Users/lap55/Downloads/09114%20Staffing%20Shortfall%20Escalation%203.0.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Paek, S.C., Zhang, N.J., Wan, T.T., Unruh, L.Y. and Meemon, N., 2015. The Impact of State Nursing Home Staffing Standards on Nurse Staffing Levels.Medical Care Research and Review, p.1077558715594733. Potter, P.A., Perry, A.G., Stockert, P. and Hall, A., 2013.Fundamentals of nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences. rcn.org.uk, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www2.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/353237/003860.pdf [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Safestaffing.org.uk, (2016).Safe Staffing Alliance | Demanding safe staffing levels to ensure quality nursing care. [online] Available at: https://www.safestaffing.org.uk/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Shin, J.H., Park, T. and Huh, I.S., 2014. Nursing staffing and quality of life in western New York nursing homes.Western journal of nursing research,36(6), pp.788-805. unison.org.uk, (2015).Unsafe nurse staffing levels continue to put patients at risk | Article, News, Press release | News | UNISON. [online] Available at: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2015/04/unsafe-nurse-staffing-levels-continue-to-put-patients-at-risk/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2016]. Van den Heede, K. and Aiken, L.H., 2013. Nursing workforce a global priority area for health policy and health services research: a special issue.International Journal of Nursing Studies,50(2), pp.141-142.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

The Hillsborough disaster Essay Essay Example

The Hillsborough disaster Essay Essay The Hillsborough catastrophe was an incident that occurred on 15 April 1989 at the Hillsborough bowl in Sheffield. England. during the FA cup semi-final lucifer between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest association football nines. The crush resulted in the deceases of 96 people and hurts to 766 others. The incident has since been blamed chiefly on the constabulary. The incident remains the worst stadium-related catastrophe in British history and one of the world’s worst association football catastrophes. association football nines used to contend the semi-final of the FA Cup at a impersonal locale. and in 1989 Hillsborough was selected by the association football. While opposing protagonists were segregated in the bowl. Liverpool fans were allocated the Leppings Lane base. reached by a limited figure of turnstiles. Entry to the land was slow due to the few decrepit turnstiles available to the Liverpool fans which caused unsafe overcrowding outside the land before kick-off. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hillsborough disaster Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Hillsborough disaster Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Hillsborough disaster Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In an effort to ease force per unit area outside the land. Chief Superintendent Duckenfield ordered an issue gate to be opened. The opened issue gate led to a tunnel marked â€Å"Standing† which led straight to the two already overcrowded enclosures ( pens ) . In old old ages the tunnel had been closed off by constabulary when the two cardinal pens were full. nevertheless on this juncture the tunnel was unmanned. The resulting inflow of protagonists caused suppression and some fans climbed over side fencings or were lifted by fellow protagonists onto the base above to get away the crush. Moments after kick-off. a crush barrier broke and fans began to fall on top of each other. The game was stopped after six proceedingss. To transport away the injured. protagonists tore down advertisement billboards to utilize as stretchers and exigency services were called to supply aid. Of the 96 people who died. 14 were admitted to infirmary. When the FA Chairman visited the Control Box to happen out what had happened. Chief Superintendent Duckenfield told a ‘disgraceful prevarication that the protagonists had â€Å"rushed† the gate. The 1990 functionary enquiry into the catastrophe. the Taylor Report. concluded â€Å"the chief ground for the catastrophe was the failure of constabulary control. The findings of the study resulted in the riddance of standing patios at all major football bowls in England. Wales and Scotland. On the twentieth day of remembrance of the catastrophe. authorities curate Andy Burnham called for the constabulary. ambulance and all other public bureaus to let go of paperss which were non made available to Lord Justice Taylor in 1989. This action led to the formation of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. which in September 2012 concluded that no Liverpool fans were responsible for the deceases. and that efforts had been made by the governments to hide what happened. including the change by constabulary of 116 statements associating to the catastrophe. The facts in the study prompted immediate apologies from Prime Minister David cameron ; the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police Chairman David Bernstein and Kelvin Mackenzie. then-editor of The Sun. for their organisations’ several functions. In September 2012. the Hillsborough Independent Panel concluded that up to 41 of the 96 human deaths might hold been avoided had they received prompt medical intervention. The study revealed â€Å"multiple failures† by other exigency services and public organic structures which contributed to the decease toll. In response to the panel’s study. Attorney General for England and Waless. Dominic Grieve MP. confirmed he would see all the new grounds to measure whether the original inquest finding of facts of inadvertent decease could be overturned. On 19 December 2012. a new inquest was granted in the High Court. to the alleviation of the households and friends of the Hillsborough deceased. 1. Examination of Evidence associating to the Hillsborough football bowl catastrophe. Lord Justice Stuart-Smith. February 1998. Page 83. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. southyorks. constabulary. uk/sites/default/files/STUART 2. Conn. David ( 17 April 2009 ) . â€Å"Football: David Conn on Hillsborough† . The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2012. 3. ^ Eason. Kevin ( 13 April 2009 ) . â€Å"Hillsborough: the catastrophe that changed football† . The Times ( UK ) . Retrieved 1 October 2009.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Sources of Innovation Essay Example

Sources of Innovation Essay Example Sources of Innovation Essay Sources of Innovation Essay Sometimes knowing a field too well can stifle creatively. Answer: True Difficulty: Moderate Page: 2. The organizations structure, routines, and incentives can thwart individual creativity, but not amplify it. Answer: False page: 20 3. Sometimes paying people for suggestions undermines creativity because it focuses their shift on extrinsic motivation. Difficulty: Hard 4. Though a generalist by nature, inventors are specialists In the field in which they invent. Page: 21 5. Innovation often originates with those who create solutions for their own needs. Difficulty: Easy page: 22 6. The qualities that make people inventive do not necessarily make them entrepreneurial. 7. Manufacturers typically create new product innovations in order to profit from the sale of the innovation to customers. Page: 23 8. Firms consider their in-house R to be their least important source of innovation, but still feel it is necessary to possess. Page: 25 9. The most frequent collaborations are between firms and their customers, suppliers, and local universities. Page: 26 10. A complement is a company or individual that produces goods or services that enhance the value of another product. Age: 27 1 1 . The creation of university technology transfer offices accelerated rapidly in the United States after the Baby-Dole Act was passed. Page: 28 12. The Small Business Technology Transfer (EST.) program facilitates partnerships between small businesses and nonprofit research institutions. Page: 29 self-reinforcing advantages. Page: 30 14. Collaborative research i s especially important in high-technology sectors. Page: 31 15. Technology clusters may span a region as narrow as a city or as wide as a group of neighboring countries. Page: 32 16. A cluster of firms with high innovation productivity will discourage other firms from establishing themselves in the same area. Page: 33 17. The degree to which innovative activities are geographically clustered does not depend on the national differences in the way technology development is funded or protected. Page: 34 18. The likelihood of technological spillovers varies across countries. Page: 35 19. A knowledge broker puts existing information to use in new and profitable ways. 20. Research suggests that most innovation is due to the discovery of something fundamentally new. Page: 36 Multiple Choice 1 . Which of the following products would be considered novel? A. A detergent advertises that it can remove spots. B. A company announces it has produced a recreational hovercraft for sale in toy stores. C. A cell phone company announces that it now offers text messaging. D. A college announces it will install artificial turf on its football field. Answer: b page: 18-19 22. Which of the following persons is most likely to come up with a new way of manufacturing socks for a textile company? A. Bill, who has been the mechanic working on the current socks manufacturing equipment for the last 15 years. He ruddy states that he is a true expert on every aspect of these machines. B. Kate, who knows the basics of how the socks are now manufactured and how the machines work, but comes from a completely different background as far as training and experience are considered. C. Frank, who has been newly hired because of his mechanical knowledge, but has no real knowledge or understanding of how socks are manufactured. D. Lisa, who is the Plant Manager and is known as being impatient with her subordinates. Page: 19 23. Which of the following will probably have the least influence on organizational creativity? The creativity of the individuals in the organization b. The organizational structure c. Incentives provided for creativity d. Location of the organization Answer: d 24. The difference between Hands employee-driven idea system (DEEDS) and a traditional suggestion box is that Hands system a. Does not pay employees for ideas. B. Screens ideas for practicality before paying employees. C. Requires those who submit ideas to follow through with the suggestion, overseeing its progress from concept to implementation. D. Only ends up accepting about 10 percent of the suggestions submitted. Answer: c 25. Southeaster Athletic Mats, Inc. Produces gym mats for school and health clubs. The company recently put a metal box near the time clock and asked employees to submit ideas in writing for improved productivity. It offered $10 for every idea it implemented. This is an example of a(n) a. Employee-driven idea system (DEEDS). B. Suggestion box. C. Legal bribe. D. Applied research. 26. According to studies, which of the following tends to be true of prolific inventors? A. Inventors tend to have specialized almost solely in one field. B. Inventors tend to be curious, and question the assumptions made in a field. C. Inventors typically patent and commercialism most of their inventions. D. Inventors tend to interact socially and seek local solutions to problems. 27. The Smith brothers were trying to come up with a new cough drop but Alvin Smith kept saying to his brother, Frank, l really would like to understand more about what makes a person cough in the first place. Frank kept saying, We need to quit worrying about theoretical stuff and Just focus on how to stop the coughing. Which of the brothers is most likely to be a successful inventor? A. Alvin b. Frank c. They are equally likely to be successful inventors d. Neither is very likely to be a successful inventor 28. Which of the following is not true regarding user innovators? A. They have a deep understanding of their unmet needs. B. They have an intention to profit from the sale of their innovation. C. They have an incentive to create solutions for their own nee ds. D. Their innovations can lead to the development of new industries. 29. Susan works for a large chemical company in the Research and Development department. Her degree was in Biology and the company is encouraging her to study the mating habits of various insects to develop a better method of controlling insect image to crops. The type of research Susan is engaged in is called research. A. Basic b. Applied c. Development d. Primary 30. Which of the following is the correct sequence of steps for the science-push approach to research and development? A. Customers express an unmet need, RD develops the product to meet that need, the product is produced, and the Marketing team promotes the product. . Scientific discovery leads to an invention, the Engineering team designs the product, it is manufactured, and the Marketing team promotes it. C. Marketing does research to discover a need, RD comes up with the reduce concept which is refined by engineering, the Manufacturing team produces it, and the Marketing team sells it. D. Manufacturing sees a way to improve a product, RD takes the suggestions and expands on it, the Engineering team redesig ns it, the Manufacturing team implements the change, and the Marketing team sells it. 31 . The demand-pull approach to research and development refers to a. Research and development that focuses on developing products that are expected to increase demand in a particular market segment. B. Research and development that begins by immemorial applications may be constructed from those outputs. C. Research and development that greatly overextends the development budget of the firm. D. Research and development that originates as a response to the specific problems or suggestions of customers. 32. Which of the following is not a source for successful innovation? A. In-house research and development. B. Customers. C. External networks of firms. D. Government funding 33. Organizations that produce products such as light bulbs for lamps, or DVD movies for DVD players are examples of a. Competitors. B. Inventors. C. Complementary. D. Incubators. 34. The president of Mountain Home University has been asked by her board of trustees to set up a mechanism for the centralization of technology developed at the university. Such a mechanism is typically called a A. Business department. B. Centralization office. C. Technology transfer office. D. Loyalty department. 35. According to the text, The Baby-Dole Act of 1980 a. Made the transfer of technology to enemies of America illegal. B. Allowed universities to collect royalties on inventions funded with taxpayer dollars. C. Made it impossible to patent inventions developed at universities. . Made it legal for private 36. Regional districts that are set up by the government to foster RD collaboration between g overnment, universities, and private firms are typically called a. Government alliances. B. Research collaboration areas (Arcs). C. Incubators. D. Science parks. 37. In 2001, Shanghais Municipal Government set aside 13 square kilometers area near the Hung River for university laboratories, and start-up firms in microelectronics, digital technology, and life sciences. It was hoped that the area would foster strong research ability, the development of an advanced technology abort pool, and foster the creation of new industries in Shanghai. This area would best be termed a(n) a. Industry b. Incubator c. Science park d. Knowledge broker 38. Institutions designed to nurture the development of new business that might otherwise lack access to adequate funding or advice are called a. Overspent alliances. 39. The objective of the Small Business Technology Transfer (EST.) program is to a. More fully leverage the innovation that takes place in research laboratories by connecting research scientists with entrepreneurs. B. Help small businesses develop business that have significant innovation capabilities. . To aid technology entrepreneurs by offering them f inancial and advisory services. Answer: a is a regional group of firms that have a connection to a common 40. A technology, and may engage in buyer, supplier, and complement relationships, as well as research collaboration. . Science park b. Regional incubator c. Research collaboration area (RCA) d. Technology cluster 41 . When companies form a technology cluster it often results in a. Greater security among the companies to prevent industrial spying from competitors who are now located close by. B. Less new startups because people who have interest in this industry would prefer to work for an established company. C. A shrinking supply of trained labor due to the competition for the skills needed by the industry among the companies in the area. D. The attraction of other firms to the area. Age: 33-34 42. Which of the following would be considered true about an agglomeration economy? A. Helps enhance proximity in knowledge exchange. B. Helps firms understand the drivers and benefits of clustering for developing a strategy. C. Helps overcome the market failure that can result when a new technology has the potential for important societal benefits. D. Helps firms reap benefits by locating them in close geographical proximity to each other. 43. Which of the following would typically be considered a downside to geographical clustering? A. Firms may have to lower prices on their products because there are many local competitors serving the same market. B. Firms have to spend more on transportation costs for their inputs because suppliers are located far away. C. Firms Firms may benefit by improvements in local infrastructure such as roads and utilities. 44. Which of the following would not affect geographic clustering of an industry? A. The nature of the technology. . The degree to which communication and frequent interaction is required for knowledge sharing. C. Population density of labor. D. Profit margins of a technology firm. Is a positive externally of research and development efforts. A. Knowledge 45. Broker b. Agglomeration c. Technological spillover d. Technology cluster Essay 46. You have Just been given an assignment within your company to design a creativity training program. Describe the elements you would include in the program and explain the rationale of each one. Answer: One element of a creativity training program would be to bring in a miscommunication expert to teach managers how to encourage novel thinking and autonomy through the use of verbal and nonverbal cues. The program might also include exercises that encourage employees to consider simpler representations of a problem to avoid getting bogged down in the details, and develop rudimentary prototypes. The program probably should not entail extrinsic (e. G. , monetary) rewards, and instead should encourage intrinsic rewards such as recognition, giving the employees considerable ownership over their projects, and emphasizing the beneficial impact new solutions have on the welfare of customers.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Penny Press - One Cent Newspapers

Penny Press - One Cent Newspapers The Penny Press was the term used to describe the revolutionary business tactic of producing newspapers which sold for one cent. The Penny Press is generally considered to have started in 1833, when Benjamin Day founded The Sun, a New York City newspaper. Day, who had been working in the printing business, started a newspaper as a way to salvage his business. He had nearly gone broke after losing much of his business during a  local financial panic caused by the cholera epidemic of 1832. His idea of selling a newspaper for a penny seemed radical at a time when most newspapers sold for six cents. And though Day merely saw it as a business strategy to salvage his business, his analysis touched upon a class divide in society. Newspapers that sold for six cents were simply beyond the reach of many readers. Day reasoned that many working class people were literate, but were not newspaper customers simply because no one had published a newspaper targeted to them. By launching The Sun, Day was taking a gamble. But it proved successful. Besides making the newspaper very affordable, Day instituted another innovation, the newsboy. By hiring boys to hawk copies on street corners, The Sun was both affordable and readily available. People wouldn’t even have to step into a shop to buy it. Influence of The Sun Day did not have much of a background in journalism, and The Sun had fairly loose journalistic standards. In 1834 it published the notorious â€Å"Moon Hoax,† in which the newspaper claimed scientists had found life on the moon. The story was outrageous and proven to be utterly false. But instead of the ridiculous stunt discrediting The Sun, the reading public found it entertaining. The Sun became even more popular. The success of The Sun encouraged James Gordon Bennett, who had serious journalistic experience, to found The Herald, another newspaper priced at one cent. Bennett was quickly successful and before long he could charge two cents for a single copy of his paper. Subsequent newspapers, including the New York Tribune of Horace Greeley and the New York Times of Henry J. Raymond, also began publication as penny papers. But by the time of the Civil War, the standard price of a New York City newspaper was two cents. By marketing a newspaper to the widest possible public, Benjamin Day inadvertently kicked off a very competitive era in American journalism. As new immigrants came to America, the penny press provided very economical reading material. And the case could be made that by coming up with a scheme to save his failing printing business, Benjamin Day had a lasting impact on American society.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Are connectionist models and symbolic models competing or Essay

Are connectionist models and symbolic models competing or complementary appraoaches to artificial intelligence - Essay Example Both these approaches have their supporters who have used them to show the various benefits which can be derived from taking different viewpoint to AI (Minsky, 1991). At the same time, there are those who have said that the approaches are complimentary and do not compete with each other. To justify these statements it is necessary to take a look at each approach to see how it works. The symbolic approach is based on the creation of AI models that work with symbol manipulation. Computation is based on the fact that a symbol or a group of symbols can be arranged in a manner to represent information. Once the order or position of symbols is changed, the information can also be updated to reflect the changing environment. It must be noted that in this approach a symbol can represent any type or nature of information and the symbols can be modified if required (Bader & Hitzler, 2005). Thus a symbol here represents an idea which has certain basic premises but which can be modified by the machine based on experience or intelligent action. This process of symbol manipulation can be very successful if the AI process is being applied to well-structured problems. That means if the symbols are predefined for the AI system, it can modify the associated parameters based on its own experience and manipulation of the symbols (Bader & Hitzler, 2005). This method seeks to replicate the higher order thinking processes of the human mind which has the same ability to modify and learn from experiences as they are collected in a person’s memory. However, this approach has certain failings as well since it is difficult to grasp commonsense reality with this approach. On the other hand, the connectionist models for AI are based on the idea of using a large number of relatively simple units which can handle extremely difficult and

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Lengthening the School Day Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lengthening the School Day - Article Example The proposal to lengthen the school day, therefore, creates new opportunities for students, teachers, and parents. Moreover, time with family after the school day would enhance family interactions and relationships. Students would have less homework because the school day is long enough to take care of academic activities. Contrary to the benefits of the longer school day, lengthening the school day is not without its disadvantages. A longer school day would negatively affect students’ attention. Extra time in school, according to Sprague, Douglas, and David (434), could result in attention deficit, fatigue, and subsequent ineffective curricular activities within that time. On the same note, longer hours at school do not necessarily translate to improved teacher productivity or student performance. In that regard, scores may fail to improve as school day hour increase. Most importantly, a longer school day requires additional funding due to an accompanying increase in suppleme ntal resources. In light of the above discussion, the cons of lengthening the school day outweigh the pros. A longer school day would be an additional individual, social, financial, and academic burden to almost every stakeholder in the education sector. Instead of lengthening the school day, proposers of this move should consider making the current school day more effective and efficient. It is important to ensure that the current school day operates to its full potential before considering additional hours.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Assisted suicide Essay Example for Free

Assisted suicide Essay Assisted Suicide In the 1990s, ‘Doctor Death’ Jack Kevorkian invented the first assisted suicide machine  in the world. He was then thrown into prison for 7 years (Pickert). This caught people’s attention  and made them question whether it should be legal to request physician assisted suicide, which is  when someone asks a physician to help him or her terminate his or her life. This topic became  one of the most popular discussions in recent years, but the truth is that it has actually been a  centuries- old debate. For both logical and humanitarian reasons, assisted suicide is not right and  should not be legalize. Is it right for a nation founded on Christianity to allow citizens to choose assisted  suicide? Can a decision that is made by a mentally ill person be treated as a rational decision? Is  the prevention of pain an acceptable circumstance in which to end a life? People still do not have  a widely accepted answer. It is not clear whether physician assisted suicide  is right or wrong. Assisted suicide should not be viewed solely as affecting one life, but should be viewed as a  decision that affects many.  The declaration of independence states that everyone has the right to pursue happiness  In whatever way they choose. Many argue that a decision to kill oneself is a private choice, that  society should not be, and has no right to be concerned. America believes that with its freedom,  people can do almost everything based on their own choices. Physician assisted suicide is also  one of the choices that they can decide. The common argument is that these people are adults  who can make rational and reasonable choices, however many people who request physician  assisted suicide are mentally ill. Of those who attempt suicide but were unsuccessful, less than 4  percent go on to kill themselves in the future, which means that most people changed their mind  after a period of recovery. Psychological evidence shows that those who ask for physician   assisted suicide in order to avoid pain are normally ambivalent, and they  usually attempt to end  their life for other reasons than a settled desire to die. Since assisted suicide has already become  a popular way to end suffering and pain, people who were in the status might feel it is necessary  for them to kill themselves since they have in their mind become a burden to their family and  society. Some would say it is wrong for such an impression to have the power to persuade a  personto end their life due to their weakness and disability. As a Christian nation, America wants a positive and happy image for the country.  American people value the meaning of life, and According to what most of the Christians  believe, God is the one who created life. Then how can people have the right to end something  that they did not even create in the first place? American society does not think assisted suicide  is good as a whole, because assisted suicide is still a self-caused death, which is equal to suicide.  Although there is always a vague line drawn between assisted suicide and attempted  murder. Assisted suicide is the opposite of happiness because it demonstrates  utter depression. It  is clear that American society sees assisted suicide as wrong, because there is a suicide watch  team among the police and counselors at schools who are trained to help and avert suicide. Asking for assisted suicide as a form of pain relief and signing a release form is not acceptable  either. People cannot solve problems by trying to get rid of them. People who stand against  physician-assisted suicide believe that suffering is just a stage of life. And lots of people who  were prevented from assisted suicide will tell you that they all passed that stage successfully,  and they are appreciative that they were stopped from asking for physician-assisted suicide. Assisted suicide also hurts the people who care about those who were asking for a  physician assisted suicide. Patients might get relived from their long suffering and pain but their  family will be hurt from one’s immature decision. The person only thought of their own  feelings and never considered others who are around them and how they feel. Families and loved  ones will be upset about their decision to take their lives in a selfish act. Other evidence that  shows assisted suicide is wrong is the fact that there are always suicide prevention billboards in  communities. This should show the government that people do not want those around them to  commit suicide. People who fight for the right to have physician-assisted suicide argue that assisted  suicide can bring benefits to both patients and society. They believe that people who  choose assisted suicide will die with dignity rather than suffer the pain of illness( OSteen,  Burke). That they will not let their family and friends suffer anymore by showing their weakness  and sickness. By choosing assisted suicide, patients can also reduce a huge amount of medical  expenses that insurance does not cover. To benefit society, their organs can be donated to save  people’s lives (Humphrey). Doctors and nurses can spend more time on recovering patients  rather than waste time on patients who are assured death, and of course, they still think it is a part  of one’s freedom to be able to choose for himself whether to live or die. Whether it is one’s  rational decision to chose to end their life has always been the center of this debate. Because  without argu ing about one’s free right, those who favor assisted suicide will lose an important  statement. Although there is a ton of evidence showing that physician assisted suicide is not right,  it is a fact that so many people are still in favor to legalize assisted suicide. They believe that  rather than give people hope to live, telling them the truth and offering them an option is more  reasonable. They argued that in some ways, it is humane to give dying people assisted suicide;  society is okay with people helping a sick or dying animal yet people are not okay with letting a  sick and dying patient go. It was said that humans are too selfish to let their loved ones go, even  if death would be a comfort. People who think it is illegal for a physician to offer assisted suicide  are accused of wanting to control other people’s lives. People think that one has his/her own will  about their life that no one is suppose to tell them what they should do and should not do. Especially when their faith to live is completely gone. It was understood as a merciful behavior  for a physician to offer help to end one’s life. A new statement was also brought up to argue in  the favor of legalize assisted suicide. It is that if one can reject medical treatment to prolong life  then why cant one request treatment to end it? Many people found this statement be reasonable  and useful to support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.  After centuries’ debating, there is still no certain answer for those questions that are  brought up by the topic of assisted suicide. Two sides are still debating about the benefits and  negative effects of assisted suicide. Still to this day no one is able to convince the either group to  change their views on this topic. In 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled that legalizing assisted  suicide is to be the responsibility of each state respectively. No one can yet predict how long this  topic wi ll still be an argumentative topic for debate, And no one can predict how this issue will  effect human life in the future. But overall, do people really possess the right to kill a life that  was not created by them? It is still a big question that no one has yet given an answer that can  satisfy everyone. Maybe one-day people will find out the right answer and that assisted suicide  will be a new thing that brings benefits to the world. Physician suicide should be banned due to  its negative cause and impaction to society. People who think assisted suicide should be  illegalized because of the value of life to a society is still the majority; ending a life is  not so simple that people should decide to do so on their own. Work cited Pickert, Kate. A brief history of assisted suicide. a brief history of assisted suicide. N.p., 3 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. . Humphry, Derek. Liberty and Death: A manifesto concerning an individuals right to choose to die. Assisted Suicide Information on right-to-die and euthanasia laws and history. N.p., 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. Declaration of Independence Text Transcript. National Archives and Records Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. OSteen, David N. , and Burke J. Balch. Why We Should Not Legalize Assisted Suicide | New York State Right to Life. Welcome | New York State Right to Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. Information on right-to-die and euthanasia laws and history. N.p., 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Sept.2013. .