Organizational Theory and Behavior Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Theory and Behavior - Term Paper Example Therefore, this paper is going to define the terms organizational theory and organizational behavior is, secondly, mention about the vital aspects of organizational behavior, thirdly, talk about the various theories of organizational behavior, and lastly conclusion. Organizational theory is a theory whose main aim is to enable individuals understand the reason as to why organizations are structured the way they are and how people behave in organizations (Cunliffe, 2008) On the other hand, organizational behavior is a word that is rarely hard in today’s life but seen and heard mostly in the places of work. The reason as to why the many people are not conversant with the term â€Å"organizational behavior† is that they do not know what it comprises. Therefore, organizational behavior can be defined as the culture and behavior of individuals in an organization that results to effective functioning of such an organization. In other words, it comprises of the rules, regulations and procedures that govern an organization (Staw, 2006) There are various vital aspects of organizational behavior and theory; they include organizational culture, ethics, communication, teamwork and diversity. Diversity means that people work in an organization peacefully by not looking at their age, tribe, gender, sex or ethnic backgrounds. Communication is the sending and receiving information, in an organization there are proper channels of communications that are followed for smooth running of organizations. Also among the staff, communication is an important aspect; it is done through memos, phone calls, emails among others. Teamwork is also important in an organization whereby the staff members have to work together as one team for effective and smooth running of organizations. There are several different behavioral theories that show how

Peasants DBQ Essay Example for Free

Peasants DBQ Essay This revolt lasted from 1524 till 1526, it began in the German states, and the main reason for the revolt was new Lutheran ideas that were beginning to go against the traditional Catholicism ideas. Documents 1,4 and 5 give insight on the views those who were on the nobility side, Documents 2 and 3 give more specific details over the views of peasants and finally for Documents 7,8 and 12 explain how the mainly how the revolt didnt have much meaning behind it. Documents 1, 4, and 5 explained the point of view of the nobility which mostly all of the nobility agreed it was negative. In Document 1the Chancellor of Bavaria wrote how he believed that the revolt was simply the belief of the time and thats why so many peasants were following the same belief. Yet the chancellor doesnt realize the side of the peasant who strive for a better life for themselves, they simply want to have more rights for the individuality. In document 4 it explains how they have not reach any religious achievements, so for their freedom they must give a large amount of money to buy their freedom. As for document 5 a pope explains how the peasants are more like salvages and act very ruthless during their revolt. All 3 of these documents are more than likely extremely biased since the nobility only wanted to better themselves and nobody else. Document 2 and 3 explained how the peasants felt during the revolt which they unlike the nobility believed their actions were going to a positive cause. In document 2 a local craftsperson explain how the lords been cruel to all peasants. He is stating the lords and nobles should offer payment for their services not simply force them to do task like slaves. This relates to Luthers knowledge and ideas instead peasants apply it not only to the church but outside of the church. In document 3 they explain the wrong doing of the lord by controlling peasant, they continue into saying that the rulers set by god would be the only one peasants would follow, but that they should still be set free and not be under so many restrictions. Both sides will not be entirely correct since they both strive to better themselves,  which of course they would maintain bias to their sides. Documents 7, 8, and 12 explain the negative side of the revolt from a 3rd person point of view. Document 7 comes from Martin Luther saying how the revolt from the peasants contradicts what they said; he goes on explaining that their actions are under the devils order. Although the actions they may have taken wasnt the best response they did fight for what they believed in and all throughout history this has occurred many times fighting for what you think is right. Document 8 explains how if they all are brothers then the rich should share their wealth with the peasants, yet many would have trouble with this, because the one persons wealth is every wealthy person wealth. Document 12 explains how the peasants forgot their place in the revolt, how they do not have the power to de3ciede for themselves. It truly shows how the peasants have absolutely no word in their treatment.

Evidence Based Nursing in Primary Healthcare Team

Evidence Based Nursing in Primary Healthcare Team 189691 Title: Evidence Based Nursing is developing in primary health care . Critically discuss the applications to your practice. (District Nursing) Undergraduate Degree Level Essay 3,250 words Essay The evolution of the nursing profession has witnessed a great many changes of both emphasis and direction in both the delivery and the content of patient care as well as accompanying changes in both the philosophy and the theory of that care. Arguably the nursing profession has historically based its activities and also its philosophies, on tradition and the perpetuation of currently accepted practices which have not been firmly rooted in a general scientifically tested framework.(Roper N 1977). This can be verified by the fact that the nursing literature of the 1970s and 80s has many references from writers and commentators who were arguing for nursing to evolve into a research based profession and highlighting the fact that there was a demonstrable absence of a significant amount of good quality research-based fact which dictated the current practices throughout the profession in general. (Gortner SR 1976). An impartial observer, considering this situation over the intervening years, would probably agree that there has been a clear and marked swing in both the published literature and the actual practice of nursing, towards the underpinning of practice with strong scientific research. Evidence based nursing has emerged as being one of the dominant driving forces in nursing evolution and the advent of evidence based practice has become apparent to the point where it is now and this could be considered to be the â€Å"gold standard† and essential basis for the majority of professional nursing care (Yura H et al 1998) If we look at the issues and considerations that could support this statement, we could point to Hunt’s tour de force on the subject in his seminal paper of 1981 (Hunt J 1981), in which he sums up his belief that each nurse must care enough about her own practice to want to make sure it is based on the best possible information. This plea seemed to strike a chord in the nursing profession to the extent that, over the following few years, there was a noticeable increase in the published papers that both echoed these sentiments and also defined the various barriers to progress in this respect. These were largely quantified as including time constraints, limited access to the literature, a lack of training in critical skills of appraisal and, most fundamentally, a professional ethos and ideology that placed a great emphasis on the practical rather than the intellectual component of knowledge, together with a work environment that did not actively encourage the seeking out, resear ching and recording of new information (after Royle J et al 1996). One could be forgiven for observing that such comments are still relevant to a degree today. In order to present a balanced argument, we can observe that there is not a blind and uniform acceptance of evidence based nursing procedures. There are some who actively criticise evidence base procedures. Haynes (R B et al 1996) points to the fact that a blind following of evidence based practice can promote a concept of a â€Å"cookbook† of procedures that have to be dogmatically followed and it can stifle the holistic consideration of what may be best for each individual patient. We shall return to this point later. White (S 1997) counters this argument with the suggestion that a nurses’ professional training includes both learning the basic pathophysiology and anatomy and acquiring experience. She suggests that it is actually the â€Å"effective application of this experience that requires a sound evidence base.† Research evidence can aid the professional decision making process, but cannot either do the clinical examination or collate the vast amount of sni ppets of information that pass between patient and nurse. White suggests that it is this clinical expertise (derived from learning and experience), that is the crucial element in the application of the evidence based knowledge which separates true evidence based nursing practice from the â€Å"cookbook† approach with Haynes’ vision of the mindless and unquestioning application of â€Å"both guidelines and rules† (White S 1997). Before we leave the general issues relating to evidence based nursing, we shall also cite the analytical work of Pearson (A 2000) who produced an influential treatise on the role of the nurse and nursing in evidence based research. In his paper Pearson makes a fundamental and significant delineation between lay nursing and professional nursing which is defined by the application of research based practices and procedures. He suggests that the evolution of evidence based nursing had its origins in the days of the reforms pushed through by Florence Nightingale, became commonly accepted practice in the 70s and 80s when the â€Å"theoretical constructs of practice began to evolve and be adopted†, and has currently culminated in the advent and emergence of the nurse practitioner and nurse specialist whose professional structure, training and practice is essentially evidence based. This essay is primarily about how evidence based nursing is developing in primary healthcare team with specific reference to personal practice. This is a potentially a vast topic and therefore we will use illustrative examples of specific areas of development. A great deal of a primary healthcare team’s time (particularly that of the nurse) is taken up with the treatment of pressure sores and ulcers. It is instructive to consider the evolution of the evidence base for the treatment of this condition and then to extrapolate the process to other conditions frequently seen in primary care. We can cite the work of Sir James Paget who made the observation in 1862:- Elderly patients with femoral neck fractures and other high risk groups develop them (pressure sores) early, chiefly in the first week, and then made the observation â€Å"They often appear on the day of operation. It is not just the patient, but every part of his or her body, that must survive the operation†. (Bliss MR 1992). The rationale for citing this statement is that it illustrates a comment and observation that may be factually correct, but has no evidence based weight whatsoever other than being a reflection of the author’s opinion. It has no foundation in statistically verifiable fact and may be subject to all forms of objective bias. It obviously was never produced as a result of a randomised controlled trial but, like many other â€Å"pronouncements† by prominent practitioners, it has both influenced and been accepted by generations of healthcare professionals over the years. This exemplifies Roper’s point, cited earlier, relating to the tradition of previous practice being perpetuated by successive generations. The point can be tracked further still by considering a more recent paper by Vohra (Vohra R K et al. 1986). On the face of it, this paper gives a comprehensive overview of the (then) current practices in the treatment of ulceration and pressure sores. It goes into great detail relating to the aetiology, pathophysiology and trends in management of the ulcer patient and has an extensive and current reference section in the paper. The problem form the perspective of this essay is that, although the paper is undoubtedly comprehensive in its approach, virtually the entire paper together with virtually all of the cited references, is opinion based with not a single reference to a good quality randomised controlled trial. (MacLean DS 2003). The paper does make use of comparative studies where one treatment is compared with another, but this in turn exemplifies yet another shortcoming and that is that such trials are good if a healthcare professional has only these two options at their dispo sal for treatment, (which is seldom the case). Modern philosophy would dictate that in good evidence based practice, the nurse would need to be able to cite evidence that one treatment is demonstrably superior to all others for a given set of clinical circumstances and that this evidence is from a repeatable and unbiased source. To give an illustration of this point, MacLean makes the comment:- It is clearly of minimal value to a patient to be able to say to them that a comparison of rubbing a pressure sore with honey has been found more beneficial than rubbing it with butter when the use of a ripple mattress is clearly superior to both of them. If we contrast this paper with another, more recent paper (Bliss et al. 1999), there are a number of very significant differences. This paper is also an overview of the current trends in treatment of ulcers and pressure sores. Firstly the author is a nurse. Secondly, it only cites 12 references (as opposed to over 70 in the Vohra paper) but each is a randomised controlled trial selected to support the various statements made in the paper. This represents a major and fundamental change in presentation, philosophy and practice. It could be suggested by the cynic that such observations are a chance finding in two randomly selected papers. We would suggest that an examination of the literature of the periods involved would support the view that they represent a true reflection of the genuine change in both style and expectation that now pervades the nursing professions and more fundamentally, it also reflects the criteria by which papers are now judged and accepted for publication in the major peer reviewed journals. It is not appropriate to discuss the content of the paper in detail other than to observe the fact that the paper concludes with a description of the classic Gebhardt trial (Gebhardt KS et al 1994) which compared the results of bed rest with intermittent chair nursing on the development of ulceration and in the words of Morris (A 2002):- In many respects, the Gebhardt trial is a reflection of both the calls noted in the previous paper for proper scientific scrutiny to be brought to bear on the subject and the evolution of the expectation of the healthcare professions into the requirement for a firm evidence base for their continued work. In terms of direct impingement on the practical aspects of primary healthcare nursing, the move towards evidence based procedures can be illustrated in the development of scales such as the Waterlow scale (PN 1991). This was developed as a direct recognition of the need for an evidence based tool which would both directly help the nurse assess and quantify the degree of risk together with helping them predict just which was the most effective treatment modality for any individual patient. This was accomplished by allowing a reproducible measurement of ulceration and thereby rendering this area of clinical practice amenable to proper scientific scrutiny and testing. The result of this scale development is that the nurse can identify a treatment that has not only been suggested by previous practice or experience, but one that can be shown to be the most appropriate for a given set of clinical circumstances with the most likely clinical benefit (NT 1996). It is a logical step from this position to the situation where new scales are developed based on evidence based assessments and treatments, to predict the likelihood of healing of ulcers. Such a situation has resulted in the development of tools such as the PUSH scale (Gardener S et al 2005). This represents the currently accepted end-point of a logical progression that we have traced and quantified from the type of opinion based pronouncements of Sir James Paget, past the experience based observations and comparative trials such as those of Vohra, through to the completely evidence based practices of today where a clinically defined situation is identified, a solution is hypothesised and then subjected to validation by appropriate double blinded and unbiased scientific techniques in a randomly controlled clinical setting. It allows the authors (Gardener S et al 2005) to conclude their paper with the comment The PUSH tool provides a valid measure of pressure ulcer healing over time and accurately differentiates a healing from a non-healing ulcer. It is a clinically practical, evidence-based tool for tracking changes in pressure ulcer status when applied at weekly intervals. Such a comment is virtually unchallengeable because of the weight of valid recorded evidence behind it. If we consider new and current moves to examine the evidence base of activities in the primary healthcare team, we can also consider the advent of screening clinics which are commonly nurse-led. (Califf R M et al. 2002). We could consider the current trend for hypertension screening. It is commonly accepted that treating hypertension is of value in preventing both morbidity and mortality, (Cooper R et al. 2000), but a less frequently asked question is â€Å"What is the rationale and the evidence base for providing a screening programme for patients?â€Å" (HTT 2005). Curiously, the evidence base for the screening programmes that have been run has been rather insecure. The main reason for this has been the comparative paucity of definitive information relating to the levels of effective treatment and, as the treatment can realistically only be assessed as effective over a long time span, such studies take many years to yield substantive information. It therefore follows that the evi dence base for screening can only realistically be determined once a rational an proven evidence base for treatment has been established. (Brotons C et al. 2003). This is the position set out in the comprehensive paper by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group (HTT 2005). A pragmatic view would also have to observe that the position is further complicated by the constant evolution of new drugs and methods of measuring blood pressure which render previous data on the subject out of date by the time that it is assimilated. (Appel L J et al. 2003). This paper is very detailed in its assessment of the situation and it is not practical to consider all of its findings in any depth, but it provides a comprehensive overview of the evidence base for the promotion of hypertensive screening together with the evidence to support the use of different levels of hypertension as the endpoint of the screening process. Perhaps we can conclude this essay about the relevance of evidence base nursing practice to primary health care with the excellent and though-provoking article by Frances Griffiths. (Griffiths F et al. 2005). Although we have been arguing for the use of evidence based practice in modern nursing care, there is one commonly overlooked aspect of this practice which is the subject of the Griffiths paper. As the wealth of good quality information relating to the effectiveness of many clinical interventions and practices increases, this fact alone presents healthcare professionals in general with the increasing dilemma of how to apply the information obtained to the individual patient. The evidence base for a procedure will generally inform clinicians of the likelihood of it being successful in the general population. It will not give any indication, other than a probability, of its chance of success in the individual patient. This is a problem for the nurse (and other healthcare professio nals), as the bulk of current medical practice is on a face-to-face basis with individual patients, rather than dealing with populations. (Fox R C 2002) To illustrate this point, Griffiths points to the fact that it is commonly accepted that epidemiology tells us that smoking is an independent risk factor in the population for myocardial infarction, yet there is no evidence base to tell us which particular individuals will be affected. Similarly there are a multitude of good quality trials which show that there is an increased risk of breast cancer that is linked with hormone replacement therapy but there is nothing that will tell us which individuals are at specific risk. (Willis J 1995) This dilemma is central to the proper understanding of the place of evidence based practice as the balance between good practice based on proper evidence and individual patient care is central to the history of nursing and will not disappear however good the evidence base for a particular treatment becomes. In the words of Haynes (R B et al. 2002):- Diseases always manifest themselves in patients bodies and minds, and in seeking to understand, treat, and predict the outcome of disease, clinicians need to move their focus from the individual to more generalised research. To this end, the nurse would do well to reflect on the fact that assimilation of evidence is central to her practice, but communicating that evidence to patients is a key part of clinical consultations, with a growing evidence base of how it is best achieved. References Appel L J, Champagne C M, Harsha D W, Cooper L S, Obarzanek E, Elmer P J, Stevens V J, Vollmer W M, Lin P H, Svetkey L P, Stedman S W, Young D R; for the Writing Group of the PREMIER Collaborative Research Group. 2003 Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on blood pressure control: main results of the PREMIER clinical trial. J Am Med Assoc. 2003 ; 289 : 2083–2093. Bliss M and Bruno Simini 1999 When are the seeds of postoperative pressure sores sown? BMJ, Oct 1999 ; 319 : 863 864 Brotons C, Godycki-Cwirko M, Sammut M R. 2003 New European guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice. Eur J Gen Pract. 2003 ; 9 : 124–125 Califf R M, DeMets D L. 2002 Principles from clinical trials relevant to clinical practice: part I. Circulation. 2002 ; 106 : 1015–1021 Cooper R, Cutler J, Desvigne-Nickens P, Fortmann S P, Friedman L, Havlik R, Hogelin G, Marler J, McGovern P, Morosco G, Mosca L, Pearson T, Stamler J, Stryer D, Thom T. 2000 Trends and disparities in coronary heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases in the United States: findings of the national conference on cardiovascular disease prevention. Circulation. 2000 ; 102 : 3137–3147. Fox R C. 2002 Medical uncertainty revisited. In: Bendelow G, Carpenter M, Vautier C, Williams S, eds. Gender, health and healing: the public/private divide. London : Routledge, 2002 : 236-53. Gardner S, Rita A. Frantz, Sandra Bergquist, and Chingwei D. Shin 2005 A Prospective Study of the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH) J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci., Jan 2005 ; 60 : 93 97. Gebhardt KS, Bliss MR. 1994 Preventing pressure sores in orthopaedic patients. Is prolonged chair nursing detrimental? J Tissue Viability 1994 ; 4 : 51-54. Gortner S R, Bloch D, Phillips T P. 1976 Contributions of nursing research to patient care. J Adv Nurs 1976 ; 1 : 507–18. Griffiths F, Eileen Green, and Maria Tsouroufli 2005 The nature of medical evidence and its inherent uncertainty for the clinical consultation: qualitative study BMJ, Mar 2005 ; 330 : 511 ; Haynes R B, Sackett D L, Gray J A M, et al. 1996 Transferring evidence from research into practice.-The role of clinical care research evidence in clinical decisions ACP Journal Club 1996 Nov-Dec ; 125 : A14–6. Haynes R B, Devereaux P J, Guyatt G H. 2002 Physicians and patients choices in evidence based practice. BMJ 2002 ; 324 : 1350 HTT 2005 The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Future Directions in Hypertension Treatment Trials Major Clinical Trials of Hypertension: What Should Be Done Next? Hypertension, Jul 2005 ; 46 : 1 6. Hunt J. 1981 Indicators for nursing practice: the use of research findings. J Adv Nurs 1981 ; 6 : 189–94 MacLean D S 2003 Preventing Managing Pressure Sores Caring for the Aged March 2003 Morris A H 2002 Decision support and safety of clinical environments Qual. Saf. Health Care, March 1, 2002 ; 11 (1) : 69 75. NT 1996 Pressure sore assessments Uses and limitations of standard pressure sore classification and risk assessment systems. Nursing Times July 17 1996 Vol 92 No.29 Pearson A 2000 Nursing Practice and Nursing Science: Building on the Past and Looking to the Future Joan Durdin Oration Paper Series Number 6 2000 PN 1991 A policy that protects The Waterlow pressure sore prevention/treatment policy. Professional Nurse February 1991 Roper N. 1977 Justification and use of research in nursing. J Adv Nurs 1977 ; 2 : 365–71. Royle J A, Blythe J, Ingram C, et al. 1996 The research utilisation process: the use of guided imagery to reduce anxiety. Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal 1996 ; 6 : 20–5. Vohra R K and C N McCollum 1986 Fortnightly Review: Pressure sores BMJ, Oct 1986 ; 309 : 853 – 857 White S. 1997 Evidence-based practice and nursing: the new panacea? British Journal of Nursing 1997 ; 6 :175–7 Willis J. 1995 The paradox of progress. Oxford: Radcliffe Medical Press, 1995. Yura H, Walsh M. 1998 The nursing process. Assessing, planning, implementing, evaluating. 5th edition. Norwalk, CT : Appleton Lange, 1998. ################################################################ 11.9.06 PDG Word count 3,454

Bad Apples Essay -- English Literature Essays

Bad Apples "A Poison Tree" by William Blake is a short poem about life in general. The poem teaches its readers a valuable lesson about anger. Anger has power over ones’ mind and actions. If a person holds in their feelings, especially anger, it can pull that person down emotionally as evident in the poem "A Poison Tree". This poem written by William Blake describes the darker emotions such as anger, hatred and Schadenfreude. The poem refers to "apple bright" in the garden which may lead readers to infer a Biblical reference to the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man, inflicting death upon his foe, is more cruel than the God of Genesis who banished the sinners from paradise. Paradise is a place that God created for Adam and Eve at the beginning of time. The fruit mentioned in the Bible is that of a forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world and all our woe. The poem mainly deals with anger. The beginning of the poem begins by depicting a scenario in which a man told his friend he was angry with him, yet they were able to work out their differences and resolve the issue. His anger dissipated shortly afterwards, and the friendship continued to grow like a seedling soon becomes a tree with strong roots. Blake was also angry at his enemy, but Blake could not do the same as he did with his friend. He keeps his anger secret from his enemy. Blake made a mistake by not allowing his anger to escape. His anger grew both day and night. H...

Disaster Management Essay

There four phases of emergence planning including mitigation, preparedness, response and reconstruction. Mitigation phase involves efforts made by the charged management and the community in general to prevent any known and foreseeable hazard from developing into a destructive disaster. It also involves reducing the effects associated with the occurrence of a disaster. As such, this phase is different from all others as it involves development of long term measures and strategies useful for avoiding and reducing risks in a society. When mitigation measures are applied after a disaster has occurred, they can be considered as a part of the recovery process. Mitigation strategies can be structural in the sense that they make use of the existing technology or they can be non-structural such as legislation, insurance or land use planning. It is this phase that most of the efforts of emergence managers should be concentrated as this can help in avoiding most types of disasters. Another important phase of emergence planning is the preparedness phase in which emergency managers strive to develop action plans to counter the occurrence of a disaster. Most of the emergence planners spend much time and resources in this stage in an effort to prepare themselves and organize resources needed. The common measures undertaken in this phase include effective communication plans, training and maintenance of emergence services inclusive of enough human resources to deal with any disaster that may occur (Krischenbaum, 2004, p. 21). Other measures include the exercise and development of effective methods of warning the population about the occurrence of an emergency coupled with evacuation plans and emergence shelters, maintenance of enough disaster equipments and supply besides the necessary inventory and finally, the development of emergence organizations of properly trained volunteers among the population in an area. Another important aspect of this phase is the prediction of the casualties that can be expected from a given disaster which helps the planners to estimate the amount and type of resources needed to respond to an emergence. In the response phase, emergence managers are charged with the role of mobilizing all the required resources to deal with a disaster. Resources such as firefighters, police and ambulance among others forms the first wave of responders to a disaster to help save and put to a safe place those hit by the disaster. The planners mobilize all the resources inclusive of human resources and other type of resources such as evacuation cars and ladders, medical supplies among others. The effectiveness of this phase is based on how well the planners had organized and rehearsed the preparedness phase (Krischenbaum, 2004, p. 43). The final phase is that of recovery or reconstruction of the affected area in an effort to restore it to its previous status. Here, planners would organize the reconstruction of infrastructure, and offering aid to the affected individuals to help recover and reconstruct their lives. 2. The process of risk analysis A risk can be defined as a quantifiable probability of specific eventualities. In regard to disasters, a risk can be seen as the probability of negative outcomes of a disaster. Risk analysis involves the application of various strategies and methods in assessing the possible impact of a disaster occurrence in a society. It involves the application of various tools such as cost benefit analysis in an effort to have an idea regarding the potential impact of a disaster. As such, risk analysis is an important step in emergence management as it helps emergence managers to better organize resources for effective mitigation and response to a disaster. Risk analysis help in determining the situations likely to occur and which needs most of the attention in planning process. It involves the identification of threats posed by a disaster inclusive of the economic and social risks. As such, disaster managers should assess the risks in terms of loss of lives, property among other resources in the society. After such identification, the managers should try and quantify the risk through the application of various tools such as socio-economic cost benefit analysis. Whether faced with a shortage of resources or not, managers should undertake risk analysis as this will help them have a clear picture of what they would expect if a given disaster occurs. They will be able to effectively allocate resources during the planning period and effectively respond to a given disaster with the required speed, resources and preciseness (Sundra, 1995, p. 98). An actual assessment of possible risks through the available tools of analysis is thus important if emergence planning process is to be effective as a whole. Managers should therefore conduct risk analysis for better allocation of resources besides better planning. 3. The importance of emergence plan to a community or urgency? There are various types of disasters that can face any given community. Some disasters are easy to mitigate while others cannot be mitigated nor can they be prevented from occurring. For example, while it is possible to mitigate the consequences of flooding, it is not possible to stop the rain from falling. Still, measures can be put in place to avoid certain consequences associated with hurricanes by it is practically impossible to prevent a hurricane from occurring. An emergency plan is important while dealing with disasters as it enables a community or an agency charged with the role of managing emergencies to better respond to any occurrence of such a disaster. For one, an emergence plan helps in mitigating the occurrence of disasters and the risks associated. Measures such as ensuring all the buildings comply with architectural rules and regulations helps in reducing the risk of such buildings collapsing in case of an earthquake. Further, an emergency plan helps the community to be completely prepared in terms of types and the amount of resources that would be needed if a disaster occurs (Alexander, 2007, p. 47). Here, the community or the agency will have the resources ready and this will help the emergence team to respond fast and effectively. It will help in ensuring that all the required resources are available and effectively allocated when responding to a disaster. Such a plan should therefore include all the resources needed besides outlining the various steps to be followed while dealing with a disaster. It should include a cost analysis or a budget covering all the resources required. Still, all actors should be well informed of the plan so as to ensure a smooth flow of all the phases and steps required to deal with a disaster. 4. Roles played by emergence managers in planning medical emergence for mass-casualty incident Disasters which results in mass casualties demand a lot of resource allocation and efforts on the side of disaster managers. When there are mass casualties, medical care can pose a big problem and thus managers need to be well informed and knowledgeable of the steps that need to be taken if such a situation occurs. As such, managers should be able to organize all the resources inclusive of medical crew and medical suppliers at least to deal with the minor incidence of injuries. Further, disaster managers should be able to communicate with the existing hospital managements about the casualties and organize with such hospitals to offer space to the casualties. On the other hand, to facilitate medical care to mass casualties, disaster managers can request medical staff from available hospitals besides organizing for transportation methods such as helicopters to air lift those affected and ambulances to take the injured to the hospitals. The managers should fully cooperate with other actors to ensure that the causalities are taken care of. Evacuation and rescue teams should be mobilized to un-trap those who may be trapped in various places and to bring these people into safety (Terry, 2003, p. 56). Moreover, a disaster manager can cooperate with the community for a camp site where mobile hospitals can be erected to help save the situation. Medical help should be sought from various directions including organizations such as the Red Cross among others. A complete and continuous supply of medical resources should be maintained to ensure that all the medical staff are fully supplied and equipped with the necessary supplies. Every effort and measures should be taken to ensure that all the relevant actors are involved and all the casualties attended to. 5. What makes for a good emergency manager or disaster manager? For one to be a good disaster or emergency manager, there are a lot of considerations that need to be put into consideration. Other that the professional qualifications needed of such a manager, other behavioral and character traits are needed to ensure the effectiveness of the manager. A manager can be fully educated about ways and means of dealing with a disaster or an emergency besides all the strategies needed in such a situation but may still be ineffective in his or her leadership. To start with, a manager needs to be a self propelling person. When faced with an emergency, many decisions need to be made and fast. The manager should be able to make quick and effective decisions with minimal reliance on others if the various steps involved are to be successful. Still, the manager should be able to work under harsh conditions as is typical with most of the disasters. He or she should be able to flexible to work at odd hours and be prepared to do all that it takes to save the situation. In general, the manager should be a team leader, self propelling, flexible in terms of space and time and also be innovative (Cahill, 2003, p. 103). Despite the existence of emergency agencies and organizations, there is shortage of resources to many of these agencies. Resources such as ambulances, human resources, tents and other resources are limited thus jeopardizing the whole process of emergence planning and action. Evacuation tools and machinery are today rare to many emergency agencies besides lack of enough man power. In essence, this has resulted to slow response in some situations and foreign aid to fill the resource gap. References: Alexander E. (2007).Moving beyond â€Å"special needs†: A function-based framework for emergency management and planning. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, Vol. 17, pp. 47 Cahill K. M. (2003). Emergency relief operations. Mahwah NJ. Quorum Books, pp. 103 Krischenbaum A. (2004). Chaos organization and disaster management. Westport CT, Praeger Publishers, pp. 21, 43 Saundra K. (1995). Flirting with disaster: Public management in crisis situations. London, Routledge, pp. 98 Terry Cannon (2003). At risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters. Routledge, pp. 56

Material Culture and Dignity of Women

This is an interview on allegedly loss of dignity experienced by a family which has undergone social change because of material culture (technology).The advancement of technical know-how nowadays has resulted to various constructive and destructive consequences. In this particular case, the sociological family problem refers to chatting on the Internet, a hobby or interest which has undoubtedly become a money-making venture to some women.Thus, according to its breadwinner and head of the family interviewed, his daughter has lost her dignity for chatting on the Internet just to earn money from foreigners who are willing to pay just so their desires are met.What is of major concern in this scenario is the issue on moral values, poverty and gender sensitivity perhaps. In the society in general today, chatting in the Internet is considered unethical for the very reason that the intention of doing it is for money. Self-respect is being sacrificed and is deemed vanished in the process. Mos t of us value money, status, personal fulfillment, and freedom†¦ (Ursery, 2002).The second key point is poverty. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day (Shah, 2007). The case family was categorized as economically challenged and was really having difficulty looking for income-generating activities. This was seen as the main motive why the daughter engaged in chatting on the Internet.Finally, the third contention is gender sensitivity. Getting paid for chatting in the Internet has generally devastating effects on the identity of women. Some view is as degrading to females as if they are merely â€Å"objects† for gratification in whatever form required by men who take advantage of such services.From a personal perspective, chatting on the Internet as a material culture and a growing trend for easy money should not be tolerated for it corrupts the value of women. There are other ways of earning through respectable an d decent means.Poverty cannot be used as an excuse to engage in amoral acts though it is not a sin to try to raise one’s standard of living. It is not fair for other women in making generalizations that women are merely â€Å"objects of gratification† or â€Å"objects of desire and malicious intent.† Women are seen to be a sensitive and fragile creature that is why they should be preserved and respected.Culture may consist of attitudes, beliefs, customs, traditions, art and achievements of society that are passed on to each generation (â€Å"Emeralds,† n.d.). It is often said that culture, material culture (technology), is learned and adapted from one’s environment. Computers are thought to be one of man’s greatest inventions. In this 21st century, or the Computer Age, everything operates using these electronic devices in information, communication, and telecommunication domestically and internationally.Socializing by learning this cyber-cul ture is not bad but it should be used properly and for the right purposes without forgoing morality standards. Incorporating them in our lives is a not abrupt but is done gradually through stages and adjustment is vital in the process.In conclusion, chatting on the Internet for money is not an acceptable practice no matter how prevalent it is at present. The daughter’s way of earning is not a dignified thing to do. Moral values, poverty and gender sensitivity are key points to consider in all our undertakings. Material culture (technology) is beneficial but precautions must be taken so as not to abuse it.Referencesâ€Å"Causes of Social Change.† (2002). Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://stmarys.ca/~evanderveen/wvdv/social_change/causes_of_social_change.htmâ€Å"Emeralds: Components of Culture.† (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://sch.ci.lexington.ma.us/~jpetner/EmeraldsShah, A. (2007). Causes of Poverty. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http ://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.aspUrsery, D. (2002). Exploring Rules, Values and Principles. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://www.stedwards.edu/ursery/values.htm