Research Korner

Regulatory Provisions for Strategic Environmental Assessment

Identify the main regulatory provisions for strategic environmental assessment within the UK. Critically assess the extent to which such provisions are likely to lead to improved strategic decision-making.     Strategic Environmental Assessment History             Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is the system and process of integrating environmental considerations into present and future policies, programmes and plans (Therivel, 1999, 2004). Different directives formed the foundation of the present SEA in the United Kingdom. Directive 85/337/EEC or the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive was the pioneer of current SEA directives. However, it only applied to certain projects making it deficient in other areas. This limitation led to the development of Strategic Environmental Assessment through the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context in 1991. This was followed by European SEA Directive 2001/42/EC requiring all members of the European community to ratify the Directive by July 21, 2004. European Union countries started compliance with SEA with its land use aspects. (Dalal-Clayton & Sadler, 2005) To date SEA is deemed fully implemented in Europe and 2006 marks the assessment of the effectiveness and implementation of the SEA Directive by European Commission.    Strategic Environmental Assessment in the United Kingdom             Ratification of the SEA Directive by the United Kingdom gave way to the process of integrating the provisions of the Directive in legislations and administrative actions of the government. In 2005, the Office of the Deputy Prime Ministers issued a guide to the Directive containing the different regulations on Strategic Environmental Assessment in the UK. The regulations are divided into four areas, which are: 1) background and context; 2) SEA and consultation; 3) SEA and sustainable development; 4) stages of SEA.   Background and Context Regulations             Regulations covered by background and context revolve around two general guidelines. First is the scope of the SEA. Strategic Environmental Assessment applies to any plan or programme to be implemented in the United Kingdom or to England or any district or territory. Any plan or program applicable to the United Kingdom is subject to a SEA. This is further qualified by the regulation making it mandatory for plans or programmes on “agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, waste management, water management, telecommunication, tourism, town and country planning or land use,” (p. 11) and other areas required to undergo SE. Second is the authority in-charge of the application of SEA. SEA regulations in the UK provide that the responsible authority is the body that prepared and seeks to adopt the plans and programmes on a particular area. The regulatory body is tasked to conduct SEA in order to determine whether the plans or programmes have an effect on the environment. Since conducting the SEA is a formal task, regulations provide for the process to be followed and other formalities such as the required contents and structure of the write-up. (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2005)             The regulations on the scope of the SEA and the authority in-charge of the assessment are significant to improved strategic decision-making on plans and programmes of the government. This is because the assessment provides decision-makers with information on the effect that a plan or program set to be implemented in the future will have on the environment and the extent of environmental effect. This information then enables decision-makers to weight the cost and benefit of implementing the plan or program relative to its environmental cost and benefits. In case the environmental cost outweighs its economic or social benefit the decision leans towards not implementing the plan or program or rethinking the plan to address its environmental effects. The regulation making SEA mandatory to plans and programmes in various areas and the different levels of governance ensures that prior to implementation, the plans and programmes passed through environmental assessment. The regulation on designating responsible authorities requires the bodies drafting plans or programmes to take responsibility for environmental assessment of their proposals. The result of the Strategic Environmental Assessment determines the decision to forego or proceed with the plans and programmes.   SEA and Consultation Regulations             The key principle of the consultation regulations is accountability of the body drafting the plan or programme to other concerned government agencies, the public and other states that may be potentially affected by the implementation of the plan or programme.             SEA regulations provide for consultation to be made with Consultation Bodies, such as the English Heritage, Department of the Environment’s Environment and Heritage Service, Historic Scotland, and others, because these are authorities charged with environmental responsibilities and concerned with environmental effects of plans and programmes. There should also be consultation made to the public on the draft of plans and programmes and public opinion should be collected to determine the nature and extent of support that people have on the plan or programme based on their environmental concern. SEA regulations also require consultation of other EU member states based on the recognition that plans and programmes of any EU member state is likely to affect other member states, although in varying degrees, due to the connectivity of their economies. Finally, regulations provide for consultation of consultation bodies regarding questions on whether SEA is required for plans and programmes on areas not expressly mentioned in the UK integration of the SEA Directive. (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2005)             Consultation is the process of communication and discussion between the party implementing a plan or programme and the party likely to be affected by the proposal. The purpose is to determine the various reactions of people to the presentation of the plan and its potential consequences and suggestions on the manner that differences in opinion may be settled to consider government and constituency interests.   SEA and Sustainable Development             Regulations on sustainable development provide that the purpose of Strategic Environmental Assessment is the promotion of sustainable development (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2005). This objective is qualified in the sustainable development strategies of the UK government. Sustainable development was formally defined as “a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come” taken together with the international definition of sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Thus, sustainable development revolves around four primary goals: which are “1) social progress which recognises the needs of everyone; 2) effective promotion of the environment; 3) prudent use of natural resources; and 4) maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment”. (HM Government, 2005, p. 15).             The regulation setting out sustainable development as the ultimate objective of Strategic Environmental Assessment guides decision-making in finalizing a plan or programme by ensuring that all proposals are directed towards the sustainable development goals of the state. Every time a proposal is being considered for implementation, one of the assessment criteria is its potential contribution to sustainable development.   Stages of SEA             Regulations on Strategic Environmental Assessment provides for five interrelated stages. First is the determination of the context, baseline, scope and objectives. This stage requires the identification of the context, scope and objectives of the assessment and collecting baseline data on the environmental factors attached to the plan or programme. Second is the assessment of the environmental effects and the development and refinement of alternatives. This stage involves the identification of environmental issues and their corresponding alternative solutions so that the eventual implementation of the plan or programme complies with sustainability. Third is the preparation of the environmental report that fully discuss the results of the assessment including the potential environmental problems and issues and the identified viable alternative solutions, written in clear and organized manner fit for public consultation and use of decision-makers. Fourth is the consultation process mentioned earlier, information dissemination, the assessment of any changes to the plan or programme proposed, and decision-making to finalize the plan or programme. This process involves the scrutiny of the plan or programme to different sectors based on sustainable development. Fifth is the implementation of the plan or program that covers the identification of objectives and methods of monitoring and responding to actual effects. This stage involves the regulated implementation of the plan or programme, to ensure continuously that it is guided by sustainable development. (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2005)             The implementation of the different stages supports sound and strategic decision-making because it provides a logical process of incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment in the development and implementation of the plans and programmes of the government, especially since the result of the SEA is an important consideration in deciding the viability of a plan or programme.     Conclusion             The various regulations on the incorporation of the SEA Directive to the laws of the United Kingdom help the government in strategic decision-making by mandating the collection of information on the potential impact of the plan or programme to the environment, environment related issues and problems, alternative actions, and monitoring plan important in deciding the viability of a plan or programme.

Regulatory Provisions for Strategic Environmental Assessment

Identify the main regulatory provisions for strategic environmental assessment within the UK. Critically assess the extent to which such p...

Describe Political Risk Insurance and Local Debt Financing

Political risk insurance (PRI) is a guarantee or hedging mechanism available to a foreign corporation operating under domestic political risks. PRI allows premium payment to the foreign corporation from the loss or damage consummate with the potential loss.  Under PRI, three broad categories of political risks would generally be covered; namely, war/ political violence (i.e. due to unprofitable operations), expropriation/ breach of contract (i.e. due to adverse affects to income streams from assets and operations) and transfer risk/ inconvertibility (i.e. restriction of capital movement across country borders).  Since political risks are country-specific phenomenon, multinational companies varying PRI policies that makes PRI highly dependent not only to the nature of politics of the host country but also the managerial strategy of multinational corporations.  The latter is an indication that companies can minimize political risks according to their way of handling them and incorporating into corporate strategy. On the other hand, local debt financing (LDF) is a part of the foreign corporation’s total financing comprises of bank borrowings, bonds, operating-leases and trades of credit which does not entitle its creditors ownership of the company.  Although LDF keeps internal control to the corporation, it requires interest payments and more rigid policies and requirements to ensure liquidity and long-term financial health of the debtors.  Like PRI, LDF can serve as hedging mechanism to reduce the risk of blockages of earned funds to a foreign subsidiary due to repatriation policies from the home country.  In addition, when the foreign corporation (e.g. or subsidiary in this case) allows local currency debt, it minimizes the adversary risks of foreign currency changes of the home country where parent company is located.  LDF allows subsidiaries to use the available capital of the host market to augment its financial and business needs where home funds, currencies and assets are not accessible, restricted or costly to obtain.  However, PRI and LDF have features that are compatible in certain situations that can optimize or rationalize their uses.  PRI usually serve as a pro-active action of the foreign corporation to hedge political risk while LDF is largely based on sudden reaction of the corporation to prevent financial problems.  When PRI is not availed in the first place, the corporation should use LDF while the presence of PRI can be maximize if combined with LDF options.  Due to this, PRI can exist without LDF and still come-up with a relatively predictable outcome while LDF would be too ambiguous without PRI as the latter serves as the ultimate insurance policy.  If any, LDF uses can be maximized from the perspective of gaining efficient asset portfolio.  But if the corporation wishes to have a super-efficient portfolio, it should incorporate PRI that can be classified as zero-risk investment.  Further, PRI can be applied in developing and poor countries where political risks are high due to relative economic instability while LDF can be a very lucrative option that can be applied in more stable developed economies that can save foreign corporations of insurance and other transaction costs.           2. List and discuss at least six variables in the negotiation process.   Also called bargaining, negotiation is a sequence of actions in which parties involved are solving their perceived demands and other proposals by reaching an agreement with the result of changing the behavior of at least on participant.  Since there is a need to look on the relatives rather than absolutes, finding and working with variables is the essential key to have a greater chance of finding an acceptable exchange.  To illustrate the importance of negotiation variables, a simple case should be analyzed like negotiation between members of an international economic organization.  Here, the relevant variables are strategies, cultural characteristics, context, potential outcomes, information, and decision alternatives.     The strategy is the variable that shows the different behaviors of parties involved in the negotiation and are associated with the plan to reach some objective.  Strategies are consisted of an action subset called tactics which does not tend to follow strategies strictly at all times instead adapt to specific situations.  To be expected is a high variation in strategy execution which can take two main forms; namely, value-claiming behavior and value-creating behavior.  The former behavior is distinguished from the latter because it necessarily leads to win-loss situation while the latter is loss-loss situation.  Value-claiming behavior is a strategy that has attributes of one party such as failing to cite the well-being of the other party, insisting its side with no concessions and concealing of information about true priorities.  On the other hand, value-creating behavior is a strategy that is best described as expanding the pie instead of splitting it and characterized by parallel objectives between parties, openness to information and joint effort to solve conflicts.  Strategies can be considered as the framework used in executing the means to reach the ends.                In international negotiations, culture can be viewed as the identity of the party who embodies the tradition, beliefs, values, political ideology and religious convictions of its country.  Cultural characteristics can mean the strength of one culture and the subordination of the other due to their historical, current and future elements.  Alternatively, different cultures in the negotiation can impose important issues circling a certain idea that can be different from one party to another.  In conjunction with this, context may be evaluated in different views as the cultural environment of the parties is assumed to be fixed.  As a result, international negotiators take cultural characteristics as givens in creating the context but context can also share the negotiation process in a manner to bypass cultural differences of the parties.  For example, a negotiation context in which a predetermined war is used as the central theme would minimize cultural differences and decision blockage because peace has a universal appeal.              Potential outcomes from a negotiation represent the payoffs and the ends attributed to a certain strategy.  Evaluation of potential outcomes during the bargaining is the key source of information on how well parties are accomplishing their stated goals.  This evaluation can lead to variations in tactics within bigger strategies which can shift a value-creating behavior to value-insisting one or vice versa.  Information has broad implications in negotiation process as it can mean the level of knowledge to available strategies, cultural backgrounds of participants, rationale behind the context and potential outcomes of tactics/ responsibilities.  However, a high level of information does not necessarily mean a better-off situation to any party as there is a condition called overload or impracticability.  Lastly, decision alternatives are the last options of the parties at times when the goal cannot be achieved on a minimum level.  They are the risk disaster plan and the ultimate measure to curve a substantial turnaround on the expectations of the negotiation variables.                                   3. Must a firm be proactive in internationalizing its operations in order to be successful?               Being proactive is controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond on potentialities after they arise, therefore, it is the opposite of being reactive which infuse action to a stimulus.  To determine the level of success when proactive behavior is applied, internationalization theories and approaches will be intertwined in analysis; namely, industrial organization (IO), international product life cycle (IPLC), internationalization (INT), resource-based (RB) and network theory (NT).  As a general rule, proactive behavior in addressing a task or certain issue is a useful tool in evaluation of its cost-and-benefits and rationalizes decision-making.  Therefore, the level or intensity of being proactive should be largely considered.  Initially, proactive behavior is an intrinsic part of the intention to internationalize operations as entrepreneurs and managers face a range of costs and challenges when they expand internationally particularly due to liability of foreignness (Jones, 2005, p. 15).               Through its history, News Corporation (NC) had exemplified acquisition strategies to be able to grow and internationalize.  .  In a chronological order, NC bought newspapers in London, Britain and US to gain entry in the international media industry (cited in Hill, Jones & Galvin, 2004, pp. C101-C102).  There are two applicable theories such as RB (i.e. postulates that the firm created competitive advantage) and NT (i.e. postulates that the firm got the incentive to prevent tedious and costly understanding of firm behavior and performance).  In effect, high levels of proactive behavior is required since NC had to evaluate possible synergies in cross-border acquisitions especially its targets are financially-troubled.  In addition, the strength of social, professional and economies ties of those targets should also be studied.  Without being proactive, NC cannot optimize the benefits of RB and NT while can lead to bankruptcy due to huge investments required to buy targets and corporate restructuring.               Established in 1920, Perdue Farms is US-based firm known for geographical expansion as theme of success and shown in selling chicken feet to China when US prohibited the chicken part domestically (Rubenson & Shipper 2001 C416).  There are two applicable theories such as IPLC (i.e. minimization in costs of factors of production) and INT (i.e. minimization of transaction costs).  In applying IPLC, Perdue Farms is protected with low levels of proactive behavior because expansion to China is a mere move to maximize sales and it is widely known that the country uses chicken feet as a delicacy.  Without knowing other country factors, Perdue had no choice but to trade or loose potential revenues.  On the contrary, high levels of proactive behavior should be applied in INT rationale because Chinese ports and delivery trucks are designed inefficiently that makes the products short-lived leading to limited Chinese geographical distribution.  INT cannot be applied if Perdue did not apply a significant effort in evaluating distribution channels and compatibility of perishable qualities of chicken feet that can cause a loss due to huge transaction costs.  Since its inception in 1963, Nike is already outsourcing production to sub-contractors in Asia (Morris & Lawrence 2001 C367).  The strategy is proved to be efficient particularly in labor costs in which the home country in US cannot provide.  The IPLC model is followed by Nike operations.  In the introductory phase, the home market designs and approves the market feasibility of the products (C367).  As demand grows and matures in both actual and forecasted figures, the mass production of the models is delegated to the host operations (C367).  The two operations are distinguished by the stages in the product life cycle in which they play both significant roles.  In this respect, since Asian countries are known as cheap source of labor force, low levels of proactive behavior is required.  However, IO (i.e. opportunity to create monopolistic dominance through multinational investments) is eminent as it employs substantial part of Asian labor force but providing relatively minimal compensation (e.g. In 1990, Indonesian employees are paid at around $1/ day compared to US $8/ hour).  With IO, high levels of proactive behavior would be incurred because there are global, cultural and legal issues in the process that can lead to cancellation of manufacturing operations due to unfair labor treatment.         4. List and discuss the characteristics of the four ways in which an integrated global structure can be organized?                  The cooperative form is an integrated global structure in which divisions are using the constrained diversification strategy of the products and markets and can be considered as on that thinks globally but acts locally (HItt et al 2003).  In this form, there is a large scale of information sharing between global marketing efforts and local customer preferences to enhance corporation’s competitiveness.  Fast and accurate spread of knowledge is important is succeeding this form since all of related-constrained firm’s divisions are sharing one or more corporate strengths such as production, marketing and channel competencies.               The strategic business unit (SBU) form consists of three levels; namely, corporate headquarters, strategic business units and SBU divisions where the divisions have highly related products or markets with their SBU but SBUs have little common products/ markets (HItt et al 2003).  Although SBUs are considered the profit-centers, they are evaluated by headquarters especially on financial control aspects.  Alternatively, SBUs apply strategic controls to their divisions to determine the effectiveness of each business portfolio.  The weakness of this structure is that it tends to be complex and is used by highly diversified and large corporations.               The competitive form places high independence on each division partially because they do not share common corporate strengths (HItt et al 2003).  Competition is a requisite because the low to zero relatedness of division’s products/ markets that results in three main advantages.  First, internal competition creates flexibility in which the headquarters is endowed with decision alternatives in allocating resources and funds to fuel the key competency of individual divisions which can lead to cost-savings and differentiated strengths.  Second, this structure creates managerial entrepreneurship as managers tend to be drivers of their own unit’s destiny.  Lastly, it induces corporate effort in which divisions can endeavor the best that they can be and thus maximize returns to the company.

Describe Political Risk Insurance and Local Debt Financing

Political risk insurance (PRI) is a guarantee or hedging mechanism available to a foreign corporation operating under domestic political ...

Teaching Ethics in Speech-Language Pathology

Teaching Ethics in Speech-Language Pathology       Ethics is defined in  Dictionary of the English Language (2001) as “a discipline dealing with good and evil and with moral duty and moral principles or practice. (1989) defined ethics as “moral principles or values that address whether actions, intentions, and goals are right or wrong”. These two definitions suggest that an individual’s moral values or principles influence his or her decision-making.  (2001) further characterized ethics as the outer demonstration of morals, a collective system of principles, established accepted standards of conduct, and the value of behavioral influence on an individual or group.    (1988) noted health care managers often make decisions based on the premise “this is how we have always done things”. If true, one must question whether or not this attitude is reflected in how speech-language pathology (SLP) graduate students are taught to make ethical decisions. Academia’s primary purpose is to prepare professionals for practice in “real world” settings. As such, there is a need to examine how SLP faculty teaches ethical decision-making. In particular, one might ask -- Is instruction with regard to ethical decision making limited to understanding a set of guidelines, or do faculty teach how to apply ethics to a decision making process?    (1994) dissertation was designed to explore what American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) accredited programs were doing to provide ethics education for students-in-training.  (1996) wrote a text devoted exclusively to ethics in SLP and audiology. In fact, an initial premise in the founding of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) were the ethical concerns about the well-being of consumers (1989; 1994). Nonetheless, as compared to other allied health disciplines, the profession of speech-language pathology appears to be in its infancy regarding a comprehensive education-based approach to ethics and related decision making protocols. Empirically-based ethics education is apparently lacking, and to strengthen the profession, speech-language pathologists should investigate additional instruction and education relating to ethics and the SLP.     The Need for an Organizational Ethics   The need to teach ethics can be traced back to the early Greeks (1994; 1901). The early Greeks were concerned with the basic meaning of life in regard to duty, conduct, and morals. The interest, and indeed demand for teaching ethics at a professional level was catapulted into America’s conscience during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (1994). Perhaps political, religious and business scandals raised concerns with the American public as to what does, or should constitute appropriate, moral and ethical behavior? Perhaps the American public currently demands accountability regardless of the profession or action, as a result of societal shift and the immediacy of the exchange of information resulting from modern media transmission? Regardless, ethics and related concerns have become prominent in the clinical arena. SLP practitioners face ethical situations in which the idea of “self-serving” as opposed to the “well-being of consumer” must be addressed and competently managed.   Professional Ethics concerns one's conduct of behavior and practice when carrying out professional work. Such work may include consulting, researching, teaching and writing. The institutionalization of Codes of Conduct and Codes of Practice is common with many professional bodies for their members to observe. Any code may be considered to be a formalization of experience into a set of rules. A code is adopted by a community because its members accept the adherence to these rules, including the restrictions that apply.   It must be noted that there is a distinction between a profession such as Information Systems, and controlled professions such as Medicine and Law, where the loss of membership may also imply the loss of the right to practice. Apart from codes of ethics, professional ethics also concerns matters such as professional indemnity. Furthermore, as will readily be appreciated, no two codes of ethics are identical. They vary by cultural group, by profession and by discipline. The former of these three variations is one of the most interesting, as well as controversial, since it challenges the assumption that universal ethical principles exist. In some cultures, certain behaviors are certainly frowned upon, but in other cultures the opposite may be true.   Studies show that formal ethics programs are becoming increasingly common in U.S. organizations across the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors. Compared to the 1994 survey, the 2000  finds dramatic increases in the percentage of employees who report that their organizations have ethics programs. In the nonprofit sector specifically, the 2000 NBES finds that nearly 90 percent of employees say their organizations have written standards of ethical conduct. In addition, 65 percent say their organizations provide some form of training about these standards, and more than 40 percent say a dedicated telephone line or office is available for ethics advice. Not surprisingly, the percentages are consistently higher among larger nonprofits - those with more than 500 employees - as compared to smaller ones. Essentially, ethics programs are meant to affect how people think about and address ethical issues that arise on the job. Gretchen Winter, vice president of business practices at Baxter International, puts it this way: By providing employees with ethics standards, training, and resources to get advice, organizations seek to create a work environment where (1) it’s okay for employees to acknowledge that they have an ethical dilemma, and (2) resources are readily available to guide employees in working through such dilemmas before making decisions.   The 2000  finds much that is encouraging for organizations that are putting their efforts into workplace ethics. For example, employees have high expectations for ethics within their organizations. More than nine in 10 respondents say that they “expect their organizations to do what is right, not just what is profitable.” This finding suggests that most employees are not so cynical about ethics at work. This should be encouraging news for all executives pursuing ethics initiatives. Most recognize that the long-term success of any program requires the active support of employees.   Findings from the  also show that both formal ethics programs and informal ethics practices are related to key outcomes. Employees who work in organizations with ethics programs, who see their leaders and supervisors modeling ethical behavior, and who see values such as honesty, respect, and trust applied “frequently” at work generally report more positive experiences in the workplace.             Ethics are making a comeback. To begin with, more and more corporations and businessmen and woman are now realizing that ethics aren’t checked at the door when entering the workplace. Ethics have every bit as much a place in the public as they do the private. How is it there should be separate sets of ethics, depending upon whether it is your personal life or your work life? The answer is that there shouldn’t be a separate set and in light of recent events that we see on our television sets as of late, more and more companies are realizing this fact.   Some companies are incorporating ethics into their training. It is s subject that can go hand-in-hand with business and when employees and CEO’s alike understand what ethics are about, business can improve. Not only will the community take note of the ethical nature of a business but also so will customers.    (1996) maintained that if “self-serving” practices were allowed to exist, the effects on a profession would be detrimental. However, the Principle of Ethics IV of the ASHA Code of Ethics (2001) allows a practitioner to be autonomous and to independently use professional judgment. Therefore, these issues are worthy of further exploration. Ethics and related concerns within the healthcare professions will continue to evolve due to technological advances; tele-practice, the Internet and the essence of complex medical procedures which prolong life (2001; 2001; 1993). A challenge and an opportunity exists for professions and professionals to be cognizant of treatment outcomes and efficacy, with particular regard to ethical decision-making.   Ethical and Clinical Decision Making    (2001) and  (1988) suggested an ethical decision is influenced by the values and beliefs of an individual professional; whereas a clinical decision is one that affects the welfare of the person served by that professional. Physicians may experience conflict between different ethical principles, between ethical and legal or regulatory requirements, or between their own ethical convictions and the demands of patients, proxy decision makers, other health professionals, employers or other involved parties. Training in ethical analysis and decision making during undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education is recommended for physicians to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to deal with these conflicts. Consultation with colleagues, licensing authorities, ethicists, ethics committees or others who have expertise in these matters is also recommended.   The consensus statement sees the teaching of medical ethics and law as contributing to the overall objective of medical education the creation of good medical practitioners who will enhance and promote the health and medical welfare of the people they serve in ways which fairly and justly respect their dignity, autonomy and rights. To achieve these goals medical students must be able to understand the ethical principles and values underpinning good medical practice be able to think critically about ethics, reflecting on their own beliefs and understanding and appreciating alternative, perhaps competing, approaches; and "be able to argue and counter argue in order to contribute to informed discussion and debate." Students must know the main professional and legal obligations of medical professionals, especially those specified by the General Medical Council, and be able constructively to participate in the ethical and legal reasoning needed in everyday practice.   Influences on ethical decision-making have been previously documented (1993;2001;1996;  1994; 1994). Influences include; humanitarian efforts, the need to be cost-effective, the ability to perform an array of tasks competently and efficiently, the need to meet consumer demands in an educated society, downsizing of staff which leads to restricted interactions with colleagues and supervisors, and the situations in which such decisions are made.   Using what she identified as Purtilo’s model,  (2001) outlined a process for ethical decision-making. The process begins with data gathering, including; obtaining facts, specifying the context of interactions and identifying the source of the information. Once completed, the individual establishes the ethical problem (if any) and can then examine the “morally correct course of action, identify the primary decision maker, and take steps to maintain the integrity of the individual and the profession” (). The individual should evaluate the situation based on ethical theories and/or models and must consider the perspective used, as well as the areas of conflict and decide if a dilemma exists (). The individual explores all avenues of choice, recognition of options, immediate, and future consequences of those options and an ultimate choice of the “best” option emerges () and a decision is made. The individual should be able to act in a manner beneficial to the present situation, with a likely impact on decisions and situations in the future. Finally, the individual self-evaluates the action and the outcome to recognize what went well, what could have been done differently, and the influence on the outlook, perceptions, and careers of others . Bloom’s Taxonomy, as described by  (2000), required an individual to progress through cognitive processes (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation) to achieve an ethical outcome. In Horowitz’s final step an individual must conduct self-analysis, similar to the evaluation stage in .  (2001) model loosely followed a total quality management process which included; brainstorming, gathering facts, planning, implementing the plan, collecting and evaluating data.    (1988) noted that legal decisions or ethical actions should be examined within an ethical and/or clinical decision making framework. proposed that individuals be taught ethical and legal principles by focusing on the content of ethics education in undergraduate and graduate course work and through continuing education.  suggested education in ethics should be embedded instructionally into existing courses and delivered through methods such as case scenarios and discussions. If there is to be a comprehensive understanding of ethical decision-making, basic principles, concepts and theories of ethics must be addressed. Some principles of ethics for professionals have been previously presented in the literature (1994;  1995;2000; 1994;  1988) and have included discussions on; autonomy (the right to function as an independent decision maker), beneficence (concerned with benefit), fidelity (following the Code of Ethics), justice (the fairness with which one practices), nonmaleficence (attempts to avoid harm) and veracity (recognition of facts as well as the avoidance of misrepresentation of ones’ professional expertise and training) see , 2001;  1994.    (2001) presented the concepts of ethics as including equity (fairness, nondiscriminatory practice), veracity (dealing with facts), confidentiality (maintaining client’s privacy), paternalism (parent-child-like relationships), and informed consent (agreeing to a proposed method). Horowitz suggested exploration of these concepts should lead to consideration of “Meta-ethics” which focuses attention on deontological theories and teleological ethics. Deontological theories are concerned with how an individual’s “duties and rights influence that individual” and teleological ethics are “concerned with the consequences and the ultimate good”.   If an individual is to make ethical clinical decisions, that individual must understand the clinical process and there must be pre-existing knowledge about ethical theories and methods.  (2001) proposed a plan that included an explanation of the need for ethics education; definitions, basic principles and concepts of ethics; types of ethics education; and steps to include in the decision-making process. Similar plans have been presented by others (1995; 2000; 1994;1988). If SLPs are going to explore the challenges faced in clinical decision-making, consideration has to be given to ways in which ones’ duties and values affect this process. In addition, consumer perceptions of ethical behavior may not match those of professionals. If an ethical decision is in conflict with the viewpoint of a particular individual, he or she may consider that decision unethical. Individuals interpret actions according to their perceptions. For example, the ASHA Code of Ethics (2001) mandates that speech-language pathologists protect the welfare of individuals they serve. Herer (1989) agreed that quality care should be provided to benefit the client -- not the profession or the professional.   The Standards for Accreditation of Graduate Education Programs (1999) required inclusion of ethics instruction in speech-language pathology curricula, yet the specifics are left to individual training programs. Each ASHA accredited program determines the format in which ethics are taught, the number of hours, and whether instruction is embedded in other courses or offered as a formal academic course for academic credit. Strong support for teaching ethical decision-making processes comes from state regulatory agencies charged with monitoring ethical behavior among professionals ( 2001; 2001). Denton et al. noted, professionals must recognize the role of ethics education, legalities involved in professional practice and the need to continuously define ethical behavior due to societal changes as well as technological advances.   SLP has demonstrated a slower emergence in concentrated efforts to teach ethics (1993;  1994). It was not until 1988 that ASHA formed the Council on Professional Ethics (1989). Thus, as a profession, SLP is only in the early stages of discussing and understanding ethics education and the relationship to professional practice. Interested SLPs might note documentation regarding the importance of ethics education by related disciplines (1991;  2000; 1996; 1999). However, related disciplines do not yet have well-established instructional methods that could be used as a model (1995;1996;  1997;1999) for SLPs. Many students enrolled in speech-language pathology training programs do not take formal courses in ethics. However, they are exposed to ethics education embedded in the curriculum (1994;  1994).  (1993) used a questionnaire to survey SLP training programs in the United States to determine the format in which ethics education was provided.  and her colleagues found the majority of responding programs used some form of embedded instruction such as discussions (77%), lectures (75%) and modeling of appropriate behavior (54%). The majority of responding programs (91%) did not offer a formal course in ethics and 85% of respondents spent no more than 20 hours teaching ethics. In medical schools, 28 hours of instruction in ethics is provided ( 2000).  (1993) found that 91% of respondents stated training programs should offer ethics education.    (1994) analyzed data from 124 ASHA-accredited training programs to determine how ethics were being taught and to invite opinions as to what ethics should be taught. Ethics education was considered important by 97% of the respondents.  (1994) found that 100% of the respondents reported their students were given information about the ASHA Code of Ethics. Young noted differences between how ethics should be taught and how ethics were taught. Regarding reimbursement, 93% agreed payment methods should be taught, while only 75% reported teaching such method. Regarding confidentiality, 92% agreed with its importance while only 53% provided instruction about confidentiality. When asked if students were given information about reporting questionable behavior by another professional, 96% agreed to its importance; however, only 73% taught students how to handle these types of situations, and 38% of respondents agreed ethical theories, models, and decision-making should be provided, yet only 23% reported actual instruction.   While there is a need to teach professional ethics in speech-language pathology,  (1994) cautioned against teaching the principles only to students, new clinicians, or even established professionals. They supported the need for the profession to develop an overall understanding of ethics to support the premise that ethics are integral to practice. In spite of the long-standing premise that ethics are critical, the current status is that few formal courses in ethics are taught (1993,1994).   As the profession of SLP continues to change and expand, members must prepare to take the next step in ethics education. Professionals need to understand ethics, values, and their relationship to the decision-making process. Examination of moral values can assist with ethical decision-making and broaden the understanding of diversity. It should be recognized that “codes of ethics” only serve as guidelines for making decisions—clinically and ethically. Professional codes of ethics are policies set forth to govern professional conduct, they are not exhaustive or all-inclusive. In the end, it’s all about what a person understands about ethics. Many university curriculums are now heavily applying the teaching of Ethics and for good reason. Young minds will take this information into the workforce and understand that ethics need to be applied there as well as in the private sector. Corporations and professional organizations will be able to avoid embarrassing scandals that are presented all over national news hat are presented all over national news. Small business will be able to keep and attract more clients and customers. Negotiations between businesses could be accomplished with more consideration for the other company in mind, which would only help both. Above all, a high level of ethics in your business should be in place at least for the customers. If anything, it is the customer that should be considered the most when it comes to ethical business practices. In the long run, a company will reap great profits from a customer base that feels it is being treated fairly and truthfully.

Teaching Ethics in Speech-Language Pathology

Teaching Ethics in Speech-Language Pathology Ethics is defined in Dictionary of the English Language (2001) as “a disciplin...

IS FENG SHUI BELIVABLE?

Environmental study and orientation study related to Feng Shui Introduction For more than 3000 years the art of Feng Shui has been popular as a means of selecting sites in parts of East Asia and at present is still used by many societies, particularly Chinese societies. For some people, Feng Shui was utilized but sort of taken for granted. Many people who use Feng Shui are not aware of its of its evolutionary and ecological values. For many people, Feng Shui is merely the art of arranging in such a way that could create balance and harmony. People have collected evidence and experience of few thousand years from the elder and a theory was developed to utilize the energies of the environment and maximize the benefit to human beings. There are certain features of a landscape that indicate a suitable habitat that can offer the essentials of life with low risks. The evolutionary theory consists of information encouraging exploration in an ideal Feng Shui location. Feng Shui incorporates both cultural and natural considerations to pursue a harmony and balance between nature and people as well as among people. It therefore promotes a close understanding of, and interdependence between, the environment and people. Furthermore, it also enforces practical and sensible behavior in terms of utilization of resources and cultural values.             Because of its oversimplified documentation and a lack of understanding, as well as a lack of systematic research, both Westerners and even some Chinese have regarded Feng Shui as mere superstition. However, to view anything that is incompletely understood as superstition is essentially not in the scientific realm and is not an appropriate way to find truth and reality. Given that fact that Feng Shui has endured as an art for more than thousands of years and remains popular today even in the Western countries, it may have positive values for human well-being in a logical and realistic rather than a strictly superstitious way. The validity and usefulness of Feng Shui can be better understood using objective examination. The folk wisdom which is not fully understood and inherent in Feng Shui may not be pure superstition. A close investigation of Feng Shui can shed new light on understanding human habitat selection. This paper provides an argument that Feng Shui has environmental or ecological values for the selection of the most favorable human habitations.   Background             Feng Shui (pronounced “fung shui”) means literally wind and water and is a type of geomancy or divination from nature. (, 1994). Feng Shui was developed 3,000 years ago and gradually improved until the Tang Dynasty (, 2001). It refers to the science of planning buildings, travelways, and graves such that they will get maximum benefits and minimum damage from the ch'i of the cosmos (, 1996). More specifically, Feng Shui addresses wind, water, and other natural forces. "Natural forces" in this case include good and bad luck. Feng Shui emphasizes the harmonious, mediated, and balanced relationship among people as well as between human and natural surroundings. Only one strategy can achieve and maintain this ideal situation: acquiring and keeping in balance sufficient Ch'i. Ch'i is a unique Chinese concept, which can be explained as an energy that cannot be seen, touched, tasted, or smelled. Ancient Chinese believed that Ch'i pervades every element in the cosmos and is the beginning of all life. Therefore, human beings, animals, plants, and nature are all equal and should coexist together in harmony as oneness. Ch'i is blown away by wind and is accumulated by water. Thus, an ideal site would attract little wind and stand near the water. This is, in fact, where Feng Shui's name came from literally. Since Ch'i is invisible, using wind and water to locate Ch'i is important. Feng Shui deals with many characteristics, including physical, ecological, spatial, and temporal, as well as spiritual, psychological, religious, and sociological. The Chinese continue to believe that ultimate goal of Feng Shui which is to achieve harmonious and balanced lives will bring good luck. Therefore, as a vehicle of pursuing harmony, Feng Shui continues to be widely practiced in societies influenced by Chinese culture (, 2001).             Feng Shui has been continuously employed in recent times in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore and by Chinese settlers in other countries; it is now dramatically increasing in use in mainland China, despite earlier attempts at suppression following the Communist revolution.  (1995) suggests that what prompts the use pf Feng Shui is that it is a public activity expressing collective adherence to a number of complementary belief systems. It also represents the commonly held view among Chinese people that if something has a grain of truth in it would be foolish to reject or fail to use it.             Feng Shui can be described as a popular and utilitarian view of the Chinese approach to nature and is a force for environmental conservation. Over time, it has become elaborated to accommodate the conditions of a more urbanized society; the principles, for example, are used to determine optimal office arrangements. The underlying relationships remain. For some Chinese people at least, particularly in southern China, they are a part of their covert belief system and direct how the environment is perceived (, 2000). Feng Shui also has contemporary environmental value. The objective sought from the application of Feng Shui is not necessarily environmental health per se but rather 'boundless, inexplicable luck-seen as high position, booming business, quick fortune, money pouring in, the family prospering, sons to continue the line' (, 1995).   Con-argument              (1995) and other author’s viewpoints cannot, however, be seen as the last word on Asian attitudes to nature. Although they are a valuable corrective to superficial assumptions about the links between ancient traditions such as Feng Shui, and contemporary behavior, they fail to do justice to several aspects of Eastern traditions. First, it is widely agreed that traditional attitudes to nature in the East have placed a stronger emphasis on humanity as part of nature than those in the West. Second, all well established religious and philosophical traditions take many forms. Some, such as Feng Shui, in their popular versions may seem at some distance from their philosophic origins (, 2000). And thus merit to be called just mere superstitions. When Feng Shui is applied following a geomancer’s advice, the consequences of following through can sometimes cause some interesting but expensive features. For example, Hong Kong′s Hopewell Centre is a well-known round multi-storey building. On the roof of this landmark building there is a round swimming pool, which was recently featured at the end of the 1993-94 British Airways “Up on the roof” advertising campaign. However, as the Hopewell property director noted, “It is just a pool of water. No one swims there...We know the pool was part of the overall construction of the Hopewell Centre and that it was quite costly to build”. The real reason the pool was put there was because the geomancer believed the round building looked too much like a candle, and would be doomed to catch fire. From the Feng Shui perspective, placing a pool on top would prevent “the wick” from catching fire and the building burning (, 1994). It turned out that in this case, the application of Feng Shui does not seem to have any effect on the building except for the costs it generated. Many societies have lived in balance with their environments without devoting their lives to Feng Shui and ecology and without invoking elaborate laws. It is not only easier, but apparently more productive, to persuade people to live by a few simple principles of caring for, and enjoying, the world (, 1996).   Pro-argument Since Feng Shui is such a complex and integrated approach and is documented in such a holistic way, it is no wonder that it is so difficult to understand. As a result, people are confused by the simplicity of Feng Shui and therefore regard it as superstition. Nonetheless, the long history of the wide application of Feng Shui has proved its usefulness and validity at least to some degree. It has been proposed that using Feng Shui to find a steady and sustainable location for settlement contributed significantly to the successful survival of the ancient Chinese and long-lasting Chinese agricultural civilization (, 2001).             According to the evolutionary theory of human habitat selection, people have evolved a biological predisposition for certain specific landscape features that are crucial to survival and reproductive success. This genetically innate predisposition, reflecting behavioral mechanisms of habitat selection, may imply that there is a prototype of an ideal setting that crosses cultures. Thus, certain environments might be considered as a prototype of ideal habitat in the era of hunting and gathering (, 2001).             Finding a suitable habitat, which can offer resources for different activities over time, is difficult for any organism. Specifically, both the current and the future states of the habitat need to be considered in order to guarantee prolonged survival and reproductive success. As a result, organisms evolve to use features, which include indicators of current states and predictors of future states. It has been found that some animals often use features that do not directly affect immediate success. Likewise, this phenomenon might be found in human behavior. In ancient China finding appropriate locations for settlement was the main function of Feng Shui. For resolving such complex challenges, it was probably the simplest, safest, and most convenient method available at that time. It is reasonable to assume that Feng Shui takes both current and future conditions into account (, 2001).             Feng Shui is a technique for interpreting the hidden forces of the earth to bring good fortune or to avoid hazard from human settings and constructions. Human action may interfere with the balanced forces of nature and when it does there is an immediate consequence for human well-being. Thus when the land is healthy and productive humans prosper; when it deteriorates they suffer. Feng Shui is thus an ancient Chinese concept for ensuring benign human relationship to the land. The study of contemporary applications of Feng Shui should, therefore, provide illuminating evidence of the way traditional environmentalist beliefs bear upon present-day environmental problems (, 2000).             To the degree that this holds true, the world environmental problem is not an environmental problem. It is a problem with human emotions. On the one hand, stressed, frightened people often react by attacking scapegoats rather than by working soberly to deal with the actual problem. On the other hand, good environmental management depends on harnessing the more prosocial emotions for the common good. Institutions such as Northwest Coast religion and Chinese Feng Shui accomplish this (, 1996).             Today in Hong Kong, a modern Asian city, every public housing development will first of all consult a geomancer to discuss the site location and design aspects of the development. Failure to consult one, or the belief that some new development will upset the present Feng Shui, can cause uproar (, 1994).   Conclusion Feng Shui has evolved from being a rural superstition into a powerful urban force.         It originated in China, and relates to nature and the position of man and of buildings within it. Given the fact that it has been persistently used throughout thousands of years, there is definitely an explanation of its use and is not solely relying on superstition. The use of Feng Shui is based on how environments develop and change over time. It is safe to conclude that Feng Shui and evolution theories bear many similarities. The Evolutionary theory argues that a certain environment which can offer necessities of life, low risks, and information encouraging exploration will be more preferred by humans, because this specific setting has the capacity to facilitate human survival, functioning, and well-being. Evolutionary researchers have identified certain landscape features which indicate a suitable habitat. These features can also be easily identified in an ideal Feng Shui location. Furthermore, the primary criteria of an ideal Feng Shui location manifest their values and importance in terms of ecology and adaptive evolution.   Reference

IS FENG SHUI BELIVABLE?

Environmental study and orientation study related to Feng Shui Introduction For more than 3000 years the art of Feng Shui has been po...

Discuss the impact cultural diversity has on relationships anf families

Globalization and Media Media plays a significant role in our daily lives. Many of our ideas about the world, the sense that what is happening everyday, or even the values come from beyond our individual daily or experiences usually come to us via the media. The media has a very strong influence on individuals and society, as our ideas of the world are derived from ‘packaged’ versions of events and issues in their output (1998). Yet, globalization has become a big and popular topic, therefore this essay will focus on cultural imperialism. The best known model of cultural globalization is cultural imperialism theory. To understand more about cultural globalization, we need to examine the economic organizations and political institution which contribute to it or attempt to respond to it. This essay argues that the success evidence of cultural imperialism can be seen in the marketing strategies of major media compare. Cultural globalization refers to the transmission across national borders of different forms of media and the arts. Mainly the circulation of cultural products appears to be between developed countries, especially those countries which constitute desirable markets for the media. Globalization is seen as a complex and diverse phenomenon consisting of global cultures, initiated from various nations and regions. Assuming that social identities and social relations are constructed and deconstructed by all forms of culture, cultural globalization brings out important issues concerning the affect on national or local cultures and their responses.  (1990), the theory of cultural imperialism emerged in the 1960s. A part of Marxist critique of advanced capitalist cultures, including their emphasis on mass communication and consumerism. The theory of cultural imperialism theory refers to ‘the imposition on the other countries of a specific nation’s beliefs, values, knowledge, behaviour norms and style of life’ ( 1991 ). It is also defined as a kind of cultural domination by stronger and more powerful nations over the weaker ones. Because cultural imperialism corresponds to the political interests of the United States and some other powerful capitalist societies, it is viewed as purposeful and intentional. Reflecting the attitudes and values of the western countries, especially America, capitalist societies, views are very pervasive and are leading to the homogenization of global culture ( 1993). According to an Australian scholar  (1983), the Americanization process becomes much more formidable while the basic concepts of a national identity of a society are remodeled in the American image. The concept of cultural imperialism concept is inherently unclear and includes a negative evaluation of the behaviour and intentions of advanced countries, particularly the United States ( 1995). Some scholars criticize that the term ‘imperialism’ because it implies the imposition of power from rich to poor, from powerful to weak and implies a degree of political control by powerful countries that is no longer exists. The idea of imperialism contains the idea of an intended project, ‘the intended spread of a social system from one center of power across the globe’ ( 1991 ).  contrasts the concepts of ‘globalization’ and imperialism and suggests that ‘interconnection and interdependency of all global areas happening in a far less purposeful way’ ( 1991 ). Despite these arguments, cultural imperialism has been reconceptualized as media imperialism. It is still a helpful perspective because it can be used to analyze which national actors have more impact on global culture, and therefore how cultural values and identities are being shaped and reshaped ( 1995). Moreover, there are some important issues because the influence of the global cultures is expanding rapidly. Next section of this essay will be focus on the changes from cultural imperialism to global capitalism and media imperialism. According to  (1999), economies and organizations are the major forces that lead to cultural globalization. Cultural globalization needs an organization infrastructure. One form of globalization appears as a result of the activities in developed countries of news and entertainment media that produce music, television programs and movies and also distribute them all around the world. In the global media marketplace, the dominance of a particular country is more a function of economic than cultural factors. American corporations have gained considerable benefit specifically from the size of their national market and the availability of funds for investment. Although there is a small number of media groups which are based in some western countries, they still dominate the production and global distribution of the media, such as films, popular music, television program and book publishing. According to  (1999), the new technologies and the deregulation of national media industries have occurred because of the existence of a global media market. The level of the investment needs to be high because of the high production costs and costs of distribution. These combined corporations make a big profit by selling the same product in various media. For example, a film can be shown in the cinema and on pay television, sold in the form of DVDs or even as books. The production of merchandise are mainly based on the film generates additional profits and a spin-off they may be use for a drama series. The US would be incapable of competing in the global market without these corporations.   Although some of the global media conglomerates are European, American media products still dominate in global markets because foreign conglomerate owners invest heavily in American media companies. Although few foreign companies have bought several major American film studios this had some little effects on the nature of the Hollywood movie industry. The Australian-American media magnate Rupert Murdoch, owns more American television stations than the local entrepreneurs. Also he has created a thriving television network, Fox, which competes with three main American television networks. This is a good example of globalization where have an Australian controlling media interests in another country. America companies can earn enormous profits by producing and distributing films because of the huge audience for films in United States. Therefore, American producers are able to spend more on the production of films than their competitors in other countries and this in turn gain more profits. The more expensive a movie is to produce, the more profits are more likely to be make (1998). However, the expensive films represent ‘a type of homogenous, uniform culture permeated by western capitalistic values’ ( 2002,). They are full of elaborate technical effects and focus on stunts, action, and violence instead of character and emotion. Action movies are more easily understood in diverse, non-English-speaking cultures than other type of films. Given the huge cultural differences among the potential audiences for globally marketed films, film producers have to find a common denominator that is universal and will attract different audiences in various countries. Nowadays, Hollywood dominates the international market for films as well as its local market. Compared with local film companies, American film companies have been creating film distribution networks successfully in competitive with these. Therefore film industries in many other countries have declined. However, there are two exceptions, which are India with its big internal market and the other one is France, which has subsidized this form of popular culture. India is the worldwide leading producer of fiction films, and while there are a few exceptions, they circulate entirely within Indian Asia and Indian Africa ( 1997). Over the past year the Australian government has been involved in a series of high-level negotiations with the US for a bilateral trade agreement, Australian have to agree some things the Americans put to them. This is a good marketing strategy by the US film industry to compete successfully globally. Even though the film industry is governed by investment and profit, it does spread cultural imperialism by accident. This support  (1991) means the cultural imperialism is not as purposeful as suggested. The United States also predominates in the production of television programs, which is more to economic factors than to the spread of cultural attitudes and values ( 1997).  and  (1990) claim that the reason of American television programs are so successful in the international market is the conditions under which they are produced. The size and wealth of the country means that successful programs are very profitable. As a result, the high cost of television production can be covered internally so that the programs can be exported at substantially with lower prices. For example, in Latin America, American companies have been sued for flooding the media scene by ‘dumping’ old films and television shows ( 1991). In some countries, United States television represents about 50% of the programs. Many of other countries are not able to invest at the same level as America in television programming because they cannot reach the cost of production through distribution in their own countries nor are they able to afford the distributing and marketing costs in other countries. The cost of an imported television series drama can be less than one-tenth of the costs of producing an original one ( 1990). Therefore, cultural imperialism occurs by default, simply because of the economics advantage provided to producers by the huge US populations,. According to (1990), the technology changing in developing countries has led to an increase in the transnational dissemination of the television program and spread of demand for programs worldwide. International satellites have been a important delivery system, disseminating television programs from advanced countries to some less advanced countries. In Latin America, increases in the number of VCRs, cable TV, and direct satellite reception program facilities has expanded the audiences for United States and European television. In some countries, there are some media restrictions or limitations, however the foreign programming greatly increases the range of the cultural choices. On the other hand, the countries that have powerful capital and resources behind their media,industry, can dominate the dissemination of programs globally. This reduces the profitability of national programming and also limits the range of cultural choices. However, there are many less developed countries which have their own media resources and inadequate resources to buy in media from powerful US conglomerates ( 1996). These countries will not be affected by western cultural imperialism simply because they cannot afford it. The developed world has nearly six times as many radios per capita as the developing world and nearly nine times as many TV sets. The level of communication in many poor countries is also indicated by the fact that approximately half the people in the world have never made a telephone call ( 1998). In conclusion, it is cultural imperialism on just economic imperialism. The essay supports the view that cultural imperialism is an accident of economic power. The enormity of financial support for the media industry in the US, and the US capitalist device for profits has led to the world being swamped with cultural products.

Discuss the impact cultural diversity has on relationships anf families

Globalization and Media Media plays a significant role in our daily lives. Many of our ideas about the world, the sense that what is happ...

Influence of PEST Factor on HR Policies in the Spheres Of Training and Development

Influence of PEST Factor on HR Policies in the Spheres Of Training and Development               Employee training and development is any attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing, through learning, an employee's ability to perform, usually by increasing his or her skills and knowledge (1992). Employee training and development is important in any organization to increased job satisfaction and morale of employees. It is also important to increase employee motivation and the efficiencies in processes which would result to financial gain. Moreover, it can increase innovation in strategies and products. This would also result to reduction of employee turnover. Furthermore, training and development enhance company image and risk management.             An organization’s human resource development system is a key mechanism for enabling the achievement of business goals through what has been argued to be one of the few remaining sources of competitive advantage which are the people (1988). Policies of the human resource are affected by the macroenvironmental factors which are also known as the PEST factors. This includes political, economic, social and technological factors. One part of the human resource system, that is training and development, has been promoted as a key strategic lever in the attainment of competitive advantage (1994).             (1994); (1994);  (1985) research suggests that training and development is linked to positive organizational outcomes. It is also closely linked to national contextual factors such as the political system that play an important role in determining the types and levels of skills available in the labor market as well as in shaping national values and approaches to training and development issues. National context can therefore be considered a key predictor of organizational HRD practice.             Human resource training and development policies differ from every other country. This is because the state determines the training policies an organization should disseminate to their organization.              (1994), (1995), and  (1997) concluded that there is considerable evidence that the national context of a firm’s operations plays a significant role in shaping organizational practices.  (1994) identified clusters of countries showing how organizations in the different parts of the world operationalize HRM differently as a result of environmental pressures. In Germany, highly regulated institutional arrangement restricted the freedom of large companies to go to their own way on HRM and IR issues ( 1998). Cultural studies of  (1990),  (1986), and  (1986) reveals that the people of different countries share values, cognitions, and behaviors which differentiate them from other cultures.             In addition, national legal frameworks also impact on organizations. collective agreements which differ in scope and centralization across countries define a range of organizational practices (1990; 1993; 1994); while  1990 identified legal differences in education certification, recruitment and dismissal procedures in Europe and the United States that make for significantly different HRM practices in those countries. There is also evidence that specific legislation has led to different training and development.              French government, for example, re-evaluated organizational-based training that has resulted to companies with more than 10 employees required by law to spend a specified percentage of the annual pay-roll on training. Today, this policy has extended to include companies employing less than 10 people. Legislation also requires companies to devise a training plan in consultation with works councils ( 1996). The works council in France acts as an additional pressure to ensure that training and development is carried out by all organization.              (1992) argued that current government policy has resulted in an increased awareness of training investment levels by human resource specialists in French companies compared to other countries.  (1994) also added that evidence has suggested that the legislation in France has had a positive effect on training expenditure which is, on average, higher than that for other countries in which reported in 1992 more than two percent of the annual salary and wages budget was spent on employee training and development by 80 percent of companies in France compared with 26 percent in the U.K. However, the impact on the efficacy of the employee development system is less clear.             In contrast, the U.K. government dismissed the idea of a training levy with the abolition of the Industrial Training Boards. Instead, intervention takes place through government policy aimed at influencing organizational training and development activity.             The three primary mechanisms for implementing government policy are: the promotion of 'best practice' via initiatives such as Investors in People (IIP) and National Training Awards (NTA). These initiatives aim to increase training levels which are criticized as being too low and detrimental to national competitiveness (1984;  1989a; 1991;1989;  1985).             Secondly is that local rather than national delivery of training via training and enterprise councils (TECs) and local enterprise councils (LECs) to effectively identify skill need and deliver against that need. They also focus on how employee development systems should be constructed to be effective and efficient ( 1995).             Finally, the adoption of a competence-based approach to vocational education in order to provide nationally recognized skills' qualifications and meet the demands of employers. The current government policy is not without criticism (1995;  1996). However, its emphasis is considerably different from that of the French government and as such is likely to have an impact on how employee development is managed in U.K. companies.             The economic system of a country also has significant impact on the human resource policies. For example, in China’s economy wherein there is an undergoing market transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy, that is, a market economy with Chinese characteristics. With this new market transition, management practices are affected especially human resource management practices and also human behavior needed much revision.             1989 states that production and reward systems are changing with a stronger emphasis on efficiency and performance. In addition,  (1987, 1991) note that managers in China are already showing an increasing interest in using human resource techniques and motivational systems which emphasize productivity at the individual, group, and enterprise level.             Therefore,  (1989) concluded that the transition from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy has resulted in significant changes in the economic system, which is and will continue to have major implications for the practice of human resource management.             According to  (1990), training and development is clearly a need in China given the low efficiency and low productivity in China's enterprises, as well as the relatively poor educational background of Chinese employees, with mismatch of employee skill and job requirements.  (1990) note that in China, only about 10% of the population have tertiary level education, while in the USA it is 54.1% and in Norway, 86.9%. Only 30% to 40% of newly recruited workers of the urban or township enterprises had vocational or technical training (Tan, 1992). It is estimated that by the year 2000, about 200 million members of the rural labor force will need new employment opportunities (Du, 1988). With this figures presented it is clearly shown the large gap the present educational and skill standards and the requirements of modern industry and technology. In addition, according to  (1990), the more striking situation is the lack of suitably trained technical and professional personnel.  (1990) notes that a major problem found by foreign joint venture companies in China is the shortage of well-educated people. This pattern was confirmed in a recent study by  (1992) in which showed that the technical skills and qualities of employees in China were well below the demands of modern industry and technology, and stressed the necessity and significance of training and development in enterprises.             Training courses at the secondary or vocational technical level have been offered to employees along with on-the job training ( 1990). Moreover, management training has been given an unprecedented emphasis (1987: 1990). However,  (1993) notes that in China, "training remains narrowly defined, in contrast to the Western HRM notion of planning for long-term staff development" (). With the market transition in China, a market economy has given enterprises more autonomy and decision-making power, some enterprises with "far-sighted" strategies have established scholarships or invested research and development funds in universities. This has not only helped the enterprises to develop their production but has also increased their ability to recruit the talented people they need (9 May 1993).                 Moreover, technology has also influence the human resource policies and practices. The recent shift toward integrated human resource information systems technology and self-service functionality for employees and managers alike is a direct response to the competitive challenges of today's knowledge economy. For this reason, offering technology-based self-service is now the preferred method for enhancing the lines of communication between the company and its employees. In addition, there are clear tangible rewards from self-service that include lower cost of operations, increased productivity and, for those who are prepared to leverage this advantage, the opportunity to firmly position HR as an organizational leader and strategic business partner.              Survey Report (2005) reported that technology is now a fact of life--it has become an invasive part of everyday living. Technology can provide conveniences and allow for efficiencies both at home and in the workplace, particularly in relation to communication between people, as well as in relation to the secure storage of employee data. Unfortunately, the benefits of technological conveniences can quickly be lost and/or may not be realized at all if planning is inadequate and/or if unskilled staff does not understand how to capitalize on its use. The top three obstacles that make it challenging to implement an HR technology system in organizations are budget/funding approval, resistance to change and an infrastructure that has not been properly prepared.             According to The Investment is Paying Off 2003 report, human resource departments have been quick to adopt Web-based applications as a communication and transaction tool. The Internet has contributed to a new model for HR service delivery one that is beginning to make good on its promise of increased productivity and a change for the better in the routine activities of HR professionals. Of the companies surveyed, 60% report a reduction in HR administrative work as a result of employee self-service. Manager self-service, while still not as prevalent, is also achieving positive results, with 47% of respondents reporting less administrative work for managers and for HR overall. Over and above the reduced workload, respondents report significant improvements in both data accuracy and timeliness of self-service transactions. In addition to the workload reductions from Web-based self-service, organizations have been able to eliminate other HR service delivery "channels," such as voice response systems and paper-based transactions, thus adding hard-dollar savings to the workload reduction.

Influence of PEST Factor on HR Policies in the Spheres Of Training and Development

Influence of PEST Factor on HR Policies in the Spheres Of Training and Development Employee training and deve...