Nursing Informatic Job Roles Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing Informatic Job Roles - Coursework Example This integration is meant to enhance communication, management and expansion of knowledge, information, wisdom and data within the nursing practice (Bickford, 2009). Nursing informatics development can partly be attributed to the developments in the computer world whose applications have pervaded the whole medical field continuum. Computer application in knowledge management is currently applicable in clinical practice, nursing research and nursing education (Anderson et al., 2012). The recognition of the importance of NI led to the development of certification of nurses specializing in NI from 2005. The NI nurses have led to better patient outcomes through the application of their expertise in information technologies, structures and processes. This has helped other medical providers and nursing and medical practitioners in creating evidence-based practice and a clear record of practice that facilitates research, decision-making and policy development (Anderson et al., 2012). This p aper critically reviews three nursing informatics job advertisements to determine whether the job descriptions are in line with the NI scope of operation, functional area definition and standards of practice. It is an analytical review aimed at determining whether the jobs have the right designation, which should take consideration of all elements of the nursing informatics field. ... ob Requirement Summaries Descriptive Details Job One Job Two Job Three Job Title -Nurse Informatics -Nursing Informaticist -Clinical Informatics Supervisor Academic Qualifications -Bachelors degree (BSN). -Information system courses. -Bachelors degree (BSN). -Bachelors degree (BSN). -NI Certification by â€Å"American Nursing Credentialing Centre† (ANCC). Competencies & skills. -Computer skills. -Customer service skills. -Communication skills. - (missing). -Knowledge on computer applications and documentation. - Experience -1 year teaching or administrative role. -2 years in a clinical role with systems application. -5 years clinical nursing experience. -3-4 years’ experience in clinical nursing. -2 years’ experience in nursing staff education. -5 years’ experience in acute care set up. -Healthcare information systems’ knowledge. -Experience in NI. Job Type -Full time -Full time -Regular/Full time Other Requirements -RN Licensure -RN licensure -RN l icensure -Membership in relevant nursing body. Job Descriptions Job One Create liaison with the medical staff, nursing practitioners, house staff and other care sectors in order to plan, design, develop, implement, maintain and evaluate electronic medical records and systems. Analyze structural processes and clinical operations in a manner that facilitates development of decision-making structures relating to clinical systems. Determine clinical processes that deserve computerization using clinical practice experience and knowledge. Ensure compliance of information systems with regulations and standards of practice. Assist with data analysis, quality assessment and design workflow and CKI. Job Two Change work culture related to technology implementation. Provide technological support in clinical information system.

Importance of parental involvement in their children education Essay Example for Free

Importance of parental involvement in their children education Essay Substantial quantity of research has been conducted in the area of parental role in their children academic achievement and adjustment. Parental involvement in their children educational activities at early stages involves both creating an enabling environment at home that foster academic attainment and direct involvement in literal skills (Gillian and Bernadette 2006). This is in a view that pupils have two categories of teachers: parents and teachers at school. Generally, research show that there is an increased parental involvement in their children’s education at early stages of about 92 percent, with women showing more commitment as compared to men (Maxwell and Johnson 2002). However, the outstanding question remains to be how parental involvement is done best to facilitate children achievement. In response to this question, Moore and Wade (2000) states that parents as prime educators of a child have a significant influence on the children’s learning in schools and beyond schooling to social, economical mindset and cognitive development. The parent involvement at school level includes assisting children during lunch times and providing necessary study materials for their children such as chats. While at home parents get involved in their children’s educational activities by teaching their children nursery rhymes or/and songs, reading together, narrating poems or stories together and assist with assignments or homework. This learning activities to a great extend do help the children attain literacy skills, discipline due to association and modeling from parents, socialization benefits and the boost in their cognitive abilities especially memory (Moore and Wade 2000). The body of research available indicates that parental involvement in their children learning activities influences their learning positively. The areas that are greatly affected positively are outstanding: overall academic performance, cognitive competence; fewer indiscipline problems due to low delinquency level and discipline maintenance by parents; problem solving-skills resulting from parental guidance in problem solving skills; and fewer cases of absenteeism due to greater school enjoyment (Gillian and Bernadette 2006). Research conducted by Sammons et al. (2001), found out that the learning activities that the parents engage in with their children at home have a positive impact on the children’s social and cognitive or intellectual development as a result of child-parent attachment (Sammons et al. 2001). Therefore, this finding implies that what parents do to their children in terms of their learning whether formal or informal is better than what they are to their children. Hence, it is inherent that parental income, educational background or parental occupation does not precede their contribution to their children intellectual development. Similarly, research on children’s literal skills in relation to their parent involvement in their education activities overwhelmingly supports positive influence (Porsche, Jordan and Snow 2000). Child-parent involvement in reading activities at home has impact on two dimensions about language aspects. First, the impact on learning activities usually includes attainment of language expressive skills, achievement in reading tasks and language comprehension (Moore and Wade 2000). Second dimension, involves cultivation and facilitation of the child’s attentiveness in reading lessons or sessions, reading interest and a positive attitude for reading (Gillian and Bernadette 2006). These two achievable dimensions through child-parent involvement create an incentive for reading skills and the necessary mechanisms that help support the incentive for reading. Parental involvement in their children academic activities is linked to the child’s benefit in terms of formal literacy learning. The leading child-parent academic activity like reading is an important determinant of child’s emergent literacy and language attainment. Moreover, the children introduced to books by their parents early ages they usually have a good head start and an overall advantage over their counterparts in primary (Porsche, Jordan and Snow 2000; Moore and Wade 2000). More empathically, the research shows the more the children and their parent are involved in literacy skills like speaking, reading, writing of language and numbers, and listening; the more long-lasting effect of retention to the child. Furthermore, parental influence is strongest in the reading subject to young pupils as compared to other subject as children demonstrate they can imitate their parent’s voices and pronunciations while reading (Moore and Wade 2000). Therefore, it should be seen that this strong reading influence is important in the sense that reading skill is basic to all subjects successful understanding and learning. Additionally, the parental influence demonstrated through their interest in their children’s education has a positive influence for teenage age of 16 (Gillian and Bernadette 2006). Findings by Sammons et al. (2001) reveals that parental involvement in their children’s learning environment and support go beyond educational and literacy attainment. This finding demonstrate that children that and good intimacy, attachment and interaction with their parents exhibited greater emotional and social development especially in a nuclear family set up. Most of the areas of emotional and social development are life satisfaction, self-control and self-direction, good mental health, resilience to stress, stable and positive relationships resulting to stable marriages and social adjustment is excellent. Conclusion In conclusion, this paper indicate that parents involvement in their children’s education activities has positive influence on the children’s educational outcomes; the view widely supported by research. The major dimension that child-parent interaction in educational activities are: academic performance, cognitive competence, fewer indiscipline problems, problem solving-skills, and fewer cases of absenteeism. Moreover, the strongest and important influence is the long-lasting reading skill that is crucial excelling in other subject areas. Therefore, parents ought to encourage continuing their involvement in their children’s learning. Bibliography Gillian P, Bernadette D 2006, Contemporary Issues in the Early Year, SAGE, London Maxwell S. Johnson, L 2002, â€Å"A five-year longitudinal study on Parental involvement in the development of childrens reading skill† Child Development, 74, (12), 442-456. Moore, M Wade, B 2000, A sure start with books, Early Years, 21, 33-48 Porsche, MV, Jordan, GE, Snow, CE 2000, â€Å"The effect of a family literacy project on kindergarten students early literacy skills: Project EASE†, Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 521-531. Sammons, P et al. 2001, EPPE project on Cognitive, Behavioral and Social development at 3 to 4 years in relation to family background. The effective provision of pre-school education, The Institute of Education, London

Analysis Of Community Based Tourism

Analysis Of Community Based Tourism Cost -Above noted, there are many different way of getting to the Caribbean, as a result of the When region at a good affordability, especially when compared to different places in the world there is an off season the ticket get less expensive. More over these essential factors make a enormous he tourism region. These attractions such as dolphin cove and mystic mountain they develop and implement more facilities and resorts that offer the taste of the Caribbean. The official industry touted past time as a priority. Accommodation- Caribbean region has a risen vacancy in the hotels, spas and resorts. These options means that tourists comes from all over the level of region to come visit , but in the addition the vacancies is also affordable. Hotels and resorts continue to give low prices, for the rooms to the visitors. Other opportunities such as golf, netball, tennis and other recreational activities is available in the resort towns which concentrate on water activities particularly diving, jet skis to lesser, extent, boat hire. With more person visiting the room include additional sports and recreational facilities like yachting, shopping. Reputation- The Caribbean standard is most profounded from the 1800s and for this the reputation is raised every year so tourist wants to come here to see the people culture etc. In fact, the Royal Victorian Hotel was built in the Bahamas during the American Civil War, one of the earliest such establishments in the region. This repeat vacation. Also, the region is known for being safe, alleviating concern from families and single visitors. Quality service Quality in the tourism and hospitality industry involves consistent delivery of products and guest services according to expected standards. Delivering quality service is one of the major challenges the hospitality managers will defacing in the following years as it is an essential condition for success in the emerging, keenly competitive, global hospitality markets. There are various tools that measure and improve quality service, as well as mechanisms for quality recognition in the tourism and hospitality industry. The weigh up the impacts of cost-profit and be in a position to priorities towards a quality improvement process for their own property managers should identify record and the present study shows that tourism stakeholders perceive quality service in a hotel as value for money, a comfortable room, friendly staff and tasty food. Moreover, the survey shows that there is always room for further improvement of the hospitality services. Other results of the surveys reveal that the most important factors for a hotels future are guest satisfaction, guest retention and word of mouth advertising. Aiming at excellence and profitability, the outcomes of the survey suggest focus on quality service; retention of existing guests by exceeding their expectations; continuous quality improvement; employment, regular training and empowerment of service-oriented staff; search for best practices through benchmarking; and, finally, pursuit of quality accreditation through the various schemes, such as the eco-labels, ISO and the EU Foundation for Quality Management. The delivery system is designed to provide the customer with the required variety of services and with the minimum delay. A common feature of delivery systems is the customer line or queue. A key aspect of any system is to control the length of queues. The unique tourism aspect service industry belongs to service delivery system. The term covers aspect of operation that taken place at any given time customers or client requested. Title of my Paper: Travel Tourism Sector Students name: Natanya Williams Colbourne College Lecture: Ms Michelle Branch November 13, 2012 Report This assignment is base on the fort most knowledge on travel tourism sector. Travel tourism is the movement of objects, people between two geographical locations of relative distance. More times tourism includes the movements of different destination as a stop point to move from destination to destination to reach the final destination. Recently it has been discover that the centre stage in terms of vacation and holidays or mostly acquired to the term Business Travel and Cargo.With these advance technology travel tourism has become more revolutionized with passage of time. Travel has become such a global need for all security measure has become a priority for all. Table of content Report 1 Quality services 2 Pros and cons of community based tourism 3 Main factors that attract tourist to the Caribbean 4 Conclusion 5 Bibliography 6 Pros and cons of community based tourism Pros- The implications of pros on the country on a whole is that the convention visitors bureau need to develop efficient products for locals and international person and that product must be environmental friendly for society and civilization. The convention visitor bureau needs to generate income through sustainable resources by organized local resources by people. The member of the tourist board need to put the pros forward and try to resolve them and put Jamaica on the mop for the most experience tourism spot in the world. The sustainable, giving that the pros revised on the topic of the rural and poor communities and its source of income. In this type of area this aspect is valid and varied lives of local and indigenous people while they preserve the environment and the culture heritage. There are projects set aside for benefits to the community as a whole. When international tourist arrives to a certain areas it is rich in culture and biodiversity and at the same will get more involved as a country. Cons-The conservation implicated on the country on a whole by the variety of activities that is encourage and support a wide range of development and conservation for e.g. (economic and social). This chapter of the project identifies the issues that affect community base tourism and the sustainability and promotion, with every growth interest, tourism development and marketing strategies that associated with a specific industry and its components. In this section it is useful to produce a clear definition of community base tourism to its readers. There are several different specialized tourism activities e.g. ecotourism, Nature base tourism etc. Although there is a estimate of 10%-15% conservation of nature related tourism. It is difficult to generalized countries and there natural environment as the primary key attraction for most international visitors, and the increasing of domestic tourist.There is a excessive amount of accurate data and it clearly show that the community base i ndustry need to rise it standards. Conclusion I am currently discussing the achievements of the travel and tourism sector project and looking to the future of great gesture. It is interesting to receive the amount of information from the different resources in respect of their different opinion. I have achieved the primary goal of this project and everyone has benefited in many ways from being involved in the project.

A Raisin in the Sun :: Literary Analysis, Lorraine Hansberry

Victor Hugo once said â€Å"There is nothing like dream to create the future†. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, the Youngers, an African American family struggle against economic hardship and racial prejudice. The family of five, Mama, Walter, Beneatha, Ruth, and Travis, live in a run down apartment in the South Side of Chicago during the 1950s an era of great prosperity for most. They receives a life insurance check of ten thousand dollars after the passing of Walter Sr.. Each member of the family has his/her own plans for the money. Mama, Walter, and Beneatha have different interpretations of the American Dream: Mama’s perspective is family, Walter’s dream is material success , and Beneatha’s values independence. Mama’s dream is to attain a satisfying life for her family, own a house, and have Walter be the head of the household. Mama discovers her daughter-in-law Ruth is pregnant and wants to have an abortion Mama frantically says that she â€Å"done give one baby to poverty† and she not going to let the family give up another child (75). Mama lost a baby due to her poverty once and is determined to stop Ruth from doing the same. Mama has always dreamed of owning a home and now she believes a home will help keep her family together she tells Ruth she wants an little â€Å"old two story†(44) with a yard where she could have a garden and â€Å"Travis could play in † (44) . Mama decides to use the money to buy a house because she â€Å"seen [her] family [fall] apart† (93). By buying a new house Mama believes establishes an environment for growth and development, preventing her children from doing what she had to do and will keep the family whole. Mamaâ€⠄¢s dream is selfless because there is no personal gain. Walter’s goal is to earn more money; being financially successful is important to him. After the arrival of the life insurance money, Walter and Mama get into a fight over how Walter has changes; Mama asks Walter why he has become obsessed with money, Walter reply â€Å"because it is life†(74). For Walter money comes before everything since no money equates to no life ; therefore making money become Walter’s number one priority because he believes validates his existence. After Mama gives Walter part of the insurance money, Walter talks to his son about how he is going to â€Å"change [their] lives† (108) he foreshadows the future he plans for the family.

Most Important Life Changing Event Essay

There is one thing that happened in my life that changed it forever. This is the day my stepdad, Taylor, died. It started as a normal school day my freshman year. No one came to school because we were about to get off for a holiday, so everyone that showed up went to the auditorium to watch movies. A teacher came looking for me and said that I had to go to the office. I thought I was in trouble or something. When I walked in and saw my grandma and my aunt, I knew something was wrong. They made me sit down and they told me that Taylor had died. My mind automatically went to my mom and little sister and how badly they would freak out. I knew that I had to put my feelings aside and help them as much as possible. When we got back to my house and got out of the car I could already hear my mom screaming and crying hysterically. I went inside and hugged her and I cried but I didn’t let her see because I knew that it would make her cry even more. They hadn’t picked my little sister, Mackenzie, up from school yet, and my mom was going crazy trying to figure out how to tell her that her dad died. I pulled my mom’s best friend into my room and asked her what I needed to do about how we were gonna get money and that she could help me get a second job. I told her how I knew I would have to take care of my mom and sis, but that I was going to need her help. When it got overwhelming, I went outside with her daughter, Linzy, who was one of my best friends and I finally allowed myself to cry until my sister got home. When my mom told her that her daddy was in heaven and that he could never come back she started crying and said, â€Å"does that mean he can’t take us fishing anymore? † Taylor had bought a boat and promised he would take us fishing. It broke my heart to see her like that. Linzy and I couldn’t take it, so we went outside and both cried. When it came time for the funeral, I couldn’t even stay in the room. I knew how badly I’d lose it, so my friends came sit with me outside almost the whole time. I wanted to get away, as far away as possible, but I knew I had to stay for my mom and sister. The entire time the funeral went one was hell. Seeing Taylor lay in the casket motionless, seeing everyone I care about cry their eyes out, and knowing I’d never get the chance to tell him how much I loved him was all too much. I literally wanted to kill myself. After the funeral was over, I pushed all of my hurt aside to take care of my mom and sister. I watched them lose their minds, and there was nothing I could do but be there for them and take care of them. I was like a parent for both of them for almost a year. Over time, they got better little by little, as I continued to get worse. They’re better now, and I can finally grieve. But I still don’t grieve in front of them, because if I do, it makes their pain come back.

nobility of 18th century essays

nobility of 18th century essays The Nobility of the 18th century in Western Europe made up 2 to 3 percent of the total population, but they were the major influences of economic and social roles and also had a hand in the politics in society of the time. The nobility of the time were the chief contributors to the financial system of the West. These contributions were based on the ownership of all the land in the areas. The land that the nobility possessed was the farmlands and the lands that produced the raw materials. By owning the land that produced these valuable goods the nobility could gain much wealth by trading their goods. Trading was not however considered a noble thing to do it was left to the trading middle class and many nobles thought they were above trading, but there was also a large amount of wealth to gain and this usually persuaded the nobles to make some mercantilist endeavors. Another way the nobles dominated the economy with their land ownership was by leasing their land to peasants and t enet farmers. This allowed the crops to be produced and the labor done and the landlord gets the money. The control of the economy was in the hands of the nobles but there was a rising middle class that also had a grip on the economy, but the middle class controlled the trading and mercantilistic aspect of the economy and would never completely control without the land ownership. By having this wealth the nobility lived lavished lifestyles that set the social standards of the time. Social life for the nobles all they could want. One display of how lavish their lifestyle is by their eating habits they commonly ate meat, fish, cheese, and sweets. These diets were far from the normal diets of the lower class people. Social activities of the nobility were the background for the major revolution of the time, The Scientific Revolution. The leisure time of the nobles included things such as reading books and poetry all of this made possible due to their...

buy custom The Antibiotic Resistance essay

buy custom The Antibiotic Resistance essay Overuse of antibiotics is another way in which these drugs are abused. This practice causes antibiotic resistance. In the United States, healthy farm animals are often provided with vast quantities of antibiotics in low doses as part of their diet in order to make these animals reach maturity faster. People who oppose this practice say that it causes widespread antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is best defined a microorganisms ability to withstand the eradicating effects of antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance results from mutation. Sometimes it occurs as a result of plasmid exchange that takes place between bacteria that are found in similar species. Bacteria that have many resistance genes are known as multiresistant bacteria. The principle that explains antibiotic resistance is the same one that applies to the theory of evolution through natural selection. The action of the antibiotic s a pressure that is exerted on the organism by the environment. It is only those bacteria that are able to undergo mutation are able to survive and eventually reproduce. The young ones that are reproduced have this mutative trait passed on to them. In the end, the entire bacteria generation becomes fully resistant to antibiotics. Many studies have revealed that the number of resistant bacteria is dependent on the patterns of usage of antibiotics. Overuse of antibiotics, especially those of broad spectrum variety, hastens the process through which methicillin resistance develops. The resistance develops even in those organisms that have never been subjected to selective methicillin pressure per se. A scenario where antibiotic resistant bacteria are the most common cause of bacterial infections is a very dangerous one. This scenario might lead to many deaths as a result of bacterial infections. Medical researchers would have to do away with alll existing antibiotics and research on new ones that would be able to deal with the bacterial infections. Without a new class of effective antibiotics, it would be difficult for doctors to deal with even minor bacterial infections. Such cases have been reported several times. In 1967, a pneumonia trait that was resistant to penicillin was detected. Other pathogens that have shown varying extent of resistance over time include Streptococci, Campylobacter, Salmonella and Myobacterium tuberculosis. Research on new classes of antibiotics is underway. Doctors may have to rely on vaccines which improve the bodys natural ability to fight infections, as opposed to antibiotics, which function independent of the bodys natural defenses. Overuse of antibiotics might also lead to development of new bacteria strains that are resistant to all existing vaccines. In this case, focus may be shifted towards phage therapy, a rather recent alternative whose research is ongoing. Buy custom The Antibiotic Resistance essay

Biography of José Santos Zelaya

Biography of Josà © Santos Zelaya Josà © Santos Zelaya (1853-1919) was a Nicaraguan dictator and president from 1893 to 1909. His record is a mixed one: the country progressed in terms of railroads, communications, commerce, and education, but he was also a tyrant who jailed or assassinated his critics and stirred up rebellions in neighboring nations. By 1909 his enemies had multiplied enough to drive him from office, and he spent the rest of his life in exile in Mexico, Spain, and New York. Early Life Josà © was born into a wealthy family of coffee growers. They were able to send Josà © to the best schools, including some in Paris, which was quite the fashion for young Central Americans of means. Liberals and Conservatives were feuding at the time, and the country was ruled by a series of Conservatives from 1863 to 1893. Josà © joined a Liberal group and soon rose to a position of leadership. Rise to the Presidency The Conservatives had held onto power in Nicaragua for 30 years, but their grip was beginning to loosen. President Roberto Sacasa (in office 1889-1893) saw his party splinter when former President Joaquà ­n Zavala led an internal revolt: the result was three different Conservative presidents at different times in 1893. With the Conservatives in disarray, the Liberals were able to seize power with the assistance of the military. Forty-year-old Josà © Santos Zelaya was the Liberals’ choice for President. Annex of the Mosquito Coast Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast had long been a bone of contention between Nicaragua, Great Britain, the United States and the Miskito Indians who made their home there (and who gave the place its name). Great Britain declared the area a protectorate, hoping eventually to establish a colony there and perhaps construct a canal to the Pacific. Nicaragua has always claimed the area, however, and Zelaya sent forces to occupy and annex it in 1894, naming it the Province of Zelaya. Great Britain decided to let it go, and although the US sent some Marines to occupy the city of Bluefields for a while, they, too, retreated. Corruption Zelaya proved to be a despotic ruler. He drove his Conservative opponents into ruin and even ordered some of them arrested, tortured and killed. He turned his back on his liberal supporters, instead surrounding himself with like-minded crooks. Together, they sold concessions to foreign interests and kept the money, siphoned off of lucrative state monopolies, and increased tolls and taxes. Progress It wasn’t all bad for Nicaragua under Zelaya. He built new schools and improved education by providing books and materials and raising teacher salaries. He was a big believer in transportation and communication, and new railroads were built. Steamers carried goods across the lakes, coffee production boomed, and the country prospered, especially those individuals with connections to President Zelaya. He also built up the national capital at neutral Managua, leading to a decrease in the feuding between traditional powers Leà ³n and Granada. Central American Union Zelaya had a vision of a united Central America- with himself as President, of course. To this end, he started stirring up unrest in neighboring countries. In 1906, he invaded Guatemala, allied with El Salvador and Costa Rica. He supported a rebellion against the government of Honduras, and when that failed, he sent the Nicaraguan army into Honduras. Together with the El Salvadoran Army, they were able to defeat the Hondurans and occupy Tegucigalpa. The Washington Conference of 1907 This prompted Mexico and the United States to call for the Washington Conference of 1907, at which a legal body called the Central American Court was created to solve disputes in Central America. The small countries of the region signed an agreement not to meddle in one another’s affairs. Zelaya signed but did not stop trying to stir up rebellions in neighboring countries. Rebellion By 1909 Zelaya’s enemies had multiplied. The United States considered him an impediment to their interests, and he was despised by Liberals as well as Conservatives in Nicaragua. In October, Liberal General Juan Estrada declared a rebellion. The United States, which had been keeping some warships close to Nicaragua, quickly moved to support it. When two Americans who were among the rebels were captured and killed, the US broke off diplomatic relations and once again sent Marines into Bluefields, ostensibly to protect US investments. Exile and Legacy of Josà © Santos Zelaya Zelaya, no fool, could see the writing on the wall. He left Nicaragua in December of 1909, leaving the treasury empty and the nation in shambles. Nicaragua had much foreign debt, most of it to European nations and Washington sent experienced diplomat Thomas C. Dawson to sort things out. Eventually, the Liberals and Conservatives returned to bickering, and the US occupied Nicaragua in 1912, making it a protectorate in 1916. As for Zelaya, he spent time in exile in Mexico, Spain, and even New York, where he was briefly jailed for his role in the deaths of the two Americans in 1909. He died in 1919. Zelaya left a mixed legacy in his nation. Long after the mess he had left had been cleared up, the good remained: the schools, the transportation, the coffee plantations, etc. Even though most Nicaraguans hated him in 1909, by the late twentieth-century opinion of him had improved enough for his likeness to be featured on Nicaragua’s 20 Cordoba note. His defiance of the United States and Great Britain over the Mosquito Coast in 1894 contributed greatly to his legend, and it is this act which is still remembered most about him today. Memories of his dictatorship have also faded due to subsequent strongmen taking over Nicaragua, such as Anastasio Somoza Garcà ­a. In many ways, he was a precursor to the corrupt men that followed him into the President’s chair, but their malfeasance eventually overshadowed his. Sources: Foster, Lynn V. New York: Checkmark Books, 2007. Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962.

E-Marketing analyzing websites Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E-Marketing analyzing websites - Term Paper Example The company was established in the year 1999 by Jack Ma. His aim was to make internet accessible, beneficial and trustworthy for every individual of the society (Alibaba, n.d.). The company is presently headquartered at Hangzhou, China. The primary business of the company is to facilitate online selling and buying from anywhere in the world. Also for the B2B segment it connects organizations with manufacturers and suppliers all over the world. It employs around 24,000 people and has operation in 70 countries of the world. The company claims that as of March 2012, it had 79 million registered online users who are spread across 240 countries of the world (Chinadaily, 2012). ... also sells internet infrastructure services, business management software, export related services, and offers educational services to develop e-commerce and enterprise management professional. The major competitors of the company are eBay Inc., DHgate.com, Bikudo.com, Global Sources Ltd., and HC360.com among others (Crunchbase, 2012). Situation Analysis (SWOT) Strength The company has strong market position Balanced business Model Less exposure to international trade environment The company is earning more revenues from the value added services. Integration of e-commerce Weakness The company finds difficulty in to contradict the selling of forged products. Opportunities Robust growth of Chinese economy Opportunity to foray into the Indian market The company should continue to expand value added service offerings (Marketline, 2011). Threats The biggest threat of the company comes in the form of internet fraud. Problems related to litigation Intense competition Segmentation Targeting Differentiation Segmentation is a major part of marketing. It is about sub-dividing the heterogeneous market into groups of homogenous segments (Allen, Macy and Hutchison, 2009, p.21). Segmentation helps companies to effectively target the customers (Croft, 1994, p.1). Among the available forms of segmentation i.e. psychographic segmentation, geographic segmentation, and behavioural segmentation, alibaba.com segments its market on the basis of demographics. They offer wide range of products and services so that every age group, gender, and occupation gets satisfied. The company targets its customers through the help of its existing customers. It depends heavily on the word of mouth promotion. In addition, customers are also targeted by means of promoting products through popular media.

MGT501 - Management and Organizational Behavior Mod 3 SLP Essay

MGT501 - Management and Organizational Behavior Mod 3 SLP - Essay Example It was interesting to take the summary. Everyone wants to know more about their own personality and under the circumstances, it is definitely good to know that best way to learn. The questions always seem a little strange at first but once the assessment is completed it seems to make sense why those questions were ask. It seems from the results that they were pretty close but it seems that someone else would be able to tell you that better than yourself. It is awfully hard to judge ones own personality and learning style. That is why an assessment like this is so helpful. The things about me that are strongest and I believe will be most helpful in the workplace and as a manager are social skills, listening and verbal skills, and logical skills. Actually it seems those are the skills that a manager should have. The manager in a department or organization should be able to stay logical, hear their employees, be able to verbalize and communicate and do it in a way that feels social. The only problem is that the social skills were my highest learning skills and that could be a problem. Being too social can be a bigger issue that it is a help. It is not seen favorably by bosses that give you a boost up the ladder. It seems that the best thing of these issues that I can do for my management style is to cultivate the aural and verbal as well as logical skills but find a way to learn to be a better manager by using the social skills in another way. Although there are times when it is important. I know that seldom does my boss join us for social occasions such as birthdays out etc but once in a while would be a good thing. It would make us feel more like he knew something about us so I might try to temper some of that with the personality traits that I try to learn for a better management style. Individual learning and organizational learning are really interconnected. We have discussed the organization as

Evaluating Capital Investment Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evaluating Capital Investment Project - Essay Example If the firm is usually not attentive while making the capital expenditure resolution, the time taken by the project and the invested money are wasted. The main focus of the capital investment taken by the organization should largely depend on the selection of the right choices and procedures for its expansion (Rachlin, 1987).   During the evaluation and selection of metrics in a capital budgeting plan, for example, in a healthcare organization, it is vital for executives to be able to compare all the options using an objective yard stick, in spite of the cash flow mode that result with each objective. The Net Present Value (NPV) is usually termed as the effective model for capital project evaluation. In the health care organization, while focusing on the cash flow strategies, there are lessons examining the unconventional performances, for example, accounting rate of return and the discounted payback methodology (Harrison & Mason, 1996). There is a formalized procedure that is followed while determining the type of metric program to be used. This is usually to impact changes on several model compositions on the model outputs. The project that an organization chooses affects the business evolution, this is usually a result of several shortcomings encountered in the marketing of the organizations, for exampl e, increased competition, change of client’s predilections and the aging capacity of the organizational property. Sensitivity scrutiny is the most significant component of the replication experimentation, and it usually manipulates the models of formulations (Friedlob & Plewa, 1996). It is mostly used in the examination of the model behavior, through a general procedure that defines the model production variables represented in a vital aspect of model change. The value of several contributions of the models, are usually varied, and the consequential change in production is scrutinized (Goetze &

How convincingly do the two studies establish media influence, and why Literature review

How convincingly do the two studies establish media influence, and why they reach rather different conclusions about the media's role - Literature review Example In this study, the authors have conjectured that newspapers have a long term effect on voting patterns. It was believed by these political theorists that the data obtained from the BHPS could provide substantial insight, into the changes that transpire between elections, during pre – elections and in election years. The significant feature of the BHPS is that it gathers information about newspaper reading habits, on a daily basis. In general, many newspapers recommend to their readers the candidate to vote for, and this usually constitutes the basis for their classification. However, the BHPS adopted a markedly different categorisation, by classifying newspapers according to their long – term support to political parties (Newton and Brynin 2001, 272). The BHPS study, fails to consider the partisan attitude of newspapers, and chiefly concentrates on national daily newspapers. A significant disadvantage with the BHPS data is that its questionnaires did not query readers, regarding the amount of time dedicated by them for reading newspapers. Respondents were also not questioned about their interest in the political content of the newspapers read by them (Newton and Brynin 2001, 272). These lacunae in this study render it suspect. In the working paper Was it the Sun that won it again? the author based his study on the data obtained from the 1997 British Election Campaign Study. The latter entailed a four wave panel study, and was carried out between spring of 1996 and the weeks immediately after May 1, 1997, the Election Day. The first phase of the study involved direct interaction with the respondents. In this first phase of this study, the 1996 British Social Attitudes survey had supplied the respondents with the necessary questionnaires (Curtice 1999). The second phase of the study consisted of interviews over the telephone, and was conducted during the first two weeks of April 1997. By that time the election

Reason for Arabs immigration to the USA Term Paper

Reason for Arabs immigration to the USA - Term Paper Example mmigration to the US are quite diverse: they come in search of financial welfare, to escape from regional conflicts and suppression and finally to actualize their intellectual potential. The first and the most popular reason for immigration to the US is to find a job and to earn money. In terms of Arabs immigration it should be mentioned that there were 2 major waves of migration to America (Suleiman, 1999). The first wave took place between 1870 and World War II. Most Arabs came from Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. The economic hardships that people faced in these countries made thousands of Arabs leave their homelands and move to America. There was a major economic crisis in Lebanon due to appearance of the Suez Canal in 1880s. It made Japanese silk more easily available and Lebanese silk industry collapsed. In addition to this, population in Arabic countries increased dramatically, whereas standards of living became worse and worse (Suleiman, 1999). As a result, to avoid unemployment and poverty, people started looking for jobs and better life abroad. As the US was the country of opportunities, most Arabs decided to move there. Another reason why Arabs migrated to America is a need for safety. The second wave of migration of Arabs to the US took place after World War II and it continues till present times. During this wave people came to the States almost from the whole Arabic world, including North Africa. Apart from aforementioned economic reasons, second-wave immigrants had another significant ground to leave their countries and move to America, and that is armed conflicts. Iran-Iraq, Palestine-Israel, Lebanon, Yemen – these were extremely unstable and unsafe regions for living. These regional conflicts and civil wars became a catalyst of the desire to move to America, where there was no war and no suppression. There is one vivid difference between first-wave and second-wave immigrants. Those Arabs, who immigrated to the US before World War II, did

Spyware Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Spyware - Essay Example In this scenario, spyware is one of the most crucial security threats that has caused serious challenges for the business organizations and individuals. Basically, spyware consists of a wide variety of programs that an attacker uses to observe a computer users actions, get facts and information regarding the user, and store this data in order that they can use it for conducting illegal activities. The research has shown that the major target of spyware remains the internet community (Ames, 2004). This report presents a detailed analysis of spyware applications. The basic purpose of this research is to present an overview of spyware, its types, its working and some of the countermeasures. Computer owners are confronting with such a mounting threat that is considered to be the leading one, known as spyware (Reuters, Feb. 9, 2004). Its predominance was evident by the National Cyber Security Alliance who anticipated that it is about 90 percent of PCs with internet connections being affected by spyware. Moreover, a Web Sense Survey in 2004 proposed the spyware problem to be majorly manifested in IT companies (92%, according to the estimation) as claimed by their managers. It is the biggest dilemma that most of the internet users don’t even find about the induction of any spyware application until and unless it has already been installed on their PCs. Spyware is sort of a secreted character that is difficult to find. Although most users have understanding about spyware effects such as PCs being sluggish, strange search outcomes and fronting more pop-up ads but it could be dangerous because of its secret nature. In the late 1990s, software programs were being used m uch for getting info about the end-users. And in early 2000s, the Dot-com buzz made its usage more rampant. Generally, spyware is such a software that is used to get the information about the customers illegally and convey that info to the third-party while it pretends to be the data sensors. It creates

How convincingly do the two studies establish media influence, and why Literature review

How convincingly do the two studies establish media influence, and why they reach rather different conclusions about the media's role - Literature review Example In this study, the authors have conjectured that newspapers have a long term effect on voting patterns. It was believed by these political theorists that the data obtained from the BHPS could provide substantial insight, into the changes that transpire between elections, during pre – elections and in election years. The significant feature of the BHPS is that it gathers information about newspaper reading habits, on a daily basis. In general, many newspapers recommend to their readers the candidate to vote for, and this usually constitutes the basis for their classification. However, the BHPS adopted a markedly different categorisation, by classifying newspapers according to their long – term support to political parties (Newton and Brynin 2001, 272). The BHPS study, fails to consider the partisan attitude of newspapers, and chiefly concentrates on national daily newspapers. A significant disadvantage with the BHPS data is that its questionnaires did not query readers, regarding the amount of time dedicated by them for reading newspapers. Respondents were also not questioned about their interest in the political content of the newspapers read by them (Newton and Brynin 2001, 272). These lacunae in this study render it suspect. In the working paper Was it the Sun that won it again? the author based his study on the data obtained from the 1997 British Election Campaign Study. The latter entailed a four wave panel study, and was carried out between spring of 1996 and the weeks immediately after May 1, 1997, the Election Day. The first phase of the study involved direct interaction with the respondents. In this first phase of this study, the 1996 British Social Attitudes survey had supplied the respondents with the necessary questionnaires (Curtice 1999). The second phase of the study consisted of interviews over the telephone, and was conducted during the first two weeks of April 1997. By that time the election

Spyware Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Spyware - Essay Example In this scenario, spyware is one of the most crucial security threats that has caused serious challenges for the business organizations and individuals. Basically, spyware consists of a wide variety of programs that an attacker uses to observe a computer users actions, get facts and information regarding the user, and store this data in order that they can use it for conducting illegal activities. The research has shown that the major target of spyware remains the internet community (Ames, 2004). This report presents a detailed analysis of spyware applications. The basic purpose of this research is to present an overview of spyware, its types, its working and some of the countermeasures. Computer owners are confronting with such a mounting threat that is considered to be the leading one, known as spyware (Reuters, Feb. 9, 2004). Its predominance was evident by the National Cyber Security Alliance who anticipated that it is about 90 percent of PCs with internet connections being affected by spyware. Moreover, a Web Sense Survey in 2004 proposed the spyware problem to be majorly manifested in IT companies (92%, according to the estimation) as claimed by their managers. It is the biggest dilemma that most of the internet users don’t even find about the induction of any spyware application until and unless it has already been installed on their PCs. Spyware is sort of a secreted character that is difficult to find. Although most users have understanding about spyware effects such as PCs being sluggish, strange search outcomes and fronting more pop-up ads but it could be dangerous because of its secret nature. In the late 1990s, software programs were being used m uch for getting info about the end-users. And in early 2000s, the Dot-com buzz made its usage more rampant. Generally, spyware is such a software that is used to get the information about the customers illegally and convey that info to the third-party while it pretends to be the data sensors. It creates

Should Chinese Student Study Abroad Essay Example for Free

Should Chinese Student Study Abroad Essay With sustained economic growth in China, the option to study abroad has become more affordable for increasing numbers of Chinese families. For example, China Daily reported in 2007 that the number of students choosing to study abroad has increased by 11 percent over the last five years till 2007. However some problems occur when choose to study abroad destination, whether it is one-semester exchange or full-time engagement. Some of these problems include culture shocks and loneliness, language difficulties and financial hurdles. First, we will discuss the three arguments raised by the opponents against studying abroad. Second, we analyze corresponding counter arguments referring to research conducted by the International Education of Students (IES). Finally, the feedback from the alumni who experienced oversea studies will strengthen the stance on the obvious advantages of studying abroad. Though it is widely believed that it is beneficial for students to have an oversea education in developing students’ capacity (Bodycott 359), many opponents are skeptical about it. They claim problems of studying abroad are many, including language difficulties, homesickness and financial hurdles. In terms of language difficulties, they argue that most Chinese students have too poor language skills to handle the oversea life. According to Marilyn Renee (qtd in Zhang Brunton 126), the disadvantage in language skills directly influences the performance in academic activities and contributes to the lowered score of self-esteem. It is suggested that the students’ fluency in English may impact on cross-cultural relationship (Ward 544). In this respect, Toyokawa also finds that the poor English of an international student will result in a worsened situation of social interactions (qtd in Zhang Brunton 127). However, language difficulty cannot be a reason for Chinese students to quit international education. Firstly, most foreign universities provide extra classes or set up supporting departments to facilitate the language adaptation of foreign enrollers. Se condly, students may overcome this by interacting and associating with people from their native land or opt for a tandem partner. International students can also join clubs and participate in teams such as sports, drama and debate which all offer fabulous opportunities for learning a foreign language (King 1). According to the research by IES, 90 percent of the respondents state that being in a complete English environment forced them to learn English and helped a lot in developing a western way of learning and speaking. Another difficulty facing Chinese international students is loneliness in an entirely different environment and culture. A review by Toyokawa and Toyokawa (2002) demonstrated that â€Å"international students experience difficulty including culture shock, adjustment to customs and values, isolation and loneliness, homesickness and a loss of established social networks† (qtd in Zhang Brunton 126). The opponents also claim that Chinese students are from collectivist countries. They focus more on social networks than some of the individualistic western cultures. This may result in their helplessness confronting failure or frustration. Moreover, distance from families and friends and being situated in a different social environment and culture adds to their feelings of loneliness. Despite the truth of loneliness encountered by international students, chances are more for them to survive it. Suggestions are raised by Suraweera, an expert in the research of international students’ behaviour and psychology, in two aspects. For one thing, if students who study abroad put the best effort in their study and score a good academic performance, they are less likely to feel lonely but for a sense of success. On the contrary, bad academic performance may lead to depression which is one cause to stimulate homesickness. For another, students can seek new friends and new experiences. Through building a fine network with colleagues, homesickness is reduced by a large extent. In addition, engaging in a different experience, such as going on travelling or taking on a part-time job, will absorb students in more important things. With respect to intercultural development, the IES result shows that about 91 percent understand better of their own cultural values and biases. About 94 percent reported to make more multicultural friends and continue to explore a new culture. This result corresponds to the study abroad educators who often expect to train future global leaders to be more influential, respectful of other cultures and political and economic systems. In this respect, studying abroad is succeeding in its goal. The last potential difficulty is financial hurdles, which are often the biggest problem with studying abroad. Even for students on a semester exchange abroad program, the living expenses and tuition cost can probably add at least a couple thousand dollars excluding plane tickets and sightseeing. The opponents of international study hold the view that the expenses will never be covered and it is not worth the struggle. Nevertheless, while the financial prospect of a study abroad program can seem daunting, it is rewarding in the long run. According to the survey made by IES, a majority of participants give positive responses in terms of personal development. 96 percent said the unique experience increased their self-confidence. 97 percent reported studying abroad served as a catalyst for increased maturity and 95 percent stated that it had a vast influence on their world view. The data collected from the participants show that studying abroad is a critical moment in a young person’s life and continues to influence the respondents’ life in their future development. Moreover, Boycott (360) discovers that with an oversea education, a graduate can largely increase his chance of being employed. In summary, a number of Chinese students, pursuing higher education abroad, are reported to gain advantages while opponents hold different opinions against it. The advantages are shown mainly for students’ individual development if the opportunity abroad is seized and commanded properly. However, arguments against studying abroad are raised including three major ones. Firstly, the language difficulties can lead to the lowered performance of individual student, thus reducing the quality of overseas education. Nevertheless, most universities offer language support and the environment itself play as the impetus for language developing. The second problem lies in a negative reaction towards a foreign environment, which is loneliness. This can be addressed through network building and culture exploration. Lastly, the financial hurdle, seemingly daunting, cannot be an obstacle for the experience brings more to individuals in the long run than the initial financial input. The research conducted by IES acts as the major evidence of the positive examples for overseas learning. In a word, Chinese students should study abroad, despite the various opposing opinions. While more efforts are needed including overcoming the language difficulties and developing the personality that is flexible, adaptive, and it is clear that the efforts extended are well worth it in the end.

Numerous Definitions Of Expatriates

Numerous Definitions Of Expatriates This chapter explores the literature around expatriates in Multinational Corporations, emphasizes the focus of adjusting to cultural differences when preparing expatriates for foreign assignments and also show how it enables them to succeed in their foreign assignments. Different theories and critiques on expatriate training will also be discussed. Expatriation has long been identified as a coordination and control mechanism used by MNCs ( Edstrom Galbraith, 1977; Martinez Jarillo, 1991). As global competition continues to intensify, it becomes increasingly important for multinational corporations (MNCs) to maintain control over their international operations (Barlett Ghoshal, 1988, 1989; Geringer Hebert, 1989; Martinez Jarillo, 1989; Sohn, 1994 ) since appropriate control will ensure that the MNCs strategic goals are met and deviations from standards are corrected to enable subsidiaries act in accordance with headquarters policies. (Vernon, Wells, Rangan, 1996) Numerous definitions of expatriates exist. Several researchers define an expatriate as someone who is assigned to a single foreign country and able to hold a leadership role, (Pucik and Saba, 1998), has high technical skill levels relative to personnel in the host location (Naumann, 1992) and has a limited role or time for his or her assignment in the overseas location (Adler and Bartholomew,1992). Harzing, (2001) defines expatriates as usually home-country assignees who hold top management positions or key positions in functional departments of a foreign subsidiary. Shaffer, Harrison and Gilley, (1999) also define an expatriate as a highly skilled worker with unique expertise who is sent to work in another unit of the same company located in a foreign country generally on a temporary basis for a period of at least six months which will usually involve relocation and significant progress in cultural adjustment (Selmer et al.,1998; Coyle and Shortland, 1992; Torbiorn, 1982). Since the globalization of economies worldwide has resulted in pressure for managers to deal routinely with other cultures and different countries business practices (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2008), it has brought a corresponding rise in multinational corporations direct investment in different countries. However, as these MNCs expand their operations into foreign countries, they also transfer their human resources and managerial practices to their foreign subsidiaries which are not always successful due to the influence of cultural differences between the home and host countries (Dowling et al, 2008) as shown below. Figure 2.1 Management Demands of International Growth d%2013[1] Source: Dowling, P.J., Festing, M., and Engle, A.D., Sr. (2008) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context. 5th Edn. London: Cengage Learning EMEA As seen in figure 2.1, the globalization of economies worldwide has resulted in pressure for MNCs to deal regularly with other cultures, their beliefs, size, different business practices amongst others and recognising these differences is the first necessary step to anticipating potential threats and opportunities for business encounters (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). The implication of this focus is that our contemporary world is one of cultural diversity and the MNCs normally operate within diverse cultural environments. For the expatriates, then, cultural issues of all sorts, whether at home or in the host country, become basic concerns. Culture is what makes us what we are and our cultural backgrounds influence everything we do at all times and in all places. We learn about and live our local cultures through the processes of socialization and acculturation that begin in childhood. Now, in order to be functional in a different culture, we need to appreciate its values, norms, beliefs, and behaviour patterns and learn to adjust to them as much as possible. Proficiency in the language of the host country goes a long way to provide someone with the tools of cultural competence. The more the expatriate knows about the host culture (including speaking the local language), about its values and expectations, and the more proficient he/she is in the l ocal language, the greater his/her chances of a successful job performance. All of this adds to a cross-cultural learning that will greatly facilitate his/her professional life while managing the business of the organization within the parameters of a different culture. 2.2 Types Of Expatriates Figure 2.2 presents international human resource management activities in three dimensions. The broad human resource activities of procurement, allocation and utilization. The national or country categories involved in international HRM activities which are the host-country where a subsidiary may be located; the home-country where the firm is headquartered; and other countries that may be the source of labour, finance and other inputs. The three categories of employees of an international firm which are the host-country nationals; parent-country nationals and third-country nationals. DISSERTATION%20DIAGRAM%201[1] Figure 2.2 Types of Expatriates Source: P.V Morgan (1986) International Human Resource Management: Fact or Fiction, Personnel Administrator, Vol. 31, No. 9, pg. 44. The management of foreign subsidiary operations is a substantial challenge for multinational corporations because when making the subsidiary staffing decision, they have the option to choosing between parent country nationals (PCNs), host country nationals (HCNs) and third country nationals (TCN) from the home, host or other countries of the MNC as seen in the diagram above. Perlmutter and Heenan (1974) also widened the analysis of the international human resource selection decision through the dimension of employer staffing choices where four primary philosophies were identified which are the ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric, and geocentric staffing . 2.3 Roles of Expatriates According to Rahim (1983) an expatriate has to play many different roles which includes being an agent of direct control, socialization, network builder, boundary spanner, and knowledge transferor which is reflected in the diagram below. d%2015[2] Figure 2.3 The Role of an Expatriate Source: Dowling, P.J., Festing, M., and Engle, A.D., Sr. (2008) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context. 5th Edn. London: Cengage Learning EMEA. As seen in figure 2.3, the reasons for using expatriates are not limited since they have multiple roles. The expatriate as an agent of direct control can be seen as a control mechanism where the primary role is that of ensuring compliance through direct supervision. The expatriate as an agent of socialization involves the use of corporate culture as an informal control mechanism since they are bound to be exposed to different viewpoints and perspectives that will shape their behaviour. As expatriates move between various organisational units, their network of personal relationship changes. Hence, expatriates are network builders that develop social capital by fostering interpersonal linkages that can be used for informal control and communication purposes. Expatriates are boundary spanners because they can collect host-country information, act as representatives of their firms in the host country and can influence agents. Expatriates are language nodes since they can learn the language of the host country they are in order to adapt. Expatriates also transfer competence and knowledge from their home countries to host countries and vice versa in the course of their assignments. Edstrom and Galbraith (1977) also identify three general company motives for sending out expatriates: position filling (PF), management development and organisation development. Position filling refers to the transfer of technical knowledge, mainly to developing countries where qualified local nationals are not available (Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977); Transfer for management development gives the expatriate manager in question international experience and develops him for future roles in subsidiaries abroad or with the parent company (Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977); Organisation development occurs where transfers are used to change or maintain the structure and decision processes of the organisation. In this case, transfers are used as a co-ordination and control strategy. Specifically, the use of expatriate personnel has been recognized as an important control mechanism to monitor and evaluate the activities and behaviours within the subsidiary (Black Mendenhall, 1990; Boyacigiller, 1990; Edstrom Galbraith, 1977; Kobrin, 1988; Schuler, Dowling, De Cieri, 1993; Tung, 1993). However, this role comprises of two elements which are direct and indirect control. Direct control is defined as the direct involvement in decision making, selection and promotion of local employees while indirect control is exercised through the transmission of values, attitudes and ways of doing things, or by being cultural carriers'(Edstrom and Galbraith 1977; Jaeger 1983; Lu and Bjorkman, 1997). Whether implicitly or explicitly stated, expatriates are also trainers who are expected to assist the multinational corporations train and develop HCNs to be able to train their replacements ( Dowling et al, 2008) . Expatriates should also be perceived not just as knowledge carriers but, more importantly, as transfer facilitators who enhance the transfer of important parent-firm organizational knowledge to its subsidiaries (Bonache and Brewster, 2001; HÃ ©bert et al.,2005; Kostova and Roth, 2003). However, according to Fenwick et al, (1999), there has been little empirical investigation as to how effective expatriates have been as agents of socialization since attempts to introduce corporate values and norms ritualized in the form of certain expected behaviours often have negative results at the subsidiary level. Besides transferring knowledge from headquarters to overseas affiliates, expatriates also learn from their involvement in managing these operations. In this case, expatriates play the role of learning agents, absorbing new knowledge on behalf of the headquarters ( Jaeger and Baliga, 1985) . Expatriates also serve an important role as transmitters of corporate culture (Jackson,2002) or cultural carrier (Edstrom and Galbraith 1977; Jaeger 1983; Lu and Bjorkman1997) since they are often sent abroad to transmit corporate culture (Jackson, 2002). Boundary spanning refers to activities, such as gathering information that bridge internal and external organisational contexts ( Dowling et al, 2008) . Expatriates are considered boundary spanners because they can collect host-country information, act as representatives of their firms in the host country and can influence agents ( Dowling et al, 2008) . 2.3.1 Other Roles of Expatriates Expatriates are used for a variety of other reasons which includes to provide staff with management development experience for future senior managers (Peterson, Sergent, Napier and Shim, 1996), to set up methods of working, new technology or new marketing methods (Jackson, 2002) , for accountability, their technical skills, their knowledge of products and to provide international exposure to key personnel for development purposes (Arvey, Bhagat and Salas, 1991; Klaus, 1995). Finally, expatriates may be utilized to enforce and protect the companys interests (Bird Dunbar, 1991; Dowling, Schuler, Welch, 1994). 2.4. Major Factors that Affect Expatriates Effectiveness Many factors may affect the effectiveness of expatriates (Thomas, 2002, Tung, 1998) since as indicated by Rahim (1983) an expatriate has to play many different roles which includes being a representative from the parent company; a manager for a local subsidiary company; a local resident; a local citizen or a citizen in both countries; an expert; and a family member. Figure 2.4 International Assignments: Factors Moderating Performance Certain factors moderate expatriates performance and affect the decision to stay or leave the international assignment. Some of these factors as seen in figure 2.4 below includes the inability to adjust to the foreign culture which has been a consistent reason given for expatriate failure, the length of the assignment which might be quite long, the unwillingness to go for the assignment, work-related and psychological factors amongst others. d%208[1] Figure 2.4 Source: Dowling, P.J., Festing, M., and Engle, A.D., Sr. (2008) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context. 5th Edn. London: Cengage Learning EMEA 2.4.1 Why Expatriates Fail One of the most prominent issues in international human resource management is the failure of expatriates (Hill, 2005:624; ÃÆ'-zbilgin, 2005:132; Black et al., 1991:291;Shaffer Harrison, 1998:87; Black, 1988:277) which as defined by Hill (2005:624) as the premature return of an expatriate to his or her home country. Assignments often may not be completed, necessitating the replacement of the expatriate (Bird Dunbar. 1991; Black, 1988) and the frequently cited reasons for this outcome include the inability of the expatriate or the spouse and family to adjust to the new environment (Black Gregersen, 1991;Black, Mendenhall. Oddou. 1991; Gaylord,1979; Harvey, 1985) or diminished job satisfaction and effectiveness (Feldman Thomas, 1992;1993; Hodgetts, 1993;Miller, 1975; Naumann, 1993; Stening Hammer, 1992) as a result of workplace conflict around differences in norms and culture. As relocation, be it domestic or international always causes change for those involved as scholars have repeatedly reported that stress levels increase with cultural environment distance (Torbion, 1982; Black, 1988) which is supported by a recent survey released by the U.S National Foreign Trade Council where it was reported that the inability to adjust to the foreign cultural environment was the key reason for expatriate failure and has continued to remain the major reason given for expatriate failure which has been a subject of considerable interest to researchers. Additionally, it has been found that the adjustment of the spouse is highly correlated with the adjustment of the expatriate and that the children tend to mirror their parents reactions (Black and Stephens, 1989). This was observed after an early study by Tung (1982:67) who found out that the number one reason for the failure of expatriates in the US and Western European MNCs were the inability of the expatriates spouse to adjust to the foreign location which proves that family adjustment is a significant criteria that determines expatriates failure in a country ( Selma, 2002) since research over the past 20 years has shown a consistent ranking of the inability of the spouse/partner/family to adjust to the foreign culture as a primary cause of early recall which may result from non-preparation for the move abroad or from the inability to work in the foreign country (Dowling et al, 2008). The spouses difficulty in adjustment may also be related to several other factors which include the inability to cope without the familiar network of family and friends, inadequate language skills or cultural training, and inadequate social support programs to assist him or her in developing an acceptable lifestyle overseas (Adler, 1997). However, Shaffer and Harrison (1998:87) and Black, (1988:277) observe that failure may vary in degree. They highlight the fact that expatriates who remain on the assignment but psychologically withdraw may incur indirect losses for their enterprise. These losses can include a reduction in productivity, market share, and competitive position, as well as damaged staff, customer and supplier relations, and a discredited corporate image and reputation. Tung (1982:68) surveying United States (US), European and Japanese MNCs, highlighted the severity of the problem when identifying that 7 percent of the United States MNCs experienced expatriate failure rates of 10-40 percent, 69 percent had a recall or failure rate of 10-20 percent, and the remaining 24 percent experienced a failure rate of less than 10 percent. He also observed that US-based MNCs experienced a much higher expatriate failure rate than either Western European or Japanese MNCs. More recently Shay and Tracey (1997:31) stated that 25 to 40 percent of the United States expatriates assigned to a developed country return home prematurely compared to 70 percent assigned to a developing country. This is supported by Briscoe, Schuler and Claus (2009) who observed that the rate of early return for US expatriates varies in different enterprises (and in different surveys) from 10 percent to 80 percent (with a common failure rate in the 30-40 percent range). Furthermore, according to Copeland and Griggs (in Shay Tracey, 1997:31) and Deresky (2002:398), it is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of expatriates who do complete their assignments are considered ineffective or marginally effective. Numerous authors have also highlighted the high cost of a failed expatriate assignment. According to authors such as McNerney (1996:1), Shay and Tracey (1997:31), Hill (2005:624), and Chowanec and Newstrom (1991:65), the estimated cost of a failed expatriate assignment ranges between US$250,000 and US$1 million. While authors such as Griffin and Pustay (2002:583) and Black (1988:277) estimate the cost of a failed expatriate assignment at between US$40,000 and US$250,000 (these figures include the expatriates original training and moving expenses, as well as lost managerial productivity, but do not include the decreased performance of the foreign subsidiary itself). In addition, a failed assignment also has an indirect cost implication for a MNC as it can lead to damaged relations with the host country government, a diminished worldwide reputation of the MNC as well as negatively influencing the moral of employees in both the home and host country operations of an MNE (Chowanec Newstrom, 1991:66; Deresky, 2002:398). Harveys (1995:223) research is also supported by a study of Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) ( 2000:80), who found that the partners of employees were the main reason for failed or unsuccessful international assignments in half the MNCs they surveyed. Hence there is a body of literature that highlights issues and challenges for organisations and expatriates. A particular issue is the need for organisations to pay attention to organisational support on expatriate and spousal adjustment (Caligiuri et al, 1999) which is not only related to general interactions adjustment but also to better performance on the job. 2.4.2 The Process of Adjustment As earlier stated by the author, research shows that if the expatriates spouse and/or family members are having trouble adjusting abroad, the expatriate will have problems as well, including poor job performance (Black Gregersen, 1991; Gaylord, 1979; Harvey,1985),which could result in a premature return from the overseas assignment or a poor performance upon completion of his/her assignment. As a result, several personal dimensions have also been found to impact a managers transition to an overseas assignment and when activities available at home cannot be found in the host country, there may be feelings of loneliness, isolation, and frustration, which contribute to culture shock and inhibit adjustment (Church, 1982). Hence, an international assignment intensifies the stress associated with the transfer of personnel as it involves an entire personal and professional life style modification that impacts the expatriate and other family members (Harvey, 1985:84) often causing a temporary emotional state called culture shock as seen in figure 2.4.2 Figure 2.4.2 The U-Curve Phase 1: Tourist Phase 2: Crisis Culture shock Æ’Â   May exit? Phase 3: Pulling up Phase 4: Adjustment Time Adjustment Source: H. De Cieri, P.J Dowling and K.F. Taylor, The Psychological Impact of Expatriate Relocation on Partners, International Journal on Human Resource Management, Vol. 2, No.3 (1991) p.30. Adjustment to a foreign culture is multifaceted, and individuals vary in terms of their reaction and coping behaviours and the adjustment curve (sometimes referred to as the U-Curve) is based on psychological reactions to the assignment and is helpful in demonstrating the typical phases that can be encountered during cultural adjustment (Dowling et al, 2008) . Phase 1 (tourist or honeymoon stage) commences with reactions prior to the assignment which can be a range of positive and negative emotions such as excitement, anxiety, fear of the unknown, or a sense of adventure which can lead to an upswing of mood . Then as the novelty wears off, realities of everyday life in the foreign location begin to intrude, homesickness sets in, and a downswing may commence which can create negative appraisals of the situation and the location leading to a period of crisis (phase 2).This phase can be a critical time, and how the individual copes with the psychological adjustment has an important outcome in terms of success or failure. Once past this crisis point, as the expatriate comes to terms with the demands of the new environment, there is a pulling up (phase 3) resulting in an adjustment (phase 4) to the new environment (Dowling et al, 2008). In recent studies (Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Black 1988; Black and Gregersen 1991;Black, Mendenhall and Oddou 1991; McEvoy and Parker 1995), adjustment is seen as a multi-faceted phenomenon with three major dimensions that are addressed and empirically tested: adjustment to the general environment, referring to the general psychological comfort involving aspects such as living conditions, weather or food; adjustment to the work situation, referring to the psychological comfort with culture specific work values and standards; and adjustment to interacting with host nationals, focusing on the comfort with different communication styles in the host setting. Also, adjustment pertaining to expatriates can be broken down into anticipatory, psychological, environmental/ (socio) cultural, organisational, interaction and personal change adjustment (Black et al, 1991,) and Shaffer et al, (1999) has also identified job factors, organisational factors, personal factors, non-work factors and individual factors as significant to expatriate adjustment. 2.5.1 Definition Of Culture According to Hickson and Pugh (1995), national culture shapes everything. National culture influences management practices like structure, strategy and human resources systems; and the effective transfer of management structures and processes relies on the ability to recognise their inherent assumptions and compare them with the cultural assumptions of the potential host country recipient. (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). Over the years, culture has been defined in different ways by various writers. Culture was first defined in 1871 by Tylor (Hall,1980: 20) as the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society while Hofstede (2001) also defines culture as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another . At the organizational level, Schein (1985:9) also provides a definition of culture drawn from the framework developed by Kluckholn and Strodtbeck (1961) in (Schneider and Barsoux ( 2003): a pattern of basic assumptions-invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration-that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems Values, behaviour and beliefs are different across cultures and their importance to those cultures should not be underestimated. Whether engaging in strategic alliances, setting up operations abroad or attracting the local market, companies need to discover how culture can be harnessed to drive business forward (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). 2.5.2 Cultural Adaptation and Knowledge When expatriates are familiar with the culture, language, and customs of headquarters, it can facilitate the transfer of corporate culture between headquarters and their subsidiaries, enhancing communication and coordination (Boyacigiller,1991; Rosenzweig and Singh, 1991) and can also provide technical and managerial skills that may not be immediately available at the local level. However, expatriates are not likely to be motivated to engage in active participation in a new environment if they are uncertain as to what an appropriate behaviour is, as such contacts with host nationals could be threatening and increase anxiety (Stephan and Stephan, 1992). Hence, the more information received regarding local behaviours, the more easily the expatriate can adopt culturally appropriate behaviour and thus facilitate the adjustment process. Expatriates may learn the host culture indirectly prior to direct contact with the host society through pre departure cross cultural training which can be an effective way of gaining cultural knowledge about the host culture (Black, Mendenhall and Oddou, 1991) in order to reduce uncertainty prior to active participation. Expatriate pre departure knowledge can also contribute to both work and general adjustment overseas (Black, 1988) when such knowledge includes information about the transition which can reduce many of the uncertainties associated with the new role. Work adjustment here includes the extent to which the expatriate is able to adjust to the level of responsibility associated with the assignment as well as his or her pay schedule while adjustment to the general environment refers to the individuals ability to adjust to non-work factors such as housing conditions and health facilities (Black, 1988). Clarke Hammer (1995) also observed that interpersonal skills, which are similar to social orientation, tended to facilitate cross cultural adjustment since social skills appear to be critical to the managers ability to complete tasks and to establish and maintain effective intercultural relationships, all of which assist in the cultural adjustment of the expatriate and his or her family. However, cultural knowledge acquired in ones culture of origin may be inadequate and subject to modifications as one encounter the new environment since cultural knowledge obtained by indirect learning such as through contact with mass media can be superficial and subject to misinterpretation compared to the knowledge obtained by direct contacts with the host society (Lee, 2006; Weimann, 1984). Also, previous international experience was repeatedly found not to predict expatriate and spousal general adjustment during expatriation (Black, 1988; Black Gregersen. 1991b; Black Stephens, 1989) which suggests that many aspects of overseas experience are not generalized from one assignment location to another meaning that expatriate managers are not able to transfer their learning concerning adjustment in one country to another. 2.5.3 The Impact of Training on Cultural Adaptation Cultural adaptation is a social cognitive process that reduces uncertainty and an affective process that reduces anxiety. The outcomes of cultural adaptation include psychological well being and satisfaction as well as social competence (Gao and Gudykunst, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1992). Failure to adjust successfully may lead to negative consequences such as lowered mental health status, feelings of marginality and alienation, heightened psychosomatic systems and identity confusion (Berry et al; 1987). For expatriates unfamiliar with the customs, cultures, and work habits of the local people, training may be critical to the outcome of overseas assignments since culture shock experienced by people in new and different cultures which reduces the ability to function in a cultural setting because of the perceived discrepancy between an individuals expectations of how events should proceed and how they actually occur (Black et al. 1992) would be reduced immensely. With complete adjustment, individuals not only accept the customs of the new culture as another way of living but also may actually begin to enjoy them or at least terminate the projection of discomfort onto the host culture (Oberg, 1960). Thus, successful cultural adaptation can be conceptualized as an individuals general satisfaction with ones personal situation in the host country (Gudykunst and Hammer, 1983; Torbiorn, 1982). 2.6.1 Factors Affecting Expatriates Cross-Cultural Adjustment Given the multidimensional conceptualization of culture ( Hofstede, 2001) and strong empirical support (Shaffer et al. 1999), the cultural adjustment of expatriates is essential. Following this multi-faceted approach, it appears that some expatriates may be well adjusted to one dimension but at the same time poorly adjusted to another. For example they may adapt themselves to their new work situation in a foreign country but feel uncomfortable in interacting with locals. Without an understanding of the host culture in such a situation, the expatriate is likely to face some difficulty during the his/her assignment. According to Fontaine (1997:631), the success of international assignments could be ensured if effective preparation, support, and training were provided to the expatriate and their tailing families. Sievers (1998:9), suggests that the majority of MNCs do not have formal policies to address the needs of their expatriates families, hence, it is imperative those MNCs develop comprehensive, flexible and interactive programmes specifically for spouses and children. 2.6.2 Cultural Training Training is defined as the process of altering employee behaviour and attitudes to increase the probability of goal attainment (Hodgetts Kuratko, 1991) thereby reducing expatriates perceived need to adjust (Black et al.1992; Deshpande Viswesvaran, 1991; Earley, 1987).It has frequently been argued that training is the litmus test of human resource management (Keep, 1989) since the pivotal element of a system is designed to harness the talent of those it employs in ensuring that employees are developed for their roles (Redman and Wilkinson, 2008). Few of the training programmes of organisations are available to the public (Morris and Robie, 2001). As a consequence, empirical support on different training methods remains scarce. Organisations develop their own specific training programs or subcontract them to specialist trainers in view of the perceived needs of their business and managers, but cultural views differ on how training is provided, by whom and for what purpose (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003).Training aims to improve employees current work skills and behaviour, whereas development aims to increase abilities in relation to some future position or job (Dowling et al, 2008) Failed or ineffective intercultural adjustments may be avoided by utilizing effective training to prepare expatria

Personal Narrative- Photo :: Personal Narrative Photograph Picture

Personal Narrative- Photo Remember back to the times of your youth, when a family member or friend would grace you with a gift? Remember that butterfly feeling you would get in the pit of your stomach and work itself outward and make you tingle with anticipation? Remember waking up early on Christmas morning way ahead of your parents only to attempt to wait patiently until they arose? Remember the moans of despair when they finally did clamber out of their bed to tell you that breakfast must be eaten first before gifts are opened? And remember the giggles that escaped one's lips when they grin mischievously and say "just kidding?" There was always one wrapped gift that stood apart from the rest. For weeks you gazed and pondered what on earth it could contain. At night as the sandman sang his sweet song in your ear you could swear that the gaily wrapped parcel was singing in unison, murmuring "open me first" over and over again. On my mantel sits a photo that captures this feeling. The likeness was not taken at Christmastime, but on an ordinary day which makes that day even more special to those involved. This photo rests within a white ceramic frame illuminated with two tiny, pink flowers with delicate green runners emanating outward on opposing sides of the frame. Another flower rests within, a flower in bloom. Daffodil eyes squinting in merriment, rosebud lips stretched to their outermost reaches, grasping for the sun, and cherry blossom cheeks glistening as with the morning dew: This is my daughter Daisy. She sits atop the very first bike she has ever had. (A gift from Easter Seals, made especially for her.) She knows she is special and her heart is full of gladness. She beams at those surrounding her running circles about them with her laughter following in her wake. What a magnificent steed she has! She learns quickly how to control this beast and have it obey her slightest wishes. Right now, at this exact moment in time, all is right with the world.

Evaluation Of The New Deal Essay -- essays research papers

Franklin D. Roosevelt brought the new deal into American life in the early thirties. Its purpose was to overcome the depression. Following the depression there were many programs and acts to help the nation recover from the depression. The "forgotten Americans" were the citizens who needed the new deal to benefit their poverty-stricken way of life. These people were the blacks, women, immigrants, and the many people who suffered from the lack of monetary supplement. Unemployment was one of the biggest issues to strike the "forgotten Americans." The new deal provided helping programs such as the Social securities act, WPA, and the federal Emergency Relief Act to lower unemployment and to help those who couldn't work. Checks could be received by those who were poor because of the Social Securities Act. The WPA, led by Harry Hopkins, was built to help artists and musicians obtain a steady form of employment that would help lift the nations’ spirit. The federal Emergency Relief Act provided relief money for a limited time to those workers who had been laid off. For the black workers, the NAACP was created; it was one of the most important groups fighting for the rights of blacks and is still involved in the black community today. Minorities were still unchanged in the labors. Even under the new deal, blacks were treated unfair. Women were also treated very poorly when it came to the labor situation. They were given the so-called women's jobs, such as teac...

Coffee Culture Essay

Coffee has been around for a very long time. It is no coincidence that such an influential and integral drink has created a cultural realm of its own. According to â€Å"Hot and Bothered: Coffee and Caffeine Humor† by Elise Decamp with Catherine M. Tucker, coffee humor has been depicted to be one of the compliments that has culturally elevated coffee-drinking to a another human aspect – humor. Humor can be interpreted and expressed in more ways than one. There are no set rules of what constitutes humor in any society; therefore, humor comes in many shapes and sizes. So, how is increasing coffee humor relayed to â€Å"caffeine culture? † Each culture and point in time is different, but coffee has always had a strong correlation to a â€Å"caffeine culture† that stemmed from the physiological and mental attributes that coffee, or caffeine, imposes on its consumer. Because of its notorious effects coffee has on its consumers, drinking coffee has been portrayed as an energizing, riveting, and delectable image. The article also makes references to cartoons and sketches about consuming coffee in the mid-1900’s and how it depicted the consumption of coffee and its effects. This is perhaps because during that span, societies were emerging as more work-oriented lives that led to the more practical use of coffee, or caffeine. Coffee humor emerged as a way of interpreting coffee consumption and its effects by portraying the consumers as very alert, alive, and even somber. The articles also notes that research on caffeine consumption not only may make a person more energized and alert, but also relaxed and at ease. This eventually led to the relationship coffee had with its consumers by allowing avid coffee drinkers to demonstrate their affinity and devotion by either wearing it as a shirt, bumper sticker, or on a description via social media. Eventually, coffee humor has contributed to the image many coffee drinkers hold and has been an essential method of showing the world the many faces of drinking coffee. Drinking coffee, however, has not always been portrayed as a positive influence. Through coffee humor, modern preoccupations about coffee or other aspects of modern life have been revealed to be a concern for the consumption of coffee. The article explains the use of caffeine as drug, known as dopamine, which is responsible for the effects it has on its consumers. Those effects being alertness sleep depravity, high-energy, and an increase in blood pressure. Caffeine not only causes these effects to take place during its intake, but like many other drugs, it leads to withdrawals that bring forth anxiousness, depression, muscle fatigue, insomnia, and headaches. These withdrawals, however, only last a couple days, unlike stronger drugs with longer lasting withdrawals. Consequently, coffee humor has taken an interpretation of the effects of coffee consumption by portraying what would happen if someone was to go without drinking coffee and their lives would be different. What may seem like an innocent joke at first, could actually be analyzed as a portrayal of a social issue of the potential dangers and misinformed lifestyles many choose to be a part of.

Men are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Essay

This is the title of the 1990’s Best Selling book which tells that Men and Women are different in their own natural ways. But nowadays, most of the people think that sometimes this is not applicable to both genders. Dual Personality is very common and frequently seen in these days. In fact, Male Vanity is widely experience by most of the men. They are typically described as ‘vain’ in the way they take excessive measures in making sure they always look gorgeous in social situations, quietly suffer from stress levels that are more taxing than what women experience for the same thing, according to researchers. A lot of women wonder how do men became meticulous and how to identify if a man is already becoming vain. So here’s some of my observations regarding with the reasons why a lot of men are experiencing male vanity and the signs of being vain. Women are known for being beauty conscious. We really like to have fair and white skin, looking sexy and gorgeous all the time and to be beautiful inside and out. And to achieve these things, we sometimes depend on beauty products, herbal medicines and Derma Clinics. But nowadays, the rise of male grooming has led to men taking almost twice as many electrical items with them as women, based on new researches. Beauty Products for men are frequently seen on TV ads. They are answering the demand with products streamlined for the male consumer. Clinique has developed an entire line of skin care products exclusively for men. Their ‘All About Eyes’ cream ‘diminishes the appearance of eye puffs, darkness and fine lines.’ They point out that the cream-gel ‘actually helps hold eye makeup in place.’ Yes. We’re still talking about the men’s line. Generally, looking clean and pressed is a good idea. But applying expensive moisturizers, powders and creams before and after bedtime is another thing. Should we call it ‘Vanity’? I guess so. Most of the propagandas that women usually read has reached men. Especially in terms of Diet and Health. We can say that a man that is considered vain is also a diet-crazed. A basic guy’s activities to maintain his good health like sports, balance diet and manual labor are enough to offset a normal diet. But if a man knows about yoga, ab cruncher, pilates or a guy who works for better biceps have no purpose for bigger biceps other than self-admiration is not normal anymore. In terms of their outer looks, Fashion and pop culture have a lot to do with the change. The ultra-slim silhouette and skinny jeans that hit the high-fashion world several years ago have infiltrated men’s departments in mainstream stores like Banana Republic and Old Navy. And because of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, men constantly are confronted with photos of fit male celebs. Men like to live up to a certain standard, a certain level of providing income. The image of a career, however, has become more important than the actual work. Today, men seek clean, domesticated, polite, sedentary jobs. Fathers used to be firemen, farmers and construction workers, which meant getting their hands dirty. Plastic surgery clinics are reporting a surge in business from men seeking a helping hand to stave off the ageing process. And men aren’t just interested in looking younger, but also thinner and more polished. It is no surprise then that according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), nearly 171,000 Americans under the age of 18, had some form of plastic surgery in 2000 – with the most common operation being rhinoplasty or surgery to change the size or shape of the nose. Joshua Parilla, 25 years old and a call center agent was asked if he shows some signs of being vain as what people had observe to him. And he replied, â€Å"I visit the Parlor twice a month because I want to have a different styles of haircut. Then I visit a massage spa at least once a month as a reward for myself every time I receive my monthly salary. And sometimes I went to a Derma Clinic to maintain my good skin. And I must admit it.† Not only the ordinary men experienced Vanity but also the once who we did not expect to be vain. I had watched a show titled Palaban, hosted by Mareng Winnie Monsod, Malou Mangahas and Miriam Quiambao. Palaban discusses male vanity with Dr. Kho, actor-model Alfred Vargas, Navotas Mayor Toby Tingco, cosmetic surgeon Dr. Manny Calayan and Carole Sarthou of market research firm Synovate Philippines. Women swoon over them and some of their secrets are regimen that includes regularly going to the gym, use of skin care products, getting a hot oil treatment, and even having cosmetic laser treatment. Some of them have taken to stuffing their bag with their own â€Å"kikay kit† (vanity kit). They use products intended for women too. So now, who says only women can be vain? It seems that Vanity truly changed the name of men. And the rise of Male Grooming has changed the point of views of many people. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus but we are on Earth so there’s no boundaries here. Self-improvement is a good thing as it makes us feel more confident when we face the world. However, our confidence is and should always be in our own selves as individuals.