Nation of Islam Essay

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. He was born to a minister father that was a supporter of Black Nationalist Movement leader Marcus Garvey, which resulted in Malcolm experiencing discrimination and racial hatred from an early age. His father was killed and his home burned when Malcolm was young, and Malcolm was jailed in his early twenties after several run-ins with the law following his father’s death. He joined the Nation of Islam in while in prison, and when he was paroled in 1952 he was named the national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was an outspoken, articulate, charismatic man that used television, radio, and every other form of media available to convey the Nation’s message. He preached for militant stance in the black community and for equal rights for African Americans, â€Å"by any means necessary†. This unwavering stance and militant attitude made some see Malcolm as a threat and he was followed under FBI surveillance until he was assassinated in 1965. He used his charisma and his steadfast beliefs to make the message of the Nation of Islam well known in America and to bring the issue of African American rights to the forefront of American consciousness. His mission later transformed from fighting for African American rights to fighting for equal human rights for every race, and he enforced the same militant stance with his new message. Mahatma Gandhi was a human rights leader like Malcolm X but he delivered his message in a very different way. Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, he was given the name Mahatma because it means, â€Å"great soul†. He was born in British-ruled India and practiced law in South Africa which was also ruled by Britain. While in South Africa he began a twenty-year campaign for Indian freedom. Instead of X’s militant, unmoving approach, Gandhi practiced and taught the principles of non-violent resistance. He believed it was more honourable to be jailed for one’s cause than to create violence. He also practiced fasting as a way of conveying his message of peace and non-violence. He returned to India after twenty years and became the leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement. After India was declared independent in 1947, it was divided into India and Pakistan and the two countries rioted against one another. Gandhi began a fast to encourage the leaders to stop fighting. After he fasted for five days, the fighting stopped and the countries were at peace until Gandhi was assassinated shortly after. Until his death, Gandhi epitomized his message to, â€Å"Be the change you want to see in the world†. He saw no value in violence, and thought that the message of non-violence as a way of protest could bring tolerance, peace and unity more effectively than any violent act could. Despite the change in his place of residence and the political climate of his country he stayed true to his message of peace and unity.

“Blue Remembered Hills” by Dennis Potter Comparison

In this essay I am going to compare my play with two comparatives. The play I performed was a scripted piece called â€Å"Blue Remembered Hills† by Dennis Potter, written in . The other two texts are, â€Å"My Mother said I never should†, by Charlotte Keatley, written in , and â€Å"Blood Brothers† by Willy Russell, written in . My performance was set in 1943, in the West Country, â€Å"in the long summer holiday†. Naturalistic theatre was used, however, although it was about the events of seven children, adults play them all. War, bullying, abuse, aggression and murder are explored within the play. It was aimed at adults, as the issues it broached were in addressed in great depth, and because it was shown through the naivety of children, children would not understand. The play has historical and political context, and the political affairs of the time dictate the dialogue. The period in which it was set is reflected by the constant references to the War and â€Å"the Japs†. The circumstances of the children, as well as historical background can be seen throughout. For example, when ‘Donald' says: â€Å"I be tired out and all, working on those saw mills. I cut me thumb off an all†. â€Å"My Mother said I never should† is about four ‘ordinary' mothers/daughters and is about the social changes of the twentieth century, spanned over four different era's. It is set in a variety of places according to what best represents the era. It is also naturalistic, relating to my performance. It also incorporates the idea of children dealing with adult issues but not understanding, for instance: Rosie Mum's got the curse. (Pause) Maybe we did it! Doris (Pause) What curse? Rosie The curse. Doris Oh. Yes†¦ How d'you know she's got it? Rosie You can tell. Doris How? Rosie Just can. Mum's been cross with me all morning. It's also aimed at adults; adults play children in the production because they also need to play adults in the production as well as children. In this way it was similar to â€Å"Blue Remembered Hills†. â€Å"Blood Brothers† was aimed at a broad audience, adults and children of all classes. It is also naturalistic, but also uses forms such as, narration and song. This detracts from reality but makes it more interesting. And adults play the children featured in the play yet again, linking the three pieces of theatre. It is set in the 50's and 60's, in the city for the first act and the country for the second, so it is of a similar era to the other two pieces. In â€Å"Blue Remembered Hills†, there is no indication what class the children are from, but they are expected to be working class, and perhaps Angela may be slightly wealthier than the others. Similar to this is â€Å"My Mother said I never should† as they are middle/working class too. However, in â€Å"Blood Brothers† the two main characters Mickey and Edward are from two contrasting classes: upper class, and lower class. There is direct conflict between them, though they are naive due to their age yet again, for example, Edward is referred to as â€Å"a friggin' poshy†. It addresses issues such as prejudice, class, money, status, superstition and violence. All three pieces are similar, using adults to play children especially, this is an interesting approach, and allows the playwright to broach more serious issues and adapt them for families or adults. This may detract from reality but naturalistic movements were used, mimicking children helped present the serious issues further.

Do race and household income impact parental perceptions of homework Thesis

Do race and household income impact parental perceptions of homework - Thesis Example The first category, school choice, refers to parents selecting educational institutions and experiences for their children. While school choice is not yet widespread practice, this movement seems to be gaining momentum (Murphy, 2000). In second type of parent involvement, decision making through formal structures, parents sit on school councils or governance groups where they are expected to take part in collaborative administration of school. This type of involvement is typically the result of school restructuring efforts that devolve decision-making authority from the central office to individual schools. (Coleman 1998) The third category, involvement in teaching and learning, refers to parent involvement in classroom (when parents volunteer), out of classroom (when parents converse with teachers), and at home (when parents help with homework and discuss school-related issues). The fourth category, effect on the physical and material environment, concerns efforts by parents to ensure safe and comfortable school environment for their children. Finally, Dimock, O'Donoghue, and (Robb 1996) discussed parents' responsibility in communicating between home and school. The authors suggested that in this category, parents play significant responsibility when they contact the school and when they obtain communication relating to student progress, school rules, student behavior, and so forth. (Rioux 1996) While those categories give useful framework for analyzing various types of parent involvement, they are not specific enough to measure parent activity in statistically meaningful way. Fortunately, several quantitative measures of parent involvement have been developed. Most of those measures fall into (Dimock et al.'s 1996) teaching and learning or communication categories. Milne, Myers, Rosenthal, and (Ginsburg 1996), such as, focused on issues such as the degree to which parents help with homework, their attendance at parent-teacher conferences, and the association between parent behaviors and student accomplishment. (Merriam 1998) The authors also examined three variables that measure the time children spend on homework, watch television, or read. In another study, (Astone and McLanahan 1998) studied measures related to at-home supervision, discussions within home, observed school progress, and parent aspirations. Findings in both of studies suggested positive association between parent involvement and student accomplishment. Though, after analyzing data from the Longitudinal Study of American Adolescence, (Madigan 1996) developed 10 indicators of parent involvement and found that parent help with homework and the provision of rewards for good grades sometimes had negative effect on student accomplishment. Also, (Sui-Chu and Willms 1996) developed measure of parent involvement for use with the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) base-year data. That measure included 12 indicators of parent involvement clustered around four variables: home discussion, home supervision, school communication, and school participation. (O'Brien 1998) According to the variety of

Ethical Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical - Case Study Example One of the adult children demanded for an answer to her mother’s health condition to the extent of becoming abusive to the staff. I later heard the doctor telling the child about his mother’s diagnostic condition. The above case study presents an ethical dilemma that the doctor in charge had to handle in a professional and ethical manner. There is need for an ethical model to be used in the analysis of this case and followed through its implementation procedures. The model essentially works to enhance the decision-making process in order to arrive at a feasible alternative approach without violating the rights of either party involved. The doctor in this case scenario was in a dilemma on whether to abide by the woman’s request of keeping her condition secret or to inform her children of the condition as they had become unruly. The patient was in shock and was not yet ready to share the information with the rest of the family save for her husband. As her condition continued to deteriorate, her family became more concerned and wanted to know exactly what was ailing their mother. The eldest son became more inquisitive, and abusive to the staff. In order to contain the situation, the brain mass doctor opted to inform the eldest child of his mother’s condition. going against her wish. In my own assessment, giving out information to the children without the consent of her patient was not a professional way of solving the ethical dilemma. The doctor violated the health policy that requires the privacy of patients’ information to be sustained and only availed to the authorized practitioners for medical intervention (Chivima, 2014). According to the brain mass doctor, giving out information to the family was meant to solve the anxiety among the family members considering that they are also entitled to information about their patient. The best possible approach to

TO BE OF USE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

TO BE OF USE - Essay Example Praise has been showered for the courage and patience of those who are determined to carry forward the task, work with fortitude and eyes on their final objective. There are people who render their services for the mankind, without caring for the inclement weather, adverse circumstances like the farmers do, to produce the grains for all of us. There are those having patience of waiting for their turn, to comply with the law at the cost of their own discomfort, but working relentlessly for achieving the aims and objectives that they have set for themselves. These people, working in close coordination with others in a team spirit, take pride in helping others. They are always there when the fellow human beings need them or whenever the society asks for them. Marge Piercy has compared the consistent worker with a craftsman who diligently shapes the seemingly useless water soaked soil into beautifully pottery. These pots in many attractive shapes adorn our drawing halls, make way in museums, add colour to the grace of our homes and has the ability to hold a number of other costly items. An able and diligent worker also feels happy and contented in the fact that others around feel happy when they see the outcome of their work.

Outline summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Outline summary - Assignment Example ck of differentiation between the political and social spheres in non-Western societies, he implies that such a differentiation exists in Western societies. Diamant asserts that a strict segregation between the Western and non-Western political process will, as Rustow states in â€Å"New Horizons for Comparative Politics† (qtd. in Diamant 123), be dangerous as it would imply that the data and ideas of Western politics cannot contribute much to the non-Western systems. There is, Diamant states, no strict dichotomy between the two. He illustrates his point by quoting from Pyre’s paper, for instance, he quotes Pye’s example of a non-Western system where changes in one’s political affiliation lead up to changes in a person’s social and personal relationships, then he debunks it by stating how this is true of a Western political system as well – in the Democratic vs. Republican scenario of the US, for instance. Diamant asserts that the non-Western political process is not new and in this regard the Western political process, specifically that of Europe, in dealing with concepts such as industrialization could afford much help and guidance. The changes caused by industrialization in Western political process, â€Å"can serve as a guide for assessing the effects of a similar process on non-European traditional societies† (Diamant 125). Diamant proposes that if the typical Western ideal-type political process, based on the British political system and society, is abandoned, and in its stead some continental political system is adopted as the ideal-type, â€Å"[n]on-Western political systems would become more comprehensible and less remote† (Diamant 125). Finally, Diamant discusses and examines five of the seventeen characteristics of the non-Western model presented by Pye, and shows how these characteristics are not typically non-Western, but are in fact present in the Western political process just as much. One such characteristic is that, according to Pye, in

All Museums Should Be Free Of Charge All The Time Essay

All Museums Should Be Free Of Charge All The Time - Essay Example Museums are repositories of knowledge and through them, we discover and find out important aspects of our civilization. Free access to museums would help a greater number of people to learn and discover additional things about their country and help to encourage feelings of nationwide unity and identity, at the same time as promoting greater comprehension and acceptance of foreign cultures. A number of museums in the United States have made an entry for the public free of charge. These museums generally use the city and county tax collections for funding their maintenance. The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has eliminated entry charges. Since it has an internationally renowned collection of art, the removal of admission charges would bring a greater number of people in contact with the culture of the world. The museum has a collection of a variety of world art spanning from pre-dynastic Egypt to Europe belonging to the twentieth century. It treasures a priceless collection of Greek sculptures and Roman sarcophagi; ivories of the Middle Ages and Old Master paintings; jewelry from Art Deco and nineteenth-century American and European masterpieces (Smith; The Walters Art Museum). The Toledo Art Museum in Ohio follows a free admission policy laid down in its charter of 1901, the year of its establishment. It has a huge collection of European and American paintings, glass works, Roman, Greek, Asian, African and medieval art and sculptures as well as modern and contemporary works. The Toledo Museum of Art still remains as a private, non-profit foundation and exhibits its collection to the public, free of admission charges and is open six days a week (Museum Home). The St. Louis Art Museum also guarantees free entries to the museum. This policy came up after they started using the county and city tax revenue in 1971.

Economics essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economics - Essay Example However, the firms often prefer to use machines instead of human labour as they believe that the work can be done more efficiently as compared to the human labour. The researcher through this paper would aim to discuss about the concept of diminishing marginal returns to workers. This paper would offer the researcher a scope to discuss about the employment practices using the concepts of Economics. Law of diminishing return states that in case if equal quantities of one variable factor are increased, whereas, the other factor remains constant, there is a point in the economy beyond which if an extra unit of the variable factor added leads to diminishing return and fall in marginal physical product (Black and Lynch, 2001). The main reason behind this is that as one of the factors is held fixed and the other factor is increased, the proportions of the factors change. As the proportion of variable factor increases, the factor proportions become appropriate for carrying out the production within the economy and the marginal product increases. However, the researcher says that after a certain level, the production system becomes too much crowded with variable inputs and the factor proportions cannot be utilised for the production (Edvinsson, 2002). According to a researcher, an increase in proportions of the labour as well as the capital within the agricultural land for cultivation raises the output depending on the amount of input within the production process (Black and Lynch, 2001). However, in the agricultural process there are changes that may arise due to improvement in technology as well as the factor proportions. Technology within the agricultural field deals with the use of new and improved variety of crops for production and also the use of better quality fertilizers for proper cultivation. The law of diminishing returns is also referred to as the law of variable proportions within the economy (Lopez, Vaya and Artis, 2004). According to another researcher

Neo-Classical Art and Romanticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Neo-Classical Art and Romanticism - Essay Example It was also an era of revival of early Christian art. . Many Baroque artists painted biblical scenes that to give the stories a touch of realism (Maureen, n.p.). Neoclassicism Neoclassicism is a very famous and powerful western movement in literature, architecture, painting, and music, decorative and other visual arts. It started in 1760s and ended in 1850s. Its inspiration and idea emerged from the classical art and culture of ancient Rome and ancient Greece. It is also known as the renewal of artistic norms and principles of Classical ancient times. Neoclassical Art was considered mainly plain, ordinary and unemotional form of art as compared to former periods. One of the main and major reasons for the start of neoclassicism is the discovery of ancient art works at the exploration and excavation of Herculaneum and Pompeii ruins. Neoclassical art highlights tradition, courage, nationalism and sacrifice. Neoclassicism spread all over Europe. The countries in which neoclassical art wa s mostly used were France and England. Oath of the Horatii   Oath of the Horatii  was painted by Jacques Louis David in 1784 before the French Revolution. Oil paint was used. Its dimensions were 10' 8" x 13' 9" (3.3 m x 4.2 m). The picture depicts the scene of three brothers before departing for battle. They are willing to die because of their patriotic duty to their government. Story behind the painting is that a war going on between Rome and Alba for many years. A decision is made that the final battle would be in the battle field (Roberts et al, 231). The painting is an expression of a new style that is Neo Classism Art. The men are wearing robes which are of roman style therefore we can classify this painting as â€Å"neoclassical†. It is mainly about loyalty to the king and the established rule .Oath of the Horatii represents the people's sacrificial loyalty and commitment to the Roman Republic. The topic of the painting has an extreme patriotic and neoclassical view . The picture depicts the scene of three brothers before departing for battle. They are willing to die because of their patriotic duty to their government. Story behind the painting is that a war going on between Rome and Alba for many years. A decision is made that the final battle would be in the battle field. In the painting there are three men, who seem to be warriors, stand facing a vital figure. The painting spotlights around the three men on the left and one old man in the center. It depicts that they are one. The oath is taken by three brothers with the support of their father. The two groups were of three brothers from Horatii family in Rome and three brothers from Curiatii family in Alba.One of the Horatii sisters is married to one of the men on the other side the Curiatii and one of the Curiatii sister is married to one of the Horatii brother. In the painting two women are crying on each other’s shoulders on the right. They seem to be in sorrow. They seem to be wiv es of Horatii brothers. A woman is shown crying with two children. She is the sister of Horatii brothers. The father of the Horatii family is shown in the picture taking his sons oath to fight till the death. When the battle ended only one of the six men survived. He was a Horatii. Father is the hero of the story. He sacrificed his sons for the greater good of the people. The idea here is that one must be ready to sacrifice for the country. The colors in the painting are soft and gentle. The only color that is bright and prominent is red which

A Comparison Between Two Complementary Poems Essay Example for Free

A Comparison Between Two Complementary Poems Essay The two complementary poems Old Father and Island Man are based on the subject of two diverse men who are coping with an experience of migrating to another country. In this coursework we will discuss these poems, then compare, and contrast their theme and language. Hugh Boatswains Old Father appeared in an anthology called Writing in 1978. Boatswains work speaks to the condition of the racial tensions in the 70s and engages, in sparse poetic form, in much of the cultural analysis. Boatswains poems demonstrate the importance of creativity, cultural transaction, and transition in the historicizing of West Indian migration and settlement in Britain. The poet has used a narrative description in the poem to portray his views and thoughts to the members of the audience. The poem relates to a series of events of old father in a chronological order of his life. The poem depicts the livelihood and culture of a person from a distant atmosphere and surrounding who goes through a lot of hardships in the beginning due to the unknown environment. The poet has then given a brief sketch of his adaptation to the society and how he changes to accept those adaptations. The poem creates a depressing feeling in our hearts as the poet describes how old father forgets his culture and roots by his behaviour. The poet has described his views in rather an ambiguous way; no information obtained by us can be strongly evident. It tells the story of an old or older figure in the black community, how old is not known but can be presumed to the mid thirties or more. The title Old Father depicts a personage of high value, a person who would hold up and support the beliefs and values of the society. The title describes a man of experience, ingenuity, and responsibility. In the beginning of his shift to England the Caribbean man craved to return to his homeland. The poet then discusses how old father bought a turning point in his life and started changing his lifestyle to get more accepted in the society. This is indicated by the words Old Father feet begin to shift. His roots have no meaning now (Line No. 10 and 11). This is also an example of one of many metaphors in the poems, i.e. his feet are not actually shifting but his attitude is changing and he is accepting his situation in the society and is trying to improve it. In this process he is leaving nothing out, to the extent that he is ready to change his values, beliefs and ethical values to receive acceptance. He then discusses about old fathers personal and love life, he also brings up the point of how he changes his attitude towards his own friends of his race. Boatswain has added a variety of characters to the poem. Even though the vagueness of details of the character we can say that Old Father was undignified to an extent. From the following line Bouncing down the road with a blonde (Line No. 17) we can presume his indecency, as walking with a blonde is considered inappropriate due to the negative image they have created in the society. The whole image is cojourned by the term blonde relieving his change in attitude and lifestyle to be considered indecorous. The poet has chosen his words very particularly and has also considered the arrangement of these words. He has used a varied range of figures of speech like metonymy and personifications but has highly considered the use of metaphors. These figures of speech and choice of worlds create a rhythmatic design; this maintains the reader with an interested attitude. A lot of attention is given to the use of punctuations. Boatswains way of describing and explaining imagery is noteworthy. For example Cold bite him hard (Line No.2), this shows how painful the weather is to this Caribbean man in the beginning of his arrival. We can see how Boatswains use of language is very descriptive but concise and effective. The other poem Island Man is a piece of poetry written by Grace Nichols. She was born in Guyana and came to Britain in 1977. She writes this poem in context to a Caribbean man who has settled in London but still wakes up to the sound of the sea and the tranquillity of his native island. Island Man consists of a wide range of sounds and images to express the Caribbean mans feelings and thinking. For example the sound of the blue surf and the steady breaking and wombing (Line No.3 and 5) are good examples of his use of language and images for the description of his feelings. This poem is also told in a narrative manner but unlike Old Father the poem is more spontaneous. The poem is bought out in the form of a dream. A number of images are described to show how he imagined himself in his native island where there was no hindrance or disturbance but peace and tranquillity, whereas the atmosphere in London was completely contradictory to his dream. Therefore when he wakes up and enters the world of reality where he is back in London and hears the roar of the cars and screeches of the wheels instead of the sound of the sea he just says Another London day (Line No. 19). He probably says this as he has been living in London since a long time and is now frustrated with his usual rut and wants to get out of it and return to his paradise like island. His attitude towards this new environment is not so enthusiastic. This is indicated by the words groggily groggily (Line No. 11). He has already seen the usual busy days of London and has accepted them in his life and has acknowledged this new surrounding. But a sense of frustration has aroused and his crave for his native island just became greater than before. Both the poems hold a lot of similarity of cultures and attitudes towards the new migration. Both of them share unhappiness in this new environment of theirs. Both of them also discuss the bitter weather. But old father moves on in his life whereas in Island Man we will notice that there is not much of progression in the story. It is just a dream whereas the whole life of old father is discussed in the other poem. Hence a lot of contradictions are in the poem. Also the language and use of punctuations is very different. In Old Father punctuations are given a lot of importance and are very proper whereas in Island Man the poem consists of no punctuations at all. It forms more of a spontaneous attitude and also considers the lazy morning attitude of a person. Therefore as this is a dream the poet has very well described this quality and has also set a sense of spontaneous feelings and emotions. He is an example to his people (Line 41, Old Father), these were the words used to describe old father and his behaviour. It is the opinion of a white English racist person. This opinion can be adapted in two contradictory perceptions. The white people may say it in the context that every person from another country, another culture should act like him. They should also adopt the behaviour and culture of the country they live in. The contradictory statement to this would be that the white people are saying that he was a person who was ready to change for his benefit of himself and in the end of the day for h is own betterment he would forget his friends. Hence they jump to the conclusion that he is just an example of those people who are of his culture and each would do anything for their own personal benefits forgetting their personal beliefs and culture. In the end I would conclude saying that both the poems state a moral towards us. In Old Father we can say that a man should adapt towards his surrounding but that does not mean we should forget who we are, what is our identity. Whereas in Island Man we can see that a man has come to another country but still has not let go of the memories of his own countries and hence is not able to move on and adapt the good qualities of the country he is living with. Hence we should learn from this poem that thinking about our past and not moving on would just lead to frustration and everything would go wrong. Hence we should keep up the pace in life and never look back and ponder.

Effects of Globalisation on Operations Management

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

The Pritting Press Essay -- essays research papers

In 1440 a man by the man of Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type, or as we know it, a printing press. Prior to 1440 everything read in Europe was copied by hand or copied from wooden blocks carved from hand. This was very expensive and time consuming. The only people who were literate were those of the church and a small percentage of nobility. Since the printing press came out, how would this effect European culture and the way things worked?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The printing press had many effects on Europe. Very few peasants could read and besides that there wasn’t much to read but scriptures. The things that were being read were hand written and of course this took a long time and so not many people wanted to take the time to do it. Monks spent there days and nights copying and writing scriptures in solitude. At the time Latin was the only language the bible was written in, this was about to change.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The time the printing press was invented was the era of the Renaissance. The Renaissance era is known for inventions and art and new ideas. The printing press was just one of the many inventions that came out of the Renaissance era. I believe this to be one of the biggest inventions to come out around this time because it changed everything and the way we read now. I am sure that someone else later would have thought of this but for the time if brought on new ideas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of the ideas that came about we...

The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd Essay examples -- Essays Papers

The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd Dr James Sheppard lived together with his sister Caroline in King's Abbot, a small village. He was a great doctor and when somebody died he looked to see what had happened. Mrs Ferras died on the night of the 16th - 17th September. Dr Sheppard drove there. After he had analysed the body he drove home again where he talked about the death of Mrs Ferras with his sister. Caroline pretended to know everything about the death. She thought Mrs Ferras had killed herself because she had killed her husband last year. That day Dr Sheppard met Roger Ackroyd, a good friend of his, by chance. Roger invited Dr Sheppard to his house at 7.30. He also told Dr Sheppard that it was very important. That evening Roger told James that Ralph Paton, his nephew, was in London. But James had seen Ralph this afternoon. When Roger heard that, he was very angry and pretended that he didn't know that. The next morning Caroline told him that she had seen Ralph Paton with Flora Ackroyd. They had been walking together. Dr Sheppard went into the garden. Minutes later pumpkins flew past his ears and a face looked over the fence. After the new man had excused himself he introduced himself. His name was Hercule Poirot, the new neighbour. When James walked into his house again Caroline told him that she had heard that Ralph Paton had said to a girl Mr Ackroyd had to die. Then James walked to Roger's house. When Dr Sheppard entered Ackroyd's house on this day he heard ...

French and European Architecutre in 1600 :: essays papers

French and European Architecutre in 1600 The Baroque style of painting during the 1600 and 1700’s reflects an intense interest in expressing human emotion through art. Biblical scenes and representations of biblical characters are a common link between art works of that time throughout the different areas of Europe. Caravaggio represents the typical Italian Baroque artist at that time but possesses many artistic qualities uniquely his own. Bartolome Eseban Murillo, represents the typical Spanish Baroque painter. Both these painters demonstrate Baroque style, yet they have truly unique styles from each other. Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness is typical of Italian Baroque style during the 1600s and 1700s. Characteristics of Italian Baroque style are sharp contrasts of light and dark, violent movement created through the use of diagonals, and intense emotional expressions of theatrical scenes. Caravaggio’s style exhibits many of these same characteristics. The painting was originally intended for an altarpiece in a small oratory in a town west of Genoa. The massive size of the canvas leads to the belief that this painting would have been the focus in the oratory. The size of St. John is extremely large in comparison to the size of the canvas. His presence encompasses most of the canvas making him the focus of the piece. The actual iconography of Caravaggio’s painting is typical of it’s time period, yet the portrayal of John the Baptist is what makes this piece unique. Unlike most portrayals of biblical figures, that St. John appears naturalistic and not idealized. Caravaggio expresses this naturalism in the dirty, grimy feet of St. John. The fact that St. John is p ictured alone is also nontraditional for this time period. He appears to be resting, his head hung slightly down, in the desolate wilderness, appearing defeated and worn out. The atmosphere intensifies his loneliness. The wilderness behind him feels dark, morose, and lonely. Details are absent from the atmosphere except for a small plant which sits on the ground by itself. The plant echoes the loneliness of St. John. The atmospheric presence enhances the feel of the subject but is not the focus. Caravaggio possesses a unique style in which he manipulates lighting to create a vivid visual effect. The lighting starkly focuses on St. John, putting him into the direct line of view. Caravaggio’s creative use of lighting also becomes apparent in the sharp contrasts of light and dark in this painting.

Church management Essay

Abstract My proposal is to provide you with an Integrated Parish Management Solution which will synchronize all management processes including attendance records, church activities records , financial records, membership personal data etc. The need for a customized Integrated Parish Management Solution for the Church cannot be over emphasized because the solution will be tailored in solving your church’s unique needs. The Integrated Solution would deliver a single database containing data for the different software modules to be developed. The modules that would be developed are : ïÆ' ¼Financial Module -Manage Donations, Search Cash Expenses, Manage Offering Types, etc. ïÆ' ¼Church Activity Module-Would provide the functionality of Searching Past Activities, New Church Activity, Testimonies, New testimony, Manage Activity Types etc. ïÆ' ¼Membership and People Management Module – Would provide the functionality of Searching for Parish members, new members, Membership by Type, New Converts, Search for First-Timers, etc. ïÆ' ¼Groups and Department Module – Would Manage Groups, Manage Departments Activities, etc. ïÆ' ¼Report Module -would give Attendance report, Financial Report, Membership Detail Report,  etc. We are aware that your congregation members are your most valuable assets and aim to ensure that you are able to provide them with that personal and intimate care required for deep commitment and loyalty on the part of the parishioners. Our solution aims to aid the church in the following areas: †¢Membership Personal Information Management †¢Church performance analysis and Reporting †¢Easy Access to All Information about Every Individual †¢Reducing Membership Outflow †¢Building Enduring Personal relationship with the Members †¢Solve all Record Keeping Issues †¢Manage All Financial Records †¢Visual and Graphical Illustration of the Church Performance Per Time †¢High Security and Back Up Strategy  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Effective Follow-up system for new Converts and First -timers We propose to deploy a robust Integrated Church management Solution. This solution will focus primarily on integrating all key Church management processes and will result in ultimate member satisfaction with your services by providing a fast and efficient membership follow-up strategy. This is why our Integrated Parish Management Solution is designed to assist you to effectively harness information about your Members, Ministers, Workers, all Department and Group in the church, and other resources which should translate to better Background Today, even with the digital transformation that the world is undergoing, numerous churches still use manual record keeping systems. Every record starting with members’ details all the way to the very delicate financial details are kept manually. A case study conducted at King’ong’o PCEA parish at Nyeri prove that churches are still in the analogue world despite the pursuit of the word to the digital heights. The church is an ever growing entity. More people are converted and more children are born into Christian homes. Gone are the days when pastors, shepherds, priests, bishops and the likes knew each and every member of his church personally. Churches are no  longer just fellowships, degrees are offered, accounts are kept, people are wedded and the welfare of members is attended to. Imagine what a professional football team would be like without a regimen of practice drills? Now take away their playbook and player statistics. What you have in this extreme scenario are highly talented (and perhaps overpaid) individuals participating in organized chaos. They might actually win a game or two, but in the long run, this team is doomed. This illustration is to drive home the point of why any organization needs to examine the existence and effectiveness of its management systems. The world is becoming Information and technologically based. For this reason, Management Systems have been introduced into various industries ranging from the educational to the health sector and even into agriculture amongst other things. A management Information System is a system to convert data from internal and external sources into information, in an appropriate form, to management at all levels in all functions to enable them to make timely and effective decisions for planning, directing and controlling the activities for which they are response. The Church is not excluded from these industries. The Church Management and Information System is a system for churches to manage their operations efficiently and systematically (Wikipedia, 2012). It is also a specialized software that assists churches in organization and automation of daily operations. Current System King’ong’o PCEA uses a fully manual system of keeping all its records. Financial records, which need a lot of transparency and accountability, are kept in hand written documents. A lot of transactions involving money are carried out by the parish. For instance, managing donations from church members and well-wishers, managing offerings and tithes by members,searching and managing cash expenses by the church etc. All the financial details are kept manually which is cumbersome and prone to mistakes. Flaws can easily occur with this system making it not reliable ad calling for a remedy. The church also needs to keep track of activities that take place in the church every day. For instance, searching past activities by the parish, newly integrated church activities, testimonies, new testimonies, managing activity types etc. Other things also need record keeping like managing people and the issue of membership to the church. In this case, records for  new members, new converts, First-timers etc. need to be kept. With the existing system, searching the records is cumbersome and time-consuming. Records of groups and departments relating to the church ought to be maintained for the benefit of the church. Department activities need to be properly recorded and updated accordingly and retrieved as per the church management needs. Retrieval of these records is hard since they are kept in files in written documents. Retrieving a record involves perusing through a huge number of files. A lot of time is wasted retrieving manual records. Reports need to be kept and retrieved as per the needs of church managers. For instance, attendance reports for church members, financial reports after a certain amount of time, membership details report etc. Reports for the existing system involves going through relevant records manually and coming up with the required reports. This is cumbersome and time-wasting. Proposed system A software system is proposed to replace the manual system for keeping records. A financial module is used to automate financial record keeping and retrieval. A database is used to store financial details of the parish. An interface is provided for interacting with the database whereby a user can write into the database and they can query the database as per their needs. Financial data keeping is made easy through this software solution and also searching of financial details made even more easier through the proposed software. Through an Activity module, daily activities in the church are stored in a database which is updated to embrace new activities. A platform for communicating to the database is offered where the user(authorized) interacts with the database(writes into the database and queries the database).With the new system, activities in the church are recorded in database tables and can always be retrieved with their respective dates via queries. A lot of valuable time is saved through the new system. Departments are automated using a department module. This module offers an interface for entering details of interest into the database. Since departmental details are of prime importance in as far as the church is concerned, proper details relating to the Parish ought to be kept and retrieved with ease. The user searches records relating to a department of interest with a lot of ease through the interface provided by the departments’ module. The  cumbersomeness with the manual system would thus be alleviated by the proposed software solution. Report generation with the proposed system is automated (made alarmingly easy)through the Report module .This is done through integrating database SQL capabilities into the software. Financial reports, activity reports etc. can be generated through simply pressing a button which will give prompts to the user on the reports they want. The tire and the boredom associated with perusing through records to draw a report are completely eradicated through the proposed software solution. The various modules defined with different functionalities are integrated to form a harmoniously and effectively working software to attend the manual problem of keeping Parish records. Problem statement Keeping records manually is utterly cumbersome since it involves handwriting or typing every detail of interest. Handling physical records is cumbersome since storage space is needed and they can be affected by natural circumstances such as pests and unfavorable environment. Additionally, compiling reports for physical(manual)records is not an easy task since it involves walking through all records and drawing information of interest. A lot of personnel is needed to keep records for the different church departments and maintain them and this comes with higher costs due to wages for the record keepers. King’ong’o PCEA Parish is one of the victims of the above mentioned problems which the proposed system wishes to provide a remedy for. Scope The resulting Integrated Parish Management Solution will be in English and will include subsystems and functionality to support the following: FINANCIAL MODULE The Financial Module comes with the right tools to aid in the church in management of the following: †¢Contributions and Donations †¢Offerings and tithes †¢Cash Expense and lots  Donations management is a key area in this module as individual donations by members and linked to the major donations which help to answer questions  like (How much has being released from a particular donation announcement)The offering management allows the church to record any kind of offering type, thus not restricting you to any form of predefined structure. GROUPS AND DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT MODULE Grouping system encourages the participation of members in the church, church+ takes special care in the implementation of grouping, the system comes with a flexible system for any form of group to be created by the users and members added to groups. Members of a given group can be managed from this module. CHURCH ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT MODULE Activities in the church provide a building block to almost all the other parts of the church and as such should be well structured and data emerging from it effectively managed. The church activity module provides you with the tools to enable you to manage the various diverse data about church activities, it is built in such a way as to be flexible to accommodate different needed of different churches. MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT MODULE This module helps to manage the various information of member of the church. This feature is so flexible and you can work on it according to your specific needs and requirement. Under this module, we have all the personal data of each member. You can search for: †¢People †¢Add new Member/First-Timer. When you add new member, all the data about that particular member is captured †¢View Members by Types: it helps to sort members by types e.g. are they full member? Worker? Minister? Etc. †¢New converts: all new converts are captured here. SECURITY Integrated parish Management Solution will be well integrated, meaning that changes in a module would automatically update another related module. High level authentication will be needed to log into the Integrated Parish Management Solution. Passwords are encrypted, such that it is practically impossible to gain access to someone’s password. Role Management is also implemented making your church users have different access levels, hence making â€Å"users see only what they are supposed to see†. BACK-UPS The importance of creating a backup can never be emphasized enough. The parish’s IT department will be responsible for implementing routines for regular backup of organization’s data. In the event of a possible system crash, it will be time -consuming and difficult to reconstruct the database. For frequent program use I thus recommend that backups are taken daily. Storing backups Backups can be taken to the hard-drive, a shared folder in the network or to external media such as USB pen drives, Zip drives or similar. I recommend that you store at least one complete backup separate from the computer in case of disaster. Provision for external hard drive storage has been integrated in the financials. Justification A software solution for the named problem would be very appropriate compared to the existing system. The following reasons justify the need for the software solution: ïÆ' ¼The tire associated with making records manually and maintaining them would be alleviated. The Integrated Parish Management Solution would offer a lot of ease in recording any details of interest. The software would offer an excellent interface to interact with the Parish database (entering new details and updating existing details to ensure integrity). As a result of the ease of recording and updating data, the problem of tire associated with data maintenance would be eradicated by the proposed Integrated Parish Management solution. ïÆ' ¼Parish personnel cost would go down as a result of implementation of the Proposed Integrated Parish Management Software. With the old system, a lot of personnel is required to keep and maintain Parish records which culminates in higher Parish running costs. The Proposed system would call for reduced personnel due to the resulting ease in keeping and maintain Parish records and consequently, the running costs of the parish would significantly reduce. ïÆ' ¼Accurate and reliable financial records would be kept using the proposed system through the financial module which would provide security to financial details and only allow access only by authorized individuals. This would promote some level of transparency and accountability in the handling of Parish finances compared to the existing manual system which can be easily tampered with. For instance, with the manual system documents reflecting financial details of the Parish can be distorted by water or pests. Malicious individuals can take advantage of such a situation to commit fraud. ïÆ' ¼With the proposed system, departmental management is easy. All Parish departments and the activities that revolve around the departments are well recorded and updated accordingly. Groups in the Parish are as well better managed through the propose Integrated Parish Management solution. This is unlike the old system where a manager or Parish head has to physically interact with departmental heads to get the required information. The proposed solution offers a remedy for the mentioned departmental and group-related issues. ïÆ' ¼Reports, which are of prime importance in as far as running of any organization is concerned, are automatically generated by the Proposed Integrated Parish management Software. For instance, financial transactions by the Parish according to the respective dates, Parish activities according to the date of occurrence etc. can be automatically generated with the proposed Solution. This eradicates the fatigue associated with going for long times through documents and files trying to compile a report that would otherwise be generated within a blink of an eye with the proposed system. ïÆ' ¼Keeping track of members of the Parish would fairly easy with the proposed system. Records of old and new members would kept and made easy to retrieve. New converts would also be part of the data that would be maintained and made easy to access and modify in case of secession of a member from the church. This way, the Parish would manage its members better than using the manual register system. Literature review Time schedule All the components and work packages of this project will take three weeks to accomplish. Following the approval of this proposal, the table below summarizes the different phases and timelines of the various aspects of the project to be executed within time and on budget: – Methodology

Decreasing Child Abuse with Nurse Partnership Essay

Child abuse in America is not a new epidemic; our country’s history has been tainted with it since its inception. Children are abused at all ages, indiscriminate of gender, race, or culture. While the abuse of any child is appalling, the abuse of an infant is especially heinous. Dr. John Leventhal, a professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine completed a recent study which highlighted the fact that â€Å"serious abuse-related hospitalizations are more common in infants under the age of one year old and tend to disproportionately affect families on Medicaid,† (Mann, 2012). These incidents occur because parents are ill-prepared for parenthood and lack the resources necessary to appropriately manage the stress of a new infant. A Nurse Partnership Program (NPP) is the answer to our nation’s call to significantly decrease the amount of child abuse cases for infants under the age of 1 year. If appropriately executed and managed, this program could also improve the quality of life for participating families as well as potentially decrease the number of families who receive aid from public welfare and assistance programs. Needs Assessment Child Abuse Statistics According the United States Department of Health & Human Services (USDHSS) (2011), Nevada is tied with Tennessee as the state with the third highest rate of child abuse per capita for children under the age of one year; 16. 9% of Nevada’s infants were abused in 2010, 47. 7% of those cases resulted in fatalities, and 81. 3% of the perpetrators were parents of the victim. The USDHSS (2011) also reports that the federal government’s Fourth National Incident Study of Child Abuse found that abuse is three times more common in poor families and neglect is seven times more common in poor families as well (poor as defined by national poverty line). Poverty Statistics The U. S. Census Bureau reports that 16. 4% of Nevada residents live in poverty, which places Nevada as 38th in the nation (2010). In terms of pure numbers, 306K people receive Medicaid in the state of Nevada (Haynes, Vogel, and Tetreault, 2012). Nevada has a large target population for this program and as the third worst state in the union for child abuse of infants, Nevada has demonstrated a dire need for action. Specific Target Population The target population for the Nurse Partnership Program would be expectant mothers who are Medicaid recipients. The Nevada State Department of Human and Health Services and the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada organization would serve as supporting agencies since both organizations already work to prevent and control child abuse in Nevada. The NPP would also benefit from the participation of dedicated social workers. Community Level Nursing Diagnosis Nursing Diagnosis One The target population is at risk for impaired parenting related to situational characteristics that precipitate child abuse. Previously mentioned statistics prove that a disproportional amount of child abuse cases for children under one year of age occur in families who receive Medicaid. Child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment are classified as impaired parenting. According to the USDHHS (2012), research has uncovered a number of risk factors or situational characteristics that create a higher probability of child abuse within families. These situational characteristics of parents or caretakers include previous trauma history, altered mental health, and an unhealthy or negative response to stress. Research also indicates a link between substance abuse and child maltreatment. There is also an increased risk when children are raised by a single parent, when one parent is already to victim of domestic violence, and when parents are socially isolated. Nursing Diagnosis Two Many young or teenage parents receive public aid and Medicaid, which places them in the target population. These young and teenage parents are at risk for ineffective coping related to lack of social and emotional support, lower economic status, high stress levels, and inadequate education. Brownridge and Douglas found that lack of or inadequate employment, education, social and emotional support, and self-esteem are associated with child abuse among children of adolescent mothers (2008, pp. 9-42). Without a sufficient support system or education to prepare young parents for the monumental task of caring for infants, they are rendered inadequately prepared to cope with the stresses of early parenthood. Cancain, Slack, and Yang (2012) state that researchers and policy makers have long recognized that children living in families with limited economic resources are at a higher risk for maltreatment than children from higher socioeconomic strata. Nursing Diagnosis T hree The children of the target population are risk for trauma related to their dependent role in the parent child relationship. Infants are especially susceptible to maltreatment due to their early developmental status and need for constant care. As Dr. Leventhal (2012) stated, when abuse occurs in children under the age of one year abused, they are more likely to incur serious injuries that require hospitalization than abused children over the age of one year. Project Goals, Objectives, and Interventions  A Nurse Partnership Program would match a registered nurse with an expectant mother, who would in turn provide education and mentorship throughout the pregnancy and first year of the child’s life. The nurse would perform home visits and help the mother prepare the home as well as herself for the safe arrival of the infant. The nurse would advocate for a healthy pregnancy and assist the mother in finding the resources she would need to facilitate that healthy pregnancy. While evaluation of the goals would include comparing the rate of child abuse cases among those enrolled in the NPP with those in the ontrol group, the overall evaluation of the program would include the rate of families who set and meet educational and professional goals as well as achieve and maintain economic independence of government aid programs. Project Goal One The first goal of this program is to improve pregnancy outcomes of the targeted population. This would start with matching an expectant mother with a registered nurse early in the pregnancy. This initial relationship builds the foundation for a successful therapeutic relationship and the overall success of this program. The nurse would educate the woman on preventative practices during pregnancy to include prenatal care, appropriate diets, and any behavior modifications that may need to occur such as the use of cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. The success of interventions and determination of meeting this goal would be evaluated by comparing the rate of healthy births by mothers enrolled in the program with the rate of healthy births by mothers in a control group not participating in the NPP. Project Goal Two The second goal of this program would be to create a safe home environment for children to reduce the likelihood of accidental injuries. This process would also create confidence in young parents as they take control and responsibility for the safety of their child. Duva & Metzger (2010) found that a lack of confidence and self-esteem increase the risk of children suffering from abuse. Ongoing evaluation of this goal would occur during the home visits and overall evaluation of this goal would include the comparison of accidental injuries to children whose family is enrolled in the NPP to the control group. Project Goal Three Project goal three would include teaching the young parents how to build an appropriate support system. Young parents need to be able to communicate to others what their needs are. Something as simple as asking someone to watch their child so they can have a break could benefit the parents and child, providing a stress management tool which can decrease the likelihood of child abuse. Support systems include families, friends, and community networks (such as other parents, churches, etc. ). Evaluation consists of comparing the rate of child abuse cases among those enrolled in the NPP with those in the control group. Child abuse cases among the participants would be screened to determine if they were successful at building that special support system. Nurses can evaluate the progress of this goal during their home visits throughout the first year of the child’s life. Project Goal Four Project goal four includes improving child health and development. Nurses would work hand in hand with a licensed social worker to help parents provide responsible and competent care. This goal revolves around the main intervention of education. Their education would include stress management techniques, effective parenting skills, early childhood development, and the development of realistic expectations for themselves as parents and their children. This goal would include home visits by both the social worker and nurse throughout the first year of the infant’s life. Participants in this program are both students and parents. This unique compilation creates a situation ideal for the involvement of social workers. According to the Illinois Association of School Social Workers (2012), social workers help people understand themselves and others, cope with stress, develop decision making skills, help parents to meet and understand the needs of their children’s social and emotional needs, how to identify and utilize resources effectively, provide counseling services, and advocate for patients. They are a valued partner in the proposed program as the collaboration between the social worker, nurse, and parents are fundamental to the success of the NPP. Evaluation of this goal outcome includes comparing the rate of child abuse cases among those enrolled in the NPP with those in the control group. Project Goal Five Project goal five is the lynchpin for the overall success of the program. The final goal is to improve the economic self-sufficiency of parents. This would include the nurse and the social worker collaborating with the participants to develop goals for their own futures by completing their education, developing employable skills, finding employment, and planning future pregnancies. The success of this goal would be determined by the umber of cases who achieve economic independence, no longer utilize government aid programs, and have no unplanned pregnancies within two years of the child’s birth. That number would then be compared to the control group. Estimated Cost Discussing the cost of the program would by an injustice without discussing the possible savings the program could also produce. Child abuse and neglect costs the U. S. $124 billion from just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment and the lifetime cost for each victim of child maltreatment who lived was $210,012 (Fang, X. , Brown, D. , Florence, C. , & Mercy, J. 2012). The Nurse-Family Partnership organization reports that a recent cost-benefit update by Washington State Institute for Public Policy (2012) determined that long term benefits could equal as much as $23,000 per participant of a NPP. As families gain economic independence of government aid programs, the government saves money. This program would also decrease the amount of Medicaid dollars spent as children are expected to be born within a healthy birth weight and generally healthy overall when compared to the control group. In comparison, the cost of the program would be significantly less per family. The supporting agencies are already in place in the targeted community. The Nevada State Department of Human and Health Services and the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada organization both work to prevent and control child abuse in Nevada; the infrastructure is already established. The cost would be allocated to initiate a new program within the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada organization with the oversight of the Nevada State Department of Human and Health Services. The Nurse-Family Partnership organization has estimated the cost of such a program to be approximately $5,000 per family per year. Ideally, in order to establish and maintain continuity and oversight throughout the program, it would be managed by a single entity such as the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada organization. This is different than other programs which are managed individually by hospitals and smaller organizations. Some may balk at utilizing government funds, but funding this program is more economical than paying the price of child abuse. Fang et al. (2012) determined the lifetime cost for each victim of child maltreatment who lived was $210,012, which includes medical and legal costs, as well as other costs associated with child abuse (social services, etc. . It is definitely cheaper to teach them than it is to treat them. Collaboration With a Licensed Social Worker This program proposal was discussed with a licensed social worker, Mandy S. , in the state of Nevada. This licensed social worker stated individual programs exist through hospitals and smaller organizations, but agreed that a larger program w ith a single point of managerial oversight in the county would be the most beneficial. I proposed the ideal situation would include State Legislature mandating Medicaid recipients to participate in such a program in order to receive benefits of Medicaid and other public assistance programs such as welfare, food stamps, and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC â€Å"provides Federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk† (Food & Nutrition Service, 2012). Mandy S. stated that this legislative push would be a goal to pursue after the success rate of the NPP could be established. Implementation The program would be administered and managed by the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada organization. The Nevada State Department of Human and Health Services would maintain oversight and monitor outcomes of the program. It also requires the cooperation of hospitals and physician offices as they will be the initial referral source for patients to the program. Ideally, if successful, patients would refer their friends and family to the program as well. There are only two qualification standards for participation in the program. First, the woman must be less than 24 weeks pregnant to ensure adequate time for prenatal care to maximize the success rate of project goal one. Second, the family must be at or below the government established poverty line. A registered nurse and licensed social worker would be assigned to the woman to complete the project goals and planning with the patient in her home. The same registered nurse and licensed social worker would complete home visits ever one or two weeks throughout the pregnancy and first year of the infant’s life. The frequency of visits would be determined during the initial assessment and re-evaluated as required to ensure participants are receiving the interventions they need to ensure success in the program. Each goal is monitored by the nurse and social worker throughout the family’s participation in the program and changes or new interventions are developed as required. The participation would continue during the pregnancy thru the child’s first birthday. During that year participants are armed with the knowledge and resources to ensure safe and healthy environments for their children, healthy support networks, reduce or eliminate negative behaviors, provide responsible and competent care to their children, and to be economically independent of government aid programs. If patients are determined to not be safely discharged from the program, they may be determined eligible for additional assistance. Evaluation of Project Overall evaluation of the program is difficult to ascertain as this program would take over a year to achieve results. However, nurse partnership programs have begun to gain popularity throughout our country and have achieved wonderful results. So much so, that the Centers for Disease Control have named these programs as effective with a great potential to reduce economic burden of child maltreatment. Further collaboration with the licensed social worker, Mandy S. , determined a weakness in this program. While the original goal was to decrease the number of child abuse cases in children under the age of one year, it was determined by the social worker that many of her clients had children under the age of two and required much assistance from her. My initial plan to provide services thought the first year of the child’s life was inadequate. Together, we determined participation through the second year of the child’s life would be most beneficial to participants. Mandy S. was a great resource as she stated that the majority of child abuse cases she personally supervises are due to a lack of support, resources, and most importantly, education. This program provides those things to participants, thus decreasing the risk of child abuse and trauma, increasing positive parenting skills, and developing positive coping skills. Interviews with young mothers proved positive. When asked if they would be interested in participating in a NPP program or would have liked to have a program available when they were expecting, 22 of the 25 polled stated yes, they would have been excited to participate. Those 22 mothers unanimously stated they felt they would benefit from such a program. Although the original program did not include support groups of participants, the polled mothers stated they would enjoy the social benefits of participating in support group comprised of participants. This would be a great resource for those participants who do not have a family or other social circle to rely on for support. The community overall benefits from a program that decreases the rate of child abuse. It breaks a cycle that research has proven exists. Many times people who have been abused continue the cycle of abuse; Clark County has the opportunity to stop that cycle. Children who are subject to abuse are at a higher risk of developing mental health issues, substance abuse problems, and overall negative health behaviors (Herrenkohl, R. Harrenkohl, T. , Moylan, C. , & Sousa, C. , Tajima, E. 2008). The community not only saves money with this program, but it builds a strong community where healthy families thrive and prosper. Summary Parenting can be a challenging and lonely experience. The course of this project has taught me that preparation is the key to success. The more we can prepare young mothers for the challenges of parenthood, the more we are likely to decrease the rate of child abuse among children under the age of one year. Young parents are often faced with the stress of financial dependence on others and government programs; the NPP provides resources to set and meet goals to complete education and achieve employment to maximize financial independence. This is not a lifelong program. The intention of the program is to provide parents the mental tool box and resources they need in order to provide a healthy life and economical independent life for their children. The concept is relatively new, and I am excited to see the proven long term effects in the years to come.