A Change in My Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Change in My Life - Essay Example Because of my hard work and the effort that I put in my educational endeavors, I got very good grades in my final primary school exams and qualified to enter high school. I was so happy with my achievement that I was determined to ensure that my performance would always remain high in my new educational level. With this in mind, and considering the great promise that I had in academics, I was admitted into high school. High school turned out to be quite different from primary school and this was mainly because there were more freedoms and new people who I had to study with. Most of my old friends from primary school went on to a different school and at first; life in the new environment was quite lonely. However, after a few weeks, I was befriended by some of the most popular students in the school and this, I felt, was a great privilege. In primary school, I had never really been popular, with the little popularity that I had having been based on my academic performance. Whereas other students had concentrated on fun and what I thought were good things in life, I had concentrated on my studies and that was the reason why I was among the best. However, in high school, all this changed because, for the first time in my life, I was among the popular kids. Most of the other students looked up to me and it felt wonderful and in my mind, nothing could be better. From that time, I put my academics in the background and I instead concentrated on spending time with my new friends and having fun because that is what I thought high school was all about. As a result of my new lifestyle, my academics began to take a beating but while this was happening, my new friends convinced me that because I was a clever guy, I could always catch up whenever I wanted.  Ã‚  

Nursing - Health Promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing - Health Promotion - Essay Example Theories and Models of Health Promotion There are a number of fundamental theories and models associated with health promotion. It is essential to differentiate between theories and models. Theories are an integrated set of proposed ideas that serve as an explanation for a phenomenon. Models are a sub-class of a theory. They provide a plan for investigation, and or addressing an event (Robinson & Hill, 1999). Below is a summary of the main theories and models utilized in health promotion: 1. The theories and models that attempt to expound health behaviour change and health behaviour by focusing on an individual. Examples include: †¢ Health belief model †¢ Theory of reasoned action †¢ Stages of change model †¢ Social learning theory 2. Theories and models that attempt to explain changes in communities and community actions for health. Examples include: †¢ Community mobilization; social planning, social action and community development †¢ Diffusion of inno vation 3. Models that attempt to explain the changes in organisations and the creation of health-supportive organisational practices such as theories of organisational change (Freire, 2002). Health Promotion Policy Documents There widely known policy documents on health promotion are the Ottawa Charter and the Jakarta Declaration. The Ottawa Charter outlines three basic tactics for health promotion. These are enabling all people to attain their full health potential; mediating between the various interests in society in the chase of health. The Jakarta Declaration identifies five health priorities. These are; promotion of social responsibilities for health, expanding partnerships for health promotion, increasing investments for health development, increasing community capacity and empowering individuals, and securing infrastructure for health promotion (Wallace & Appleton, 2011). Mental Health Promotion as an Aspect of Health Promotion Mental health promotion is vital for modern hea lthcare. Mental health nurses are a vital part of efficient and effective mental health services. In the past few years, they have participated in an absolutely crucial role in the transformation of mental health services. One of the most crucial aspects in health promotion is mental health promotion. Mental health nurses should focus on the broader needs of patients, applying their expertise to improve physical fitness through better health promotion activities and assessment, and by providing sufficient psychological therapy. Inpatient care delivery should be improved by extending the time mental health nurses spend in direct clinical contact with patients and minimising the time spent on administrative roles. Career structures for mental health nurses should be reviewed according to current needs and a wide range of new nursing roles developed and sustained. Mental health nurses should promote social inclusion for carers and their service users. Recruitment and retention of menta l health nurses should be improved through presenting positive messages on health to the media, linking colleges and schools and other initiatives. Case Study Michael is a 30-year-old man who lives alone in a bungalow in the outskirts of a city. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was

European Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

European Government - Essay Example The tension that ensued in 1989 after the fall of Berlin Wall and the need to put hands on deck in fighting global terrorism have combinable shaped EU to implement diplomacy and intervention policy. One of the E Us efforts to maintain its power across the world that should be presented to support this essay is of its roles during the Yugoslavian crises around 1992. Though by then treaty was signed within it, which was tagged: "Common Foreign and Security Policy", but the Union effort to halt the fighting proved abortive. The EU countries had to join the United Nation Force, which at the end were under the United State leadership. Another Foreign Policy of EU that also focus on security which is seen as a strict diplomacy measure was its effort by creating formidable force that involves representatives from within its members countries, which great supports were attached to it The key action of this force is to foreseen and signal and alert on possibility of tensions. Thus it's dispatched action representatives to various hard areas around the world, so they can expand their power. Examples of these areas include Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa and the Middle East. In its effort in creating more credibility's to intervention strategies under the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), EU has programmed European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) that would mean to have unanimous defense structure. Since 2003, EU leaders endorsed an European Security strategy with basic focus on crushing terrorism especially in the Middle East, though the acts of terrorism is under increase in that part of the world, which signifies one of the EU failure in its mission over foreign policies. Moreover, EU has pointed out some measure assignments that its Military Force should undergo as part of foreign policy. These are peacekeeping, crises management, humanitarian and rescue mission, including peace making. To achieve these tremendous objectives, a formidable force has been created which is expected to grow strongly in the coming recent years. Meanwhile, despite points that are seen as EU achievements on the above discussion, yet there are some angles that its failures are also noted. One of these point states that though the Union had included political aspect in its international roles, members are finding it a hard task to reshape their nation's policy. A typical example explained how these members failed to come under one umbrella during a debate held in 2003 on if the United Nation should give a go-ahead on the United States led War on Iraq. Another important area that needs a focus as parts of EU Foreign Policy is the adaptation of "Common Agriculture Policy" (CAP), a policy that aims to offer agricultural subsidies for European Union. CAP was created in the late 50s and early 60s to supplement food shortages, which hit EU countries during and after the Second World War. "As part of building a common market, tariffs on agriculture would have to be removed. However, due to the political clout of farmers and the sensitivity of the issue, it would take many years before CAP was fully implemented". (Common Agricultural Policy). The CAP steering strategies had come into being in 1960 by the founding members, while in 1962 these strategies begin to take effect. In the same year there

Consultancy Skill and Organisational Change Essay

Consultancy Skill and Organisational Change - Essay Example The vitally of change is evident in the adjustments made by organisations in their goals. There are several elements that contribute to this observation. External and internal changes are usually the classification maintained by organisations. Categorising change according to impact allows firms to use appropriate measures and techniques. There are important considerations specified by firms in implementing policies for change. Most of these programmes are studied and deliberated before infused in an organisation. It is imperative for companies to assess the strategy before making adjustments. This will prevent the entities involved from acting differently. The versatility of firms is also a critical aspect when dealing with change. In most instances, organisations that are open to change succeed in the industry. Moreover, the preparation of contingency strategies is also needed when dealing with changes. Firms that resist change have experienced difficulties in dealing with problems and opportunities. It is important for organisations to understand that change is both inevitable and intrusive. There will come a period in a business cycle when a company has to make radical changes. Change also affects the manner in which the general policies of organisations are made. Success in the current global setup is dependent on how firms manage change. The succeeding discussions will tackle organisational changes that have transpired in British Airways. The Company is viewed as a classic case where culture was changed because of demand both within the organisation and outside market forces. II. Organisational Change The stages of change, as derived from the study of Booth-Butterfield (1996) start with pre-contemplation. In this stage the supposed change has yet to gain the awareness of involved entities. Contemplation is a stage shows that the employees are aware of the change. But the focus of the personnel is on different concerns. Then, the employees are prepared for the implementation of changes. In addition, the employees are tasked to perform the modification and provided with maintenance programmes. Prochaska, et al (2001) devised a process that prepares involved entities to change. The cycle starts with the raising of consciousness among the employees. In addition, employees are given with proper tools to handle the change . This is more than just compliments but actual benefits in the growth of the personnel. Moreover, employees are given opportunities to let go of their emotional contentions. This is usually done when the change starts to take effect within an organisation. The employees are then subjected to further evaluation. This is more of a comparison of behaviour before and after the change. Since the problems are identified, the management needs to eliminate stressful components of change. It means that negative stimuli stalling good behaviour will be removed. The company also needs to emphasise on the commitment of the employees to change. This is like a renewed assurance to accept change. The last phase of the process involves finding the proper behaviour for expected changes. This also includes the elimination of bad behaviours that were observed. Schein (1999) created a model that describes change. This method was called cognitive definition. The first stage involved motivation to change . This process is more of a self-evaluation that employees need to determine. The stage includes acceptance that previous actions failed. The second part of the model asserts changes in needed areas. Most firms are concerned about the extensive resources which will be devoted for the activity. But the benefits of this initiative will alter the cost. It is critical for

European Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

European Government - Essay Example The tension that ensued in 1989 after the fall of Berlin Wall and the need to put hands on deck in fighting global terrorism have combinable shaped EU to implement diplomacy and intervention policy. One of the E Us efforts to maintain its power across the world that should be presented to support this essay is of its roles during the Yugoslavian crises around 1992. Though by then treaty was signed within it, which was tagged: "Common Foreign and Security Policy", but the Union effort to halt the fighting proved abortive. The EU countries had to join the United Nation Force, which at the end were under the United State leadership. Another Foreign Policy of EU that also focus on security which is seen as a strict diplomacy measure was its effort by creating formidable force that involves representatives from within its members countries, which great supports were attached to it The key action of this force is to foreseen and signal and alert on possibility of tensions. Thus it's dispatched action representatives to various hard areas around the world, so they can expand their power. Examples of these areas include Balkans, Afghanistan, Africa and the Middle East. In its effort in creating more credibility's to intervention strategies under the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), EU has programmed European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) that would mean to have unanimous defense structure. Since 2003, EU leaders endorsed an European Security strategy with basic focus on crushing terrorism especially in the Middle East, though the acts of terrorism is under increase in that part of the world, which signifies one of the EU failure in its mission over foreign policies. Moreover, EU has pointed out some measure assignments that its Military Force should undergo as part of foreign policy. These are peacekeeping, crises management, humanitarian and rescue mission, including peace making. To achieve these tremendous objectives, a formidable force has been created which is expected to grow strongly in the coming recent years. Meanwhile, despite points that are seen as EU achievements on the above discussion, yet there are some angles that its failures are also noted. One of these point states that though the Union had included political aspect in its international roles, members are finding it a hard task to reshape their nation's policy. A typical example explained how these members failed to come under one umbrella during a debate held in 2003 on if the United Nation should give a go-ahead on the United States led War on Iraq. Another important area that needs a focus as parts of EU Foreign Policy is the adaptation of "Common Agriculture Policy" (CAP), a policy that aims to offer agricultural subsidies for European Union. CAP was created in the late 50s and early 60s to supplement food shortages, which hit EU countries during and after the Second World War. "As part of building a common market, tariffs on agriculture would have to be removed. However, due to the political clout of farmers and the sensitivity of the issue, it would take many years before CAP was fully implemented". (Common Agricultural Policy). The CAP steering strategies had come into being in 1960 by the founding members, while in 1962 these strategies begin to take effect. In the same year there

Regiment Essay Example for Free

Regiment Essay The United States thought that the Japanese were spying on us and was sent from japan just to spy. Even though no spying was recorded the United States just wanted to keep cautious. The Japanese were relocated in internment camps located in the west coast. However, in nineteen forty three president Roosevelt and the war department decided to allow these Japanese Americans to volunteer in an all American-Japanese regiment to fight for their country in World War two. In May nineteen forty three approximately one thousand five hundred volunteers from the United States and three thousand from Hawaii assembled for training camp at Shelby Mississippi. One month later they arrive in Naples, Italy. The all Japanese-American regiment group joined up with the one hundred infantry Battalion. After fighting ten days in Italy the combat groups got their first rest, dry clothes, and hot food. The battle of the lost battalion took place in October of nineteen forty four. The thirty sixth division was paired with the four hundred forty second regimental combat group to fight the German army in the battle of Bruyeres. Over two hundred of the thirty six battalion group were lost in the forest and are trapped on a steep ridge in the Vosges Mountain in France the German army surrounded them on this ridge. General John E. Dahiquist soon ordered the four hundred forty second regimental combat team to rescue the thirty six division group, this was a shock to the Japanese regiment because General Dahiquist was thought of as bias to Japanese by the Japanese. During this journey to the ridge many care packages containing food and supplies were dropped by air support but the packages would get tangled in the trees or in far distances. When the group entered the forest the forest was so dark the soldiers couldn’t see the soldier in front of them. So the soldier had to hold on to the man in front of them backpack. Finally throughout the way the combat team had to fight the German soldiers and ended up defeating the Germans. Even though they won they still sort of lost because the group lost over eight hundred soldiers just to save two hundred men. So if the Japanese Americans are C-4’s the Japanese Americans would have never sacrificed their lives to save the American soldiers. The Nisei men proved their loyalty to the United States and showed bravery. However no awards were awarded. Most people suggested that this was due to prejudice in the United States. In the year two thousand President Clinton awarded 20 medal of honors to the regiment. The Japanese-Americans helped shorten the war with a victory over the Hitler and his Germans soldiers.

Traditional Budgeting in Modern Business

Traditional Budgeting in Modern Business The essay below is an attempt to analyse the issue of Traditional budgeting and discusses the fact that how now-a-days formal, traditional budgeting does not prove quite apt for modern businesses. To begin with, the essay will give a brief explanation of what is a budget and what is budgeting. This will be followed by a short note on modern budgeting and there will be a concise induction on traditional budgeting. Furthermore, the essay will throw light on the strengths and weaknesses of traditional budgeting; following which it will explain and evaluate the alternatives to traditional budgeting in modern businesses. A budget is a business plan for the short term-typically one year(Atrill McLaney,2007) . It is mainly expressed in financial terms and it is designed to meet strategic purposes. Budgeting plays a vital role in business success as it helps in the organizations operational planning, performance evaluation, communication of goals, strategy formation, and controlling cost which helps the organization to achieve its overall objective. But it seems it is unsuitable for the modern business.The term modern business stands for a business which operates in a global economy and practises all modern techniques to survive in a highly competitive environment. In todays era of information technology, it is impossible for a business to compete globally without continuous innovation, updated information and controlled activity. In management accounting, budgeting is quite a vast and important concept. There are different kinds of budgeting. The essay will now focus on Traditional budgeting and its working in modern businesses. What is traditional budgeting? Budget is a part of strategic planning process. It lays down business objectives, targets and decides activities required to achieve these objectives. Traditional budgeting is based on previous year data, decisions, uncertain estimates and forecast (Drury,2009).Traditional budgeting is basically one year planning which lays down targets for the business and at the end of the year these targets are compared with actual results and deviations, if any, are reported to the budgeting team which uses them as an important source of information for current year budgeting. Traditional budgeting creates boundaries for the business operations and sets targets for its employees, which motivates employees to work hard and earn rewards for their achievement. Importance of Traditional Budgeting: Kennedy and Dugdale (1999) in his study on budgeting found out that 99% of all companies in Europe still using formal budgeting system. Budgeting provides a direction which can be used as a framework for planning and controlling the overall activity of the business. Budgeting is often used as an important tool for controlling cost and expenditure of the business, which is very essential for an organization to survive in a competitive world. It is also used as a tool to maintain liquidity position of the firm by matching business revenue against expenditure, which gives an actual position and requirement of cash at a definite time period. Kennedy and Dugdale (2009) in his study also points out that it is the multiple function of budgeting which makes it an important tool for management. Budgeting provides a system of authorization, a means of forecasting and planning, it also provides a channel of communication and coordination through which the actions of different parts of an organi zation can be brought together and reconciled into a common plan. Kennedys study also states that budgeting serves as a tool of motivation, a system of evaluation and control, which acts as a useful source of information for decision- making. Limitations of Traditional budgeting: Budgeting is always being criticized for its high cost and the longer time it takes for its preparation. These two limitations are always a point of consideration for modern business organizations, which require a long working of financial managers and which incurs heavy charges on the company. In addition to this, budgeting is criticized in many other aspects as well. Dugdale and Lyne (2006) in his study on budgeting points out that budgeting being an important tool for an organization has many limitations like, it meets only the lowest targets, it uses more resources than required, it competes against other divisions, business units and departments, also it spends only what is in the budget, provides inaccurate forecasts, has motives only to meet the budget but not to beat it and finally it also avoids risk element. Bourne et al. (2002) conducted a survey on limitations of traditional budgeting in which he criticizes traditional budgeting on a number of issues. From the survey resu lt, he pointed out the following criticisms against budgeting ; its time consuming, costly, restricts flexibility in operation, its very often focused on target and often misaligned with strategy, it focuses more on cost rather than value creation, it often encourages gaming between superiors and subordinates, it is hardly updated and is based on unrealistic assumptions and guesswork which make it unsuitable for modern business. Traditional budgeting and modern business: Budgets have long had a bad press, but they have attracted even more flak recently for being at best inappropriate to modern business practice and at worst potentially harmful (Marginson and Ogden,2005). Hope (2000), in his study on traditional budgeting, points out four important reasons of incapability of traditional budgeting in modern business. he pointed out that in modern business, innovation is more essential rather than incremental, focuses more on faster learning rather than faster working, customer focus is on product satisfaction rather than increasing sale and knowledge- sharing and use of talent given more importance, rather than physical or financial capital. Modern business requires innovation along with cost saving in order to be competitive enough to fight with its rival company. Marginson and Ogden (2005) in his study on budgeting and innovation argues how firms are balancing the need to control costs on the one hand with the pursuit of innovation on the other. That is, modern business is an era of global business and competition which requires continuous innovation and huge spending on R D for its survival. And if modern business follows the budgeting tool it will restrict the business from spending a huge amount on innovation and this becomes a major criticism of budgeting. Hopes Fraser, 1999a, cited in Ekholm and Wallin (2000) added that traditional budgeting is incapable of meeting the demand of the competitive environment in the information age. This means, traditional budgeting is a useful accounting model with its focus on command and control but it lacks in providing useful updated information like market changes, change in taste and preference, change in technology, etc. which makes traditional budgeting unsuitable for modern business. Traditional budgeting is a time consuming process and therefore fails in reflecting changes fails in the companys organization process. As a result it produces inadequate variance reports leaving the how and when question unanswered. That is, it ignores shareholders value and focuses more on short term financial numbers. It follows a risk avoiding culture and therefore faces a false sense of security as a yearly, rigid process and as being a toy of the accounting department.( Hopes Fraser, 1999a, cited in Ekholm and Wallin, 2000). Ekholm and wallin (2000) in his study about budget found out that traditional budget seems to be a burden, and therefore must be removed from financial reports, before improving financial performance. Dugdale and Lyne (2006) say that if companies want to meet the modern business challenges then they must dismantle their rigid command and control structure, which means scrapping their budget and should adopt a policy of radical decentralization and implement appropriate key performance indicators, scorecards and rolling forecast. Alternatives to budgeting: Traditional budgeting is described as a Bane of Corporate America and a tool of repression, by modern businesses which look for alternatives. Rolling forecasts produced on a monthly or quarterly basis, are suggested to be the main alternative to the annual budget (Arterion 1998, Hope and Fraser 1990-20 cited in Ekholm and Wallin, 2000). Limitations of traditional budgeting give rise to many beyond budgeting techniques. Fanning (2000), in his article titled evolution or Revolution, explained beyond budgeting as a technique that restrict gaming, focuses on other business performance in addition to financial performance and uses insightful forecasts that accurately predict companys performance for a shorter period of time like, rolling forecast. In addition there are some better budgeting techniques like, zero based budgeting, activity based budgeting, process based budgeting and performance based budgeting. Rolling forecast serves as a best alternative to traditional budgeting, as stated earlier. In this the budget is prepared for a short period of time which ranges from a month to a year. The main advantage of this method i s that it encourages the manager of a company to look ahead and review their plans on a regular basis. Zero based budgeting is also emerged as a good alternative to incremental budgets. Unlike traditional budgeting zero based budgeting justifies and prioritizes all the activities before allocating amount of resources to them. In addition it focuses on activities instead of functional department which is a feature of traditional budgeting (Drury, 2008). Activity based budgeting authorize the supply of only those resources that are needed to perform activities required to meet the budget production and sales volume. This overcome traditional budgeting limitation which works on incremental basis to predict year expenses on the basis of last year expenses. Traditional budget systems focus on expenditures. Performance Based Budgeting focuses on final result by fixing desired performances goal to each department. The purpose of Performance-Based Budgeting is to provide a sound basis, upon which resource allocation decisions can be done; to communicate the measurable results expected to be achieved from a budget allocation; and to build a connection between budget and program performance results for the same operational unit over same period of measurement. Importance of budgeting in modern business: Dugdale and Hanseen ( two writers ) from their study on find out that in budgeting; operational planning, performance evaluation, communication of goals and strategy formation are the important functions which help it in being alive in modern business. Ekholm and Wallin (2000) from a questionnaire survey on budgeting stated that traditional budgeting is needed in modern business as it is an important tool for maintaining internal effectiveness which is needed to maintain long term equilibrium position of the company. He also finds out that modern business still requires traditional budgeting because its targets cant be set for the people. This means that, no control and no performance evaluation can be done. Hanseen and Van der Stede (2004) from his study on Multiple facets of budgeting finds out that there are different reasons to budgeting like market related performance (sales growth, market share) and internal operation related performance (cost effectiveness, quality), which see ms to be important reason for its wide use in modern business as it will help company to achieve competitive advantage over its rival. Dugdale and Lyne (2006) as a conclusion of case study point out that budget is an important tool to set resources limit for function such as service and RD, which will help business to make efficient use of their limited resources that will lead to success for a company in this competitive world. Conclusion: After a detailed study about budgeting it can be concluded here that, budgeting is an important tool for any business organization which helps the organization in operational planning, performance evaluation, communication of goal, strategy formulation and fixing targets which serve as a basis for organizational working and control. Inspite of its importance in organization, its become a matter of great concern to change or abandon traditional budgeting from modern business. It is because of some budgeting limitations which make it somehow rigid to be used in flexible and compatible modern business. It can be seen that traditional budgeting lacks in providing updated information, flexible operations, restricts huge expenditure on innovation and in addition to this, it is time consuming and a costly method, which binds a company to a 12 month agreement with budgeting expenditure and income list which restrict flexibility of modern business. On the other hand, budgeting helps modern bu sinesses in setting their targets for the year and cost controlling measures which play a vital role in the competitive market. So, seeing budgeting limitations and benefits to modern business, many economists and business managers suggest that traditional budgeting is an important tool which cannot be fully removed from an organization but some changes or beyond budgeting techniques like rolling forecast budgeting, zero based budgeting, activity based budgeting, process based budgeting and performance based budgeting, help in solving business organization problem. Refrences Atrill, P and McLaney, E.(2008). Accounting And Finance For Non- Specialists. England: FT Prentice Hall. Bourne M, Neely A and Heyns H (2002) Lore Reform, Financial Management,January,p.23. Drury, C. (2009). Management Accounting For Business.UK: South- Western. Dugdale, D. and Lyne, s.(2006)Are budgets still needed?, Financial Management, November,pp 32-35. Ekholm B and Wallin J(2000), Is the annual budget really dead? The European Accounting Review,volume 9,number 4,pages 519-539. Fanning J (2000) Evolution or Revolution?,Accountancy, October. Hansen, S.C. and Van der Stede, W.A. (2004), Multiple facets of budgeting: an exploratory analysis, Management Accounting Research vol. 15, pp 415-439. Hope T (2000), Conflict Resolution, Accountancy, November. Kennedy A and Dugdale D (1999), Getting the most from budgeting, Management Accounting, February. Maginson, D. and Orden, S. (2005)Budgeting and Innovation, Financial Management, April, pp 29-31.