Self Management Intervention in Hypertension Adults

 

A critique of Research article on the effects of patient education and home monitoring on medication compliance, hypertension management, healthy lifestyle behaviours, and BMI in a primary health care setting

Introduction
The objective of this study was to establish the effects of medication compliance education and lifestyle behaviors on hypertension management in patients residing in Turkey. The research study is important because the empirical findings on the effectiveness on the two intervention tools are relevant in developing a framework of medical practice in primary health care for nurses in management of high blood pressure in hypertensive population.

Literature review/ theoretical framework
Adherence to medical prescription is a major challenge in management of chronic diseases (Dulmen et al., 2007). Patients’ failure to adhere to drug prescription leads to drug abuse and ineffectiveness of medical intervention. Therefore an intervention aimed at improving adherence to medical prescription by patients is critical in improving the effectiveness of the administered drugs. The education intervention on improving patients’ adherence to medication in the research design is consistent with theoretical literature (Pharmacother, 2004).According to Kokkinos et al. (2009), lifestyle behaviours such as physical exercises helps in alleviation of high blood pressure in hypertensive patients. In view of this, an educational intervention on healthy lifestyle behaviours in the research design is consistent with theoretical expectations (Hacihasanoglu & Gozum, 2010). From the above literature, the theoretical hypotheses in the research design are sustainable; the results from group B which is on a double intervention of adherence to drugs and healthy lifestyle behaviours should be better than the ones on adherence to medication intervention only. And finally the control group should post the lowest effectiveness since it is not exposed to any intervention.
Methods

The research design is appropriate in achieving the set objectives. However, there are some inconsistencies in the controls employed. For instance, the researchers have not disclosed the measures that were put in place to ensure that the participants were not sharing the interventions employed on each group. There are high possibilities that the participants came from the same geographical setting which allowed those in group A, B and control group to share the interventions that were employed in the research. If this is true, then the results were confounded with Hawthorne effect which lowered their validity in as much as they were consistent with theoretical expectation (Zaleznik, 1984).

There is also an issue with sampling techniques employed in the research. A review of the profiles of the participants shows variations in occupation and literacy levels. These variations can lower the validity of a quantitative research if not controlled. For instance, the two educational interventions will have very little effects on a participant whose profession is in health science thus leading to a biased outcome (Jackson, 2004). Theoretical literature indicates that men are less vulnerable to high blood pressure compared to women and as a result, the above intervention measures will post inconsistent outcomes because the number of males and females in the groups are not balanced. In my opinion, consistent results could have been achieved by either ensuring the number of males and females is balanced in the three groups or using participants of the same sex in all the groups. In my view a good sampling technique that results in a high validity of quantitative research should involve participants who are all ignorant of the intervention measures.

From the research setting, it is paramount that the research findings were confounded with uncontrolled variables. For instance, the control group was aware that they were being investigated upon against two groups which were under educational interventions. In this scenario, the participants of the control group will give biased measures of Medication adherence self-efficacy scale to ensure that the research findings are consistent with theory. One evidence that the control group was aware of interventions employed on group A and B is lack of control to separate the various groups geographically. An ideal setting should have involved using groups from geographically separated settings to ensure that they do not meet each other and members of other groups. The methods used in data analysis are sustainable, although the use of T-distribution and Chi-squared distribution estimations leave the final numerical conclusions questionable because the two methods have different accuracies and degrees of freedom. A more accurate approach and consistent approach should have applied normal distribution in both cases (Arsham, 1996).
Findings

The research findings presented in the paper conforms to theoretical trends. For instance, pretest results shows insignificant variations in blood pressure, Medication adherence self-efficacy scale (MASES), BMI, and Health-promoting lifestyle profile scale (HPLP) values. This is expected because there is no any intervention on all the groups. For example, the pretest BMI indices for A, B, and control groups are 25.27, 25.62, and 26.07 respectively. Significant variations in the above indices were observed in posttest measures. For instance, the BMI indices for A, B, and control groups were 24.42, 24.26, and 26.04 respectively. There is a significant deviation between experimental groups and control group due to intervention.

Ethical principles
The research ethical issues were well addressed in the study. The relevant authoritative approvals were sought before the research was carried out. The educational institution’s approval and legal authorities were sought. The purpose and relevance of the study was well explained to the participants who were well informed that participation was involuntary. The duty of confidentiality was also well kept as there is no participant who was identified in the final publication of the research. However, in my opinion, there is a breach of confidentiality duty to some level because it is not explained in the ethical considerations whether the mandate to publish the research findings was sought from the participants. By use of the demographic profiles of the groups that participated in the research and the disclosed geographical location of Erzincan District, one can identify the participants with some general degree of accuracy.

Discussion / conclusion
The research findings are consistent with the hypotheses that were set at the onset of the study. The researchers showed the variations of BMI, MASES, and HPLP indices among the three groups in the pretest and post test measures. This conforms with their first hypothesis that states: education of adherence to medical prescription improves the efficacy of hypertensive management and their second hypothesis which states that the combined educational intervention of adherence to medical and healthy lifestyle behaviors leads to a higher efficacy in hypertensive management than the results of the first hypothesis.

The researchers have cited one major limitation in their study which is lack of standardization of the instruments used for measuring physical measures. This led to variations in their findings and research findings of previous researchers. In my opinion, the variations emanated partly from the cited limitation and partly from others such as variations in demographic profiles of participants in terms of sex and professional occupation. Other limitations are lack of physical control to separate the participant groups and use of different probabilistic distributions in estimating the final numeric values of the research findings.
Despite the shortcomings met in the research, the general findings are consistent with theoretical expectations. The findings can be generalized since the two interventions produced improved efficacies in management of hypertensive patients.

References
Arsham, H. (1996). Statistical Thinking forManagerial Decisions. National Science Foundation, n.p. From: http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/Business-stat/opre504.htm#rtChiSquare
Kokkinos, F.P., Giannelou, A., Athanasios, M., & Pittarus, A. (2009). Physical Activity in the Prevention and Management of High Blood Pressure. Hellenic Journal of Cardiology, pages: 52-59.From: http://www.hellenicjcardiol.com/archive/full_text/2009/1/2009_1_52.pdf
Pharmacother, A. (2004). Meta-analysis of interventions for medication adherence to antihypertensives. PubMed, n.p.
Dulmen, V.S., Sluijs, E., Dijk, V.L., Rider, D., Heerdink, R., & Bensing, J. (2007). Patient adherence to medical treatment: a review of reviews. BMC Health Service Research, n.p. From: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/7/55/
Hacihasanoglu, R., & Gozum, S. (2010). The effect of patient education and home monitoring on medication compliance, hypertension management, healthy lifestyle behaviours and BMI in a primary health care setting. Journal of Clinical Nursing, pages:692-705.
Jackson, K. (May 2004). Adherence to Treatment and Health Outcomes:A possible explanation for the SES Health Gradient. pages:1-65. From: http://economics.stanford.edu/files/Theses/Theses_2004/Jackson.pdf

Zaleznik, A. (1984). The “Hawthorne Effect”. Harvard Business School, n.p.From: http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hawthorne/09.html

Self management intervention in hypertension adults 1

Introduction
The ideas of an ordinary person or his actions can have a significant impact on the life of other individuals. In most cases, these individuals act as encouragement in the daily encounters of people. This essay will discuss the life of Hassan Al-Banna as well as why Muslims in the world remember him. Who is Hassan Al-Banna, and what are his Contributions to the development of Islam in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?

The life of Hassan Al-Banna
Hassan Al-Banna was born in Mahmoudia, Cairo in the year 1906. He was the son of Sheikh Ahmad ‘Abd al-Rahman. His father was a Muslim teacher and an imam in one of the local mosques. He went to school in Cairo and graduated at the age of sixteen. Later, he joined a teaching college in Cairo where he graduated in 1927. He worked as a teacher in different schools around his home area before moving to Cairo. Banna was a strict follower of the Muslim faith right from childhood. Many people remember Banna for his contributions� �t�o� �t�h�e� �g�r�o�w�t�h� �a�n�d� �p�r�o�s�p�e�r�i�t�y� �o�f� �I�s�l�a�m� �f�a�i�t�h� �i�n� �E�g�y�p�t� �(�K�r�a�m�e�r� �5�6�)�.� �
�B�a�n�n�a� �h�a�d� �e�x�c�e�p�t�i�o�n�a�l� �q�u�a�l�i�t�i�e�s� �t�h�a�t� �w�e�r�e� �e�v�i�d�e�n�t� �r�i�g�h�t� �f�r�o�m� �h�i�s� �c�h�i�l�d�h�o�o�d�.� �F�o�r� �i�n�s�t�a�n�c�e�,� �a�t� �t�h�e� �a�g�e� �o�f� �n�i�n�e�,� �B�a�n�n�a� �h�a�d� �m�e�m�o�r�i�z�e�d� �a� �s�i�z�e�a�b�l�e� �s�e�c�t�i�o�n� �o�f� �t�h�e� �h�o�l�y� �Q�u�r�a�n�.� �L�a�t�e�r�,� �h�e� �w�a�s� �a�b�l�e� to memorize the whole book. At the age of thirteen, he was already involving himself with demonstrations. He also participated in political activities with his main aim being preventing the exploitation of the Egyptian Muslims by the foreigners. He took part in a series of demonstrations to condemn the British colonialists in Egypt.

Banna and his wife lived a normal life of an ordinary person struggling to meet the basic needs of life, though they owned some property. During his life, he was able to meet and share ideas with a number of scholars who wrote about the Muslim faith.
He began noticing how the Western culture was taking root among young Muslims. The disintegration of Muslim faith surprised him. The influence of western culture brought about this disintegration. He, therefore, saw the need of educating the society. His education would help them overcome the influence of the western culture. Banna had excellent qualities to perform this task. He was a good speaker and could develop persuasive speeches whenever called to speak in an occasion. He took advantage of the already established centers of teaching to deliver his message. He could spread his word in mosques, coffee joints and any gathering. He focused his teachings on influencing his fellow Muslims on the importance of a religion and the consequences of a weak religion (Mitchell 452).

Banna did not criticize all aspects of the western culture. For instance, he suggested the replacement of traditional robes of worship with new dresses that were semi western. He also supported the technological benefits that the British introduced in his country. However, he was quick to identify how the foreigners changed their motives by mistreating the locals. They stole peoples land and forced the same people to work as settlers in their farms. Some Muslim leaders who felt that he was creating a new religion of Islam opposed him. To avoid conflicts with these leaders, Banna attended all activities and ceremonies according to the traditional customs. He took advantage of these gatherings to give his teachings and welcome members in his revolution.

Hassan Al-Banna read the Al-Manar magazine published by Rida in Cairo. The magazine was mostly on the effects of foreigners on the Islam faith. The effects of the influence of the western culture on their religion were evident by the manner in which the society ignored religion. He shared Rida’s concerns that the application of an inner understanding of religion could reverse this behavior. The two individuals used the benefits of education to achieve their objective of influencing the Muslims to revalue their religion.

Hassan later formed a large revolution of Muslims that would even participate in Wars. He volunteered some fighters in the Arab war of 1948. However, some of the members of the revolution had ill motives. They propagated violence around Egypt towards the British camps. They bombed several Jewish businesses in the capital and propagated the Arab war in Palestine. The government, through the prime minister, ordered the disbandment of society and arrested several followers. The group was planning to stage a coup to the government. Some had dangerous weapons that were a threat to the overall security of the Egyptians. Later, a young member of the society assassinated the prime minister inside the government offices. Hassan dissociated himself with the act, but the government believed that he was responsible (Egyptian Sufis 104).

The government seized all the assets of the movement and arrested most of the members. Banna openly condemned the assassination of the prime minister by saying that a Muslim or a brother did not perform the act. The government invited him to discuss the issue on February 12, 1949. His brother accompanied him in the meeting with Minister Zaki Ali Basha, who never turned up. Two men shot the two brothers as they waited for a taxi. Hassan later passed away due to the gun wounds. Muslims honor Hassan’s death by referring to him as a martyr.

Contributions of Hassan Al-Banna to the development of Islam
Hassan Al-Banna taught using some pillars or principles, which he followed strictly. He believed in cooperation and participation of all those involved in his teachings. He did not worry about what people said about him and believed in the right opinions for all issues. The purpose of his teachings was not to develop a group of wrongdoers, but to create an inner sense of the demands of Islam into people. Banna encouraged hard work and discipline among Muslims for them to enjoy the fruits of a united Islam community. Hassan wrote books on Muslim faith. These books will help us to identify the key contributions he made to development of Islam. The greatest contribution was the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood
This was among the small associations that Muslims formed during the time. These associations had the aim of providing help to the desperate members of society. Hassan formed this movement in March 1928 to make it easy for him to continue with his teachings. His leadership qualities enabled the organization to extend its activities in other countries with a membership of over 50,000. The main idea of Hassan was to develop a new understanding of the Islamic faith in people. The difference between the new approach and the traditional one is that this new approach makes it possible for individuals to choose what is appropriate for them.

Hassan established a formal leadership scheme for the group. The top management comprised of three branches that were responsible for the smooth running of the movement’s activities. The Assembly had the responsibility of decision-making. The decisions made by the assembly established the course of action to be taken by the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. Each province had a representative in the founding assembly arm of the movement. The Executive Office was responsible for maintaining discipline among the members of the movement. The Membership Committee chooses members of the Executive Office. This chain of management in the group maintained a close relationship among members. It also ensured that all members maintained discipline in their actions to enable them achieve the set goals.

The Muslim brothers had its headquarters in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, which was a central location for the operations of the movement. The British colonizers noted the growth of this movement and tried to persuade Banna to denounce his political activities. Hassan divided the group into sections and defined the responsibility of each sub-group. Some were responsible for maintaining contacts with the Islamic community while others took care of the peasants and poor members of the society. The movement was able to inculcate ethical values among workers in different professions and the society.

 

 

He was able to provide support to the members of the association. This made possible the staging of opposition against the British rule in Egypt. His main areas of interest were education, the gap between the rich and the poor, conflict between Israel and Palestine, health and the disintegration of the Islamic faith in the world. He addressed these concerns by incorporating them into the Islamic teachings. Banna did not rest but rather travelled day and night to pass his message to the people. The following is an explanation of some of his teachings:

He was able to avert most of the Islamic beliefs about jihad. He suggested that jihad does not necessarily mean fighting or preparing for war. It signifies the inner struggle of a Muslim to achieve self-esteem and recognition, but not a sacrifice to Allah. He wrote about the importance of martyrdom among the Muslims. The fear of death was useless because death is the destiny for any individual. He urges Muslims to prepare for this occasion and emulate Allah who died a hero among the people. He also urged the Muslims to make their religion strong so that it can dominate the world (��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Q�a�r�a�d�#a�w�i� �4�5�6�)�.�
�H�a�s�s�a�n� �r�e�m�i�n�d�s� �t�h�e� �M�u�s�l�i�m�s� �t�o� �b�e�l�i�e�v�e� �i�n� �A�l�l�a�h� �a�l�w�a�y�s� �a�n�d� �p�r�a�c�t�i�c�e� �h�i�s� �t�e�a�c�h�i�n�g�s�.� �H�e� �e�n�c�o�u�r�a�g�e�d� �t�h�e� �M�u�s�l�i�m�s� �t�o� �d�o� �w�h�a�t� �i�s� �r�i�g�h�t� �a�l�w�a�y�s� �f�o�r� �t�h�e�m� �a�n�d� �a�v�o�i�d� �h�u�r�t�i�n�g� �o�t�h�e�r�s�.� �C�o�n�s�c�i�e�n�c�e� �s�h�o�u�l�d� �b�e� �t�h�e� �f�o�u�n�d�a�t�i�o�n� �b�a�s�i�s� �o�f� �a�n�y� �d�e�c�i�s�i�o�n� �m�a�d�e� �o�r� �a�c�tion taken. Islam reforms the behaviors of an individual by equipping him with knowledge about life. The individual is then responsible for building a community of strong followers of the faith. Everyone should be concerned about the welfare of his or her brother and colleagues because Islam encourages the spirit of brotherhood. The problems of your counterparts should be the greatest worry for any Muslim. Islam is stronger than any nation because it is the manifestation of the faith of its followers.
The political effect of the teachings of Hassan Al-Banna

Egypt has experienced the effect of the teaching of Hassan. His teachings have revolutionized the politics of the country up to the present day. His death in 1949 did not hamper the activities of the group. In 1952, the society together with the military overthrew the monarchy that was ruling Egypt. The government again arrested many members, put them in prisons, and declared the group illegal. In the 1970s, the group gradually involved itself in politics after it vowed not to participate in violence again.

The group participated in the 2005 elections and won some seats in the government. It became the official opposition party in that government. The main agenda of the group was to discourage the exploitation of Muslims by their leaders, in the name of religion (Shaikh 104). The group wanted to transform the politics of Egypt in a way that the citizens felt represented.
Students from local universities and colleges joined the movement and participated fully in its activities. The activities of the group show how the teachings of Hassan had influenced the Islam faith among the Egyptians. For instance, in 2007 the group expressed its views that it supported the equality of men and women. However, it did not support the idea that women should vie for political seats. Members of the group connected with each other through the internet, which later led to the 2011 revolution.

The Muslim Brotherhood supported the Egyptian army in throwing President Hosni Mubarak out of power. The transition government that came into power legalized the group but it changed its name to Freedom and Justice Party. The teachings of Hassan encouraged and influenced the group to fight for the rights of the oppressed.

Hassan’s ideas helped to establish a new nation in Egypt. He always believed that Islam is both a religion and a race and should be cleansed of any western influence. It is clear from the revolutions that his teachings have helped Muslims to reestablish their religion and make it strong. The twentieth century has seen Muslims unite and fight against dictatorship and other oppressive regimes in their respective countries. They believe in unity and goodwill set out by Hassan when he was organizing the Muslim Brotherhood Movement.

His approach to Pan-Islam has influenced Muslims in many states in the world. They believe that any piece of land that is inhabited by a number of Muslims belongs to their father and that they should fight to establish a form of the caliphate in these lands. A caliphate is a form of government that results from the influence of unity among Muslims in a community. Hassan agitated for this government and discouraged the governments formed by materialistic individuals. He also discouraged those individuals who have given in to the influences of the western culture.
Most Muslim states in the world have been involved in wars or periods of oppressive leadership. However, there have been a series of attempts by Muslims to establish new nations (Ummah) devoid of these negative aspects. The understanding of their rights and the ability to apply the teachings of their faith influences their demands for Ummah. They have gained new understanding of their faith and gained the principles of integrity and determination in all their endeavors. Hassan taught about some qualities that are necessary for the formation of a new united Muslim nation.

Conclusion
The death of Hassan Al-Banna was a principal source of inspiration to the Muslim Brotherhood. The group was determined to fight to achieve Hassan’s goals. The group was able to survive the various attempts by the government to dissolve it. Despite the group changing its name, the current attempts by Muslims to influence the systems of administration in their countries is a replica of the activities of the group during the time of Hassan.

The life and the teachings of Hassan Al-Banna have a substantial bearing on the understanding of the Muslim faith in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His idea of Muslim nations that are free from exploitation and oppression has borne fruits in many nations. In Africa, Egypt and Libya experienced mass demonstrations to discourage the oppressive regimes in the countries. People have a new understanding of their faith and rights that challenges them to fight for their rights. These demonstrations helped to establish new systems of governance in the respective countries. The new understanding of religion and the rights of citizens influences the actions of these nations. Syria is also experiencing such activism from the citizens who feel that the government has done nothing for them.

The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is establishing in different countries around the world. The belief that any land inhabited by Muslims belonged to their father is the latest of these developments. For example, in Kenya, Muslims around the coast are fighting for the succession of the coastal region so that it becomes an independent state. They are arguing that the coast region was not part of Kenya and should be able to exist as a free state. The discussion above shows that Muslims are gradually realizing what Hassan wanted to achieve through the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. This is the reason they are forming radical revolutions that are building new Islam nations. We can therefore, conclude that Hassan Al-Banna is the founding father of Pan-Islam.

Works cited
Egyptian Sufis. S.l.: General Books, 2010. Print.
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Wellness, Resilience, and Treatment Planning

Resilience in dealing with mental health is making the patient realise and appreciate the changes that have occurred. It involves the process of finding out some activity that will make one feeling better and rebound back to life. This process is important in enabling people to change from the uncomfortable or distressful situation. The counsellor has to recognise the potential that is underlying in the patient and by listening keenly help the person to identify and chart his or her own path to full recovery and fulfilment.

Developing short term plans for counsellors
Based on the case study of Dr. Gilchrist and Todd, it is very important to first build a relationship with the patient. This is done by ensuring that the patient notices that a professional really empathise with the situation and by listening keenly. Good communication skills will enable the counsellor to connect with the client since it brings a sense of commitment.
Secondly, empathy and great listening skills establishes a partnership and collaboration process between the professional and the patient in solving the problem and recover control of life. This is the only way to ensure that client takes responsibility for getting what he wants out of life.
Thirdly, short-term plan is to focus on directing the client to get his needs, power and belonging in the society that he or she lives in. According to choice theory, fun and freedom play important role in the survival of the patients. Dr Gilchrist noted that the military provided Todd with a way of getting all his needs met since it not only provided him with power, but the friends also provided social loving relationship. The transition to the civilian life will require a different strategy in getting all his needs met.

Long-term plans
The first step is working with the WDEP system. This is a long term strategy planning that the counsellor uses to get the client focus on what he or she can do to get the needs met. It is the process of getting the client to evaluate what he is currently doing and then coming up with a plan for activities that could be beneficial in fulfilling the identified needs. Todd’s needs are; having social interaction with adults and friends. The evaluation found that being a cave dweller does not help to meet the needs. The client left with assignment to look for social activities on the internet to allow the increase of social interaction.

Secondly, in effective counselling, it is significant to evaluate the developed plan by looking at whether the client found the activities agreed and has started the involvement process. This involves continuously evaluating the plan to get the client to the required end goal. This involves selection of the activities that are effective in delivering the required needs.
After the selection, another important step is ensuring that the client participate in those activities as agreed. The more the client participates, the more the evaluation process is done to see the development. The aim in this case study is to increase the social networks of the client and get his needs met.

Even if the client did not go through the agreed activities, the counsellor has to show commitment to the process by evaluating the behaviour and finding out what the client really wants. It involves making the client to understand that it is all about choice to stay where one is or to get to the desired state. The client has to appreciate that he or she is in charge of the behaviour.

WELLNESS, RESILIENCE, AND TREATMENT PLANNING 3

Running Head: WELLNESS, RESILIENCE, AND TREATMENT PLANNING 1

 

Physician Assisted Suicide

Introduction
Physician assisted suicide presents a great challenge to the ethical responsibilities of the medical profession. Assisted suicide takes place when physicians offer patients with medical means or knowledge of committing suicide. For example, a physician may offer a patient with sleeping pills and information regarding a lethal dose, whereas fully aware that the patient is planning to commit suicide. In physician-assisted suicide, patients are the ones who execute the life-ending act. The most pressing question concerning physician-assisted suicide is whether physicians should help terminally ill patients to commit suicide by prescribing them lethal medication. Sanctioning assisted suicide will compromise the professional role of the physician because it will make the physician to undertake inapt value judgment regarding the quality of life (Behuniak & Svenson, 2003, p. 11).

Reprieving suffering is a vital role of a physician as a healer. Patients ask for assisted suicide because of great suffering. Suffering is a complex process; it exists in various forms including a sense of uselessness, pain, loss of self-will, and loss of dignity. Physicians are endowed with the responsibility of discussing and identifying the elements that puts patients into that great suffering. In addition, patients are required to address the causes of suffering appropriately. Patients and family members must cooperate with physicians in order to ensure that there is a comfortable environment for the patient. Physician assisted suicide is a cheap way of getting around with the actual problem of suicide. In essence, the idea of assisted suicide stems mostly from poor medical care and support. Physicians are not successfully trained to compact death. If physicians can effectively assuage the pain and suffering of patients, there is no reason for patients to contemplate suicide (Jeffrey, 2009, p. 12). The paper will examine the ethical issues that arise when considering physician-assisted suicide.

Ethical Issues: Autonomy and Dignity
A number of societies have realized and accepted that human life has a natural ending and there is no need to preserve life just because there is treatment. Such thinking has brewed intensive debate both national and international and it has raised the autonomy and dignity. In a significant way, autonomy and dignity are intrinsic worth resulting from diverse worldviews. Autonomy is indebted to materialist view of man as a product of the autonomous fight for existence. Dignity is indebted to Judeo-Christian understanding of man as created by God in his own image (Snyder & Gauthier, 2008, p. 11).

Autonomy
There is a prevailing approval once patients have the requisite mental capacity; they are at liberty to make life-limiting decisions regarding their own medical treatment. Assistance for suicide is not a proper medical treatment and the wish to die goes unheeded in the dying process. Proponents of physician-assisted suicide cite autonomy as the most important explanation for medical assistance in suicide (Snyder & Gauthier, 2008, p. 13). The autonomy of human beings is constrained by a number of things: autonomy must be known in the light of these constraints. There are two types of patient autonomy in the medical ethics; positive autonomy and negative autonomy.

Negative autonomy argues that patients have the right to be on their own, and the right to negative autonomy is essential and it is acknowledged by all bioethics. The right of a proficient grown-up to turn down medical care is commonly acknowledged. Positive autonomy is the right to get a particular type of medical treatment. The entire medical ethics acknowledges implicitly that the right to positive autonomy is strictly limited. Positive autonomy is extremely controlled and it is restricted by the judgment of the medical profession to the type of treatments that are effective and suitable (Dickenson, Huxtable, & Parker, 2010, p. 192).

Dignity
For a number of patients, the right to die with dignity is the dying without any form of suffering emancipating from severe physical pain. Dying with dignity also involves the death of a patient without the family or friends witnessing their suffering. There are three concepts of dignity that are related to physician-assisted suicide; Kantian dignity, comportment dignity, and meritorious dignity. Kantian dignity is an intrinsic dignity of all human beings. Comportment dignity is externally flaunted quality of human beings who works according to the expectations of the society (well-mannered demeanor and bearing). Meritorious dignity asserts that dignity is something that is deserved; it is not inherent and individuals deserve it by being honorable (Snyder & Gauthier, 2008, p. 13).

Virtue Ethics Theory on Physician Assisted Suicide
Virtue ethics are a group of ethical theories with the primary objective of addressing character traits (they comment and condemn on character traits according). Furthermore, virtual ethics are frameworks that put more focus on the character of a moral agent in the place of the rightness of an action. Physicians are not supposed to be part of the deliberate killing because it is against the fundamental nature of the medical profession. The embodiment of medicine is to heal and protect. Virtue ethics theory is uncompromising to the inalienability of right to life. It does not also tolerate killing of other human beings. It strongly believes in the sanctity of life and healing as the only fundamental goal of medicine. In essence, virtue ethics eggs on the development of personal virtues. Virtue ethics encourages physicians to defend the helpless members of the society against exploitation, and compulsion in decisions concerning rational suicide (Gamino & Ritter, 2009, p. 8).

Physician-assisted suicide is a threat to the patient and the doctor. Illness turns a patient to become very weak mentally, emotionally, and physically. By virtue of their knowledge in medicine, physicians are in relative positions to strengthen patients. Patients normally offer themselves totally to physicians by disclosing intimate information regarding their lives with the aim of being healed. Therefore, the physicians should use this privilege to help patients to fight with the disease. There is a natural disparity of power between patients and doctors in the therapeutic relationship. This gap has proved to be very hard to abolish because it is incorporated in the nature of treatment and illness. Physicians are barred from harming patients deliberately and this safeguards the interests of patients. The ban will also create trust which is much needed while forming a therapeutic alliance (between patient and physician). Any legislation that promotes physician-assisted suicide obliterates this significant safeguard. By creating a right to assistance that leads to self-destruction of patients, physicians will be acting contrary to the fundamental principles of medicine (Cherry, 2003, p. 247).

Physician-assisted suicide will weaken the essence of good medicine. Medicine always involves distinctive and equally imperative goals. The first goal is to make best use of the wellbeing and health of patients. Medicine aims to trim down or ease the suffering that is caused by diseases. In addition, medicine aims to provide comfort and human connection to those who handle illness. Terminally ill or dying patients are frequently besieged by loss, fear, and isolation. Patients go through both physical pain and emotional distress over the loss of Personal abilities and independence. When dealing with anguish, family members usually withdraw from patients.

This will worsen the situation of the patient. It is not astounding, therefore, to see these patients become miserable and with nothing to live for. Good palliative care is a remedy to this situation because it will maximize pain control and perk up daily functioning. It will also take care of depression and offer physical, emotional, and spiritual support. Physician-assisted suicide will just circumvent this situation because it will confirm the worst fears of the patient. Furthermore, physician-assisted suicide offers no good solution to the problems facing the patient. Physician-assisted suicide is not a treatment; it is abandonment (Donchin, 2000, p. 201).

Ethical Emotivism on Physician Assisted Suicide
The modern ethical system drives ethical agents to their positions as far as standards of ethical judgment are concerned. Emotivism asserts that in disputes regarding essential moral principles, human beings do not appeal to reason because they appeal to emotions. In essence, emotivism posits that moral judgments articulate positive or negative feelings because moral judgments are exclamations at best. Emotivism stems from ethical non-naturalism. According to ethical non-naturalism, there is no direct link between ethical judging and facts regarding the world. Emotivism also stems from non-cognitivism, which asserts that information regarding ethical judgments do not refer to any facts of the world. This is to mean that ethical issues cannot be described as true or false. More often than not, emotivism will substitute reality for reality itself and in both theory and practice; it remains firm on the subjective principle. If patients need to be aided to die, there is no ethical issue in assisting them to do so (Husted & Husted, 2008, p. 222).

According to emotivism theory, the practice of medicine is not derived from structure of natural order. It is shaped by human beings in order to serve up human principles. The practice of medicine entails human choices with regard to value systems. Choosing these value systems calls for moral justifications: it does not call for just an appeal to nature of things. If indeed it is true that the major aim of medicine is to heal, then the moral force that sets the goal of medicine has to be ignored. It looks at the tangible practice of medicine and it turns out to be clear that healing is more of an ideal than categorical goal of medical undertaking (Bowie, 2004, p. 77). The theory of ethical emotivism is clearly illustrated by a case of patients refusing treatment.

A well-considered denial of treatment needs to be respected even if the physician knows that the treatment will benefit the patient. The reasons behind the respect concern the competence and integrity of the person involved. A competent person ought to be considered as the best judge for his or her interest. A competent person can personally appraise benefits, burdens, and harms of treatment in view of his or her wishes. Consequently, if individuals do not want treatment because they do not value it, such a negative response must be respected. On the issue of physician-assisted suicide, it is advisable to alleviate suffering.

The aim of alleviating suffering of patients must be the primary goal of physicians. If physician-assisted suicide is firmly rejected, there will be a loss of trust to the medical occupation. Patients will take it as lack of compassion and personal engagement by physicians in instances that do not have sufficient means of relieving. The connection of doctors with the patients’ death is something that is bound to happen. In assisted suicide, the underlying roles of physicians are clear-cut. If suffering alleviation is the appropriate goal of medicine, it means that in some instances, drawing the line between the goal to preserve life and goal of relieve suffering becomes inevitable. It should be noted that physician-assisted suicide does not necessarily infringe the moral integrity of medicine (Graafland, 2009, p. 6).

Personal View
Physician assisted suicide has become a very controversial subject within the legal system. Diverse views have made the subject very debatable. The question of its ethicality has divided scholars and medical professions. Without doubt, there are significant embedded assumptions such as life is good, pain has to be ameliorated, and health is good, which rules out the idea of physician-assisted suicide. In such a debate, benefits prevail over the risks and the dignity of patients has to be respected. Physician assisted suicide should, therefore, not be tolerated in the society. Suicide in itself is wrong and most religions do not concur with assisted suicide because it is contrary to the good of the human person.

Physicians are endowed with the responsibility of providing patients with care that is suitable to their conditions. Their roles do not include assisting patients in controlling the time and manner in which they should die. Physician assisted suicide, therefore, is not compatible with the healing goals of medicine. Family members, relatives, and doctors should give patients the proper palliative cares because request for death is induced by unattended psychological needs or poor care. The intent to kill a patient is not ethical. This is because the practice will harm physicians by making them insensitive to human needs. If legalized, physician assisted suicide will sprawl down an indiscriminate killing of the weak and ill in the society (IOM, 1998, p. 67). Personally, I do not support physician-assisted suicide and fully support virtue theory of ethics.

Physician assisted suicide puts an unwarranted ethical and moral burden to the family members and friends of the patient. For example, if a physician is not near a patient at the suicide attempt, the patient will be forced to ask one of the family member or friend to assist with the preparation and supervision of the lethal medication. When death will not come quickly, family members or friends assisting the patient will be compelled to take actions that can accelerate the process of dying though one-way or another. Anyone partaking in such action may experience feelings of guilt. This will also prolong the bereavement process. As far as fairness, justice, mercy, and compassion is concerned, the legalization of physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill can easily extend to those who are chronically ill, disabled, and mentally distraught. The move might also lead to the legalization of active voluntary and active non-voluntary euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide should not, therefore, be encouraged.

Conclusion
Physician-assisted suicide presents an ethical and moral dilemma in the society because it involves killing. According to the law and religious beliefs, it is not a good thing to kill. Proponents of physician-assisted suicide physicians must honor the wishes of patients and assist them to die because they may not be able to withstand the pain and suffering anymore. Terminally ill patients are not in their right minds to make a request for suicide and, therefore, physicians should involve in the practice. The best practice when involved in the end of life care for patients should work to maximize patient’s life. Instead of arguing that patients should be helped to commit suicide, it is advisable to address factors that aggravate the pain. This is possible through good palliative care. Physician assisted suicide is not compatible with the healing goals of medicine. The first goal of medicine is to get the use of the wellbeing and health of patients. Medicine also aims to ease suffering of patients.

There are doctors who will become emotionally and psychologically distressed when they take part in assisting patients to die. The virtue theory of ethics does not agree with physician-assisted suicide. The theory of emotivism asserts that the practice of medicine is not a natural order because it is shaped by human beings to serve human principles. When patients do not want to live anymore due excruciating pain, there is no harm assisting them. The issue of autonomy and dignity has been discussed in the paper. The autonomy of individuals to live should not be equated to the dignity of dying. Physician-assisted suicide shall not be legalized.

References
Behuniak, S. M., & Svenson, A. G. (2003). Physician-assisted suicide: The anatomy of a constitutional law issue. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Bowie, R. (2004). Ethical studies. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
Cherry, M. J. (2003). Why Physician-Assisted Suicide Perpetuates the Idolatry of Medicine. Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies In Medical Morality, 9(2/3), 245-271.
Dickenson, D., Huxtable, R., & Parker, M. (2010). The Cambridge medical ethics workbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Donchin, A. (2000). Autonomy, Interdependence, and Assisted Suicide: Respecting Boundaries/Crossing Lines. Bioethics, 14(3), 188.
Gamino, L. A., & Ritter, R. H. (2009). Ethical practice in grief counseling. New York: Springer Pub.
Graafland, J. (2009). Economics, Ethics and the Market: Introduction and Applications. London: Routledge.
Husted, J. H., & Husted, G. L. (2008). Ethical decision making in nursing and health care: The symphonological approach. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Institute of Medicine (IOM) (U.S.). (1988). Role of the primary care physician in occupational and environmental medicine. Washington, D.C. (2101 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418: National Academy Press.
Jeffrey, D. (2009). Against physician assisted suicide: A palliative care perspective. Oxford: Radcliffe Pub.
Snyder, J. E., & Gauthier, C. C. (2008). Evidence-based medical ethics: Cases for practice-based learning. Totowa, N.J: Humana Press.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE 4

Running head: PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE 1

Teamwork and Motivation

Introduction
A motivated workforce is critical in the performance of any organization. It is, therefore, upon the leadership to come up with an organization motivation plan that will revive and improve the employees’ motivation, which will eventually translate into increased productivity and organization transformation.

Designing an Organization Motivation Plan
When designing an employee motivation plan, it is critical for the leadership to explore the factors or behaviors that are responsible for the reduced employee motivation. The leadership can achieve this by inquiring from the employees the factors responsible for their declining motivation, and those that can enhance motivation. When the leadership is ready and committed to making the necessary changes, it should then develop a design that will replace those behaviors that reduce motivation with the ones that promote and increase employee motivation.

High job satisfaction of the employees is a major source of their motivation in an organization. In order to encourage high job satisfaction, the management and leadership should first make attempts of discovering the causes of employee attitudes that affect his/ her job satisfaction. These can be dispositional influences such as temperament (Saari & Judge, 2004, p. 396-397). Such disposition has the potential of influencing employees’ experiences of events at the workplace which are emotionally significant in nature, therefore influencing their job satisfaction. The individual’s personality may influence the perception of the job itself. Since the leadership and management of the organization cannot directly influence the employee’s personality, it should try to match the employee’s personality with particular jobs that are perceived positively by the employee in order to enhance their job satisfaction.

Cultural influences also affect an employee’s job satisfaction and their eventual productivity, and therefore, cultural factors such as masculinity or femininity should be taken into consideration by the management when allocating tasks. The management should create awareness, and whenever possible make the necessary adjustments on the cultural factors that influence employee’s attitudes and job perception in order to increase their job satisfaction. The work situation is critical in influencing an individual’s job satisfaction and, therefore, the, nature of the work itself, its challenges, autonomy, and general working conditions are important in influencing an employee’s job satisfaction. The nature of the work should be improved or adjusted accordingly by the management.

Low employee turnover is mainly influenced by their job satisfaction and the management can achieve a low turnover by creating a positive working relationship with the employees, and among the employees themselves. The management of the organization should also pay the employees enough wages that commensurate with their workload as compared to other organizations offering the same job. The management should also put in place structures that encourage the advancement of an employee’s career and professional if they continue working for the organization.

High productivity of employees can be attained through engaging them in the decision-making process since they will be directly impacted by such decisions. Collecting feedback from the employees often creates a culture of inclusion, which is critical in increasing productivity because of motivation, as the employees will feel valued by the organization. The management should design jobs where individuals are able to work across different departments and attain valuable expertise, teamwork, and perspective (Daft, Murphy & Willmott, 2010, p. 295).

The synergy will reduce duplication of efforts; build accountability and enthusiasm, which are essential in increasing productivity. Communication within the organization should also be improved, and conflict resolution mechanisms put in place to resolve critical issues within the organization. Organizing trainings where employees acquire new work skills can also help increase their productivity.

High-quality work by employees can be achieved through designing jobs that encourage specialization and, therefore, tasks should be allocated to individuals according to their skills and specialization to enhance the quality of work undertaken by employees. The management should also incorporate new technology into the production process and provide the employees with the relevant training to improve the quality of their work.

Motivating the Entire Organization
Effective communication of the goals, situations, experiences and status of the organization is the best method of motivating the entire organization. Through effective communication, all employees are made aware of their responsibilities, targets, and work performance within the organization. Effective communication can help an organization to design a clear roadmap and guide its course towards the achievement of both organizational and individual goals. Effective communication is, therefore, the most important method of motivating all employees within the organization.
Establishing an organizational rewarding system can be an effective method of motivating all employees within an organization. Organization reward systems have traditionally provided incentives, which attempt to reward workers in accordance to their accomplishments. This encourages an organizational wide motivation regardless of the nature of tasks performed by individuals.

Motivating a Minimum Wage Service Worker
Rewards have always been an effective way of motivating minimum wage service workers. They often inspire the workers to improve their work in order to get more rewards and incentives in the future. This is best illustrated by the reinforcement theory, which states that rewarding a positive behavior motivates individuals making them repeat or uphold such behaviors in future in order to receive more rewards (Daft & Lane, 2008, p. 234-235).

Establishing career advancement opportunities can be important in motivating minimum wage workers, as they are able to see great opportunities to advance them in the organization. This can be enhanced through training and promotion of hardworking minimum wage employees. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory explains this, where individuals are motivated to achieve the physiological, security, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. In this case, self actualization is likely to be attained through career development.

Creating a positive working environment where the employees’ contribution is recognized and valued by the management is very important hence they should be given enough workload and freedom in undertaking their tasks. This is best explained by Herzberg’s two factor theory which suggests that individuals have desires that transcends hygienes, which can be viewed to be interpersonal relationship and aspects such as supervision. It recognizes the highest-level factors (motivators) such as recognition for achievement as a source of employee’s motivation (Fiore, 2004, p. 68-69).

Relevance of an Individual Worker in Today’s Organizational Context
Since an individual is the basic unit of every organization, having individuals possessing the right skills and knowledge is crucial for the performance of any organization. The right individual values are essential in creating an organizational culture that will guide the daily operations of the organizations towards achieving its goals. Coordination and cooperation of individuals possessing a myriad of skills and knowledge within the organization is essential to the smooth functioning of the entire organization.

Individual worker Desired change in behavior from individual work to teamworkTalksBecome practical and improve teamwork participation. Me orientedShould realize the importance of cooperation for the benefit of the entire organization. The department focusedTo be made aware of the functional interdependency of organization’s departments.CompetitiveTransform individual competitiveness into organizational competitiveness through empowering team members.LogicalAchieve and share system thinking with team members to comprehend organizational situations. Written messagesTo improve both oral and written communication skills within and between work groups.ImageHelp improve the teams and overall organizational image.SecrecyShare information relevant to the advancement of the organization.Short-term sightedObjective in accomplishing organization’s short-term goals. Immediate resultsHelp team and organization implement and achieve urgent changesCritical Evaluate teamwork and organizational performance. TenureFocused on working conditions and environment 

References
Daft, R. L., & Lane, P. G. (2008). The leadership experience. Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western.
Daft, R. L., Murphy, J., & Willmott, H. (2010). Organization theory and design. Andover: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Fiore, D. J. (2004). Introduction to educational administration: Standards, theories, and practice. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education.
Saari, M., & Judge, T. 2004. Employee attitude and job satisfaction. Human Resource Management, 43(4), 395-407.

TEAMWORK AND MOTIVATION 2

Running head: TEAMWORK AND MOTIVATION 1

Wooquer Making Business Social

Essential Case Facts
By the year 2010, Madura Fashion and Lifestyle was the largest apparel retailer in India. It was the desire and mandate of the company to see its revenues multiply within a span of three years. This presented a daunting challenge that had to be overcome to realize the set goals and grab the opportunity presented. This came as a result of the fact, that the proportion of middle class household in India was expected to triple from about five to fifteen percent. The company had almost a thousand stores supported by about five thousands employees who worked in the retail business. Since the company had a high growth in store locations and increased attrition based on competition, building a scalable model to engage and manage diverse workforce was not easy. This required a good platform for technology and management skills that would implement and administer the various functions of the organizations for greater performance.

The rise of PCs at workplaces rose in the 1980s. This led to the capturing and storing electronically of information or content that had earlier on been recorded and stored in printed format. Theorization of the World Wide Web became vivid by the end of the decade, and this helped PC users to link or communicate with each over a network. Due to this, information was shared through the Internet that resulted soon afterwards. In 1990s, the Internet was infiltrated by lock-ups because of many browsers like Microsoft and Netscape, and web servers including Microsoft and Apache, which allowed easier internet access than it was a few years before.

Traditionally, Information Technology constituted a separate function with a mission of supporting information requirements of other functions of an organization, for instance, operations and finance department. However, the advent of IT prompted the personnel in the IT industry to play a strategic role of advising functional heads regarding technologies, which helped organizations align their goals with activities. On the other hand, for a company to be technologically capable, it required heavy financial input, but this might have been averted by seeking service of companies like Wooquer. Wooquer as a technology company operated on cloud, and thus, customer software installation cost was not applicable since user devices were not required. It allowed all aspects of workday to be integrated in a comprehensive dashboard.

Major Issues/Dilemmas
Uniform operating procedures, or SOP, across all store locations, were required at Mandura retail in order to achieve consistency. However, this entailed mentoring workforce on SOPs, and the available Information and Technology solutions focused on training and certification. This allowed basic achievement in constituency. Nevertheless, the training process was so involving. Essentially, the in-person training programs consumed resources and time, while they exhibited coverage and

consistency issues associated with their application. In this sense, it was difficult to monitor effectiveness associated with remote programs, since very few Information Technology packages enabled SOP enactment and acquiescence tracing. Furthermore, it was difficult for a company to incorporate intermediate course changes after rolling out the packages of this kind, especially when the processes in the company evolved. On the other hand, since the role of IT was to guide individuals cooperatively across functions in achieving unique business through technology, there was need to align both business and IT strategies on a dynamic and continuous basis. Consequently, in a diverse environment, selective access rights posed a challenge, because the right information had to be availed to the right individuals and at the most appropriate time.

With all these issues at hand regarding Information Technology and its use in a company, companies were faced with the dilemma of whether to procure and install commercial ‘off-the-shelf’ (COTS) packages or build a new system right from its foundation to the very workable condition for every significant use. Selecting from generic COTS option required the internal Information Technology teams and consultants to implement and cater for specific needs, including emergent social concepts. On the one hand, this option had a set of decision-making challenges, for instance, COTS packages addressed a small set of requirements and it included or carried overloads of features on top of the high price tag associated with this option. On the other hand, the ground-up system would have been designed to satisfy all requirements, but the company involved had to allocate huge and key resources to facilitate the creation of the system.

This consumed a lot of time and resources on top of a host of problems associated with support and evolution of the application. In essence, customizing a commercial Information Technology application to the customer`s needs proved to be costly and very involving. It required the help of vendors and certified consultants. As a matter of fact, a product`s licensing model and cost structure inhibited its adoption and use by employees. However, Large IT vendors organized their licenses along portions of users, where larger portions cost much more than smaller ones. This did not favor work force intensive and price competitive industries, especially retail stores. In this sense, high costs were associated with dedicated login on the Information Technology platform, which constrained when they reported daily staff turnout and performance evaluations. With this at hand, companies had to devise other ways to make work done, thus, some companies manually consolidated data from multiple store locations and then used a single account to enter the information into the systems. This procedure increased complexity of progression time management, a scenario that increased error rates in the procedure.

Pros and Cons of Two Alternative Paths of Action and Recommendation
The first alternative that might have helped in addressing the problems associated with Information Technology was Wooquer, which provided cloud services that highly eliminated customer software and device installation. This alternative equipped an organization with instinctive “Do it yourself” toolset, operated by users over a standard web browser. It involved medium IP license costs and low costs for every user category. This option was far better because, above all the other costs, there were no maintenance costs. The other advantage was that it allowed users to communicate with content in multiple formats like videos, audio, word files, including presentations.

This alternative permitted employees to carry out sophisticated tasks including design and management of business processes while avoiding technicalities associated with such tasks. On the contrary, this alternative presented data security issues, since a company`s vital and confidential information might have been exposed to the public accidentally, or information security might have been compromised. This is because, company details of great value needed to be kept safe for the prosperity of the company, but if the information went public, competitors might have used it for their advantage. The other alternative that an organization might have employed in its daily operation was the SharePoint. The advantage was that it permitted one time installation and the ownership was then transferred to the user.

The disadvantages were; it had low content creation capability, and cost of acquiring hardware and supporting software. The other disadvantage was that it involved high individual user and IP license costs. From the discussion, it was quite clear that Wooquer provided the best alternative, thus, it was recommended to all Information Technology needs or retail organizations and other companies that needed Information Technology application. This alternative was based on the many advantages offered by Wooquer. It was important to note that Wooquer was so effective since operation fee was the only charge required as compared to other alternatives. No installation and maintenance costs were necessary.

Three Concepts
The first concept that helped in the understanding of the case study was the technology that Wooquer used in helping organizations run their businesses effectively. At Wooquer, cloud computing was used to link customers to its services; customers were not required to own hardware and supporting software. However, clients accessed a virtual server that helped them secure their documents and carry out specific functions through a normal PC aided by a standard browser. Secondly, regarding Wooguer`s services, the other concept was graphic interface where users were permitted to communicate with content in multiple formats: images, presentations, spread sheets, video, audio, and word files.

This allowed content to be manipulated to a role or individual in a way that resembled targeting an ad online, which increased revenue realization. Thirdly, the other concept that clarified the issues in the case was the retail stores idea; a company like Mandura had several stores in various locations in major towns. The stores represented a brand(s) of a particular company`s products. The stores were strategically placed to gain access to the consumers at convenient locations. The retail stores were usually linked and they were run on established uniform standard operating procedures across all of the store locations.

References
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Carr, N., 2004. Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive. New York: Harvard Business Press.
 Thomas, K., 2010. Microsoft cloud data breach heralds things to come, PC World. Availed through: PC World website<http://www.pcworld.com/article/214775/Microsoft_cloud_breach_sign_of_future.html> [Accessed 10October 2012]  Dasin, S., 2009. Madura Garments: Tech in time saves…. Dataquest. Availed through: Http://archive.dpindia.com/content/casestudy/2009/10902212104.asp [Accessed 10 October 2012].

WOOQUER: MAKING BUSINESS SOCIAL 8

Running head: WOOQUER MAKING BUSINESS SOCIAL 1

 

Integrated Marketing Communications

Question 1
Advertising refers to a method used by organizations, companies, and businesses to create awareness of their goods and services to the nation. The main objective of advertising is to boost sales by presenting these commodities and services to the community. Advertisements have both convincing messages and precise information. The major mediums used to convey information include newspapers, magazines, television, and billboards.

The main advantage of advertisement is that it has the capability to create awareness among individuals about consumer products, and different opportunities. Creating awareness through advertisements is always done to sell a new product in the market. The main drawback of marketing is its costly function. It is true that the cost of advertising is too high, and these costs are normally included in the final price of that product. Advertisement can be said to be an indirect cost, which is included in the distribution costs. When there is an increase in the cost of advertising, the selling price of the product will definitely increase. This is true, because the majority of companies spend a lot of money on advertisements, which later on are extended to the final consumer.

IMC would be used to reduce on the costs incurred in advertising for various products. For instance, a company or an organization that had been using media advertising can change and start using various forms of communication. A company that was only using television and radio to advertise its products may start using the IMC methods. For instance, if the target group is youth, the company can reduce its costs by posting the information on Twitter or Face book for free where most youth can access the information. The company can change from media advertising to a specific medium that target a specific group hence reducing on the costs.

Question 2
The first step for developing marketing public relations programs is to state the objectives for one’s publicity. The second step involves defining objectives in attaining this aim. One’s goals should be assessable, specific, time bound, and result oriented. The third step is finding out the target group. Fourth, come up with a schedule for the public relations campaign (Jimc.medill.northwestern.edu, 2013, p. 2). Fifth, one should make a plan for his/her campaign and finally come up with ways to enable one get the feedback. One can integrate PR with an IMC method like advertising because this can create awareness about the availability of a particular product in the market.

Question 3
Cause marketing involves combining a personal marketing with a charitable or social choice. Any business can access cause marketing. There are several steps involved in the planning process to enable one come up with a cause marketing campaign:
Identify a Cause
Cause marketing cannot be done without a cause. An individual must be very careful when choosing a cause, because the wrong choice of a cause may have negative effects on an individual’s business. The best course is the one that has a close relationship to one’s company story, brand, or industry.

Think it through and Strategize
There are several questions that have to be answered before planning cause marketing campaign, for instance, one’s objective and that of the community, the appropriate time to start discussing about the activity, satisfaction of the customers and the long-term effects of the program.
Determine how much You can Give
Approximate the maximum amount of money that one will use. Giving out donations is significant but a marketer must recall that the aim of cause marketing is to benefit the business.
Be Creative
A marketer must be creative to make promises that he/she can be in a position to accomplish. Campaigns that involve more distinctive action may work better.
Make an Emotional Connection
Discuss with the customers the significance of her customers. You can provide them with an overview of the cause, which will help in creating a strong relationship
Promote across all Channels
The main objective of the cause is to benefit you and your business. The marketer has to make sure that the message is posted on his website.

Publicize with New Releases
This is the only way that can enable one to get feedback on the campaign. A victorious, creative, and gorgeous campaign will attract media attention. These steps will be very significant for an IMC campaign because they will make the advertising process successful.
Question 4
Direct marketing is a type of advertising that enables nonprofit organizations and businesses to pass information directly to the customer by using techniques like a telephone. The main concern is to set objectives for one’s campaign and implement them. It is also significant to identify the target market. One can use integration to overcome challenges of direct marketing by using methods like the Internet to reach the majority of the target audience.

Question 5
Personal selling refers to a selling technique that takes place between a prospective buyer and seller. It involves a direct contact between the consumer and the seller rather than impersonal mass communication. Personal selling also involves developing good customer relations, and conveys information according to the needs of the customers. The sales person uses a demonstration approach to meet the needs of customers. The customer has a chance to ask questions which are answered by the sales person (Tutor2u.net, 2012, P. 1). The main disadvantage of personal selling is the high cost associated with this promotion method. The high expenses are associated with extensive training of sales person about the product and company, time spent, incentives provided, and lead generation. Other integrated marketing methods like promotion, direct marketing, branding, and public relations can be used to overcome the disadvantage of personal selling because they will help in reduction of the costs incurred.

Question 6
Sales promotion refers to a process of convincing a potential customer to purchase a product. Sales promotion is used on a short-term basis, because it is intended to improve sales. The main target of advertising is the customers. Other target audience is the intermediaries like wholesalers and the agents. Sales promotion uses a variety of methods, and that is why it is short term, for instance, free gifts, loyalty cards, point of sale materials like display stands, posters, competitions, money off coupons, and discount vouchers. Sales promotion is normally done on a short-term basis and this makes the customers have a sense of necessity and stop comparing the substitutes. They are compelled to act now and not later. Sales promotion also has an effect on the behavior of trade for instance; it encourages traders to forward buying which makes sure that retailers have enough stock. Basing on the fact that dealers have extra stock, they feel that it is advisable to advertise in the local media and provide attractive promotions to customers. These means of promotion helps in increasing the store traffic.

Sales promotions attract new customers from their competitors because of the reduced price. For instance, if one has a small electronics shop that is competing with a large shop, one can offer discounts for his products for a short period of time. If the seller serves the customer well during the buying process, they will opt to come back and buy more products. Sales promotion can be used to provide information on a short term basis that can make customers buy the product. For instance, if the entrepreneur is a financial planner willing to attract more customers, he can plan for a free seminar to enable him explain to his clients the significance of the product.

Question 7
There are various uses of the Internet as an IMC method. For instance, most companies use Internet based technology to reduce the marginal cost of creating and distribute digital commodities like sports scores, news stories, software, and music (Jimc.medill.northwestern.edu, 2013, p.1). The Internet is also useful in the customization of non-digital and digital products. For instance, online customers can buy individual computers on the Internet in various combinations by choosing the correct features that can enable them to come up with CDs that contain songs requested by their customers. The Internet also has an impact on the pricing strategy of firms in various ways, for instance, they provide information to consumers, increase the number of suppliers and competition, pricing research, and establishment of several auction houses.

Most companies use the Internet to sell their products at a reduced cost compared to other retail shops. The internet has made it easy for customers to look for products sold at the lowest price, especially with various interactive shopping agents. This is because they only make a one click and access relevant information about a variety of online suppliers. There has also been an increase in the number of suppliers due to elimination of distance barriers. The Internet has an effect on supply strategy. For instance, a customer can locate a product online and buy it.

A customer is able to use his credit card to buy computer software online by entering credit card information. The Internet is also used as an advertising strategy. For instance, it supplies people with different ways to deliver their organization and company’s products. Sales persons using the Internet as their integrated marketing communication mix must evaluate its significance as a medium of advertising. Companies make sure that their online messages and emails of employees convey information that is consistent with all other message efforts. The Internet is also used to maintain customer relationships. This is whereby a seller and buyer are able to interact online and sell their products.

Question 8
The key requirements for your choice of media include the following:
The Cost of the Media
A marketer must consider the cost that will be incurred in advertising and the underlying impact that it has on a business. A marketer must make sure that the costs incurred in advertising are not more than the returns.
The Nature and type of the Product to be Marketed
The nature of the product must not be underestimated and the type of medium chosen should be appealing to the type of the product, for instance, big companies such as Coca Cola have been advertising its products for more than 200 years.
The Extent of the Circulation of the Media
This is the most significant factor, because a marketer must check on whether the circulation of the product is in the neighborhood. This will assist him to make a proper choice of media.
The Target Market
Advertising is a way of communicating information to the target group. The target group comprises of human behavior and beings.

Question 9
The two methods that are used for budgeting are percentage of sales method and objective and task method. The percentage of sales method is used by small businesses. A certain percentage of the sales is included in the final budget to advertising. On the other hand, the objective and task method is commonly used by big businesses. The main advantage of this method is that it enables the advertiser to compare the cost of advertising and the overall marketing objectives. The small businesses recommend percentage of sales method, because it is safer if the owner of the business does not anticipate future returns. The objective and task method is suitable for large businesses because it keeps expenditure to focus on the major objective of a business. The business can strategize ways that can enable it to raise funds if they are not available.

Question 10
The first step is to find out whether integrated marketing communications objectives developed during the development process were attained. This will assist in determining whether the appropriate brand message, communication tools, marketing, and placement were selected or whether the potential customers received the correct message. The information collected from the evaluation can be used to make some changes to the campaign or build upon future campaigns. Objectives: one has to set the aims for the brand and where he/she wants it to be located in the near future. Strategies: Strategize on how the objectives will be achieved. Tactics: State how the strategies will be implemented and the objectives achieved. The second step is to find out if the medium is conveying information. This is done through media testing. It can be a television, websites, PR or radio.

The third step is to find out if the message is persuasive. This stage has two phases. First, testing original strategies and concepts using intercept surveys where individuals are asked questions in the form of a questionnaire. One can also use the target group where individuals may be called upon to discuss information about the marketing strategy. The second phase involves copy testing where marketers are in a position to find out whether investments made in ICM campaign were effective and predict the impacts. It involves testing the attention of the audience on the advert to find out the level of awareness and interest of the medium, copy, or brand message. The second test involves finding out whether the target audience were in a position to understand the message and the ideas of the IMC campaign. The two elements that are tested in this step are recognition and recall. A marketer must also test the physiological responses. These tests are aimed at finding out whether there are changes in attitude and brand awareness that have an interrelationship to the IMC campaign itself.

Question 10 a
The three potential target markets for Golden Gate University are the social media, advertising agencies, and marketing communications managers. The primary target is the marketing professionals. The integrated marketing communication course is important to marketing professionals because it offers vital building blocks for useful integration of inbound and traditional marketing strategies. Through best practices, case studies, and exercises, they learn how to formulate an integrated marketing strategy.
Question 10 b
One IMC mission for marketing professionals is to help them in identifying the main characteristic of stakeholders and customers so that they can take advantage of the brands.

Question 10c
Golden Gate University is a leader in international higher education; our university provides quality, accessible education to ambitious professionals on every continent on the earth.
Question 10 d
The three IMC methods that I would use for this campaign are advertising, direct marketing and social media.
Question 10e
An example of integration in advertising can be through online system and referral to the former students. Integration in social media can be done through social media like Twitter and Face book. Finally, direct marketing can be integrated with other continuing students who can help in marketing the university and the course.

References
Jimc.medill.northwestern.edu (2013). What is IMC – Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications? Retrieved on 13 August, 2013 from: <http://jimc.medill.northwestern.edu/what.aspx>
Tutor2u.net (2012). Promotional Mix – Personal Selling. Retrieved on 13 August 2013. From : <http://www.tutor2u.net/business/marketing/promotion_personalselling.asp>

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 2

Running head: INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 1

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 11

Systems Operation Management

Essay

Part 1
The Strategic Importance of Maintaining Customer Relationships for Improved Sales and Marketing Processes.
Introduction
For any organization to achieve operational excellence there is a need to focus on the target market. The target market includes the internal and external customers, who include company staffs and customers. The business organization is entrusted with the role of ensuring that customer relationship is enhanced as it attracts and retains new customers. It is also through customer relationship processes that a company is able to know the expectations of the customer and, thus, helps the organization to understand what to produce to enhance the quality.

There are various ways in which customer relationship can be maintained, and an effective customer relationship is vital in the enhancement of the customer’s aspect of the sales to the customer service. To reach to the customer easily, various marketing approaches ought to be employed so that creativity can be added to the marketing of the goods and services that are supposed to be presented to the customer.

In line with maintaining customer relationship, technology has been employed whereby; the marketers are able to send customized messages to their target customers to inform them of the availability of products. These messages are vital as they also inform the customer on the offers available, and this may trigger them to take action and engage in buying the product on offer. This is aided through the use of Internet marketing, where customers’ databases are stored in a way that they can be retrieved. The products requested by the customers’ can be delivered in their premises which is important in creating loyalty, as well as, increased buying patterns by the customer.

The marketers have used the Internet social sites to advertise their wares, which is important for increasing the customer pool, as well as, advertising their products to the public. They are vital in helping the company to increase its sales. Currently, the marketers maintain the customer relationships using marketing segmentation strategies, where they target the customers based on the demographic, social, and psychographic trends. This is important as it helps the customers to feel honored by the company, thus, cultivating a culture of buying from company. The customer also view the company as caring for their needs

Many companies have engaged their customers in loyalty and reward schemes to ensure that customer relationship is maintained. They allow their customers to buy products using smart cards and royalty cards. The royalty cards have bonus and reduced price options, which help the customer to shop more with the same amount of money, and this helps in maintaining and retaining customers. The use of the shopper’s card is vital to the company as it helps it to know the buying pattern of the customers, thus, knowing what, and when the customers shop most.

Looking at all of the above facts, it is important to note that through the creation of customer relationship, a business is able to enhance its sales and marketing processes. This is because, a lot of customers will be sought, and fewer sales people will be needed to reach to the general customer. At the same time, greater sales will be experienced. It is, therefore, good to maintain customer relationship to make the customer feel honored, which creates a habit of coming back to the shop as well as acting as a marketer of the product to other potential consumers of the products.

Part 2
Analyzing the current challenges in Ninak fireworks and applying the relevant models to improve the operations processes
Ninak fireworks poses various challenges in their various departments ranging from the organization, sales and marketing, and operations department. All these challenges have affected the way product processes functions, as well as, compromising the customer service, where the customers are not served to their satisfaction. The main areas of concern where the company has challenges in meeting their goals and objectives are; processing mapping, the input- processing and output department, and the value chain departments. This would call for a liaison office being created so that the entire department can be interconnected through one office reducing the conflict of roles that currently exists in the various departments.

For the operations to improve, the company needs to employ network systems and improve technologies so that they may be in a position to achieve higher levels of efficiencies and productivity. This would be through the use of business process management models that are geared towards improving the overall functioning of Ninak companies. The major improvement that should be undertaken is improving the coordination that exists between the departments. From the organization setup, it can be deduced that the departments have not been coordinated properly, and this has led to confusion of roles.

Ninak fireworks ought to concentrate on creating a workflow schedule that would be able to increase efficiencies within the departments. With increased efficiencies, it is likely that the company would be able to be more cost effective as that will prevent time wastage when duplicating conflicting roles. The operations department that is tasked with the role of manufacturing different types of fireworks and ensuring health safety should be separated so that one-department deals with manufacturing, while the other deal with safety and health. This is vital as it would reduce work role conflict and would help in creating specialization. Therefore, all department holders should deal with what they know best, which is likely to create efficiency and effectiveness in the functioning of the organization.

The challenge of the sales and marketing department is evident. The personnel have to travel to meet the clients and at the same time, they take their orders on paper before transferring them in the computerized accounting system. The company alleges that they offer different discounts to international; and local customers and these discounts are in the same accounting workbook. This is a challenge that requires much attention, as it may lead to the company making losses in the course of their operations. To address these challenges, the company ought to employ the concept of online ordering and delivering through the website, such that all the customers’ information is put in the databases so that they can be easily contacted, connected, and dealt with during the transaction. The taking of orders on papers ought to be phased out as this is where errors and conflicting communication occur between the various departments. The company ought to take the advantage of the information technology and computerize every department, so that communication and computation of orders are easily tracked. It is also essential as movement of goods and services would be tracked easily.

Interconnecting the departments is likely to enhance the flow of information and its quality. This would reduce conflict as well as misunderstandings between departments. Doing an analysis of the current processes that aid in the output, input, and processing would be vital, as it would reduce the existing inefficiencies. This could be achieved through an integrated computerized network system.
After analyzing the current processes, the whole process that entails ordering to dispatch ought to be streamlined. This may be possible through having a stock control whereby the warehouse, the logistics, and the manufacturing department are better managed. This would enhance quality, movement of goods from one place to another, and within departments.

Employees output is another aspect that may be used to address the challenges being faced by the company. Maximizing the employee output within all the departments would be vital especially in the production and manufacturing department. At the same time, the procurement team within the warehousing department and the logistic department ought to have a unified order lead time. This would help them in avoiding order and process crashing.

Other solutions to the problems being faced by the company would include having a team that would be mandated to forecast the possible sales trend. The team ought to comprise of the members from the sales and marketing, and the procurement departments, which would reduce overproduction owing to the fact that the fireworks are not used all the year round expect on certain occasions and holidays.

Finally, because of the increased interaction between various departments, there is a need to protect the company’s data from interception, theft, hacking, viruses and other network security issues. This would include having an information technology department that would be mandated with the role of monitoring the network activities, maintaining of the network, and offering various guidelines to those who would be accessing the company’s network. This is vital as the network security will prevent any disruption that may be directed to the company’s network, and it would ensure that the employees are productive as their work and processes would be monitored through the network. Network security would also reduce disruption during processing and creditors payments that would help the company from legal actions for failing to adhere to data protection requirements.

There should be a better way to classify fireworks and a better way to involve the company sales and purchases. This would be important as it would increase accountability and would reduce the conflict that is exhibited by the company. In general having an enhanced and integrated departmental corporation would help the Ninak Company operates effectively and efficiently.

Part 3
Ninak fireworks are faced with various issues including poor communication networks as exhibited by the poor communication between various departments. There are also the coordination problem and production issues. This is seen when the company indicates that it has two international retailers. Lack of better planning has led the company not being able to have a scalable system to help them improve the relationship and coordination between the various departments within the company. There is no specialization as can be seen by the fact that the company allocates people in the operations department who work on a 24 hours shift and are responsible for all aspects of the company’s manufacture.

They are unable to forecast because they do not have better technology to aid in forecasting. During busy periods, the departments are unable to cope with the workloads.
Improvement of operations at Ninaks fireworks requires coordination between departments to create harmony. This can be achieved through having one liaising office which could be tasked with the function of coordinating the affairs of all the other departments. In the case of poor communication, the company should create a chain of command that would be dealing with the issues regarding communication. The company should also develop a good stock control mechanism so that they will not be keeping dead stock/slow moving items. There should be a harnessed ordering and production schedule so that lead-time can be balanced to create certainty. Specialization is vital in the company as this would help the company in producing quality products. At the same time, there should be an online ordering system and an alternative plan to cater for emergency Orders.

The diagram below is an example of Ninaks fireworks mind/rich picture that analysis the challenges being faced by Ninaks Fireworks.


Bibliography
CANT, M. C. Marketing Management. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta, 2006.
HAVALDAR, Krishna K. Industrial Marketing: Text and Cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2005.
JONES, Russ. Proving Continuous Improvement with Profit Ability. Milwaukee, Wis: ASQ Quality Press, 2008.
KNOX, Simon, ADRIAN Payne, LYNETTE Ryals, STAN Maklan, and JOE Peppard. Customer relationship management. Routledge, 2012.
KUEGAH, Folly. Security Measures and Effective Corporate Information Systems Management: An Examination of Issues Surrounding Computer Network Security. ProQuest, 2006.
LAMB, Charles W., JOSEPH Hair, CARL, Mcdaniel, CHARLES W. Lamb, and DANIEL L. Wardlow. Essentials of Marketing. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub, 1999.
LESSER, Eric, MICHAEL Fontaine, and JASON Slusher. Knowledge and communities. Routledge, 2012.

1. S. Knox, P. Adrian, R. Lynette, M. Stan, and P. Joe. Customer relationship management. Routledge, 2012. P. 102-104
 E. Lesser, F. Michael, and S. Jason. Knowledge and communities. Routledge, 2012. P. 100
 K. Havaldar, K. Industrial Marketing: Text and Cases. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2005. p. 95-99
 C. Lamb, W., F, Joseph, C. Hair. D. C. McDaniel, W. Lamb, and L. Daniel. Wardlow. Essentials of Marketing. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub, 1999. p. 341-343

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2008. p. 53
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 F. Kuegah. Security Measures and Effective Corporate Information Systems Management: An Examination of Issues Surrounding Computer Network Security. ProQuest, 2006. P. 88-92

Systems Operation Management 1

Ninak Fireworks

people

technology

management

Quality compromised

Communication problems

Frustrations due to communication issues

People shortage

More responsibility because of shortage

Stress as a result of more responsibility

Slow expansion and penetration

Few no. of customers

Many missed opportunities

Under utilization of technology by using papers to order

Confusion because of wrong use of technology among departments

Time delays

Under-satisfaction of customers

There is work overload

Narrow and Poor organization structure

Under-management of periods that are busy and peak

Less profits obtained

 

Experiences of Two Ethnic Minorities in the United States

Introduction
Racial inequalities influence a wide range of persons under societal concerns that eventually alter the life chances and opportunities disproportionately by race and ethnicity. In the US, the minority groups suffer from immense disparities in wealth as compared to the majority groups (Corlett, 2003). For instance, in 1984, the white Americans and the African-Americans had a wealth gap of over eighty five thousand dollars. Twenty-five years later, in 2009, the wealth gap tripled to over $236,500 leaving the minority group still at the bottom of the social class stratification hierarchy. However, many factors make a minority group have a wide wealth gap as compared to the majority groups. These factors are determined by many years of home ownership, education, employment rates, income per household and the most significant being inheritance. Race and ethnicity is mainly characterized by many imbalances in the society that range from unequal distribution of power, economic resources and other opportunities in the society that can help people to develop themselves (Barkan, 1999).

During the era of New World formation, when the colonists came along for exploration and exploitation of the lands in their colonies, they found out that land in America did not need to be “discovered” since there were natives already living there. Many immigrants came from Western Europe and majority of those who settled in North America came from northern Europe followed by those from Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia (Corlett, 2003).

The forced immigrants from Africa also formed a significant section in America and most of these disadvantaged groups underwent a period of disenfranchisement where they were pushed further down the social hierarchy. However, some groups managed to achieve their social mobility while some remain the minority groups in the USA to date. The USA currently denotes a multicultural society but the rate at which this multiculturalism is embraced differs between the groups that form the society. So many political repercussions befall the concept of living in a multicultural society (Anderson & Taylor, 2009). This paper will focus on the minority groups composed by the African-Americans and Indian-Americans.

Sociological Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity
Matters concerning race and ethnicity in the society can be viewed based on three chief sociological theories, namely, functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalist theorists channel their spotlight on the social construction. They examine the role of the dominant and the minority groups in the society and their contributions towards creating a stable social structure (Ritzer & Goodman, 2004). Interactionist theorists on the other hand, view race and ethnicity as very significant basis of personal identity and social representation. Cultural prejudice recognizes that every individual is subject to stereotypes that are entrenched in the cultures that individuals associate with (Anderson & Taylor, 2009). Conflict theorists channel their focus on the disparities with regard to power and the struggles that the groups in the society engage in trying to achieve their social mobility. This paper will focus on the conflict theory to explain sociological perspectives of race and ethnicity.

Conflict Theory
The theories based on conflict mostly apply to the inequalities of race, gender, ethnicity social class and education in the society. The African-Americans and the Indian-Americans have for a long time been oppressed concerning race, gender, ethnicity social class and education for a long time. Some other minority groups have managed to leave this bracket of the minority group and have managed to achieve their social mobility. However, the weight of discrimination has continued to be felt among some of these minority groups especially the Indian-Americans who were the initial inhabitants of the USA especially those of the Cherokee tribe who comprised of the majority group from the main five tribes (Saunt, 2005).

The other group that has been heavily oppressed is the African-Americans who were forced to migrate to the US against their will to work for the white settlers from the European continent during the formation of the New World. These two groups have been deprived of fair natural and economic resources distribution as well as good education to make them more independent and develop themselves and their generations. They have been placed at the bottom of the social class hierarchy suppressing their voice even more. They have been victimized because of their racial difference as well as their ethnic groups (Ritzer & Goodman, 2004).

This conflict theory perspective of the US can be used to examine the US history concerning the past and current struggles that have been encountered by the minority groups against the white ruling class. The dominant groups have continued to suppress the minority groups especially through the economic and political realms. This conflict therefore is because of the specific conflicts that were born when the dominant and the majority group perceived a threat from the minority group. For instance, after the civil war of the 19th century, the black Americans rose tremendously in power and this angered the dominant groups.

The whites felt so much threatened that they decided to come up with laws and regulation that would limit the black Americans political and social powers (Ritzer & Goodman, 2004). It was the only way to suppress them and this was the main reason the dominant groups came up with the draconian Jim Crow Laws (Schreier, 2008). These laws severely suppressed the Black-Americans’ powers to rise again and continued their oppression. Since then, the dominant groups have continued to show increased disenfranchisement, with gerrymandering and voter repression efforts aimed at these minority groups especially the Black-Americans and the Indian Americans (Cashmore & Jennings, 2001).

According to Patricia Hill Collins (1990), it is challenging to separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes in the society in her theory of intersection. Thus, the effects of race and ethnicity affect many attributes of the minority groups and jeopardize their development chances in return. It is important to note that how the race and ethnicity discriminations are felt is mainly predetermined by other factors such as gender and the social class. The minority groups have numerous layers of disadvantages determined by other factors that intersect the society to determine how the effects of race and ethnicity discrimination are felt. For instance, when comparing the effects of discrimination to a white woman and an African-American or Indian-American woman, there would be a massive difference because of other concepts such as gender, social class, race and ethnicity.

Therefore, this would place the African-American and Indian-American woman at a worse condition because of the facts that she is a woman in the first place, a woman from a poor community and the aspect of her ethnicity. This explains why the effects of prejudice and discrimination against race and ethnicity are felt differently with the minority groups having severe effects based on their gender, social class status that are mainly characterized by poverty, and ethnic status. Therefore, the conflict theorists focus on the power inequalities and struggles between the diverse racial and ethnic groups in the society (Schreier, 2008).

Minority Groups in the US
The Native Americans
The Native Americans form the only nonimmigrant ethnic group in the USA. By the year 2010, the group was large and comprised a percentage of 0.9 of all the US population, according to the 2010 US census. There immigration is only debatable because they settled in the place way before the European immigrants dating their settlement as early as between 45,000 and 12,000 BCE. The Indians initially looked for hunting game and after finding the big game in huge herds of grazing herbivore, they settled on the land and with time multiplied into an interactive web of many tribes (Saunt, 2005). These hundreds of interconnected tribes found and formulated their cultures in terms of language, customs religion and traditions, which distinguished them but connected them in a special way. These Native Americans were named as pre-Columbians before the coming of Christopher Columbus in 1492, who after settling in the West Indies named the people he found there as “Indians”. The relationship between these Natives and the Whites has been brutal especially on the basis of race and ethnic discrimination (Hong & Page, 2004).

The Cherokee nation was the largest tribe of the five Indian-American tribes (Creeks, Choctaws, Seminoles and Chickasaws) of the Native Americans and most of them were enslaved during the formation of the new world. The pure blood Cherokees differed from the mixed blood Cherokee in terms of slavery because the latter took it as a training ground to bring them knowledge (Saunt, 2005).

By the 1960s, there was successful eradication of the Native American culture and in 1968, the group was able to access and enjoy the US Bill of Rights through the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. However, just like the African-Americans, the Indian-Americans continue to suffer the consequences of centuries of deprivation. They have been subjected to long-term poverty conditions, inadequate and limited opportunities in education, cultural dislocation, massive rates of unemployment over many decades, which has contributed to their falling to the bottom of the economic spectrum due to the race and social ethnicity discrimination. These inequalities have also affected them negatively making them suffer a lower life expectancy rate as compared to other groups in US (Hong & Page, 2004).

The African Americans
The ancestors of African-Americans did not choose to live in the US but were forced to be there against their will. Contrary to the Indian-Americans, African-Americans were forcefully taken to America by the Europeans as slaves against their choice. When these people were brought in America, with time, their numbers grew so much such that the numbers of black children born in America outnumbered that of children born in Africa. Unlike the Indian-Americans who were already living in America, the blacks were traded, sold, captured and kidnapped to be traded across state lines just like livestock. The whites, who were the dominant group, viewed the African-Americans as innately inferior justifying their heinous discriminatory behaviors. To deny them rights, the slaves were not allowed to acquire citizenship and this was mainly based on race and ethnicity. This is a significant example of the conflict theory where the dominant group denied the Africa-Americans the right to be citizens and was in complete control over them on race perspectives in order to maintain their power (Conrad, 2005).

The blacks were tortured, whipped, raped, executed, denied education and healthcare, all because of their race and ethnic status. The civil war led to the abolition of slavery and civil rights movements that the blacks openly refused to submit to domination. Civil Rights Act of 1964 came as a blow to the racist Americans because it banned various levels of discrimination such as those based on national origin, race and ethnicity, color, sex and religion (Saunt, 2005). However, just as it is for the Indian-Americans, the race and ethnic discrimination against the African-Americans still exists regardless of the Civil Rights Acts and Movements. However, the rates of discrimination have gone down in the past few years from 71.5 percent to 71.1 percent in the year 2010. Both Indian-Americans and African-Americans trail the white dominant group in terms of education, economic and health. Inequality is still felt in the education sector, unemployment, imprisonment and in insurance coverage (Conrad, 2005). Racial prejudice has continued to manifest itself and even though the 2008-to-date president is black, his criticisms are based on his race. The echoes of lack of empowerment have been heavily felt by the blacks where to a point a movement was formed to question the black president’s citizenship and right to hold office.

Race and Gender Inequality in the United States
In both the Indian-Americans and African-Americans minority groups in the US, racial discrimination is seen not only from the dominant groups but also within the minority groups. The female sex is seen as inferior and male chauvinism is highly portrayed in both groups. In both groups, gender disparities favor men over women where women are treated as inferior persons, which affects their lives. Few opportunities are left for women in terms of education, politics and economics, which leaves women less empowered (Schreier, 2008). This worsens the situation because on top on the racial and ethnic bases of discrimination by the dominant groups, the women face added disadvantages from the dominant groups as well as from their own people. Job opportunities such as in the military were known to be left for the men but with the upcoming campaigns for equality and women empowerment, more women are getting off-front jobs in the army (Cashmore & Jennings, 2001).

Discrimination based on gender starts at an early age when a child is born and the reception for either sex differs with the males being highly appreciated because they are regarded as the family insurance in both groups. However, several Indian laws favor women to men and this leads to discrimination against men. For instance, there is no sexual offense that can be filed against a woman even if she was on the wrong. A husband is jailed in case of adultery but a woman cannot be prosecuted on such bases nor receive a court punishment, and most custody or divorce cases see women end up with the children (Saunt, 2005).

How Do Religious Traditions Work to Construct Social Reality for these Groups?
Religion serves numerous purposes in the civic life of the Indian-Americans as it does for the African-Americans. Religion initially helped the blacks to cope with slavery and the oppression from the dominant groups as well as racial segregation upon them. In the majority part of the 20th century, the Christian churches that emerged from the black-American experience initiated and conducted many movements for racial reform. Afro-Christianity originated the civil traditions that guided and taught the Africans the sense of charity to those that were poor in the community and it nurtured active engagement in the political realm. The African-American and the Indian-American religious institutions got into a consensus to vigorously participate in politics and challenge social inequalities so that they could construct social reality (Saunt, 2005).

How do those in Power Aid or Obstruct the Assimilation Process?
The US political organizations have worked to aid or obstruct the assimilation process by coming up with acts such as the Dawes Act of 1887. This act was to allocate individual Indian land from the tribal Indian land. The people in power have advocated for equal opportunities in education to bridge the gap of diversities and empower people in the society. Key civil rights cases have also been brought forward and backed up by the people in power for effect and success. The people in power fight for affirmative action to aid assimilation for the people they represent in the society (Saunt, 2005).

In what Ways do Racism and Discrimination affect this Minority’s Participation in Mainstream American Life?
Racial discrimination affects the victims psychologically, mentally, physically, economically and politically. The victims continue to remain behind in provisions of development and empowerment. The African-Americans and the Indian-Americans have been at the bottom of the economic and political hierarchy in the US for a long period. Racial discrimination is because of ignorance, lack of love, care and humane morals. The victims are deprived of opportunities making them more destitute in the society. Many of the minority groups have developed self-hate because some people who deem themselves dominant discriminate them on terms of ethnic and complexion variations (Schreier, 2008).

Current Attempts to Eradicate these Inequalities
Multi cultural societies, like the United States, have embraced affirmative action policies with the aim of classifying people in terms of their ascriptive identities such as race and gender, and of dismantling institutionalized or informal cultural norms and organization of group–based disadvantages, and the discrimination historically emanating from them. The affirmative action policies are also aimed at promoting the ideals for having an inclusive community, in terms of democracy, integration and multiculturalism (Barkan, 1999).

The United States of America has embraced cultural acceptance and pluralism and have dissociated it from aspects of culture like food, clothing or music because these aspects neither represent cultural aspects in their complexity nor perturb the society and supremacy of the dominant culture (Dworkin, 2002). Various institutions have had to select people in terms of their classification when giving roles. The arguments for affirmative action policies will be discussed under the following sub-headings:

Arguments on Grounds of Justice
This includes compensatory, discriminatory and integrative approaches in propelling affirmative action policies. Compensatory affirmative action is aimed at compensating people for previous injustices, injuries, discrimination and their effects. Discriminatory affirmative action is aimed at blocking the effects present vices affiliated to discrimination by striking an identical force at the opposite side. Integrative affirmative action is aimed at dismantling the current causes of racial based disadvantages like segregation and stigmatization, by promoting racial integration. McGary (1977) suggests that, African Americans should be allowed to have privileged treatment in attainment of employment and education to compensate for slavery they suffered.

Arguments on Grounds of Democracy
Post (1998) argues that, affirmative action policies are necessarily crucial in college and university admissions with the central mission of promoting a democratic culture. The diverse student body calls for affirmative action without which educational institutions will only be able to inculcate incomplete competencies for critical interactions necessary for effective citizenry.

Arguments on Grounds of Social Utility
The argument here is that diverse groups of people are best placed to solve problems more effectively than homogeneous groups. Pages (2004) demonstrates through formal models, how group diversity helps in solving organizational problems and making better predictions due to various forms of cognitive diversity.

Conclusion
In the United States, racial discrimination has been portrayed in many aspects. For instance, in form of a wide gap in wealth distribution between the minority and the majority groups, differences in poverty rates, unemployment rates, and disparities in housing patterns, education opportunities and incarceration rates. The variations that have victimized the minority groups base their roots in over three hundred years of cultural, political, legal, economic and physical discrimination upon them. There are several minority groups in the US, such as the Blacks or African-Americans, the Indian-Americans, the Hispanics, and Latinos among others (Cashmore & Jennings, 2001).

References
Anderson, M.L. & Taylor, H.F. (2009). Sociology: The Essentials. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Barkan, E. R. (1999). A nation of peoples: A sourcebook on America’s multicultural heritage. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press.
Cashmore, E., & Jennings, J. (2001). Racism: Essential readings. London [u.a.: SAGE.
Conrad, C. (2005). African Americans in the US economy. Lanham [u.a.: Rowman & Littlefield.
Corlett, J. (2003). Race, racism, and reparations. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Dworkin, R. (2002). “Affirmative Action: Does it Work?” “Affirmative Action: Is it Fair?” in Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Hong, L., & Page S. (2004). “Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers.” Proceedings of the National Academies of Science101:16385-89.
Lind, M. (1995). The Next American Nation; The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution. New York: Free Press.
McGary, H. (1977). “Justice and Reparations,” Philosophical Forum 9 (8): 250-263.
Page, S. (2008). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies (new Ed.) (Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Post, R. (1998). “Introduction: After Bakke,” in Robert Post and Michael Rogin, eds. Race and Representation: Affirmative Action. New York: Zone Books, pp. 13-27.
Ritzer, G. & Goodman, D.J. (2004). Sociological Theory: Sixth Edition. Columbus, OH: McGraw Hill.
Saunt, C. (2005). Black, white, and Indian: Race and the unmaking of an American family. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schreier, J. T. (2008). Different shades of freedom: Indians, African Americans, and race in the Choctaw Nation, 1800-1907.

MINORITY GROUPS IN THE USA 2

Running head: MINORITY GROUPS IN THE USA 1

Leadership development

 

Truth telling – autonomy conflict
The principle of autonomy requires physicians to tell patients the truth concerning their health status including diagnosis, proposed treatments, and the risks involved. Such information should be relayed in a manner that causes no harm to patients (Morrison, 2010, p. 33). Healthcare professionals can either disclose the truth to patients in full or in stages. The choice of which approach to use depends on various factors such as the ability of the patient to handle the full truth and the nature of information that the patient must process in order to understand the truth. For example, when a patient has been diagnosed with breast cancer, she needs to be told the truth concerning the diagnosis, and treatment options. While the patient has to know that she has breast cancer soonest possible, the truth concerning chemotherapy procedures, the risks and benefits involved can be delivered in stages to allow the patient to process the rather complex information. When the patient finally settles for a certain treatment procedure, she expects that the healthcare facility management and healthcare professionals will do everything possible to facilitate treatment and recovery. Similarly, the healthcare professionals expect the patient to comply with treatment arrangements. Fidelity is at work when both the patient and healthcare professionals keep their promises and cooperate throughout the treatment process.

Concept of non-malfeasance and the bullying nurse manager or menacing physician
Healthcare providers are under duty not to cause harm to patients in compliance with the principle of nonmaleficence. It affects such areas as patients’ rights and treatment procedures. Nonmaleficence goes hand in hand with the concept of beneficence, which involves the duty to attend to those in need of help by providing treatment and protecting their rights (Morrison, 2010, p. 48). Nonmaleficence applies not only to patient treatment but also to interactions among healthcare leaders. Healthcare managers are required to create an environment that is safe and accommodating for all employees. The workplace, therefore, should be free from discrimination, harassment, and coercion. With this in mind, healthcare leaders should never bully their staff under any circumstances.

Bullying can occur in many forms including verbal aggression, intimidation, excessive workloads, and seclusion (Hutchinson et al., 2010, p. 2321). Bullied staff members often suffer from stress related problems such as depression, hypertension, and low self-esteem, which eventually lead to a decline in their productivity. Nurse Managers and other healthcare leaders should establish and uphold a culture that ensures the workplace is safe and healthy for staff, patients and the entire healthcare community.

Charity care and justice in healthcare
The principle of justice in healthcare provides for equal distribution of healthcare benefits and burdens among all the members of the society. This involves adherence to existing laws to ensure fair distribution of benefits, scarce resources, obligations, needs, rights, and conflicts (Daniels, 2001, p. 4). The increasing involvement of federal government in healthcare funding has significant implications for local community’s engagement in charity care. Charity cares refers to the provision of health services at reduced prices or free of charge to underserved persons especially the uninsured and low-income patients. Physicians providing charity care receive compensation from the government but earn less than their colleagues with paying patients earn.

Unfortunately, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 has not done enough to meet the health care needs of the poor, and thus has created the need for charity care (List, 2011, p. 565). A public healthcare program that creates the need for charity cannot be termed as just because both the provider of charity care and the receiver have experienced injustice. The government has the obligation to use tax money to eliminate the need for charity by taking care of the needy. Therefore, the need for charity represents a failure by the government to ensure justice in the distribution of resources. The giver of charity also suffers injustice because the government has already received tax money from him or her to address the issues that create the need for charity. Therefore, universal healthcare and charity care cannot coexist without violations of justice.

References
Daniels, N. (2001). Justice, Health, and Healthcare. American Journal Of Bioethics, 1(2), 2-16. doi:10.1162/152651601300168834
Hutchinson, M., Vickers, M. H., Wilkes, L., & Jackson, D. (2010). A typology of bullying behaviors: the experiences of Australian nurses. Journal Of Clinical Nursing, 19(15/16), 2319-2328. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.03160.x
List, J. M. (2011). Beyond charity—social justice and healthcare. American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, 13(8), 565-568.
Morrison, E. E., (2010). Ethics in health administration: A practical approach for decision makers. Jones & Bartlet Publishers.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 2

Running Head: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 1