Monday, September 30, 2019

6 Tips to Customize Your Hr Dashboard

6 Tips to Customize Your HR Dashboard by Jeremy Shapiro Six Tips to Customize Your HR Dashboard What should your recruiting dashboard look like? To begin, it must be able to suit your organization’ s many unique requirements and priorities. Creating the ideal dashboard is not easy, but it helps when designing it to visualize a car’s dashboard. A car’s dashboard tells you when there is danger, or when you should accelerate. In essence, great dashboards are visual representations of data used to make important decisions.Below are 6 tips to help your metrics team customize the best recruiting dashboard for your organization. 1 Set specific goals. Each metric in a dashboard should have a target or target range by which to measure it. Creating a clear visual of where the organization is versus where the management’s target is will make evaluating progress much easier. You may want to set these targets by compiling management interviews and human resources prior ities.This information can then be used to set the measurement goal against the organization’ s desired performance. Ideally, the measurement goal will help you determine a hard dollar amount of savings or revenue increase (for example, decreasing turnover by 10 percent results in a 5 million dollar annual savings). It can also aid in tying back a stated executive priority (for example, we promote a culture of promoting from within). 2 Model your measures. Say you have already determined your executive’s priorities.You now need to model what the metric will look like. How do you identify the data you will need or the best practices appropriate for this measure? Model your metric using dummy data in a spreadsheet first. Then validate your decisions by shopping the metric around for feedback. 3 Build your metrics. This is the actual work of creating the metric using real data. If you have an ad hoc tool, this could be user-accessible; if not, you may need to enlist a tec hnical resource to build your reports.In the latter instance, modeling the metrics (see Tip 2) becomes critical to your success as your report developer will need to understand exactly what the report is supposed to do. 4 Build your dashboard. Think of your dashboard as a collection of well-focused reports on one page. After creating your reports, think about how to best represent them on a single page using graphs and other design techniques. 5 Care for your data. The information you need may be housed in several different places.Someone needs to care for this data; this includes ensuring users of the technology supporting you (HRIS, ATS, TMS, etc. ) complete the information you need. This also includes surveys. A little data maintenance now will save you hours of data repair later. 6 Validate your results. Without validation, your organization could easily misrepresent your data. Check your assumptions with peers, managers in different departments, and even with Finance. —à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Jeremy Shapiro is the Vice President of E-Recruiting Solutions at Bernard Hodes Group.Over the past 11 years, Jeremy has coached hundreds of companies through challenging recruiting technology implementations across industries and sizes. Jeremy is a frequent speaker and author on current/emerging recruiting technology topics, most recently contributing to the HR metrics book â€Å"Ultimate Performance† (Wiley, 2006). Jeremy holds an M. S. in Information Systems from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a B. A. in Economics from Rutgers University. He is an advisor to the industry metrics consortium HRMetrics. org.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Motivation Essay

Motivation and the Brain – The Desire to Exercise and Be Physically Fit Motivation and the Brain – The Desire to Exercise and Be Physically Fit The motivation that drives people to engage in physical activities like exercise can be analyzed as a result of many contributing factors. Theories exist regarding whether desire can be attributed to extrinsic or intrinsic factors. The brain structures and functions responsible for this type of motivation are complex and unique. Each individual will have his or her own reasons, but ultimately, some key factors can be noted. The role of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivators The motivational factors that drive people to engage in physical activities like working out at a fitness club, or running, appear to be mostly intrinsic. Heredity does not seem to be a prominent motivator; however, one’s environment will indeed have some effect. Children raised by athletes will obviously more inclined and motivated to participate in physical activities as an athlete would likely push his or her son or daughter to be athletic like them. Another increasingly popular source of motivation to work out is the desire to maintain good health, including keeping a healthy body weight. Another possible motivation is the desire one may have to prove to their own selves, the extent of their capacity. The term â€Å"self-efficacy† can be summarized with an individual asking himself or herself the following two questions: â€Å"Am I capable of doing this activity? † and â€Å"Will I be successful in achieving my goals if I engage in this behavior? † The internal question specific to this article would be â€Å"Am I capable of successfully participating in an ongoing diet and exercise program? Self-efficacy can also be described as situation-specific self-confidence (Grogan, Connor, & Smithson,  2006). Another possible explanation for the motivation to diet and exercise is the Protection Motivation Theory, which suggests that people are motivated to protect themselves from harmful or stressful life events ( Deci, 2004). In other words, an individual who maintains his or herself at peak physical condition can develop a sense that he or she is prepared for any disease or threat that may cross his or her path. Some may become paranoid and overly cautious in considering every possible harm that could fall upon them; this fear is drives them in the relentless pursuit of physical health. Perhaps the most gratifying benefit of exercising is the change it will bring to one’s physique. The tone and definition, weight loss and strength are obvious and can be noticed fairly quickly and easily. Along with these changes come the encouragement and positive feedback from one’s peers; this is a huge motivator. Research shows that Acknowledgment, Positive Feedback and Encouragement for self-initiation tend to increase intrinsic motivation (Deci, 2004). It does seem the motivation for maintaining physical health is largely intrinsic, previous family medical history, such as inherent life-threatening diabetes could be considered an extrinsic motivator. Pressure placed on individuals by family members and medical professionals regarding the risks of an unhealthy diet and lethargic behavior can be significant motivating factors that would drive one to take action to improve their health. Both intrinsic motivation and integrated extrinsic motivation are facilitated in situations that are interpersonally supportive, that is, here parents, teachers, managers, health care providers, and coaches understand and acknowledge the perspectives of their children, students, employees, patients, and athletes, respectively, and encourage them to experiment, allow them to try their own solutions to problems, provide them with choices, and respond to their initiations (Deci, 2004). Brain Structures and functions associated with the motivation to work out An important thing to note the brain structures and functions associated with this type of motivation. The feeling a person experiences in the aftermath of a long training session can be extremely euphoric. One hypothesis revolves around a set of opioid neurotransmitters of which endorphins are a special case. The term endorphin refers to internal morphine. Endorphins are primarily located in the pain pathways and are responsible for reducing the negative effects of pain stimuli and stressors (Deckers, 2010). Another argument that could be made would be that the gender aspect related to the concern about weight and appearance. It has been suggested that gay men and heterosexual women are under significantly more acute social pressure to attain the culturally valued slender body type (Grogan, Connor, & Smithson,  2006).

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Road to Dreams

Life has always been about making choices. We are brought to a realization that the choices we make in life would either make or break us. The past year has been an adventure for me.I was able to experience new and exciting things that were beneficial in my growth and maturity as an individual. For the past few years, I became interested in rendering service to my community. Children became my weakness, and I paid close attention to children who did not have much in life.As a weakness, I deal with children who have special needs. I make sure that I give these children a memorable time, especially for those who are terminally ill. This is the same service that I offer the elderly, so that I may give them a comfortable life. These are some of the experiences that inspire me to become better with my craft and make a difference. The different experiences and the difference I could make with my passion for children would definitely help improve the quality of service that would be given t o Christ Hospital College Community.I started working and interacting with children a few years ago. Equipped with an open mind and eagerness to succeed, I embarked on my quest to fulfill these challenges. For each case that I encountered, I made sure that I was prepared to become the best individual that I can be. My exposure to the children made me realize that there was more to life than just heartaches.Our close encounter with each other made us appreciate the little things that life had to offer. In their own little way, these children showed me the importance of life, and how important it is to have a strong will in life. Such characteristics were necessary in order to become successful in life.Our Wednesdays were spent in the sensory room, where we would take the time and effort to sit on an exercise ball. This may sound easy for many, but for these kids who are feeling weak physically, this is much effort. A goal was set for each week, and together, we would try and reach th ose goals. We were fortunate enough to have them accomplished, making us a step closer to our goals. I noticed that these kids were willing to give their best in order to improve themselves and feel better.I was once given the opportunity to go on a trip to Give Kids the World Village in Disney World. The foundation granted the wishes of children who had life threatening diseases.I have achieved a strong work ethic while spending time with these children they helped me reach a personal experience that I will always keep with me. I was scared at first, for I could not imagine risking the children experience relapses. For every ride that we went to, I saw the genuine happiness from these kids that I have never seen before. I became more opened to the realities that life had to offer. Being involved in the medical field became more than just a dream – it was a passion that I wanted to continue as I grew older.Working with adults never became a hindrance from my end. In fact, I b ecame more determined than ever to indulge into the said field, where I believe I can accomplish my hopes and dreams. In addition to this, I had numerous experiences that would come as an advantage to my career. These could be employed as my backbone, especially when dealing with different kinds of people.My goals in life do not end after college. I would continue to promote good health and care for people around me, as I age and mature. In addition to this, I would keep myself updated with medical advancements, so that I may be able to apply these in my profession.Furthermore, I believe that I have what it takes to become successful in this field. Aside from my dedication and commitment to this field, I also have the heart those who are in need. I believe that this is my greatest strength in becoming an effective member of the health care team.   Life is indeed filled with different choices, and this was one I took to reach the road towards   my dreams   

Friday, September 27, 2019

Orange juice target market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Orange juice target market - Essay Example The customer service is covered by giving a number on the back of the packaging to contact in case of further information, problems and suggestions. The advertisement is properly designed for its desired target market as it has both its USP placed at the front of the package in order to make the customer know what the manufacturers are offering. The saving option that the juice offers is also written on the package. The product is simply Apple juice, it's a normal consumer non durable good that has nutrients and gives energy plus the taste of apple is sweeter than that of orange hence making it more preferred among Apple Juice lovers. The pricing has been done keeping in mind a low profit margin and cost of ingredients. The target market is an essential factor in this case to decide the price of the product. The promotion is done by advertisement and signboards plus the one USP of the product that it does not have any added sugar. The quality of the packaging is also less enhanced and attractive. The distribution is at all the vendors of juices, bakeries, grocery stores and super stores that are located near the potential customers of this product. ... The customer service is maintained through a mail address that is provided at the back the customer who has a query can write to the company to get the desired information. The product promotion technique and the USP is telling that its designed for the lower and the lower middle class people. The saving option with this product is higher than the offer with the previous product. The packaging is also not that expensive as compared to the last product. Campbell's V8 Juice This juice targets the upper middle class and the upper class, which is diet conscious and need energy through out the day plus the people who love carrot juice. The product is the carrot juice manufactured by Campbell. The product offers energy boost and carrot juice also helps in finishing blood problems. The pricing is based on four factors the major one being the class that the product is catering to, then comes the profit margin and the cost of ingredients that the company bares and in the end the brand name. The promotion is done through television advertisement and banners. Other techniques used are the USP of the product, that include the level of energy it provides plus removing the major problems that can arise in the blood of people. Distribution channel is through the vendors, juice and cold drink stores and all the major super store of the country. The shelve position is also a vital one hence the customer can locate the product easily. The juice is easily available around the country in any location. The customer service is handled through calls, emails and mails. The queries are answered immediately and appropriately. Suggesti ons to improve the product are also welcomed by the manufacturers, as they

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Compensation and Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Compensation and Benefits - Essay Example Second is the assessment that the prospect that an individual’s exertion will lead to the expected performance outcome (expectancy). Third, is the belief that the resulting performance can result to a reward or benefit based on the individual’s performance (instrumentality) (Noe et al., 2014). In reference to Noe et al. (2014), expectancy or performance expectancy is faith and trust that good individual efforts will lead to better work performance. It denotes the relation of "effort-performance". It is heavily weighted by an individuals personality, past experiences, emotional state, and self-confidence. Instrumentality, according to Thomsen (1980), denotes the "performance-reward" or â€Å"reward-expectancy† relation. The individual appraises the probability or likelihood, according to Noe et al. (2014), which achieving the expected level of performance will result to the realization of the performance reward. Valence, on the other hand, is the value that the employee associated with the result or outcome (reward). It denotes the significance an individual associated with the expected outcome (Thomsen, 1980). A motivational force (MF) is thus the multiplication of instrumentality with expectancy and the valence. The proposers of the theory believe that it best explains an individual’s decision-making process (Thomsen, 1980). On the other hand, critics believe that it does not consider emotional state of individuals during decision making. It can also be challenging to implement in a situation of the group environment (Noe et al., 2014). According to Noe et al. (2014), individual and group incentive plans have and strive for a similar goal. They strive to offer an employee incentive that will result to the right performance for the success of the company. For a company or firm to decide on the best incentive options, it is important to the first know their actual goals. Again

House of sand and fog Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

House of sand and fog - Movie Review Example As a consequence she tries to do what she can to get the house back including starting a relationship with a local police officer (Lester). The novel goes on to explain the background about the officer how he had an emotional upbringing and one of the reasons why he is reluctant towards the woman. The Iranian after marrying his daughter off, remember he is in the USA, spends the rest of his saved money which includes his sons future education funds into the house which he considers a good investment. His intention's is to eventually make a house like the villa he had in Iran. He thinks like the average Muslim man struggling to make a better future for his family. The woman whose house it was tries to plea with him but resorts to threatening him that he will be deported if he doesn't give her the house, the police officer aids her. The film finish's differently to the novel as the son (Esmail) who has an opportunity to shoot the police officer dies in a shootout by authorities as he is taken by the officer. And as a consequence his father the Colonel poison's his wife and then commits suicide. As the Colonel has rescued the woman twice from committing suicide when she walks in to see him in a plastic bag she tries to resuscitate him. But is too late; There is a mystery as to w hether she is arrested in her part of the events leading up to his death and family breakdown of the family in the novel. In the film When the Colonel finds out about the death of his son, he returns to the house to find the woman waiting there and then strangles her to death. He then suffocates himself and his wife. The woman and the police officer await trial after being imprisoned. The woman mimes a request for a fag as she is in a state after seeing the Colonel. Culture: The daughter's marriage in all cultures amongst the different sects in Islam re very important. They have to be done in a quality way so that the in laws accept the bride just as much as the husband does. It is the most important responsibility for a father. After this the next important thing is education. And for men in Islam education is of high importance. A father would correctly first support his daughter's needs to secure her future and then the son, just as has been shown and written about in the film. The Father did everything possible to achieve the dream he wanted for his family. Regardless of him being a political refugee from Iran he managed to do what any Muslim man would do for his family. It is a cultural fact. In comparison to the woman who was living in a house brought to her by her father and who became in a similar situation as if exiled from the house due to not paying taxes, her approach of revenge was more based on emotion and fear rather then practical and le gal. As the film does not reveal the history of the officer the fact is it is perceived as a racist American man who misuses the law. Film portrayal: If we look at the situation of the Iranian man who was working, had a family had money, he was in a stable situation and wanted to progress and he was within law Islamically and Country law to purchase the house. The woman was wronged by the law of the country for failing her by wrongly accusing her of not paying taxes and causing her to use the means she could to

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Homicide and Criminal Justice Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homicide and Criminal Justice - Term Paper Example As noted by Fox and Jack (2001), homicide is considered excusable if death results from a mistake that cannot be described as sufficient to declare someone guilty. An example of excusable homicide is a road accident that leads to death but does not result from driver’s serious negligence. Justifiable homicide is the acceptable killing of a person (Fox & Jack, 2001). For example, a person can kill another person in self-defense or soldiers can shoot and kill members of enemy camps without committing criminal offenses. Acceptable killing is also called non-felonious homicide (Fox & Jack, 2001). On the other hand, felonious homicides – also known as criminal homicides - comprise of two broad forms of illegal killing (Fox & Jack, 2001). In this regard, as pointed out by Fox and Jack, a felonious homicide that is not premeditated is called manslaughter in most US states. The worst form of homicide called murder is a criminal act in which a person’s meditation to kill leads to the actual killing of another person (Fox & Jack, 2001). In some states, criminal homicide is classified in terms of degrees depending on circumstances under which killing takes place. A person can bear murder related responsibilities in two ways (Arafa, 2008). First, an individual can only bear criminal liability for murder if he or she intended to kill and actually killed another person. However, according to Arafa (2008), sometimes people can bear criminal responsibilities for crimes they did not commit. In this regard, a person who assists or encourages the commission of murder bears accomplice responsibility. A person can only be an accomplice in the murder case if he or she wanted the killed person to die and would bear responsibility for any other crime committed as a result of the commission of the original crime (Arafa, 2008).

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Managerial Accounting Practise in Saudi Organizations Essay

Managerial Accounting Practise in Saudi Organizations - Essay Example The State and Extent of Using Modern Management Accounting Techniques In Particular in Making the Right Decisions Decision making is considered to be an all inclusive and widespread process that consists of various activities such as identification of the problem or the concerns, allocation of certain weights or ranks to the identified problem, evaluation and implementation of the alternative plans. Management accounting on the other hand is related to the appropriate use of relevant information in order to facilitate and direct managers to undertake informed business decisions effectively and efficiently. The most advantageous fact of management accounting practices is that is does not require conforming or following the national accounting standards which further gives a liberty or room for the business people to adopt customized management accounting techniques that are most effective in terms of their business operations. For realizing the affectivity in the decision making proce ss, organizations combine or merge the advanced quantitative and qualitative techniques. According to Johnson, The use of modern management practices has helped in focusing on the problem which inclines more towards how accounting information can be made more useful for decision making rather than how we could improve things we do . The recent developments in the modern management accounting techniques have enabled the managers to make sound decisions so that excessive costs incurred by firms could be pruned down and at the same time, the value of the products and services rendered could be enhanced. The extent to which the management accounting practices have been put into action is tremendous and quite rigorous, especially in the past two decades. Lot many research work and in-depth study in various countries across the world have undertaken to find out the relevance and significance of the modern practices to various sectors in the economy. For instance, in a research conducted b y Philip and Kerckhoffs Christian (2005), the significance of Activity Based Costing (ABC) and throughput accounting (TA) was brought forward and was revealed that MAP’s are more used as accounting tools to â€Å"make-up† the technical insights from an accounting viewpoint. The research indicated the use of working-floor insights and production process data in the formulation of a company’s income statements that are utmost essential for managerial decision making. When most of the countries have already adopted the MAPs, there are countries like Bangladesh which still need to incorporate the changes in the accounting practices. Bidhan has conducted one such study whereby it was found t modern techniques like Activity-Based Costing, Cost-Volume-Profit, Target Costing, and Just-in-Time (JIT) etc were not applied in the public and private sector manufacturing enterprises but used by just a few Multinational Corporations (MNC). (8) Most of the companies in Saudi we re still found to use the conventional and traditional accounting practices. Traditional management accounting techniques are generally perceived by the Saudi manufacturing and service sector firms to be highly important and frequently used by the responding firms. As per Ei-Ebaishi, the managers rely less in comparison to

Monday, September 23, 2019

Referee report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Referee report - Essay Example The study found that M & As provides a positive impact on systemic risks for the transfer function estimation based on aggregate Z-score. Other evidence from the history and empirical findings favoured the efficiency hypothesis as opposed to the hypothesis of the imminent failure. The authors assessed how Banking system over relying on merger guidelines based on Herfndahl-Hirshman Index might curb the possibility of increasing risks associated with M & As. The understanding of risks and stability for banks undergoing merger and acquisition has drawn immense attention hence widely published in the banking empirical literature. The area of study is important for strategies in the banking sectors as well as the investors to devise methods that assess the possibilities of securing risks or attaining stability after merger and acquisition. Most of the empirical and theoretical framework was relevant with the exception of a few materials and concepts used by the author. However, I believe the area studied is very important. Therefore, I wish to illustrate and give my personal views as follows: 1. I am not sure whether the probabilistic model proposed and developed by the author as a mean of analysing the relationship between the systemic stability and the merger of banking system can provide the function it was proposed to offer. 2. The reason relates to the description of the model. The authors assert that the model uses a theoretical framework in establishing the differences between the imminent failure hypothesis and the efficiency hypothesis. One would wonder how they measured the levels of failure in the banks. Using financial distress, and bank failure as the indicator is relative and not objective. 3. Besides the model uses the assumption that when banks have low levels of probability for failure, they are likely to experience reduced systemic crises, and contagious bank runs, which were not substantiated appropriately as would be expected (Carlton and

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Mind and True Feelings Essay Example for Free

Mind and True Feelings Essay In the book Grendel, the author made the decision to use the character Grendel as the narrator. He knew that the readers would understand more about Grendel’s feelings. To know the real Grendel, you need to read it from his point of view, not anyone else’s. The story made more sense because it was written in stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness means that the author writes down everything that he is thinking. In Grendel we got to read everything from his heart, his true feelings about everything. The story would have been really different if we hadn’t gotten to see who he was and what he was all about. Grendel from the book was a totally different Grendel from Beowulf. In Beowulf we see Grendel as an evil monster that wanted to kill everyone and had no feelings. But we know that he did have true feelings for people and for himself. â€Å"My head aches† (page 13), is an example of something we would have never known by watching the movie. We also know that he cared deeply about his mother and other people. We also would have never known that he was actually very intelligent and could speak. â€Å"I sobbed as if heartbroken† (page 19). We know that he had a heart; a real monster wouldn’t have a heart. He was sad because he didn’t have the life that he wanted; everyone was happy but he wasn’t. With everything that we know about Grendel and his feelings is all stuff that we learned from the book, not from the movie. The movie basically told us the opposite of what was true about him. We would have never known this stuff if the author wouldn’t have written in the stream of consciousness. Grendel had many feelings that we did not know about in Beowulf that we learned about in the book. In the movie we got the idea that he was a horrible monster who didn’t care about anything or anyone. Beowulf told the story from the dans point of view not Grendel’s. So by John Gardner choosing to use stream of consciousness we really saw who Grendel was. Grendel seems way more human in the book rather than the movie. â€Å"I laughed my ankle was numb; my leg was on fire to the hip† (page 21). Only a real human could feel pain and sorrow like that. Everyone hated him and wanted him dead because they thought he was such a horrible monster, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t pick the way he looks; that’s just how he was created. In the end, he was just in so much pain he didn’t know what to do with his life anymore. So that’s why I’m happy that the author choose this form of writing because we understood who he was and what he was. Not just some monster who wanted to kill everyone. If the Danes could have seen him like we did I think that that would have changed their whole look about him. Those are all the reasons why I think that the stream of consciousness was a way better form of writing rather than formal writing. This is also why I think that we see Grendel more human than monster and understood him better. I sympathize him more this way and feel sorry for him because everyone hated him for the way that he looked. I think the author choose this way because he knew that we would understand him more. That’s why if he would have chosen formal writing everything would have been more confusing and hard to understand.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Challenges Hospital Management In Nepal

Challenges Hospital Management In Nepal The WHO defines health as A complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence or disorder (WHO, 1948). It means that complete state of wellbeing is health and hospitals one of the major tool for promotion of health. WHO in 2010 has addressed the role and importance of hospital management for a quality health (WHO, 2010). There is no internationally accepted clear definition for hospital. There are several types of hospitals based on the facilities, equipments and services, i.e. district hospitals, provincial hospitals, speciality hospitals and referral hospitals, teaching University hospitals and other types of health care facilities. There is no international standard defining what should be the minimum services that each hospital should provide during a health crisis. Each country has to develop a national policy and technical guidelines to deal with a health crisis. Before defining the essential services, the ministry of health has to define the essential health services that the health sector will provide to the community in order to identify what more specific services will be delivered by hospitals (WHO, 2009). Management is defined as the organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of defined objectives. Management is included as a factor of production along with machines, materials and money. Renowned guru of management Peter Drucker (19909-2005) has said that the basic task of management is two fold: marketing and innovation. Practice of modern management owes its origin to the 16th century enquiry into low efficiency and failures of certain enterprises, conducted by the English statesman Sir. Thomas Moore (1478-1535). As a discipline, management consists of the interlocking services of formulating corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling and directing an organizations resources to achieve the policies objectives (Walden University, 2011).Hospital managenmnet.net suggests that Hospital Management provides a direct link between healthcare facilities and those supplying the services they need ( Hospit al management.net 2011) . WHO in 2009 suggests understanding by hospital management as an effective and combined management of, the following factors:- (a) Acute care for emergency patients; (b) Out Patient Department (OPD) activities; (c) Investigation (laboratory; X-ray; other diagnostic elements); (d) Referral for primary health care (PHC); specialized consultations or services; (e) Contribution to public health programmes; (f) Part of health information system (surveillance system, including a EWS Component); (g) Public information and education; and (h) Preparedness for health crisis management. Nepal is a landlocked country which is mostly covered by hills and mountains and it has a population of 25.8 million as estimated in 2006. It is in the south Asian continent, north to India and south to China. Its area is 147,181 sq. km (WHO, 2007). It has been facing several challenges to establish a functional health management system (Thapa, 2010). This proposal deals with the challenges which Nepali health system is facing at present and suggests the possible ways for its improvement. Statement of the problem Nepals health system is in transition. Nepal is an underdeveloped country where most of the geographical part (85%) is covered by mountains and hills. India is in the south and China is in the northern part of the landlocked country. The southern boarder is open where the northern part is separated by the high mountains called Himalayas. The health indicators are very poor. The health service facility is not adequate to Nepali people. So the hospitals are (Dixit, 2005). Nepals hospital bed per ten thousand populations is 4.26 (2001/02), physician per ten thousand populations is 2 and Nurses per ten thousand population is also 2 as per the data of 2004 Similarly, Total Expenditure on Health (THE) as % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 5.3% and Public Expenditure on Health (PHE) as % of Total Expenditure on Health (THE) is 28 while Private Expenditure on Health (PvtHE) as % of Total Expenditure on Health (THE) 72(WHO, 2007). If it is compared with the other developing countries in the sa me region i.e. south east Asian region, the level of the problem may be perceived. Maldives, a small tiny country with population 298 thousand has Total Expenditure on Health (THE) as % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 6.2. Maldives Public Expenditure on Health (PHE) as % of Total Expenditure on Health (THE) is 89 as compared with 28 of Nepal. Private Expenditure on Health (PvtHE) as % of Total Expenditure on Health (THE) in Maldives is 11. It shows that the state has better involvement in Maldives than in Nepal. More over, the population per hospital bed is 381, which are 26.2 hospital beds per 10000 populations. Similarly, number of populations per physician 959 and nurses per 10000 populations are 33 (WHO, 2007). It clearly shows the scenario of health development of Nepal. As part of health, curative health services have a major role in providing quality health service to the people. Until the health care provider organizations are strong, the curative health service can not be delivered to the beneficiaries properly (Edelman and Mandle 2006). Hospitals are the key component of health care delivery system and they needs to be reformed to ensure a quality health care system (McKay and Healy, 2000).Unfortunately the hospitals in Nepal have very poor in quality management and they are not able to deliver quality health services to the people (Dixit, 2005). To address the needs and requirement of the hospital, the government of Nepal ( GON), Ministry of Health and Population ( MOHP) has published The guideline on the establishment, Operation policy and standard and infrastructure for Private and Public Health Hospitals in 2004 ( MOHP,2004). But it is still lacking in the formulation of the standard for the hospitals run by the government (Dixit, 2005). However, the policy published by the MOHP tries to clarify on the basic parameters of the infrastructures required for the hospitals which may be applied for the general hospitals as well. But the document does not speak about the application in the government run hospitals (MOHP, 2004). That is why; there is a lack of clear cut guideline for the management of hospital. Nepals health sector is facing a challenge regarding the management (Dixit, 2005). As part of whole system of health in Nepal, management of the hospitals is also a sever challenge for the country. 1.2 Summary of the problem Nepal has set a target to achieve the millennium Development goals by 2015. It has to meet the target in all health indicators. Goal no 3 and 4 are c loosely related with health and as part of curative health, hospital and hospital management have crucial role in health promotion. In Nepalese context, hospital management skill and concept of hospital management is still beyond the priority of the government and the government still does not have any policy guidelines over the hospital management sector (Dixit, 2005). People skill is a key asset for the development of key management styles. Dealing the people is a professional skill in itself. Being able to see from the perspective of others is essential, and caring for their welfare is also of prime importance. There are many high-profile examples of how to develop a successful management style. Managers like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have famously developed their own distinctive management style from which others can learn. However, the fact that the two examples are very different management styles shows that there is no single route to success (Bono and Hellers, 2009). But unfortunately, there are no clear guidelines or policy found in the government documents. The recent document on the guideline on the requirement of a hospital, government does not speak about the hospital management, its skill development and transfer for the improvement of a hospital (MOHP, 2004). Lack of professional skill in the person responsible to manage the hospitals has created a problem in hospital management. The government run or supervised hospitals still do not have positions for the hospitals. MOHP in its policy document has not mentioned anything about the hospital managers (MOHP,2004). However, the private hospitals have started hiring them which is still out of the government policy (Thapa, 2010). Nepal is an underdeveloped country where the literacy rate is only 62.7% for male and 34.9% for female as per the report of census 2001 (CBS, 2001). It means still 64.1% women are out of literacy coverage. Nepal has poor health facilities all over the country except in capital Kathmandu and other urban areas. Most of the doctors are not willing to go to the rural areas hospitals and they are often running without (qualified) doctors (Dixit, 2005). In conclusion, the poor socio-economic conditions, hard geographical conditions and lack of awareness of the people and traditional beliefs and superstitions, lack of will in the political parties and their leaders are the main burning issues for the improvement of health sector in Nepal (Chaulagain, 2004). These all are problems associated with the hospitals and ultimately with their management. The factors associated to hospital management are still not uncovered in Nepal (Thapa, 2010). So, it Purpose of the study As mentioned above, it has been obvious that Nepal is facing the problems to strengthen the management of the health sector. The documents are not found to have been lacking regarding the strategies and policies on the health management. So, the proposal aims to identify the hindering factors affecting the hospital management in Nepal. It will study the existing policies and strategies of the government of Nepal on hospital management, international principles, theories and practices on hospital management and identify the factors which are affecting the betterment for hospital management sector of Nepal. So, the purpose of the study is to identify the hindering factors of hospital management in the case of Nepal and suggest the concerning authorities about improving the hospital management system, formulating the policies and implementing them. This proposal will analyse the strength and limitations of the hospital management system in Nepal and help all the concerned to mitigate and minimize them. Main research question The study can not answer all questions that come on surface while studying about the issue. So, to narrow down the study area and sharpen the focus, the study has defined the main study questions as follows:- What are the hindering factors that effect the hospital management in Nepal? Subsidiary Questions To supplement the main research question, these questions are defined as subsidiary questions as follows:- What will be the appropriate modality or best practices of hospital management that are applied in the world by other countries and What are the factors that are hindering in the betterment in the hospital management in Nepal? What is the most influential factor to promote the hospital management in Nepal? Hypothesis Lindsen and Jong (2005) have defined hypothesis as an alternative explanation of residual switch trial costs or, more precisely, of the empirical finding that the repetition trial (RT) distribution for switch trials with a long preparation intervals can be modelled as a mixture of the RT distributions for repetition trials and for switch trials with a short preparation interval (Lindsen and Jong, 2010). In here, the hypothesis tries to establish an alternative factor that might be supposed to be the commonest hindering factor for the management of hospitals in Nepal. The hypothesis taken here is the lack of professionalization of hospital managers or the persons who are involved in the management of either government run or private or community run hospitals in Nepal is the most influential limiting factors in hospitals in Nepal. Significance of Study As mentioned above there are no special policies and practices established for hospital management in Nepal. The hospitals are managed by the medical doctors or surgeons so far (MOHP, 2004). The doctors are not entitled to diagnose the patients, treat them, run medical and surgical and public health cams campaigns in the hospitals or in the periphery of the hospitals. The Medical council is liable to assign the job responsibilities of the doctors in the case of Nepal. But it has not mentioned about the management part of the hospital and its regulation, Nepal Medical Council Act, 1964 (amended in 2001).It does not speak who is responsible for that (Nepal Medical Council, NMC, 2001). There is no one professionally responsible for the hospital management in the present context. In the country where the government policy about the medical sector does not speak about the role of hospital management, it becomes obvious that the hospital management sector is not running smoothly. No presen ce of the monitoring body to supervise and evaluate the hospital management is found in the present documents whether published by the government or private organizations. So, the studies significance is in establishing the fact what are the main barrier and other minor barriers in the hospital management of Nepal. That is why this study is has a significance value. Literature Review 2.1 Concept of Hospital Management Hospital management provides a direct link between health care facilities and those supplying the service they need. This enhances the capacity of deciding and managing hospitals and health care centres and all other health care providers and other health care industries (Hospital management.net, 2011). The discipline hospital management is found to be conceptualised from the WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986. It was introduced in the name of Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) in the beginning since hospital was regarded a mean of health promotion. So, this concept is only 25 years old and newer to other disciplines. The Ottawa Charter recognised five areas of hospital management i.e. health promoting hospital setting, health promoting workplaces, the provision of health related services, training, education and research. It has identified the hospital sector as the change agent and advocate for health promotion (WHO, 2011). From the declaration of WHO, it becomes obvious that hospital is not only a place of treating the patients, but also a place where the activities for health promotion are run, all heath services are provided, trainings are conducted, education is given and researches are carried out. It rules out the understanding of the government on hospitals. Th e Bir Hospital, which is one of the units or part of the Ministry of Health and Population and the biggest government run hospital (MOHP) of Nepal has defined Bir Hospital only as a treatment and diagnosis service centre. In this definition, the other four parts defined by the Ottawa Charter are missing. However, it adds something in its website as its activities. According to it, Bir Hospital offers training to the students through its Post Graduate programme of its Medicine School (Bir Hospital, 2008). It clearly shows that the government of Nepal has some how realised the integrated approach of the hospitals, but not mentioned in its policy or strategy. There seems a gap between the Ottawa Charter and the understanding of the Government of Nepal in terms of its concept. National Health Service (NHS) of the UK has presented a model of its Week Hospital in its journal. It says that it has developed and validated an innovative integer programming model, based on clinical resources allocation and beds utilization. According to NHS, the model aims at scheduling Week Hospital patients admission/discharge, possibly reducing the length of stay on the basis of an available timetable of clinical services. The performance of the model has been evaluated, in terms of efficiency and robustness, by considering real data coming from a Week Hospital Rheumatology Division. The experimental results have been satisfactory and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach (NHS, 2011). We can see the factors that contribute in hospital management by this example mentioned above. The hospital management has become an emerging field in India, the neighbouring of Nepal and a developing country in the south Asian sub-continent. India education in its home page of its website says that hospital management and administration has become a priority and importance for healthcare industry and providing health and hygiene care in India. The government of India is paying attention on providing healthcare in both rural and urban areas by improving the management of the hospitals. It further adds that hospitals are expected to deliver quality service 24 hours a day at a minimal cost. The urgent nature of its work and the level of efficiency that is expected have increased the need of well-formulated hospital management system throughout the world (India Education, 2011). It shows that India has seriously taken the hospital management stream to upgrade the quality of the service delivery of the hospitals in India. These literatures presented above describe the concept of h ospital management. 2.2 Benefit of Hospital Management Worlds renowned management Guru Peter Drucker developed the concept of Management by Objective (MBO) in 1954. He has defined MBO as a systematic and organised approach that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to attain the best possible results from available resources. He has further said that the strong management system of the organization increases its performance by aligning the goals and subordinate objectives through out the organization. He adds that the employee get strong input to identify their objectives and timeline for completion. He has described the benefits of management to have supporting in setting objectives, organising groups, motivating and communication, measuring performance and developing people ( Peter Drucker,1954). NHS has defined its hospitals as organizations where high qualities of health care services are delivered to the clients (NHS, 2011). So, all the theories of the organization may be applied in hospitals and the importance of the hospitals may be assumed based on the benefits of a good management system as described Drucker. So, it has become obvious that to achieve the goals of the nation, the hospital management sector should be regarded as an important discipline in the context of Nepal as well. Limitations of Hospital Management Management is not a solution, but only the means of the solution which organises the resources in a proper way. For the effective management, every surrounding factor should be appropriate. Verzuh (2001) has identified five sectors that are required for effective management. They are good agreement between service providers and clients, an effective and realistic plan, constant and effective communication, a controlled scope and upper management support (Verzuh, 2001). Hospital as an organization can not provide its best services if the factors mentioned above are not available. In Nepalese context, the hospital management can not take the hospitals in the position to achieve its goals until there is an effective service giving and taking culture, until the planning body is capable enough, until the inter and intra organizational communication is strongly developed and there is a political commitment to prove upper support toward the bottom. So, these are the limitations of the hospi tal management. Barriers of Hospital Management in Nepal Nepals literacy rate is low, the national income and per capita income is also low. The difficult geographical situation is not also favourable for rapid development in Nepal. The socio-economic development is far behind as compared with other developed and even with developing countries (Dixit, 2005). As mentioned above, financial strength, political commitment, social culture and context need to be favourable for the good management of every development sector and the hospital is not an exception. The people can not consume the facilities well if they are not aware about the facilities they have been provided with (Thapa, 2010). But hospitals are managed by the Department of Health Services under the Ministry of Health Population and the, So, for the hospital management, this context has become a barrier. Hospital management practice in different countries i.e. Nepal, USA, UK, India, Japan and Thailand Hospital management is a new discipline. In Nepal, the Pokhara University strated Hospital Management course in 2001 only. Then it has put a milestone in the way of hospital management. Then some private hospitals have started to recruit hospital managers due to its influence and the government is in the way to start thinking on the need of separate hospital management stream under the health service (NOC, 2011). In USA, the hospitals are governed by the United States Department of Health. Its history goes to 1798 from when USA has started on managed health service (USDHHS, 2001). UK established National Health Service ((NHS) in 1948 from which it has been running the hospitals. All together, 12000 doctors are working in its hospitals all over the UK (NHS, 2011). Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for hospital management in India. It has Department of Health and National Rural Health Mission for managing the hospitals (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India, 2011). Likewise, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare looks health activities in Japan. It has Health Policy Bureau under the ministry and it looks after the hospitals and it has prepared a policy to manage the hospitals properly (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2011). In Thailand, Ministry of Public Health looks after the hospital management. Under the ministry, there is Department of Health and under th is, there are 9n divisions. They are supporting the hospitals for their management in an integrated way (Department of Health of Thailand, 2011) 2.6 Previous empirical research findings on challenges in hospital management The Hospital; of St Raphael in UK has written in its website about the challenges it suffering in terms of the management. It says that the demand is growing and the challenge is increasing. Patient satisfaction concerns, hospital management demand, smart mind and smart technologies to keep healthcare system smoothly are the challenges seen in the present context. Likewise, recruiting hospital management and their turnover are other challenges (St Raphael Hospital, 2011). In Nepal context, There are no special resources are found either in published copies or in the websites. The National Open College has written about the importance of the Hospital Management course which is like an advertorial (NOC, 2011). But it does not speak about the challenges of the hospital management. So, relevant literatures are not enough as per the topic. Discussion and Conclusion After studying the literature and analysing the present hospital management system in Nepal, the points come into mind to be discussed:- The Government of Nepal has still not considered the hospital management as a separate sector. There is a lack of Hospital management professionals. There is no proper policy addressing hospital, management issues in Nepal. Hospital management sector has not been regarded as an integrated issue so far. Public and private sector are also not actively participating for the professionalization of hospital management human resources. In conclusion, we can say that hospital management is a new discipline. The developed countries like UK have already started to think on the management issues of hospitals as a separate sector. But in Nepal, the hospital management sector is not visible separately and it has not been regarded as a separate need or requirement. The hospital has not felt the need of hospital managers to manage the hospital smoothly. Lack of awareness, culture and customs low literacy rate, low income and difficult geographical situation are the factors which are hindering the hospital management sector to grow and become strong. Methodology 3.1 Instrument The study was carried out by using systemic literature review method. The literatures were searched in the website of the Universities of UK i.e. Bournemouth. The Medical Journal of America and USA were searched. The government policies of NEPAL, India, USA, Japan, Thailand and UK were other sources. The documents were collected, materials were searched and the materials retrieved were analysed before applying them in this search. The WHO website and other journals were considered as most reliable sources. Library use was the mostly used mean for search and writing the paper. This study will apply qualitative methodology to find the hindering factors of hospital management in Nepal where face to face interviews will be arranged during this study. 4 Conclusions The hospital management is a new term which is derived from the separate words hospital and management. Hospital is a mean of healthcare delivery while management is a way to utilize the resource in an efficient way. The hospital management is not very old concept in even in the developed countries while the countries while Nepal is very far behind in the development of this sector. Lack of professionalization of the existing human resources, less availability of skilled human resources, poor socio-economic situation, low interest of government towards the hospital are the hindering factors for the development of hospital management in Nepal. These all information was collected through literature review available in the library and websites developed by the governments, universities and academic institutions. It recommends the government of Nepal to recognise the hospital management as a separate and independent discipline under the health service. It suggests the academic institutions to focus on the development of hospital management professionals in their course and curriculum. It also suggests the private sector involved in running private hospitals in Nepal to start hospital management principles in their management.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Procedural Fairness in Unfair Dismissal

Procedural Fairness in Unfair Dismissal Repeal of the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004: A report - In October 2004 the government introduced a statutory minimum disciplinary and grievance procedure dealing with disputes in the workplace. These procedures and related rules are set out in the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 and state that employers must follow a minimum dismissal and disciplinary procedure in the workplace or otherwise dismissal will be automatically unfair. When bringing a claim at the Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal, employees are also entitled to additional compensation if these disciplinary and dismissal procedures are not adhered to. Although the aim of the Regulations was to encourage informal resolution of disputes, many employers felt that they were too complicated and did not achieve the desired aim. Gibbons (2007 pg.24)[1] sums up this view, ‘The procedures are seen as a prelude to employment tribunals, rather than a way of resolving problems in the workplace’ The Employment Bill 2007 therefore recommends a repeal of the Regulations for what is hoped will be a more straightforward regime likely to come into force in April 2009. The Regulations A standard dismissal procedure as per the Regulations involves the following three steps. The first is a letter which must be sent to the employee setting out the reason for dismissal and inviting them to a meeting at a convenient time and place. The employee must be given time in which to consider the letter and then has a duty having done so to take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting. The second step involves the actual meeting which has to be conducted in a manner which enables both employer and the employee to explain their case. After the meeting the employee must be notified of the decision and provided a right of appeal. The third step would be the appeal process and if the employee wishes to appeal, they must inform the employer who will then invite them to an appeal meeting. The onus is on the employee to take all reasonable steps to attend this appeal meeting and as far as is practicable a more senior manager from the organisation should attend the appeal meeting. The appeal meeting must be conducted in the manner in which enables both the employer and the employee to explain their case. After the meeting the employee must be notified of the final decision. During every meeting in the process, the employee has a right to be accompanied by a work colleague or a trade union official. This companion may address the hearing, confer with the employee during the hearing and may also sum up the employees case but must not answer questions on behalf of the employee. In the case of a grievance against an employer the same steps must be followed with the letter sent from employee to employer stating the nature of the grievance and asking for a meeting to be held. Where the employee has already left employment the Regulations provide for a modified procedure that does not require the Step 2 meeting. The problems created by the Regulations When the Regulations came into force on the 1st October 2004 the government resolved to revisit them after two years. The Department of Trade and Industry confirmed this in its Success at Work Report (2007 pg. 8)[2] ‘This is a key part of DTI’s work to simplify regulation, by removing compliance costs and complexity, and addressing irritants for business and others affected by employment law, while ensuring that employee rights are protected.’ The government then commissioned an independent report on the 12th December 2006 written by Michael Gibbons who was asked to assess all employment dispute resolution procedures including suggestions for adapting the Regulations if he found them not to be fit for purpose. He interviewed over 60 employers, employees and intermediaries involved in dispute resolution. Gibbons in his report entitled Better Dispute Resolution (2007 pg.5) states[3], ‘In conducting the Review I was struck by the overwhelming consensus that the intentions of the 2004 Regulations were sound and that there had been a genuine attempt to keep them simple, and yet †¦as formal legislation they have failed to produce the desired policy outcome. This is perhaps a classic case of good policy, but inappropriately inflexible and prescriptive regulation.’ It became apparent that the regulations did not state clearly what a written grievance was or what it was to contain. With no specific guidance on this, parties called for procedural hearings at the ET to establish whether the claimant actually put their grievance in writing and whether all of the claims that were found in their Claim Form had previously been evidenced in the grievance letter. The respondents were claiming that this was not the case and therefore there was no case to answer. Therefore although the procedures were clear as to the steps to follow in bringing a dispute insufficient guidance was given about each stage leaving Tribunals with an increase in the number and length of proceedings. Gibbons explains the difficulty with identifying what constitutes a grievance letter (2007 pg.8), ‘†¦comments in resignation letters and in 360-degree feedback forms have been held to meet the requirements, so some employers feel it is necessary to check closely and investigate any written communication that might be construed as a grievance’ Although the intention of the regulations was for early informal resolution of disputes, the drafting of the Step 1 letter and consequent meetings in practice escalate many issues taking up management time and proving stressful for employees. Also the three step process as outlined above was not always adequate in all circumstances. Small businesses in particular have complained about the formal, ‘one size fits all’ approach of the regulations. Gibbons explains (2007 pg. 8), ‘†¦the appeal stage is an unnecessary burden, especially for small businesses. The appeal will often be to the same person who made the original decision. It can also be difficult in cases where employees have left the workplace. One business felt it necessary to follow the three-step procedures for each of their Christmas temporary staff before they left – a process which added no value.’ The main thrust of the opposition to the current regime is that it has created an unhealthy overlap between the resolution of disputes and the litigation procedure which should as far as possible be kept separate. For example the regulations stipulate that before a claim is lodged at the Employment Tribunal (ET) a grievance letter must be sent to the employer within three months of the alleged dismissal or conduct. Any breach of the procedure would allow the Tribunal to grant up to 50% increase if the fault was that of the employer or 50% reduction in the award depending on whether the fault was that of the employee. Of course apart from the fact that it is not always easy to ascertain whose fault led to a breach of procedure such stipulations and penalties mean that litigation has to be considered at an early stage when resolution of the dispute should be paramount. Gibbon states (2007 pg.25), ‘Both large and small businesses have reported that the number of formal disputes has risen. The Review has heard that 30 to 40% increases have been typical in the retail sector.’ Further complications arise where there are multiple claims for example in an equal pay case and the three step process has to be repeated many times creating an unnecessary administrative burden. The same burden is also felt where and employer seeks to follow the disciplinary steps and at the same time the employee also seeks to pursue a grievance. ‘It is not always clear how the two strands of the Regulations should operate in such circumstances, and employers can feel compelled to hold excessive numbers of meetings and write excessive numbers of formal letters to be sure of fulfilling the procedural requirements’[4] The proposed reforms As a result of the Gibbons Review, the Government held a consultation and the responses received formed the basis of the present reform proposals published in the Employment Bill 2007 which has received royal assent and is now the Employment Act 2008. The first major reform is for the Regulations to be repealed in their entirety in April 2009 and replaced with a revised ACAS Code of Practice (the Code) which has been agreed in draft form. There will also be non statutory guidance also provided by ACAS. ACAS stands for the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service and currently offers employees an arbitration service as an alternative to resorting to proceedings. Also it has always provided a Code for resolving disputes but it is only now being adapted and incorporated into statute. In actual fact the revised ACAS code provides for the same three step procedure but does not incorporate the same penalties and conditions as the Regulations. There have also been some additional requirements which seem to lean towards ensuring that employees behave ‘reasonably’. The draft Code is designed to provide basic practical guidance for disciplinary and grievance procedures but is limited as it will not apply to dismissals as a result of redundancy[5] or expiration of a fixed term contract.The Code describes the remit it covers[6], ‘Disciplinary situations include misconduct and/or poor performanceGrievances are concerns, problems or complaints that employees raise with their Employers’ It suggests in the Foreword of the Code[7] that employers and employees should try to resolve disputes between them. However if they cannot, they should seek the help of an independent third party inside or outside the organisation. The Code provides that where the Employment Tribunal must ascertain compliance with the Code it will do this on a case by case basis taking into account the size and resources of the employer. Therefore unlike the Regulations there is no expectation that all business will comply with every provision in the Code providing greater flexibility for employers. In relation to disciplinary procedures the first step is to establish the facts of each case by collating evidence and holding an investigatory meeting if necessary. The Code then states[8], ‘If it is decided that there is a disciplinary case to answer, the employee should be notified of this in writing. This notification should contain sufficient information about the alleged misconduct or poor performance and its possible consequences to enable the employee to prepare to answer the case at a disciplinary meeting’ New provisions provide for evidence collated including witness statements to be provided by the employer with the letter requesting a disciplinary meeting. Also an employee may call their own witnesses. The statutory right to be accompanied to this meeting still stands however the Code’s emphasis on ‘reasonableness’ is evidenced where it states[9], ‘However, it would not normally be reasonable for workers to insist on being accompanied by a companion whose presence would not prejudice the hearing nor would it be reasonable for a worker to ask to be accompanied by a companion from a remote geographical location if someone suitable and willing was available on site.’ The dispute Regulations had provided that on appeal the employer only had to make one attempt to reconvene the meeting however under the Code the employer has to show that the employee has persistently been unable or unwilling to attend before a decision can be made in their absence.[10] If the employee decides to appeal, grounds of appeal in writing must be submitted to the employer.[11] This requirement was not found in the Regulations and the idea behind it is to ensure that further time is not spent discussing issues that have already been covered in the first meeting. In a case of a grievance for example instead of the emphasis on a Step 1 grievance letter, the revised Code states[12], ‘If it is not possible to resolve a grievance informally employees should raise the matter formally and without unreasonable delay’ The employee should inform the employer of the grievance preferably in writing and the letter should be addressed to the line manager. Unlike the Regulations, a claim would not be barred in absence of a grievance letter although a failure to send this letter would be a breach of the Code and may lead to a reduction in the award. The Code states that a meeting must be heard pursuant to the letter and that the employee must have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official. As with the disciplinary procedure, the requirement here is that the right to be accompanied is reasonable. During the meeting the employer can ask for an adjournment in order to carry out an investigation. There is also a right of appeal and subsequently the employee can decide to take the matter further and pursue the case in the Employment Tribunal. The new regime will not hold a dismissal to be automatically unfair if there has been a breach in procedure. Employment Tribunals will have to decide cases on what is fair and reasonable and will have discretionary powers to adjust awards of up to 25% if either employer or employee has not followed the ACAS code. In relation to this provision the government report Resolving Disputes in the Workplace Consultation (May 2008 pg.16) it states, ‘This will be a power rather than a duty in order to allow the employment tribunals discretion to apply it in the interests of justice and equity’ It is hoped that these reforms will give a higher level of flexibility in resolving work place disputes and various businesses can tailor the new regime to their specific needs. The Government has also agreed as part of the reform to invest  £37M into the ACAS helpline system in order to provide early mediation for workplace disputes that would otherwise result in tribunal claims. Resolving Disputes in the Workplace Consultation (May 2008 pg.16)[13] states, ‘The government considers the way forward should be a short non prescriptive Statutory Code setting out the principles of what and employer and employee must do supported by fuller statutory guidance’ The idea is that the new statutory code will provide guidance for employment tribunals and the non statutory guidance will be used by employers and employees. Where a grievance arises during a disciplinary process, the disciplinary may be suspended or both can be dealt with concurrently if related. The Code does not cover collective grievances which must be dealt with under the agreed collective grievances procedures agreed with trade unions. The likely effect of these reforms on employers and employees It is unlikely that the Code will have a major change on the dispute resolution process in the work place. The code incorporates the same three steps that were found in the Regulations. There is still a penalty of an increase or decrease in the award up to 25% depending on whether the employer or employee is at fault. Because the employee is likely to suffer a reduction in compensation of up to 25 % the pressure to ensure a grievance letter is sent still remains. Although unlike the Regulations, the claim is not barred due to failure to lodge a grievance, the number of grievances brought by employees is not likely to be reduced for so long as there remains a penalty, albeit the employee at the grievance stage may not have considered litigation. So arguably there may not necessarily be reduction of time spent on hearing and processing grievances in the workplace. Also with the repeal of the Regulations there is no automatically unfair dismissal because of non compliance. Many have argued that this places fewer restrictions on unscrupulous employers therefore increasing the likelihood of litigation. There would need to be clear communication by the government and business to their employees as to how the new regime will work and arrangements need to be put in place for the transition between the old and new procedures. As far as practical points flowing from the provisions of the ACAS Code, the following would ensure that employers are taking the right steps to ensure compliance although there still remains areas of uncertainty that will only be made clear once the Code is put into practice. Mediation training should be provided for Human Resources staff to act as internal mediators and consider compiling a list of good mediators outside the organisation. In the Introduction of the Code, it states that employees should be involved where appropriate in the development of rules and procedures so to this end it would be prudent if employers hold consultation meetings with employees and their Trade Union Representatives during the transition period between the Regulations and the Code. Guidelines should be provided as to how to provide a ‘reasonable opportunity’ to call witnesses (Clause 12) and establish in policy that that the right to be accompanied is subject to considerations as to reasonableness (Clause 15). These issues are clearly subjective and would vary on a case by case basis and are therefore likely to prove controversial or even problematic Guidelines should be drafted as to when and under what circumstances the employee has shown inability or unwillingness to attend a disciplinary meeting without good cause. Different people should oversee the investigatory and later the disciplinary process. In order to facilitate early resolution of disputes as well as implementing the Code the government also intends for ACAS to provide a helpline where simple disputes can be dealt with over the phone or by internet. This extends the existing right to mitigation that parties must be notified of in any dispute. However the issue is ensuring that ACS has the necessary funds and staff to successfully fulfil this role. Staff must be well trained in providing employment advice and negotiating settlement between parties. Another proposal is that the Employment Tribunal Application process should happen via the helpline giving claimants access to advice on their claim and alternatives to litigation. Not all involved in the dispute resolution process favour these reforms. In the government report Resolving Disputes in the Workplace Consultation[14] it states ‘Opponents of repeal included a number of Trade Unions, representatives of vulnerable workers and individuals. Many cited the benefits of having a standard required procedure in all workplaces which operated to the benefit of workers in all types of organisations and encouraged good practice.’ From the point of view of an employee, the fear is that the new regime and its emphasis on ‘reasonableness’ leaves too much to the discretion of the employer. This coupled with the removal of the automatically unfair provision has left the issue of unfairness to the Employment Tribunal who will access the situation based on many factors other than breaches in the code including the size and resources of the employer. There is therefore an element of uncertainty in the new provisions certainly for the employee but for the employer as well. In the Legal Action Group’s response to the government consultation (June 2007) it states,[15] ‘Repeal of the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 (the ‘regulations’), will not improve the poor position of the many, low paid, non-unionised, workers in the labour market. The government should act to protect the most vulnerable by encouraging trade union organisation and by other legislative measures.’ The concern of the Group is that the government’s emphasis on mediation could lead to vulnerable employees losing their right to a formal hearing to resolve disputes. In order for alternatives to litigation to be properly considered good quality advice needs to be available to all however only a third of the working population are trade union members. A lack of access to legal aid will mean that non members will not have proper recourse to legal advice. It seems unlikely that the ACAS helpline proposal will cater for all workplace disputes. The Code has also been seen as unfair towards employees as it does not take into account that in reality there is rarely a balance of power between employer and employee. Employers have more resources and employees tend to already feel intimidated when bringing a grievance. A simple dispute could still have as its underlying cause a long term abusive policy against workers which of course cannot be resolved through a telephone conversation with an ACAS mediator. Indeed there are many categories of workers including the elderly and disabled or those with language difficulties who would need face to face advice. The LAG report states,[16] ‘We have to question whether the DTI is taking an even-handed approach to the resolution of work-related disputes or whether it has bowed to pressure from the powerful employers lobby.’ The overall view therefore of those acting for employees is that although the Regulations were unnecessarily complex they could have been simplified without being repealed as they provided minimum protection for all workers, whether or not they were trade union members. The principal reason for issuing the Regulations was because it was found that many employers did not have any procedures in place for resolving dispute and a repeal of the regulations could mean a return to this situation. There are also potential problems with the right of employees to bring claims being infringed where it is proposed that the Tribunal application system should also be processed through the ACAS helpline. LAG notes[17], ‘It would be inappropriate for a service point that had an aim of providing advice and guidance to also act in a ‘gatekeeping’ role for potential ET claims. Combined with the suggestion that the new advice service should be able to over-ride or contradict the advice given by a representative11, this would damage any integrity generated for such a service.’ Conclusion Clearly the repeal of the Dispute Resolution Regulations 2004 and the implementation of the ACAS Code due to take effect in April 2009 is not without its difficulties. The Government’s aim is to reduce the amount of claims being taken to the Tribunal although it recognises that dispute resolution is in itself only one strand. The other is revising the law in relation to unfair dismissal and making the Tribunal processes itself more efficient. The Code is similar to the Regulations in that it mirrors a three step process. However the onus is often put on the employer to determine what is reasonable which has the effect of the Tribunal later claiming breach of the regulations or the employee claiming that their rights have been infringed. The employer therefore has a burden to act reasonably and the vagueness of this term although creates more flexibility to employers will produce greater uncertainty. Only time will tell whether the Code will in fact encourage a ‘conflict resolution culture’ and reduce the administrative burden on employers as its drafters intended. BIBLIOGRAPHY ACAS: Draft for Consultation: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance (Nov 2008) http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=961p=0 BERR -Resolving Disputes in the Workplace Consultation Government Response (May 2008) DTI-Better Dispute Resolution: A Review of Employment Dispute Resolution in Great Britain- Michael Gibbons (March 2007)-http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file38516.pdf DTI-Success at work resolving disputes in the workplace: A consultation- (March 2007) DTI-Success at work resolving disputes in the workplace: A consultation- Response of the Legal Action Group (2007) Is it the end of the road for Statutory Minimum Dispute resolution Procedures Nick Hine May 2008)http://www.tcii.co.uk/images/upload/guest_article_pdfs/11ganick_hine2ddpdf_2173.pdf United Kingdom: New Acas Code Of Practice on Disciplinary And Grievances Article by Val Dougan Dundas and Wilson Solicitors 28 November 2008 www.personneltoday.com 1 [1] DTI-Better Dispute Resolution: A Review of Employment Dispute Resolution in Great Britain- Michael Gibbons (March 2007)-http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file38516.pdf [2] DTI-Success at work resolving disputes in the workplace: A consultation- March 2007 [3] DTI-Better Dispute Resolution: A Review of Employment Dispute Resolution in Great Britain- Michael Gibbons )March 2007)http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file38516.pdf [4] Gibbons Review pg. 27 [5] Employers must consult the ACAS book on redundancy handling [6] ACAS: Draft for Consultation: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=961p=0 [7] The Foreword of the Code is not legally binding but constitutes best practice [8] Clause 9, ACAS: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance 2008 [9]Clause 15, ACAS: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance 2008 [10] Clause 24 ACAS: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance 2008 [11] Clause 25 ACAS: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance 2008 [12] Clause 32 ACAS: Draft Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance 2008 [13] BERR -Resolving Disputes in the Workplace Consultation Government Response (May 2008) [14] BERR Resolving Disputes in the Workplace Consultation Government Response May 2008 [15] DTI-Success at work resolving disputes in the workplace: A consultation- Response of the Legal Action Group [16] LAG Report Pg.2 [17] LAG Report pg.5

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Relationship Between Eloi and the Morlocks in The Time Machine by H

The Relationship Between Eloi and the Morlocks in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells The Time Machine was inventively written as a social critique of the Victorian Era in 1895 by Herbert George Wells, the father of modern science fiction. Wells used the novel to get the messages across on social and political problems at the time when London was on top of the world. The novel criticized mainly on communism, imperialism, capitalism, as well as Social Darwinism. The Time Machine was an adventurous science fiction novel about a Time Traveler, the inventor of a time machine who traveled to the year 802,701 A.D. In the course of his journey, he saw the degeneration and the separation of mankind through the two evolved species, the Eloi and the Morlocks, in which their relationship and their significance would be explained in this essay. When the Time Machine landed in the future, the Elois were the first creature that the Time Traveler had come across. Their name was from the imitation of the word "Elite" and they were the evolved upper classes, the protagonist, who lived above the ground. The Elois were described as being beautiful, peaceful, and graceful. They had their own language in which the Time Traveler described as having "a strange and very sweet and liquid tongue," (Wells, 25). The Elois only lived on fruits since other kinds of cattle or animals became extinct after they ate each other. According to the Time Traveler, the Elois were small and weak as if they were suffering from tuberculosis. Even though the Eloi seemed to be careless and fearless during the day, they were afraid of the dark in which they called "Dark Night". Du... ...the way. The Time Machine definitely gives an eye-opening experience for the people who were unaware of the result from the separations of the classes in the society especially the problems which were caused by capitalism and imperialism. Through the Time Traveler, H.G. Wells described his "grieved to think how brief the dream of human intellect had been. (Wells, 81). He believed that it committed suicide along the process of degeneration in which he powerfully described in this novel. He successfully criticized the Victorian Era in a way that was entertaining, exciting, and educating. Even if Wells meant for the novel to criticize the certain era, it can still be classically and universally use since this problems still last to these days. Bibliography Wells, H.G. "The Time Machine." London: J.M. Dent, 2002.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Pablo Picassos Bequest of Gertrude Essay -- Essays Papers

Pablo Picassos Bequest of Gertrude Pablo Picasso was a very famous artist in his time. I have always found his work very interesting and unique. He has a style all his own and, I believe that this was what made him so famous and at the same time controversial. The painting I have chosen is called â€Å"Gertrude†. Pablo Picasso was born in Spain to Jose Ruiz and Maria Picasso. He later adopted his mother’s more distinguished maiden name Picasso. Picasso was a child prodigy who was recognized as such by his art-teacher father who ably led him along. Picasso was taught for a few years and after he attended the Academy of fine art in Curna Spain where his father taught. Picasso’s early drawings such as, Study of A Torso, After A Plaster Cast (1894-1895 Musee Picasso, Paris, France) demonstrates the high level of technical proficiency he had accomplished by the age of 14 years old. (Encarta 2000) Picasso’s artwork is classified as modern art witch started in the early 1880’s to the mid 1970’s. In 1885 his family moved to Barcelona, Spain after his father obtained a teaching post at that city’s academy of fine Arts. Picasso was admitted to advanced classes in the academy after he completed in a single day the entrance examination that applicants were traditionally given a month to complete. In 1897 Picasso left Barcelona to further his study at the San Fernando academy in Madrid witch was located in the Spanish capital. His academic studies did not last long in Madrid. He was unhappy with the training he was receiving and he left and returned back to his home in Barcelona Spain. Picasso visited Paris some time around the early 1900’s. After that visit he decided that he would move back and fourth between Spain and Paris. He did this until 1904 when he finally settled down in the French capital. At this time Picasso started to explore and experiment with different art styles that were modern. This portion of his life is called the blue period. This was because of the blue tones Picasso’s paintings had. During the year of 1905 to 1906 a radical change took place in Picasso’s style of painting once again. His choice of colors and mood were evident in this period of his life. He used subtle pinks and grays that were often highlighted by brighter tones. This was tone as his rose period. (Rodenbeck, Compton's, Joseph) Along w... ...of them include the Tragedy 1903, Girl Reading at the Table 1834, Crucifixion 1934, Dorra Maar 1937 and so many others. Picasso had a very unique sense of style. His willingness and open exploration to try new and different things made him a great artist in his time. He had many talents, he not only painted but, he was a sculptor, he did drawings, he worked with ceramics and he was also a poet which no one really new about. This is only a small glimpse at this artist diverse life and career as an artist. Picasso has contributed a lot to modern art. He has done so much and we have the privilege of being able to see his work displayed in museums. Bibliography Compton’s Encyclopedia 2000 Eakin, Hugh. (Nov. 2000) Picasso’s Party Line. Art News V. 99 no. 10 p. 186-90 Encarta Encyclopedia 2000 Hall, James. (Winter 2000), Picasso As A Sculptor. Modern Painters v. 13 no4 p. 48-50 Joseph, Daniel. (Jan 2001), â€Å"Picasso: figures and portraits†: Kunstforum Wien. Art News v. 100 no1 p. 160. Rodenbeck, Judith, Fall 1993 â€Å"Insistent Presence In Picasso’s Portrait of Gertrude Stein† Columbia University http://www.showgate.com/tots/Picasso/piclink.html

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Health Care Providers

HIPAA is a very important health care law that all health care providers are required to comply with and is designed to simplify administrative aspects of health care. Established in 1996 HIPAA is used to protect and secure the privacy of patients’ health care information and health insurance portability. It also standardizes electronic data transactions(Austin, Wetle, & Wetle, 2012). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA is a federally enacted law, although if the state has stricter guidelines healthcare providers must fallow the state’s law. For example HIPAA requires the health care provider to keep documents for 6 years after the last date of service, and the state requires health care providers to keep documents for 10 years after the last date of service, than the health care provider must fallow the states guidelines for these types of things. There are many key facts that a health care employee should know about the HIPAA law. On the first date of service the patient must be presented with a written HIPAA notice, although they are not required to sign the notice to receive treatment. The health care provider must have record of a good faith effort, and document the refusal with a reason for the refusal as well. The HIPAA notice must be written in plain language, state the rights the patient has, how their protected health information (PHI)is used and disclosed, and how to contact HIPAA with questions or complaints. Health care providers must promptly revise and distribute notices when there are any changes. Spoken, written, and electronic information are all protected under HIPAA. HIPAA stresses to health care providers that they must avoid incidental use and disclosing patient information. Violation of this can result in severe consequences such as civil fines of up to $50k, 1 year in prison or both, obtaining information on false pretenses result in 5 years of prison time or $100k in fines, or both, If protected health information is disclosed a $250k fine or 10 years of prison time or both is imposed. All of these consequences are per violation. These regulations affect everyone involved with the health care facility because it affects how people do their jobs, what resources are available to them, how the patients are treated, and how well the employees fallow the regulations.

Monday, September 16, 2019

No Plastic Bags: the Influence of Different Factors on Consumer Attitudes Towards an Environmental Initiative

Environmental issues have within the recent years become a frequently debated matter and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a new determinant for consumers purchase decisions. As a consequence of this, ever more companies have begun to implement different CSR initiatives in order to take responsibility for the environment. The arguments differ among researchers whether it is actually profitable for companies to invest in CSR initiatives. In this study we have based upon the functional theory of attitudes and identified different factors that are likely to affect consumer attitudes towards an environmental CSR initiative and formed a model for this. The model postulates four main factors that are likely to affect consumers attitudes towards an environmental initiative; which attitude a consumer holds towards the actual product (in this case the paper bags) in question, the extent to which a consumer considers environmental responsibility to be important, the extent to which a consumer considers environmental issues to be a threat to her-/himself and the amount of information a consumer receives about the initiative. To test our model we used a quantitative approach and investigated the consumer attitudes towards the initiative no plastic bags at the shopping centre Strompilen, Umea. We found that consumers in general are very positive towards the initiative. We then looked closer into what parts of our model that had significant impact on consumer attitudes towards the concept. The Chi-Square tests showed that three of four parts in the model could be verified. These parts were; the consumer’s attitude towards the actual product (in this case the paper bag), how important environmental responsibility is to a consumer and to what extent a consumer sees environmental issues as a threat to her-/himself. The fourth part of the model; the amount of information a consumer has received could not be verified. Thus the model was modified and was in the end constituted by the three parts that had been statistically verified.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Global warming †a serious warning Essay

I have a dream, that in a near future, the people of this world will come together as one. We could all come together as one and leave all our differences of color, religion, and political views behind us, to stand together to face what Bill McKibben calls the greatest challenge and threat mankind has ever faced: global warming. In 2007 Bill McKibben, an author, educator, and environmentalist, wrote the article, â€Å"Global Warning: Get Up! Stand Up!† to persuade people that we, the people on earth, have caused, and are still causing, the climate changes that have been taking place over the past decades. More than that, however, McKibben explains that something still needs to be done about it. McKibben uses extreme, yet reasonable, examples and methods to convey this message effectively. Global warming is the result of the greenhouse effect, which has increased since the human race started to burn fossil fuels in order to extract energy. When fossil fuels are being burnt, greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, set free into the atmosphere. The accumulative pollution causes the atmosphere to reflect heat radiation back towards the earth, instead of letting the gasses disappear into space, because the ozone layer gets thicker. However, without the greenhouse effect, our planet â€Å"would be 33 degrees Celsius coolerâ€Å" (â€Å"McKibben† 4). Since the carbon dioxide has already increased by one third in the atmosphere since the nineteenth century, the effect will be stronger and therefore more heat will be kept inside the atmosphere than before. This phenomenon, called global warming, leads to a hotter climate; as a matter of fact, the earth is today hotter than it has been in over 2000 years (â€Å"McKibben† 5-9). Warming – that word almost sounds inviting, like we all might live in a world twenty years from, that could be a tropical paradise where the extent of our problems would be pondering what Spf sunscreen to use. That is not the case, though. Thousands and thousands of climate scientists agree that  global warming is not only the most threatening environmental problem, but one of the greatest challenges facing all of humanity throughout humanity’s entire history (McKibben 595). To maintain the average temperature we need here on earth, the glaciers and the North Pole ice are a big factor because when the exact amount of ice melts, it evens out the ocean’s temperature and therefore stabilizes all the different ecosystems. All ecosystems are dependent on whether the temperature is just where it should be or not. In addition, some experts and people argue that it is not us, the people who have caused the climate changes; they claim global warming is a natural occurring phenomenon which has nothing to do with the actions of humans. They say there is not enough of proof to say that the human race is 100% responsible for the changes now taking place. They claim that events like these have been taking place regularly throughout the long history of earth, and there is nothing we can do about this (â€Å"The Galileo† 591-593). â€Å"A 54-year-old oceanographer [†¦] discovered that temperatures a thousand years ago, during the so-called medieval climate optimum, were two degrees Celsius warmer than today’s [average] and that the average temperature over the last three millennia was slightly warmer than today’s† (â€Å"The Galileo† 591-592). As a pretty active environmental activist from Brazil, a country advocating a change of living to reduce global warming, I can relate to many of McKibben’s attacks and aspects expressed in his article. According to McKibben, the most urgent thing right now is to recognize that there is a mix of solutions that can be implemented worldwide and instead of focusing on arguing about what is needed to be done, we need to take action. In other words, the most important thing is not what we do about it, but that we do something about it. All the people in the world have to start living under the â€Å"same roof†; we need to do what it is good for the world. To me, stopping global warming is so much more than just â€Å"saving electricity† or â€Å"walking instead use a car’’. Stopping global warming is about taking responsibility, not just for ourselves and our own actions, but for our friends and family, as well as our nation and the world that we live in — Earth. Stopping global warming is about the most honorable thing a man can  do — saving lives. Works Cited â€Å"About Bill McKibben.†Bill McKibben. N.p., 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. â€Å"The Galileo of Global Warming.† Perspectives on Contemporary Issues. Ed. Katherine McKibben, Bill. â€Å"Global Warning: Get Up! Stand Up!† Perspectives on Contemporary