Medical and Environmental Electronic Devices Corporation Essay

Background Medical and Environmental Electronic devices corporation was founded in 1959. Initially the core business was related to applications in medical device technology. The company started new business of Environmental control applications and achieved its current name in 1964. By 1979, MEED achieved 31% market share in its market area. MEED’s competitors had only 20% and11% shares. MEED has headquarters 21 countries around the world including Westland and Michigan. Integrated Circuit Group was set up MEED to meet its need for the customized circuits as semi-conductor industry is shrinking due to the backward integration of major competitors, redirections and acquisitions. Hallmarks of MEED culture were ambiguity, freedom, flexibility, risk taking and a supportive attitude towards employees. There was no formal planning in MEED or even firs loosely coordinated companywide plan was undertaken in 1980. Sales were growing at 30% per year for t he last five years, topped $1 billion in 1979. Profits for 1979 were $107 million. Tom Duglass is the manager of MEED since 1977. ICG is experiencing a shortage of human resource and is only providing 5-8% of MEED’s annual demand. New plant set by ICG is also experiencing problem in startup. The HRD Department headed by Barbara Hamlin is unable to fulfill their duty of providing the human resource which is required for the sound working of ICG. Employee’s profile Tom Douglas Group manager Dom Raffaelli Manager, ICG Advanced design Les Hogan Manager, ICG material Kenny Lash Manager of operations, ICG plant Barbara Hamlin Director, Human Resource Development and planning Qualitative facts The Jackson Michigan, manufacturing plant, which began operation in July 1979, was still experiencing difficulties in start-up and it was now the beginning of 1980. Barbara Hamlin in HRDP position was in charge for the forecast of the IC Group’s human resource needs, with special attention to professional and managerial personnel and to design and implement programs to meet those needs. MEED designed, manufactured, sold and serviced complex medical and environmental control systems. The labor market was exceedingly tight for exempt employees, especially the highly trained engineers critical too ICG’s work. MEED’s culture was unstructured, informal; make it happen, rapid growth, positive approach towards people. There was no emphasis on formal planning Douglas sought to reorient ICG recruiting toward meeting needs with existing employees and recent college graduates. Given the MEED culture, it was also unreasonable to except that any one program manager would remain long enough to see one component through its entire life. Materials acquisition function was divided into two groups an operation group that focused on such functions as production purchasing and a strategic group that deal with the commodity managements, IC Group manufacturing and custom projects. In the past a buyer in the operations group could become a supervisor in operations, now a buyer had the additional option of staying with the acquisition but moving to a job in a strategic group The greater attention to manpower planning might have led MEED to locate ICG closer to the major sources of trained engineers, or perhaps even to recast its plan to enter the semiconductor industry. Employee mobility need at MEED also made planning difficult. According to  personnel policy, an exempt employee was considered movable after he or she had been in a job for one year. Bosses and subord inates found it difficult to conduct regular performance appraisals; they were supposed to be conducted at least once a year as part of an employee’s salary review. Quantitative facts Medical and Environmental Electronic Devices Corporation was founded in 1959 Sales, growing at more than 30% per year for the last five years, topped $1 billion in 1979; profiles for 1979 were $107 million. The goal was to ensure that by FY1985, 50% of professional hires would be new college graduates. At the beginning of 1980, Ambrose’s group had openings for two out of five supervisory positions, and 13 out of 37 subordinate engineering slots. In 1980, ICG had 623 employees (plus 8 staff personnel), and 106 open positions to be filed. Annual turnover, while not high by industry standards, was running close to 10% among exempt and 20% among non exempts. The average number of employees for 1979 totaled 24,900 and another were expected to be hired as MEED continued its rapid growth during fiscal 1980. Starting as an idea and a group of 5 people in 1972, ICG had 66 people in 1975, but began its real growth in 1977, reaching 448 employees at the beginning of fiscal year 1980. ICG was only manufacturing 5% to 8% of MEEDS semiconductor needs instead of the 20% planned. It took about 3 years of work at ICG for a college graduate be fully trained, but by working with these colleges to develop programs and by providing equipment and dollar donations, ICG hoped to shorten on-the-job training to 1-1/2 years. A week lost could mean approximately $100,000 lost in profit before taxes for MEED. Core Problem The main issue that MEED was facing was that there was an urgent need that there was no formal planning due to which there was a need for the company to make a proper amendments in HRM of the company and to make policies and procedures and implement them effectively as there was a shortage of Human Resource management at all levels at MEED. They were not having specialized engineers and managers in the required numbers is affecting the corporation. There was a significant problem in attracting engineers capable of the state of the art work that ICG technology demanded. The option of simply hiring  in good people now met resistance from those who pointed out that there were no free slots for these people until the growth actually took place. An estimation was made that IC group’s exempt attrition would rise to an average of 15% per year and non exempt to 35% unless the group improved its recruitment, career development, performance, appraisals and promotion practices. ICG would need 241 hires in order to bring the employee total up to the target for the end of FY 1980. If we look at the exhibits 4 and 5 it could be observed that Barbara is at a very lower level in the hierarchy, and is given vey less authority. If a separate HR department is created with giving all HR responsibilities to the HR department than possibly all most the problems could be solved. Other problems Recommendations Repositioning of Barbara Hamlin in organizational structure We think that she should report directly to Dave Bertram, the president of MEED’s to minimize the distortion between them and Barbara can stamp the authority and she will not have to take approvals from group heads. She is the one who have identified the problems in the system so she should be able to exercise authority so she can solve the problems. Having the backing of the president of MEED’s, people will know that she is a credible source of high authority and she should be followed. Once there is clarity in chain of command, then Barbara should concentrate in making of new human resource department which will include recruitment and selection, compensation and appraisal, training and development which is not addressed in the company till now. Hiring the right people Problem of ICG can be solved as there is low performance by the managers and engineers are working as managers and company don’t have to hire right workforce and as a result they are performing at the top level. Supply of efficient workforce is also limited; that is also one of the reasons engineers are working as managers. Moreover, it is told in the case study that other companies have made collaborations with universities and they  hire their technical staff and engineers automatically after they graduate. It is best for both student and company because student will get job immediately after he graduates and company can get fresh graduates that are fit for the organization. In exhibit 8, it is written â€Å"at institutes, we work with real projects†; that means student can get a taste of professional life and projects even when they are students. Good compensation to retain employees The employment industry of China is very competitive. In order to get best results in the company, company should be able to retain the right employees who are worth it. HR department should make organized and intelligent decision in retaining particular employees. As it is written in the case that giving $1000 a month and working for 20 years has become a standard of industry. Other than that, when an individual leaves the job, he or she gets a 30% pay rise on an average; that means when labor in the market start doing job hopping it will take employees pays up automatically. Standardize the operating procedure The first and foremost step that Barbara needs to take is that she should make procedure same for everyone. For e.g. in this case it was written that managers thought HRD is just for training the employees. So, Barbara should start working and should make everything formal including job analysis, job description, training & development and compensation plans. Employees should have awareness of HR department of the company and employees should know clearly that what are they required to do. Once HR department comes in and take steps to make things formal; then company’s environment will also become professional as it is desired by HR department. Training and development Company is not very serious about the training of the employees as position of management development is vacant from some time. Training is only given to manufacturing department in the company but it should be also offered to the designing department of the company. Training of design department will lead to more innovative designs and less flaws in the system. Exit interviews When an employees is leaving the company; he just have to go but one thing that company can do extra is the exit interviews; as company can get a new point of view of the employee about the flaws of the company and how they can be improved. Cause of leaving company should be asked from the employees that also point out significant errors in the company’s operations. Analysis of exhibits If we compare FY80, 81 and the current year in association to number of employees (exempt and non exempt) to the departments (advanced design, manufacturing and material) it could be clearly seen that currently there is a decrease in the number of employees in comparison to the year 80 and 81.Currently there are 6 managers in advanced design, 11 in manufacturing and 6 in material, where as in the FY 1980 there were 30 managers and 1981 there were 47. Moreover, in the advanced design there are currently 97 employees with 116 in 1980 and 150 in 1981. In manufacturing currently 322, 1980 there were 564 and in 1981 there were 854. In the materials currently they have 204 employees in comparison to 1980 where there were 266 and in 1981 there were 425. Overall a decrease in number of employees could be observed. Exhibit 2 talks about the hiring requirements projections. The exhibit depicts the year period. It could be clearly seen that for all the three departments in association to the years there was an increasing trend. Exhibit 3 talks about the financials of 10 years from (1970 to 1979). It could be clearly seen that there was an increase in sales net income and stockholders’ equity of MEED since the 7 year period. Though the sales were not steady but and increasing trend is observed.

Influence And Impact Of Differing National Cultures On International Business

The world is changing politically, economically, technically, and collectively at a previously unthinkable rate. Both new and skilled multinational firms are stumbling and committing mistakes as they confront these recently emerging environmental forces. What is desired now is a new way of viewing both the global and foreign operations of multinational firms. To be as thriving as possible, these firms should be as culturally attuned to the world and to every foreign society in which they seek to work as they are to their own home society.The Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1980) defines culture as â€Å"the incorporated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends on man's competence for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations† and â€Å"the customary beliefs, social forms, and material behavior of a racial, religious, or social group. † These definitions point to numerous important aspects of cult ure. First, culture permeates all human behaviors and interactions. Second, culture is shared by members of a group.And third, it is handed down to newcomers and from one generation to the next. This description of culture is not aimed at organizations but is very appropriate to them (AAhad M. Osman-Gani & Zidan, S. S. 2001, pp. 452-460). The prevailing trend in the international business environment in current decades has been greater directness in trade, investment, finance and technology resultant in increased international integration and interdependence in business and between states. What is also obvious is that large swathes of the world's population are efficiently marginalized or barred from these trends.This segregation has been a major factor in modern anti-globalization campaigns and is often used to justify proposals to reform or even abolish international institutions and to invalidate policies that have contributed to international integration. Morrison (2006) charact erized a global industry as having intense levels of international competition, competitors marketing a standardized product worldwide, industry competitors that have a presence in all key international markets and high levels of international trade.These definitions have the common thread of the need and opportunity to integrate strategy across countries. Though aspects of globalization and the guiding principles of the IMF and the World Bank have not always been affirmative for developing countries, it is a generalization to place all or most of the blame for the marginalization of developing countries onto these factors. Development is a multifaceted process but some countries have managed it successfully.Considerably, it is those countries that have affianced most intensively with the outside world (that is, in East Asia), that have been most successful in their development endeavors. Equally considerable has been the keenness of each state to take a central role in the developm ent process, a role that assorted from country to country depending on its culture and early circumstances. Development is a significant, and often ignored, issue for international business. Too often, international business and development are simply discussed within the context of problems such as child labor or environmental degradation.Certainly, these and similar issues pose serious challenges for multinational enterprises and policy-makers but they are ultimately problems that, with adequate political will, are amenable to solution (admittedly, the political will requisite is of a much greater extent than has hitherto been seen). Successful development, however, forms markets and improves the quality of labor forces and key features of infrastructure, thereby creating investment opportunities. Investment in turn is essential to the development process.Recognition of the need to be culturally attuned is not new. William J. Holstein and colleagues noted in a Business Week articl e that going global can be awesome as experienced CEOs find that their executive skills developed at home are not almost as sharp when diverse cultures determine the playing field (Holstein et al. 1989, 9-18). To sharpen these skills and permit managers to function cross culturally, firms have characteristically focused on management selection and training.The thought here is that if being culturally attuned at home yields a non-cognitive automatic response, then suitably oriented managers could be selected and trained in the cultures of the world to exhibit also appropriate responses in other societies. IBM, for instance, requires that each manager shall receive forty-two hours of training each year on topics such as managing multinational groups of people and the internationalization of IBM's business (Callahan 1989, 28-32).Still, despite efforts such as these, one study noted that cross-cultural obstacles facing à ©migrà © employees continue to result in a failure rate of 20 to 50 percent of all expatriate assignments. International organizations develop certain assumptions, norms, patterns of speech and behavior that make them unique. Also, similar to social or racial groups, culture is one of the factors that differentiate one organization from another. Applying the concept of culture to organizations gives them a human quality.Organizations become much more than the profit margin, the buildings, and the organizational charts. As living entities, organizations grow and change. They adapt to their environment and maintain internal health. Many management scholars have focused on the thought of adapting national culture in international business. It is usually defined as a series of basic assumptions that an organization has developed in learning to handle with its external environment and its internal functioning. These assumptions have been found to be effectual and valid and are therefore communicated to new employees.Adapting foreign culture makes eve ry international organization unique and bonds members of an organization together. The culture in the organization verifies what behaviors and ideas are acceptable and appropriate. Culture is the yardstick used to assess many behaviors and ideas, and it provides a foundation for the development of goals and strategies. For instance, an organization where one of the basic postulations is that people perform best under minimal control and supervision and need independence to excel would consider heavy-handed management techniques used by one of their new deplorable managers.Furthermore, such an organization would be more expected to select a training program for developing participative management skills more than one focusing on processes for developing power. A case in point is the much-publicized W. L. Gore and Associates, with headquarters in Newark, Delaware, that makes wire and cable, medical products, Gore-tex fibers and fabrics, and industrial filter bags. One of the distinct ive characteristics of the firm is its casualness and the absence of hierarchy and status symbols.Employees and managers do not have prescribed titles, and creative problem solving is extremely encouraged. As a result, the use of status symbols that would designate a hierarchy is considered highly inappropriate. This instance demonstrates how a basic cultural assumption concerning factors that leads to effectiveness is used to find out which behaviors are acceptable (Jimmieson, Nerina L. , Katherine M. White, and Megan Peach, 2004, C1). Culture and structure are inseparable, since structure is one of the major manifestations of culture.The culture is one of the factors that determine the relationship between employees and managers. As with the other elements, however, the culture may also be the result of structure. For example, in a highly centralized organization, the implementation of participative management and employee empowerment will be impossible without a change in the str ucture. Thus, the two elements are totally intertwined (Skinner, Denise 1. 2004, 5). Working productively in an organizational setting, demands a diverse approach of communication, management and negotiation.The majority management techniques and interpersonal skills are put together on a personal value system that is extremely influenced by culture. Both company culture and national culture recount to a persons’ effectual behavior (Fisher, Glen 1990, 98). Working in national culture means working in a different cultural environment. As one national culture might interpret eye contact, smiling, happy, individual space, touching, punctuality, and arousing responses in a certain way, another culture might infer a totally opposite meaning from the similar behavior (Moran, Robert T. nd Stripp, William G. , 1991).The deepest level of a culture is the least visible part, its value system. It becomes apparent indirectly, while working with foreigners. Basically, national culture ins pires every feature of social behavior and manipulates communication style, personality, character, inspiration, knowledge and cognition. There is a widespread body of work on cultural differences in communication styles in the linguistics and cultural anthropology literature (Reine, P. P. V. & Trompenaars, F, 2000, 237-243).Devoid of knowledge of the dissimilarities in national culture and mentality, without knowing how your colleague thinks, believe and proceed, or which communications and conflict-solving patterns these pertain, you run the risk of misunderstanding your business partners, and thus of jeopardizing your achievement both abroad as well as in locally-based inter cultural teams (Fisher, Glen 1990). It is simply through the cultural, personal and communication understanding of the responsible persons that international assignments and company start-ups abroad can be prohibited from becoming failures.Though, effective communication with people of national cultures is pa rticularly challenging. Cultures give people with ways of judgment, ways of considering, investigation, and interpreting the world. Thus the similar words can mean dissimilar things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the same language. When the languages are dissimilar, and translation has to be used to communicate, the prospective for misunderstandings increase (Fisher, Glen 1990). â€Å"Communication is effectual when the person interpreting the message attaches a meaning to the message comparable to what was intended by the person transmitting it. (Fisher, Glen 1990). The national culture in an international organization endures gradual change as the organization adapts to diverse environmental and internal events. This gradual change is incremental and rarely entails significant deviation from established patterns.Effecting massive organizational change is therefore very strenuous. Changing the culture of an organization is as hard as changing an individual' s personality. Moreover, strong cultures will be more defiant to change than weak ones (Tony Proctor, and Ioanna Doukakis. 2003, 268). So as to change culture, all three of its levels have to change. Varying the first level of culture which includes all artifacts, physical elements, dress codes, building decoration, symbols, logos, and yet employee behaviors and speech patterns–is comparatively easy. One key to such change is a new reward system. For illustration, cooperative behavior can be confident and taught if organizational reward systems encourage it. Employees come to learn that they will be rewarded for collaboration.Changes in this first level, however, do not essentially lead to changes in the second level, which comprises values, or in the third level, which consists of basic assumptions. The latter two is much harder to amend. For example, although as a result of training and a new reward system employee can learn to behave more considerately, they might still va lue competition and consider it to be the key to success and high performance. In the short term, cooperation can develop into an espoused value. It can become a deeply held value simply if it is proven successful over a period of time.In addition, values that are distinct with basic assumptions are likely to lead to conflict and tension and are less probable to be adopted (Lloyd, Margaret, and Sheridan Maguire. 2002, 149). It is the continuous success of a new behavior (first level) that leads to the development of a new value (second level). If this new value is sustained and proven effective, it can lead to changes in several basic assumptions (third level). In the implementation of organizational change, a top down approach is less expected to be effective, although it will lead to behavioral changes.Basic assumptions can simply be changed if all organizational levels are committed to the change and adopt it as their own (McNish, Mark. 2002, 201). The process will perceptibly ta ke longer; however, employee participation leads to obligation to the development of new assumptions. Overall, although it may be moderately easy to change the discernible and obvious elements of national culture, it is very hard to amend the core of culture. Without the amendment of the basic cultural assumptions, the culture will only change apparently. Only with the long-term success of new behaviors will new postulations develop.However, the deep-seated paradigms may avert consideration of new behaviors and values, since they often lead to a biased interpretation of the accomplishment of new behaviors and therefore discourage their use. Without major cultural change, substantial strategic change is likely to fail. Although the formulation of new strategy may be moderately easy, its successful implementation depends almost completely on existing culture or, in many cases, on a change in the existing culture. But such a change is exceptionally difficult and can only be successful with broad planning.Managers can distinguish and acclimatize to different work styles and cultures. Getting work done through others entails a free flow of perfect information and open, prolific relationships with employees. But that's easier said than done in a diverse workplace where lots of cultures collide. On the other hand, nearly every aspect of daily human life involves negotiations. Parenting, interpersonal relationships, commercial dealings and communications with customers, co-workers and suppliers are some of the few to name. Employees through strong negotiation skills are important assets to organizations.Armed with the accurate knowledge, approaches and skills, well-trained and well-prepared negotiators deliver results that go immediately to the bottom line. Diverse techniques of negotiation attach to your ideas. An instance of this is when Americans were negotiating with Vietnamese. They used a plan stratagem in order to stick. Poor negotiating is when someone talks t o you. Negotiating downwards is not an excellent way. It is like takes it or abscond it approach. Approximately everything is negotiable (Reine, P. P. V. & Trompenaars, F, 2000, 237-243).Another culture difference is a bigger course toward people. It is in addition a high-level of internal negotiation, and a greater skill in managing international variety. European managers are able of managing linking extremes (AAhad M. Osman-Gani & Zidan, S. S, 2001, 452-460). Working in another culture a lot depends on the inter-cultural skills of the negotiator. Whereas technology and financial ability might be an issue in the negotiation process in our fast-growing world, the cultural competence of the negotiator provides a company the viable edge (Moran, Robert T. nd Stripp, William G. , 1991).Cultural values persuade all features of behavior in doing business in negotiating through people from different surroundings; the most efficient approach for overcoming probable communication barriers i s to center on the interests of the parties (Reine, P. P. V. & Trompenaars, F, 2000, 237-243). Why do they want what they want? You have to go at the back the validations they may use to protect why they want something; finally virtually everyone can come up with an explanation for whatever they want.The actual issue is how what they want will hand out their interests (AAhad M. Osman-Gani & Zidan, S. S, 2001, 452-460). Negotiation progression is a build process. It is a challenging style, cooperative, working together, avoiding, and compromising style. There are negotiation tactics, which are trouble solving win-win and partnering. It is a build trust, shows optimistic feeling, and reduces differences, obvious and rational. It is also inspired, peaceful shows patience, elastic, seeks common interest, makes others contented, yields to good alternatives (Wiechecki, Barbara. 999).Lots of manager has been aggravated by the employee who nods in obviously considerate of a direction, then does just the contradictory. Or there are the staff members who rise cold and distant after getting feedback on their work, as well as the team members who clam up at meetings when asked for ideas (Fisher, Glen 1990). Besides, our understanding, culture manipulate how close we stand, how loud we converse, how we contract with conflict even how we contribute in a meeting (AAhad M. Osman-Gani & Zidan, S. S, 2001).Though lots of cultural norms manipulate a manager's behavior and ensuing reactions, mainly significant ones are hierarchy and status, groups vs. individual orientation, time realization, communication and conflict pledge. By failing to recognize how culture collisions individually needs and preferences, managers, a lot misunderstands behaviors (Moran, Robert T. and Stripp, William G. , 1991). Think about the norm of hierarchy and status. If you desire all people to feel valued and to contribute in indicative or decision making, differences in this standard could be restraine d.An employee who has been taught regard to age, sexual category or title, might out of respect timid away from being sincere or offering ideas as offering proposals to an elder or a boss might emerge to be tough authority. The manager in addition might require structuring a climate that balances predilections for group and individual work. The employee who can't or won't subordinate individual wants or requirements for the good of the group might perform better working alone (Casse, Pierre 1995).A culturally skilled manager generates opportunities for individuals to take a number of risks and investigate projects that don't need coordinating with others. Doing so can hearten employees with a sturdy individualist bent to draw concentration to significant matters, such as policies or procedures that don't work. On the other hand, when managers put too high a premium on evading workplace discord, even distinctive employees may be disheartened from providing potentially productive feed back (Moran, Robert T. and Stripp, William G. , 1991). However, managers require comprehending the people with whom they work (Casse, Pierre 1995).Devoid of clear mutual understanding, it is almost not possible for a team to attain its objectives. Even in a comparatively standardized organization, designers and accountants, for instance, might be seen as representing diverse cultural perspectives. Getting them to work efficiently together is perceptibly crucial for a company's success. And, most confidently, getting people whose cultural variety is based on diverse issues is no less significant (Adelman, Mara B and Levine Deena R. 1993). To obtain the information you require you have to get alternative approaches that are more in order with the employee's culture.Here are a number of suggestions: Evade yes/no questions such as â€Å"Is that clear? † or â€Å"Do you understand? † provide the employee options from which to prefer. Inquire for specific information, such a s â€Å"Which step will you do first with this new practice? † If time allows, carry out the task along with the employee or watch to see how well he recognizes your directions. Endeavor using unreceptive language that focuses on the circumstances or behavior, rather than the individual. For instance, â€Å"Galls should be answered by the third ring† or â€Å"All requests require accurate charge codes so as to be processed. (Adelman, Mara B and Levine Deena R. 1993).Give workers enough lead time to gather their thoughts before a meeting so they can feel prepared to get input. Have employees work in petite groups, engendering ideas through discussion and presenting input as a group. One of the most significant functions of a manager is budding and grooming employees for encouragement. Cultural norms have a vast collision on this job as of the underlying conjecture a manager might make about an employee's prospective (Fisher, Glen 1990).One has to be cautious not to des ignate people with a particular image, to think that everyone with a particular ‘label' thinks or acts alike. If it isn’t for differences, the world would be a very uninteresting place. What we require to do is finds out how diverse interests can be addressed to yield results that work for the organizations that have the decisive liability to realize an agreement. Organizational cultural diversity is merely one of the rudiments that desire to be taken into relation to keep things operating on a cultured level.

Report Information from ProQuest Essay

Abstract: The social and psychological needs of an employee must be understood in order to motivate him to complete the assigned tasks. Unless the leaders fully support the premise that organizations must have a high degree of communication to meet employee’s psychological needs, it will remain stagnant. This may further give rise to grapevines and conflicts which adversely affect the organization. Effective internal communication is needed for management to develop and sustain a competitive advantage for organizational performance and improvement. Transformational leaders have a  tremendous influenceontheworkplaceandorganization’sculture. If they wish to institute change, their leadership styles must be strategically aligned to accommodate the organizational culture. McKinsey’s 7S framework is a model for analyzing organizations and their effectiveness. It looks at the seven key elements that make organizations successful: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. It can be aligned with any organizational issue that needs to be corrected. Utilizing past literature, survey questions, and interviews, this research paper will find out the strategy and implementation issues in communications flow that the private service sector faces and how a leader can initiate and bring change by alignment with McKinsey’s 7S Framework. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Links: Linking Service, Linking Service, Linking Service Full text: Headnote Abstract The social and psychological needs of an employee must be understood in order to motivate him to complete the assigned tasks. Unless the leaders fully support the premise that organizations must have a high degree of communication to meet employee’s psychological needs, it will remain stagnant. This may further give rise to grapevines and conflicts which adversely affect the organization. Effective internal communication is needed for management to develop and sustain a competitive advantage for organizational performance and improvement. Transformational leaders have a tremendous influenceontheworkplaceandorganization’sculture. If they wish to institute change, their leadership styles must be strategically aligned to accommodate the organizational culture. McKinsey’s 7S framework is a model for analyzing organizations and their effectiveness. It looks at the seven key elements that make organizations successful: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. It can be aligned with any organizational issue that needs to be corrected. Utilizing past literature, survey questions, and interviews, this research paper will find out the strategy and implementation issues in communications flow that the private service sector faces and how a leader can initiate and bring change by alignment with McKinsey’s 7S Framework. Keywords: Change Management, McKinsey’s 7S Framework, Organizational Communication, Transformational Leadership Introduction An organizational setup is a conjoint effort of leaders and followers who work for the accomplishment of certain predefined objectives. The leader’s role is paramount and he has the ultimate responsibility of taking the resources in the desired direction. The concept of leadership has evolved across a period of time. Balgobind (2002), in a comparative study of different transformational leaders, has found that in the past the leader was transactional who was aware of the link between effort and reward. This kind of leadership was responsive and its basic orientation was to deal with  current issues. These leaders would rely on standard forms of inducement, reward, punishment, and sanction to control followers. They motivated followers by setting goals and promising rewards for desired performance. Leadership depended on the leader’s power to reinforce subordinates for their successful completion of the bargain. But times have changed and so has the role of a leader. The leader of today is transformational. These leaders arouse emotions in their followers which motivates them to act beyond the framework of what may be described as exchange relations. Leadership is proactive and forms new expectations in followers. Leaders are distinguished by their capacity to inspire and provide inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation and idealized influence in the followers. They create learning opportunities for their followers and stimulate them to solve problems and possess good visioning, rhetorical and management skills. They motivate followers to work for goals that go beyond self-interest. The success of any organization depends largely on the processes and flow of internal communications. The flow of information can be one way or two ways, formal or informal and personal and impersonal. The relationship between employees is based on personal, professional and ethical roles. The communication flow has a great influence on the kind of relationships that exist in the organization. As long as the right messages are conveyed within the defined limits of authority and responsibility, it is helpful for goal attainment. But there are instances when the formal channels of communication are not used and the need to exchange and share ideas gives rise to grapevine communication. The messages are distorted and the incorrect information is spread across. Many times this exchange results in conflicts and strained relationships. If the situation is not taken care of it may affect the organization greatly and may even result in a loss of job for some and may put the organization in severe crises. This situation needs to be corrected and a leader’s intervention can bring a positive change. McKinsey’s 7S framework is a model for analyzing organizations and their effectiveness. It looks at the seven key elements that make the organizations successful: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. It can be aligned with any organizational issue that needs to be corrected. The private service sector plays a major role in the growth of any economy and employs large number of people. The interrelationship across all levels is largely dependent on the communication flow in this sector. Most of the information is not communicated in the right manner and employees resort to grapevine for their satisfaction. As such the communication problems in this sector multiply and threaten the survival of the organization. Based on present survey and past studies, the paper aims at highlighting the role of a transformationalleaderinsolvingthecommunication problems related to the private service sector. The McKinsey’s 7S Framework has been aligned with leader’s role for bringing organizational change and excellence. Literature Review Transformational leadership theory has captured the interest of many researchers in the field of organizational leadership over the past three decades. This theory was developed by Bums (1978) and later enhanced by Bass (1985, 1998) and others (Avolio &Bass, 1988; Bass &Avolio, 1994; Bennis &Nanus, 1985; Tichy &Devanna, 1986). Bums (1978) first introduced the concept of transformational leadership in his research of political leaders, establishing the concepts of transforming leaders and transactional leaders, and concluded that leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of motivation. The major premise of the transformational leadership theory is the leader’s ability to motivate the follower to accomplish more than what the follower planned to accomplish (Krishnan, 2005). Transformational leadership has four components: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Bass, 1985). Bums postulated that transformational leaders inspire followers to accomplish more by concentrating on the follower’s values and helping the follower align 06 November 2014  these values with the values of the organization. Furthermore, Bums identified transformational leadership as a relationship in which the leader and the follower motivated each other to higher levels which resulted in value system congruence between the leader and the follower (Krishnan, 2002). Leaders have a tremendous influence on the work place and effect on the organization’s culture. If leaders wish to institute change, their leadership styles must be strategically aligned to accommodate the organizational culture (Sheahan, 2012). The effectiveness of organizational communication is determined by leadership and leadership traits that allow for an open path of communication with employee and organization (Pirraglia, 2012). McKinsey’s 7S framework provides a strategic approach to HRM. It was developed in the early 1980s by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, two consultants working at the McKinsey &Company consulting firm. The basic premise of the model is that there are seven internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned if it is to be successful. These seven features are interrelated and have to be considered jointly to achieve a better integration between HR practice and organizational strategy (Talwar, 2006, p.210). The staff element within the McKinsey 7S Framework refers to employees and their need for development and motivation. Style refers to the actions and behavior of senior executives, rather than what they say. The conduct of top management is an extremely valuable management tool that conveys and reinforces strong messages to stakeholders, particularly employees, throughout the organization (Fleisher and Bensousan, 2007, p.49). A range of highly respected management scholars including Armstrong (2008) and Adair (2009) have emphasized the importance of formulating and promoting shared values within organizations. System relates to processes and procedures that are necessary in order to conduct the business (Murphy and Willmott, 2010). The disadvantages of a tall hierarchical structure have been specified by Dlabay (2011) as inflexibility to respond to changes in the marketplace, loss of communication messages between the layers, de-motivated workforce etc. Johnson (2006) defines corporate strategy as a plan aimed to achieve corporate objectives, Skills, for the organization relate to competencies and capabilities required within the organization in order to achieve organizational objective in an effective way (Schuler and Jackson, 2007). Communication is one of the most dominant and important activities in organizations (Harris &Nelson, 2008). Fundamentally, relationships grow out of communication and the fu nctioning and survival of organizations is based on effective relationships among individuals and groups. In addition, organizational capabilities are developed and enacted through â€Å"intensely social and communicative processes† (Jones et al, 2004). Communication helps individuals and groups coordinate activities to achieve goals, and it’s vital in socialization, decision-making, problem-solving and change-management processes (Berger, 2008). The focus of organizational communication is on the whole system, rather than on parts of the system (Katz &Kahn, 1996). The study of organizational communication centers on processes of interaction, means by which people obtain information, form opinions, make decisions, merge into the organization, leave the  organization, and create rapport with one another (Shockley-Zalabak, 1999). Through communication, people coordinate their actions to achieve individual and organizational goals (Shockley-Zalabak, 1999). Effective organizational communication can be achieved through transformational leadership and will generate greater organizational and employee performance within small organizations (Dario Martinez, 2012). Effective communication is needed for management to develop and sustain a competitive advantage for organizational performance and improvement (Avolio, Lado, Boyd &Wright, 1992; Rowe, 2001). Effective communication succeeds when employees support the leader and the organization if there is a belief that employees’ efforts will be rewarded. Leadership succeeds when initiating response or responding to change and leadership is inextricably linked to the credibility of those leading. Constituents will become willingly involved to the extent that they believe in those sponsoring the change (Kouzes &Posner, 2003). Methodology and Data Collection The experiential survey has been used for the purpose of the paper. Data is qualitative in nature and has been collected through primary and secondary sources. The questionnaire consisted of open ended questions related 06 November 2014  to communication flow and processes. Five private service organizations comprising of hospitality, academia, telecommunication, retail, and insurance were included in the survey. Ten employees from each sector have been taken in the survey and their experiences related to communication problems in the organization have been considered for the purpose of study. Analysis The analysis is based on present survey and past studies. The findings revealed that organizational communication is one of the most important determinants of sound interpersonal relationships within the organization. In a reputed retail store, information was not transmitted through proper channels. There was ambiguity regarding the instructions communicated to employees. This caused discomfort and conflicts in the organization and affected the quality of work. The General Manager-Marketing of the retail store admitted that most of the miscommunication led to conflicts which were difficult to resolve. When asked about the negative influence of past workplace experience on the present organization, the HR Manager of a well known hospital revealed that most of the employees were always thinking about their past work environment and their self-fulfilling prophecies were leading them to live with fear and poor emotional management. In many organizations, most of the information was not communicated to the employees and the decisions were thrown at them. The instructions were not seriously obeyed and the employees turned violent during work. The Area Manager of an insurance company revealed that closed communication gave rise to violent behavior in employees. Grapevine communication has prominence in all organizations and has its own benefits but the Principal of a Technical College revealed that their organizational communication largely depended on grapevine and it was a major cause of dissatisfaction among the employees and resulted into high turnover. The employees of a telecom company expected encouraging behavior from their senior manager. A lower level employee revealed that the absence of compassion in communication and humiliating remarks of their departmental head was extremely offensive to their self-esteem. When these findings were considered around the elements of the McKinsey’s 7s model, it was felt that the 7s model could be linked to the problems related to organizational communication as: Strategy – Improper communication flows give rise to conflicts and hamper the organization’s image. It is important to make the right communication strategies for conflict resolution and sustainable advantage. Structure – Most organizations use formal channels of communication. This results in choking of essential information giving rise to grapevines. The organizational structure has to be designed in a way that information is not choked. Systems – The internal processes and procedures facilitate good communication and it is important to understand how effective they are in maintaining the correct flow. Skills – Communication can flow smoothly if the staff possesses the right skills. Staff – The staff can facilitate effective communication and value needs to be attached to communication skills during recruitment and selection. Style – The management is responsible for promoting a culture of open communication. Shared goals – The organizations’ belief system and attitude towards communication is at the core of other elements.

Strategic Management and the Health Care Facility Essay

Strategic Management and the Health Care Facility - Essay Example In order to build a template for interview, it was necessary to conduct preliminary research into certain strategic issues which might be present in a variety of health care settings. Two health care professionals identify that the hands of health care workers can spread â€Å"both normal and pathological microorganisms† and is the â€Å"main route of infection spread† (Green-McKenzie and Caruso, 2006, p.57). This led to the development of interview questions dealing with the potential risks of worker-to-patient infection spreads to induce discussion from the participant about this aspect of health care delivery and patient liability.  The Senior Risk Manager advised that these types of problems are present in most health care settings, with the hospital administration continuously having to work within guidelines from multiple regulatory forces (such as the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention). With there always being a risk of transmitting dangerous infections or diseases from worker to patient, part of the risk manager’s role is to procure literature on the subject, coordinate the distribution of alcohol-based hand rubs, and ensure compliance to certain individual staff guidelines on clean health care delivery. In this role, the risk manager also works on various informative programs for community citizens regarding better hygiene in the home and professional environment as part of the hospital’s growing focus on sending the public image of a socially-conscious organization. Thus, at the senior level, it would seem that in-house sanitation and community hygiene and the promotion of better health care are regular concerns and considerations.  It is not only disease transmission concerns at the strategic level which cause concern, it is also the safe and accurate administration of medication to patients. It was identified that there have been several instances of patients receiving incorrect dosages due to illegible documen ts which were translated incorrectly. This represents a problem with physician quality-of-service. As part of this risk assessment, it was decided at this facility that sloppy physician writing was a reality of patient care, thus instead of reprimanding physicians, the hospital installed a new, touch-screen system for patient care. This was designed to improve the communications between physicians and support staff and also ensure that the hospital was reducing its potential liability for accurate medication dosing. â€Å"For many years, medication errors have been a source of serious concern within the health care community† (Skiba, 2006, p.70).

Physical Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Physical Education - Essay Example 3. Experts perceive that physical activities used as punishment and/or behavior management tools is a â€Å"quick fix† that actually might discourage the behavior it is intended to elicit. They have perceived that using negative consequences to change behavior suppresses the undesirable behavior only while the threat of punishment is present. It is not a long-term or permanent fix as it does not teach self-discipline or address the actual behavior problem of the students. Thus, student behavior patterns are not changed. 4. There are several strategies or techniques that could be used to address a behavior issue in a physical education class. Students may be included in establishing expectations and outcomes early in the year, and to review those expectations and outcomes frequently. They can also be included in meaningful discussions about goals and how to reach them. Another is to practice and reward compliance with rules and outcomes. There is also a need to be consistent wi th enforcing behavioral expectations within the learning environment. Also, offer positive feedback and catch students doing things right. It is important not to reinforce negative behavior by drawing attention to it. Students should also be held accountable for their misbehavior.

The Public Sees the World not as It Is,but through the Filters of the Essay

The Public Sees the World not as It Is,but through the Filters of the Media - Essay Example The question, then, becomes—manufactured by whom? Also relevant is the question of what is being manufactured. Reality, as some thinkers would say, is what is being manufactured and is being done so by the media, which developed countries are increasingly reliant upon for information about the world. The purpose of this paper is to find examples and principles regarding how media constructs reality, with particular emphasis on the construction and imposition of gender, and how this construction interferes with the notion of a real reality. First, however, it is important to start with definitions of important terms; the first of these terms is â€Å"culture.† In saying that a culture is responsible for manufacturing truth, one is suggesting that shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices of a group are creating an integrated pattern of symbols to represent its beliefs, knowledge, and ideas. In other words, a culture is a set of shared attributes of a group, which ha s the capability of creating a symbolic system that represents those shared attributes. Language is the keystone example of how groups transcribe concepts and abstract ideas into symbols and signs representing its shared reality. A culture is a tool toward this social symbolic thought. Another important definition to clarify is that of media. To say that media assists in the construction of reality, one is suggesting that the tools or instruments that store and deliver information are actually responsible for giving meaning to the information they communicate. McLuhan (1964) coined the phrase â€Å"the medium is the message,† meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a mutual relationship in which the medium influences how the message is perceived. As applied to gender, a message delivered by a scantily clad woman on a television about the best tasting beer is likely to have a different meaning than the same message delivered by an old woman tal king on the radio about the same topic. Media, then, is any medium by which information is stored and delivered to the public. This is a very wide-ranging definition of media that captures the essential point that media is a broader instrument to communication than simply speaking or acting in a certain way. Media is also goal-directed, whether that goal consists of inspiring action in its recipients, making a profit, or informing certain people of events happening in the world. Lastly, a third relevant definition to be considered is for gender. The idea of â€Å"gender† is conceptually distinct from sex, which is tied more fundamentally to the biology of an individual’s body. What is relevant here, then, is not the identification the individual can make of himself or herself with regard to what is anatomically true about his or her body, but rather the kind of individual he or she identifies with as a person. To the extent that cultures are capable of creating their o wn systems of symbols to represent their own beliefs and attitudes, so too can individuals form beliefs and attitudes about personally relevant issues such as which groups in society he or she identifies with. According to the sex and gender description, one social identifier open to individual choice is

Organizational Performance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Organizational Performance - Assignment Example Usually, upon observing the extrinsically motivated employees, even the intrinsically motivated people may start to improvise on their perfection for attaining such extrinsic benefits. A manager should understand the types of motivation he should employ according to the personality of the employee and behave accordingly. The same differences can be tabulated in Appendix 1. (Quinn. S., 2010) The point where intrinsic and extrinsic motivations get exchanged is the ultimate place for job satisfaction and performance. However, this goal can never be explained arbitrarily. It has to be explained in terms of processes which have been enumerated in the following theories: Maslow’s Need Hierarchy: Every human being has 5 levels of needs, one superior to the other as explained in Appendix 2: It is the tendency of every individual to try and satisfy the needs from the bottom of the triangle to the top. Once the physiological needs get satisfied, he moves on to the security oriented needs and so on. As he starts moving higher up, the extrinsic rewards for which he was earlier motivated should be accompanied by his intrinsic motivation to achieve job satisfaction and performance. There is a natural tendency to move up and down the triangle continuously according to the circumstances. Herzberg’s theory of hygiene and motivation: Factors of hygiene contribute to the extrinsic motivation and constitute of work conveniences like good relationships with peers, supervisors, salary etc.

Judicial restraint and judicial activism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Judicial restraint and judicial activism - Essay Example On the other hand, the doctrine of judicial restraint holds the assumption that the courts are supposed to submit to the decisions made by the executive and legislative branches. This is because the people elect the president and the members of the Congress and the federal judiciary members are not. The courts are also supposed to submit to the agency decisions and rules. In other words, under this doctrine, the courts are not supposed to hinder the implementation of agency rules and legislative acts unless they are precisely unconstitutional. For instance, many states before the case of Roe v. Wade held that abortion was illegal, regulated sodomy, made homosexual sodomy and adultery a crime (Bardes, Schmidt, and Shelley 459). Judicial activism approach is appropriate because the courts are able to act in an independent manner. In other words, the courts can make their decisions without the influence of the executive and the legislature. These two branches of the government (executive and legislature) at times make decisions that only serve their interests and not that of the people (Bardes, Schmidt, and Shelley 459). For instance, the in Griswold v. CT case of 1965, the court suggested that the rights to privacy existed and thus, the case overturned the Connecticut law that regulated birth

Risk and Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Risk and Risk Management - Essay Example Therefore, a more appropriate term would be country risk management, a practice of which country risk assessment is but one element. Country risk, for the international banker, is the potential for a loss of the assets a bank has loaned across borders in a foreign currency. A loss could be caused by a multitude of factors that renders a borrower unable to service or repay the loan as per the agreement. (Also at risk may be physical assets such as branch offices of multinational banks, but that issue is not discussed here.) The borrower may be a sovereign nation, a local firm, or a multinational corporation of another country. Whatever the case, the loan is papered according to the country of risk, that is, the country from which the repayments will flow (Angelini, Maresca, Russo, 2004:855). Country risk assessment entails the identification; a qualitative and quantitative analysis and measurement of the political, economic, social, and natural conditions in the country in which the borrower operates; and the degree to which these exogenous factors can impinge on the borrower's capacity to conform to the terms of the loan agreement. The risks to be considered are those over which private companies or individual borrowers have no control. Examples of country risk by their broad categories are the following: Political events --history and probability of confiscation or expropriation of the assets of the borrower, occupation by a foreign power, civil disorder, ideological conflicts (often closely linked with religious differences), changes in government (both planned and peremptory), regionalism and tribalism in terms of the internal balance of power, inequitable distribution of income related to ethnic rivalries, unwillingness of a government to honor its obligations, changes in policy that affect the borrower's cash flow, and terrorism Social event --history and probability of civil war, riots, labor union strife, religious conflict, and socioeconomic differences in living standards that result in tension or instability Economic conditions --possibilities of recession, extent of diversification of the economy, attitude toward strikes, effects of increases in the cost of imported inputs and foodstuffs, degree of reliance on a few key exports and the effects of a decline in the worldwide prices of those exports, background of policies and development strategies, taxes on local earnings, restrictions on the transfer of remittances out of the country, devaluation or depreciation of the exchange rate and other capital controls, degree of intervention by the state in fixing prices for inputs and outputs, and frequency of intervention of the government in the money market and the ceilings on interest rates Natural disasters --frequency of droughts, floods, earthquakes, and epidemics and the possibility of famines or wide-scale reduction in the productive capacity of the country as a result; the attitude and the most likely policies of the government

The Truth Behind Lies Essay Example for Free

The Truth Behind Lies Essay September 11, 2001 is the most tragic day in Americas history. These attacks were a series of United Airlines plane hijackings by Al-Qaeda radicals. Two planes hit the twin towers, one hit the pentagon, and another was aimed to hit either the White House or Capital Building but was crashed prematurely. Although the death count is not an exact number, it is estimated to be around three thousand people. There are many conspiracies surrounding this tragic event, which claim this attack was not one committed by terrorists, but by the United States government. Motifs for a staged attack would be to justify the invasion of Middle Eastern countries for geostrategic reasons. Healthy skepticism is expected when an event of this magnitude occurs but to completely put this off as an inside job is simply naà ¯ve. September 11, 2001 was a terrorist attack planned by radical leader, Osama Bin Laden, not a conspiracy by Americas government, and there is plenty of information to prove it. Conspiracy theorists make rash claims and provide their listeners with half facts when the entire truth has been unveiled. They lack credibility and see only what they wish to see while ignoring the blatantly obvious facts that are right in front of them. Many reasons have been given as to why this was an inside job, such as a lack of debris found at the crash site of Flight 93. Others say that jet fuel does not burn hot enough to melt the steel structures of the twin towers, and multiple explosions were heard and reported by those inside the buildings. Building 7 of the World Trade center was what many conspirators focused on. They stated that the building was demolished and that its lower supports had bombs planted on them that caused  the building to go down rather than fires created by debris from the two initial attacks. Another argument is that the hole in the pentagon, created by Flight 77, was much too small for an airliner to make and rather missiles were shot into the building. The reasons given for these attacks are clear; Countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan are rich in oil and all the United States government needed was a reason to invade. Of course all of these theories can be disproven when facts are brought to the table. Flight 93, on the date September 11, 2001 was a quarter full having forty four people on board including four suspected hijackers. The plane was a Boeing 757-222 on route from Newark International Airport to San Francisco International Airport in California (The Crash of Flight 93, 2). The Twin Towers were first hit at 8:46 AM Eastern Time (Flight 93, 4). At 9:23 the pilots of Flight 93 received a transmission warning of possible cock pit intrusion, and, at 9:26, forty minutes into the flight, three passengers put on headbands, stormed the cock pick, an took control of the plane (Flight 93, 6). Passengers were made aware of the hijacking, of what was happening in New York, and began calling loved ones to say good bye. They bravely made the decision to stop what was happening, overwhelm the hijackers, and crash the massive plane. The plane crashed head on going around five hundred miles per hour, into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania (Flight 93, 12). Conspiracy theorists argue that much too little debris was recovered from the crash site for a plane of that size to have hit. In the past when planes crash, debris is scattered everywhere but, in the case of Flight 93, there was very little debris to be seen. This is because most planes attempt to crash-land when a plane malfunctions, scattering debris all around. Due to the angle and amplitude the plane hit the ground at, the engine and black boxes were buried fifteen to twenty five feet underground, and were not discovered until weeks after. Other debris was found scattered up to eight miles from the initial crash zone (Flight 93, 29). Continuing, the twin towers supports were made from A36 steel, varying between four inches thick at the base, and a quarter inch thick at the top (Franco, 2). Jet fuel has a maximum burning temperature of 825 degrees Celsius and theorists have stated that jet fuel does not burn hot enough to  melt steel which has a melting point of 1,370 degrees Celsius (Kross, 1). While the steel was not melted, it became soft at 538 degrees Celsius (Kross, 3), and weakened to the point of being unable to support the 500,000 ton structure. Therefore, it is proven that burning jet fuel was the cause of the buildings collapse; not the explosions that were reported at the base of the building. No actual evidence has ever been found of any explosions separate to those made by the planes. These buildings were not systematically demolished, but rather taken down by the planes that crashed into them, just as was reported. Building seven of the World Trade Center (which was separate from the Twin Towers) also has controversy surrounding it. It is believed by conspirators that bombs were planted at the base of the building and that is what caused it to fall, this has no truth to it whatsoever and no evidence was found of any bombs. Building seven was only 400 feet away from the 1,300 foot Tower that was collapsing. As the Tower peeled open, a perimeter column fell creating a gaping twenty story hole in the building, and igniting numerous fires throughout (Benson, 35). Firefighters were preparing to enter the building when they were ordered to abandon it (Benson, 39), its collapse was imminent at that point. Conspirators argue that Building 7 should have collapsed to the side and not straight down like a building does when being demolished. Of course it collapsed straight down! It was a fifty story building made up of separate pieces instead of one solid building, just like the Towers (Benson, 60). This evidence further proves that anybody who believes the government is responsible for September 11, 2001 is drawing a story around the truth like a child drawing around their hand. The final piece of evidence that these theorists use it that the hole Flight 77 made in the pentagon was much too small for a plane to make, and there was too little wreckage from the plane recovered. French Author, Thierry Mason, concludes that the pentagon was not struck by a plane, but by a satellite guided missile, part of an elaborate United States Military coup. Mason argues that a 757 airliner has a wingspan of 125 feet, why was the hole only measured to be seventy five feet (The Pentagon, 24)? The truth is, a real jet does not punch a cartoon like outline of itself when hitting a  reinforced concrete fortress. The planes wing scraped the ground prior to full impact and the other was sheared off by the pentagons blast resistant columns (The Pentagon, 36). There was absolutely no lack of debris found either. Black boxes were found, engines were found, pieces of plane with United Airlines markings were found (The Pentagon, 97)! All of the claims made by conspirators lack one c rucial thing, any truth whatsoever. September 11, 2001 was a truly tragic event in our nations history and those who lost their lives will be remembered. It is disrespectful for conspiracy theorist to make such rash and absurd claims that the United States Government is responsible for their deaths. Conspiracy theorists have no actual hard evidence that anything they say is true and are simply telling lies on lies with a speckle of truth in between. If one was to look at the credibility of theorists such as those who produced the film Loose Change, a film attempting to persuade that September 11, 2001 was a government conspiracy, may second guess believing a word they say. It is important to educate ones self and not believe everything that is said like a child does. Look at the real proven facts and evidence and the answer will be apparent.

SWOT Analysis and finances of Nestle

SWOT Analysis and finances of Nestle Nestle is one of the worlds leader in the food processing and consumer packed goods industry. Founded by Henri Nestle in 1866 in Vevey Switzerland, it has become worldwide with almost 85 branches around the world specializing in a variety of products ranging from baby food, drinks and bottled water to confectionery and ice cream. (Micheloud Cie, 2008) In the race to achieve a high market share in the ice cream industry, Nestle is followed closely by its global competitor Unilever, a Dutch/British multinational operating across many countries in the world with its thriving brand name and products. In order to perform better, Nestle followed a series of acquisitions to grow in the global market. In order to find out its resources, capabilities and core competencies, an internal environmental analysis (SWOT Analysis) of Nestle has to be conducted. Resources can be divided into tangible and intangible resources. Tangible resources include Human resources, equipment, financial resources or capital and raw materials. Such resources are easier to put a value on, but they are also easy to copy and hence are not unique to an organization. On the other hand, intangible resources include technology, knowledge, expertise, brand name, copyright, patent, goodwill etc. Such resources are not easy to copy. Hence being unique, a company having such resources should be able to achieve sustained competitive advantage. SWOT Analysis of Nestle: STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Good Brand Name: Nestle has created a brand name for itself in international markets and also owns brands such as Kit Kat and Lion Bar. Acquisitions: Nestle grew through acquiring various national companies. This meant they had to prepare them to also face the necessary risks involved in the process of acquisition and even after. Also global integration proved to be a hindrance. Licensed Brands: It has licensed brands from Disney and in turn has used this to develop exclusive ice cream products such as Extreme ice cream cones. This grew to Nestles advantage the Disney characters were now linked to Nestle. Weak distribution links: Nestle suffered as they did could not reach their products to all the local markets due to poor distribution links. On the other hand Unilever maintained good relationships with the local companies and retailers to as to ensure adequate freezer space in most of the small outlets in the country. Their objective was to gain maximum freezer space in order to make their products available to the customers at all times. In certain cases the company also rented its freezer to smaller stores. Technology: Nestle has invested a great deal in modern technology. It has used this technical development wide range of new to develop innovations in ice cream and have also launched a chain of patented products. Nestle set up a research laboratory in North America and Europe to research and develop new technologies in ice cream. By doing this the company hoped to achieved a sustained competitive advantage. Local Competition: It was difficult for Nestle to compete on a local level. Nestle allowed its national companies to develop local flavors which did not prove to be effective. They also could not compete with the low overhead costs from the local supermarket chains and companies. Successful Diversification: Nestle has not only succeeded and advanced in the ice cream industry but has also used its knowledge and spread into breakfast cereals, chocolate and confectionery, dairy products, coffee, drinks, baby food and bottled water. Taking this risk of entering new market has proved to be extremely successful for Nestle over the years. Achieving Profitability: In countries where Nestle could not achieve a significant market share, achieving profitability also proved to be a major predicament. Economies of Scale: Nestle has been able to achieve lower costs as a result of higher volumes of production. They achieved economies of scale by branding the products that were usually manufactured at a central location with the national company name, thus reducing cost of storage and transportation. Costs: Yet another limitation of Nestle was to overcome the high fixed costs of developing and distributing ice cream. In order to reduce such high fixed costs, Nestle needs a high market share so that profitability can also be increased. Unilever definitely established a competitive advantage by maintain strong distribution links with its suppliers, an important factor that Nestle did not take into consideration. Unilever also achieved competitive advantages in terms of satisfying local tastes and prices. These strengths of Unilever have proved to be threats for Nestle. Comparative Analysis of the Strategies used by Unilever and Nestle STRATEGIES NESTLE Market Challenger on the attack UNILEVER Market leader on defense Approach to Strategy Prescriptive Approach: Nestle definitely followed a more planned approach to achieve its organizational objectives. They stuck to their plans without making major changes. As a result of this planned approach they were able to put their resources to a much more efficient use. Mix of Prescriptive and Emergent Approach: Although Unilever had its planned objectives of becoming the world leader in ice cream, they kept developing strategies to improve and work on their weaknesses. They kept up with the changes in the environment and were able to satisfy its huge customer base thus achieving a competitive advantage over Nestle. Unilever developed flexibility and adaptability. Generic Strategy Nestle differentiated itself from its major competitor Unilever by using its huge investment in technology to develop various patented products. It also associated itself with Disney characters by obtaining licensed brands. Unilever was able to achieve economies of scale which in turn made it easier for them to also achieve cost leadership. They were able to reduce the costs and thus successfully enter the local markets. Growth Strategy Nestle followed an inorganic growth strategy through a series of acquisitions. It teamed up with other major companies to expand and develop a quicker market share. They acquired ice cream companies in more 30 major countries. Some major acquisitions included Dreyers, the US market leader and Scholler, a principal ice cream company in 2002. By achieving economies of scale, Unilever was able to keep out new entrants that could not achieve such low costs. In addition to keeping out new entrants, Unilever also worked alongside local brand names thus following an inorganic method of growth. Growth Direction Nestle diversified by producing new products and entering new markets, thus spreading its risk. It developed breakfast cereal, confectionary, baby food, dairy products etc. Unilever on the other hand followed a product development strategy. They developed new products in the existing market. They acquired local brands and developed additional variety of ice cream products.

history of juvenile justice :: essays research papers

History of Juvenile Justice *created in the late 1800’s to reform U.S. policies regarding youthful offenders *early on children were treated as chattels of adults without any rights *if found guilty they were sentenced just as adults were *New York City House of Refuge, the first youth prison opened in 1825 *during the 1800’s the juvenile justice system exercised its authority within a â€Å"parens patriae† which meant state as parent or guardian role. The state assumed responsibility of parenting the children until they begin to show changes *Many refuge homes were similar to orphanages *the refuge houses provided education, physical exercise, and supervision *Illinois adopted the first juvenile code in 1899 and established the country’s first juvenile court *prior to 1900 at least ten children under the age of fourteen had been executed *Illinois law focused on the offender’s character rather than the offense *the mission of juvenile courts was to make the youth productive citizens *in the 1920’s professional and mental health services available through the courts were expanded *Kent vs. U.S.(1966) was the first case requiring a special hearing before any transfers to adult court *In re Gault(1967) case that determined the constitution requires separate juvenile justice system with certain standard procedures and protections *by 1970’s a major conservative reform movement emphasized deterrence and punishment. Conservatives wanted vigorous prosecution of serious and violent offenders *Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (1974) started to decriminalize, deinstitutionalize, and eliminate court authority over status offenders. They wanted to separate juvenile offenders from adult offenders believing that they were learning criminal behavior from the adults. history of juvenile justice :: essays research papers History of Juvenile Justice *created in the late 1800’s to reform U.S. policies regarding youthful offenders *early on children were treated as chattels of adults without any rights *if found guilty they were sentenced just as adults were *New York City House of Refuge, the first youth prison opened in 1825 *during the 1800’s the juvenile justice system exercised its authority within a â€Å"parens patriae† which meant state as parent or guardian role. The state assumed responsibility of parenting the children until they begin to show changes *Many refuge homes were similar to orphanages *the refuge houses provided education, physical exercise, and supervision *Illinois adopted the first juvenile code in 1899 and established the country’s first juvenile court *prior to 1900 at least ten children under the age of fourteen had been executed *Illinois law focused on the offender’s character rather than the offense *the mission of juvenile courts was to make the youth productive citizens *in the 1920’s professional and mental health services available through the courts were expanded *Kent vs. U.S.(1966) was the first case requiring a special hearing before any transfers to adult court *In re Gault(1967) case that determined the constitution requires separate juvenile justice system with certain standard procedures and protections *by 1970’s a major conservative reform movement emphasized deterrence and punishment. Conservatives wanted vigorous prosecution of serious and violent offenders *Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (1974) started to decriminalize, deinstitutionalize, and eliminate court authority over status offenders. They wanted to separate juvenile offenders from adult offenders believing that they were learning criminal behavior from the adults.

Strategic Management: Many Schools of Thought :: managers, management, business,

Management plays a significant role in how business operates. Strategic management has improved tremendously the last forty years. The diversity of approaches to the theoretical and practical background of management has come up with versions of what is meant by such key words as management and organization. The academia views expressed in relation to management theories take a different role than that prescribed to managers. Though there are several schools of thought ten dictate the current thinking on strategy. It ranges from the early stage of design and planning schools to the current cultural, learning and environmental Schools. The design school turns to examine Strategy formation as achieving and creating a match between the internal strength, weakness and the external threats and opportunities of the firm. It was based on the formulation of strategy from a deliberate process that was not formal nor informal, analytical nor intuitive. Within an era of dynamic change, it was unable to keep up to the pace and eventually further research started in trying to address its shortcomings The planning school Alongside the design school, the planning school grew in the strategic field. It is quite similar to the design school but argued that the formulation process of strategy was formal. It was grounded on the systems theory of the social sciences The positioning school In Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, meaning is given to strategy from a military point of view. It’s the representation of his work that is applied in firms in industries and in the evolution of the value chain analysis and the game theories. Drawing on military history and industrial organisational economies, its main theme was to analyse. Basically, it’s all about the facts and nothing but the fact. However, critics of this school contend that strategy is just positions through a formal way in which something is placed in relation to its surrounding The entrepreneurial school Not actually based on any discipline, some of its writings were borrowed from economics. Its strategic ideas was deeply rooted in intuition, moving strategy to an entirely new field of not clearly expressed vision though the concept of a leader with a vision was making grounds at that time. The cognitive School This school of thought saw strategic development as a mental process. It seeks to find out what occurs in the mind of strategists from a psychological point of view. If the strategy models developed in the minds of people, can we get to know how these minds function.

Spam: Junk Email Essay -- Research Papers E-mail Essays

Spam: Junk Email The fictional story â€Å"The Case of the Spam Stalker† was based on my research and interest in the topic of junk email or spam. I was able to think of this topic because of the unbelievable amount of junk email that I was receiving at my America Online email account. In fact, I received so much junk mail that I decided to switch to another account with Lycos. Because I was having so much of a problem with unwanted mail, I figured that there were many more people with this problem. Hence, I decided to do my research project on junk email, otherwise known as â€Å"spam†. Similarly, my story involves the main character having to switch her email accounts because of the increasing volume of junk mail that she received. Throughout the story, the character presents situations in which she is able to inform the reader of what spam is, where it comes from, how to get rid of it, and what the laws are concerning spam. In order to start this story, I first had to research. The majority of my research came from internet databases that I found through the James Madison University website. However, I also managed to find one book by Geoff Mulligan on the subject of removing spam. The major areas of my story that feature my research results are, I think, obvious. The first occurrence of my research appearing in the story is when the main character, Dorian, complains to her friend Tony about the amount of spam she gets at her AOL account (Dvorak). When Tony proceeds to explain to Dorian that if she upgrades to AOL version 8 then spam wouldn’t be a huge problem (Business Wire); and when he tells her how spam got into her account through message boards and member directories (Mulligan), are other examples... ...ces Using Filters, Other Tactics To Combat Spam.† Internet World. 19 Oct. 1998. Lexis Nexis Academic. James Madison University, Carrier Library. 1 Apr. 2003. . Hill, Steve. â€Å"Unwanted. Unwelcome. Unstoppable?: Lovely spam, wonderful spam!† Internet Magazine. Dec. 2001. Infotrac. James Madison University, Carrier Library. 1 Apr. 2003. Mulligan, Geoff. Removing the Spam: Email Processing and Filtering. Reading: Addison Wesley, 1999. Warner, Janine. â€Å"How much does spam really cost?† The Miami Herald. 10 Mar. 2003. James Madison University, Carrier Library. 1 Apr. 2003. .

Current Police Vehicle Pursuits Policies and Procedures Essay

Why We Need Policy It is important to recognize that to use high speed methods in vehicle pursuit can only have risks reduced by un-holding a standardized guide as to how to proceed with the least of harm. The use of policy is an important element in any delivery of social and care service. Codes of practice provide parameters as to what needs to be recorded, how actions are to be undertaken and to realize the inherent moral obligation to ensure the rights and dignity of all stakeholders (New Jersey Police Department, 2001). Though, to provide consistency in application and resolution of dilemmas it is critical that report forms have an integrated presentation so that they can be used across situations, and across levels of staffs. Present Policy Currently there are written policies existing in every police station in North America instigated by the National Institute for Justice (NIJ). However, these differ amongst agencies, which has resulted in the indetermination of how best to deliver best practices in police vehicle pursuit (Alpert, 1997). A standardized form of pursuit policy would allow for better comparisons across agencies, and to quantify practices (Department of Public Safety, 2000). Recommended Policy Changes Develop and monitor a system to record information about pursuit driving. This will include narrative and multi-media forms, such as video, webcam and when necessary mobile camera and video. Continuous review and revision where necessary of pursuit policies. The quality and direction of these documents need to be valid and relevant and respect the rights and welfare of all stakeholders. Provide ongoing pursuit-specific training that includes ethical debating and written observation techniques Provide training and supervision across policies to ensure staffs in critical thought, inclusive decision-making and consistent deliver of services. Cultivate a culture of disclosure, reflection and critical analysis of responsibility for pursuit-actions amongst staffs. This includes having a supervisor read through and deliberates as to the appropriateness of pursuit activities in afteraction reports). Emphasize and make salient the ongoing risks and dangers of pursuit to guard against complacency of safety issues across time and experience. Establish a minimum criteria to meet a low offense as compared to a high offence to determine when a decision be made to continue or to initiate pursuit of a suspect’s vehicle. Train to recognize when public endangerment outweighs a decision to pursue; for example with incidents of traffic congestion Provide categories (ranking of criminal activities) and risk standards (rated from low to high) that allow staffs to easily and rapidly make distinctions during a chase Create a chase matrix from category scales to provide a set of specific standards that aid decision-making as to whether to start or continue a pursuit.   Conclusion Police pursuit is a controversial issue in social discourse, due to the inherent dangers to police, the pursued and the public. Formulation of a policy that adequately provides categories of risks and standards, and emphasizes the severity of the offence to determine if a chase is initiated or continued, appears to be the way to insure a consistent high level of best practices in pursuit. Ultimately, policy must seek to limit pursuit to only the most violent felons whilst resulting in the least risk to the public. Tragedy of road collisions due to police vehicular pursuit highlights the critical need for such policy. References Alpert, G. (1997) Police Pursuit: Policies and Training. Series: NIJ Research in Brief. Retrieved November 8, 2007 from http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/164831.txt Department of Public Safety (2000) Uniform Statewide Pursuit Policy. Retrieved November 8,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2007 from http://www.ct.gov/dps/cwp/view.asp?a=2151&q=294336 New Jersey Police Department (2001) Police Pursuit. Retrieved November 8, 2007 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.state.nj.us/lps/dcj/agguide/vehpurs_2001.pdf

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by elevated levels of glucose in the blood or hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. Normally a certain amount of glucose circulates in the blood. The major sources of this glucose are absorption of ingested food in the gastrointestinal tract and formation of glucose by the liver from food substances (Kozier et. l, 2002). Client’s name is Mr. Harvey, 48 years old and has three children and he is newly diagnosed having Type 1 Diabetes. He is a college undergraduate and has experienced working in a restaurant as chief cook until now where in he works for 6 hours. He is also a small businessman and is greatly affected by the economic condition as of the present.He only earns enough for his kids since he is a single parent; he earns about 350 dollars a day including his earnings in his small business. These factors aforementioned greatly influence to his ability to access the necessary healthcare that he should have. Yes, he has a job but his earnings is not enough for him to be thoroughly be checked by healthcare professionals, and also because he has three kids which are all studying as well.As a single parent, it is his job also to look after his children and this means all his extra time will be devoted to them and he will not be able to attend to his own needs and other self- care practices needed for his condition. Although he can do some modification in his diet still he cannot manage to consistent all throughout because he still has a lot of things to attend to, but nevertheless as a college undergraduate he has some basic knowledge about the condition he has which is Type 1 Diabetes.Although he has a job and a business of his own it still does not erase the fact that he is a single parent of three kids, maybe he can buy some medicine for his condition but it will not be continuous because he will tend to prioritize other things. Prognosis of his condition would be poor because he cannot focus on the treatments that he should be getting to alleviate his condition; Diabetes is such a silent killer especially when complications arise. Lastly, diabetes can be fatal. Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a common and potentially serious, chronic metabolic condition which is characterized predominantly by hyperglycemia and other manifestations. Diabetes can be a devastating condition with long lasting hazardous consequences since due to its chronicity it affects almost all the major organs of the body including the eyes, the kidneys, the nerves, heart and blood vessels (Jennifer, 1998).There are two main types of Diabetes Mellitus viz. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (also termed as Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus or IDDM and juvenile Diabetes Mellitus) and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (also known as Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus or NIDDM and adult-onset Diabetes Mellitus) (Jennifer, 1998). Type 1 DM is more common as compared to type 2 DM in younger age groups and accounts for almost two-thirds of the cases of diabetes diagnosed amongst individuals less than 19 years of age (Levitsky & Misra, 2008).Epidemiology of DM – The magnitude of the problemI n the United States, Diabetes Mellitus is the fourth leading cause of death and accounts to 178,000 deaths per year (Do I Have Diabetes?, 1998). Individuals with DM have been shown to have a 5-10 years shorter lifespan as compared to their normal counterparts (Lipsky & Sharp, 2004). Moreover, DM also contributes to significant morbidity and remains amongst the leading cause of blindness in adults in the 20-74 years age group. Similarly, it also remains as one of the most common causes of non-traumatic lower-limb amputation and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review, 2007).It was estimated that about 7% of the U.S population (20.8 million individuals) were inflicted with this condition in the year 2005. Amongst these, 14.6 million were diagnosed as having DM while the rest were undiagnosed. Moreover, an additional 54 million people were shown to have pre-diabetes’ (defined below) (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 â €“ A Review, 2007). It is alarming to note that over the past decades, the incidence of DM has been increasing and it was observed that the percentage of adults in the U.S diagnosed with DM increased by 49% (from 4.9 to 7.3%) during the period 1990-2000 (Lipsky & Sharp, 2004).Diabetes Mellitus is also important from an economic and public health perspective as well since it leads to both direct and indirect costs of health care. The magnitude of the problem can be judged by the fact that in the year 2002, the per-capita healthcare cost for diabetic individuals was $13,243 as opposed to $2560 for non-diabetics (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 – A Review, 2009).Type 1 and Type 2 DM – A comparisonAs discussed above, there are two main types of Diabetes mellitus – type 1 DM and type 2 DM – which differ in etiologies and pathogenesis. DM was classified into two major subtypes viz. IDDM and NIDDM in 1979 by the National Diabetes Data Group and thi s classification was later endorsed by WHO (Jennifer, 1998). However, this classification had certain limitations and therefore the recent guidelines classify DM into four main groups viz. type 1 DM, type 2 DM, â€Å"other specific types† and gestational diabetes (Jennifer, 1998).According to the recent guidelines, the diagnosis of DM requires two fasting plasma glucose levels of 126 mg per dL (7.0 mmol per L) or greater. Moreover, if after a glucose load of 75 g a patient has two two-hour postprandial plasma glucose (2hrPPG) readings of 200 mg per dL (11.1 mmol per L) or higher or two random blood sugar levels of 200 mg per dL (11.1 mmol per L) or higher, he/she can be diagnosed as being diabetic.It is preferable to use the fasting plasma glucose level, due to its better reproducibility and easier administration, however, in clinical practice, a combination of any two abnormal test results can be employed (Jennifer, 1998). In addition to full blown DM, the American Diabetes Association has defined another category, pre-diabetes. This is a state in which ‘the blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes’ (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review, 2007).Type 1 DM is a metabolic disorder resulting from the autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells located in the Islets of Langerhans which results in a progressive disability to secrete insulin (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review, 2007). Type 1 DM can present at any age the most common presentation being in childhood but one-fourth of cases are diagnosed in adults. (Levitsky & Misra, 2008). This late presentation of type 1 diabetes mellitus has been termed as latent autoimmune diabetes of the adult (LADA). Studies have suggested that type 1 DM occurs in individuals who are genetically predisposed to developing this disease and its onset may be triggered by certain environment agents such as viru ses and toxins (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review, 2007).Once the onset is triggered, there is progressive destruction of the beta cells and a subsequent decrease in insulin production. However, during this period the individual is asymptomatic and euglycemic (Eisenbarth & McCulloch, 2009). Overt hyperglycemia is manifested when more than 80-90% of the beta cells have been destroyed (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review, 2007). Recently, a newer subtype of type 1 DM has been identified which is characterized by a non-immune mediated destruction of pancreatic islet cells and has been termed as Type 1B DM (Eisenbarth & McCulloch, 2009).It is a well established fact that type 1 DM is genetically determined. Several genes have been implicated to play a role in the pathophysiology of type 1 DM including polymorphisms in HLA-DQalpha, HLA-DQbeta, HLA-DR, preproinsulin, the PTPN22 gene, CTLA-4, interferon-induced helicase, IL2 receptor (CD25) , a lectin-like gene (KIA0035), ERBB3e, and an undefined gene at 12q (Eisenbarth & McCulloch, 2009).In individuals with type 1 DM, genetic markers are present since birth. However, it has been elucidated that immune markers develop after the onset of the autoimmune process of beta cell destruction and metabolic derangements can be identified once a significant proportion of beta cells have been destroyed but before the occurrence of symptoms (Eisenbarth & McCulloch, 2009).The immune markers which have been identified for type 1 DM include antibodies to the islet cell (IA2) and to insulin (IAA). Moreover, autoantibodies to islet–glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) including anti-GAD65 have been found in patients with type 1 DM and are of particular importance in adults with this disease since these antibodies are clinically detectable and can be used to aid in the detection and diagnosis of type 1 DM in adults (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review, 2007).Type 2 DM is relatively far more common than Type 1 DM, especially amongst adults accounts for almost 80-90% of all the cases of DM in various regions of the world (Gerich, 1998). Over the past few decades, epidemiologic studies have identified an alarming increase has been observed in the cases of Type 2 DM to an extent that type 2 DM is now being regarded as an epidemic. In a study conducted in a Japanese population comprising of children of school going age, type 2 DM was found to be seven times more common as compared to type 1 DM and a 30-fold increase in its incidence was noticed over the last two decades (Rosenbloom, 1999).Type 2 DM typically affects individuals aged greater than 40 years but more recently it has been observed to be occurring more frequently in younger age groups and has been found in individuals who are as young as two years of age and have a positive family history of this disorder. There are various factors which have led to an increase in the incidence of type 2 DM in younger age groups. These include increasing incidence of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle amongst children and an increase in the life expectancy, with more individuals surviving past the age of 65 years (Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 – A Review, 2007).The etiology of Type 2 DM is a multifactorial and it arises from a complex interplay of both genetic and environmental influences. The inheritance of this disorder does not follow the simple Mandelian patterns. Infact, this disorder has a polygenic inheritance requiring multiple gene polymorphisms (Gerich, 1998). Lipsky describes the genetic-environmental interaction which is implicated in the development of type 2 DM as â€Å"A good analogy is that although genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger (Lipsky, 2004).†Several genes have been implicated in the causation of type 2 DM. Amongst these the three most consistently identified genes include TCF7L2, KCNJ11, and PPARG (Lyssenko, 2008 ). However, more recently, a number of novel genes which increase an individual’s susceptibility to type 2 DM have been identified including CDKAL1, IGF2BP2, the locus on chromosome 9 close to CDKN2A/CDKN2B, FTO, HHEX, SLC30A8, WFS1, JAZF1, CDC123/CAMK1D, TSPAN8/LGR5, THADA, ADAMTS9, and NOTCH2 (Lyssenko, 2008).The pathogenesis of Type 2 DM is different from type 1 DM in that it results from both an impairment in insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion as opposed to Type 1 DM which results solely from impaired insulin secretion (Gerich, 2009). Individuals with type 2 DM have end-organ or peripheral resistance to insulin and additionally a defect in the production of insulin and recent data suggests that both must co-exist for causing manifestations of type 2 DM. Several risk factors have been identified which increase a person’s susceptibility to developing type 2 AM.These include a positive family history of DM, and increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI), impaired or elevated Liver Function Tests (LFTs), comorbid conditions such as current smoking status and hypertension, decreased measures of insulin secretion and action, Hispanic, Native American, African American, Asian American, or Pacific Islander descent , a history of GDM or of delivering a baby with a birth weight of >9 lb and Polycystic ovarian syndrome (Lyssenko, 2008 and Votey & Peters, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 – A Review, 2007).Amongst other risk factors, obesity is one of the most consistently identified and the strongest risk factor for the development of type 2 DM. Moreover, studies have shown that intraabdominal obesity is of particular significance in causing insulin resistance (Gerich, 2009). Most of these risk factors are modifiable and current public health strategies focus on targeting these modifiable risk factors in addition to pharmacologic intervention for the control of type 2 DM.The complications of DM are numerous and diverse and include increased susceptibil ity to infections, microvascular complications including nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy which can lead to subsequent end-organ failure and macrovascular complications, which include stroke and coronary artery disease (Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 – A Review, 2007).In conclusion, DM is a common disorder and affects a large proportion of the population globally. There are two main types of DM viz. type1 and type 2 and both differ in etiology and pathogenesis. DM can lead to several manifestations and complications and hence is a major public health concern. Although extensive research has been conducted in order to identify the underlying etiology of both types of DM, there is a pressing need to explore the arena of prevention measures for this disorder and devise strategies to control the increasing incidence of Type 2 DM in the younger age groups.ReferencesDo I Have Diabetes? (1998, October 15). Retrieved April 20, 2009, from American Family Physician: http://www.aafp.o rg/afp/AFPprinter/981015ap/981015b.htmlEisenbarth, G. S., & McCulloch, D. K. (2009, February 11). Pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Uptodate online: http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~JYHFR94z4VP3LY&selectedTitle=4~150&source=search_resultGerich, John E. (1998) The Genetic Basis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Impaired Insulin Secretion versus Impaired Insulin Sensitivity. Endocrine Reviews 19(4): 491–503Jennifer, M. (1998). Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus: New Criteria. American Famil Physician .Levitsky, L. L., & Misra, M. (2008, November 18). Epidemiology, presentation, and diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Uptodate Online: http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~0babJ4CniXpnXAf&selectedTitle=12~150&source=search_resultLipsky, M. S., & Sharp, L. K. (2004). Preventive Therapy for Diabetes: Lifestyle Changes and th e Primary Care Physician. American Family Physician .Lyssenko Valeria et al. (2008) Clinical Risk Factors, DNA Variants, and the Development of Type 2 Diabetes. The New England Journal of Medicine 359; 21Rosenbloom, Arlan L. and Joe Jenny R. (1999). Emerging epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Youth. Diabetes Care 22:345–354Votey, S. R., & Peters, A. L. (2007, October 2). Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 – A Review. Retrieved April 2, 2009, from emedicine: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/766036-overviewVotey, S. R., & Peters, A. L. (2009, February 2). Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 – A Review. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from emedicine: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/766143-overview