Reason for Returning to School Essay

The reason of why I decided to go back to school and obtain my Bachelor Degree has never been anything out of the ordinary. In today’s society, I see many working adults pursuing their degrees to obtain security and self-fulfillment. While others are looking for the advancement in pay and position in their current or new job. There are even those who need to gain more confidence in their skills to do a good job for their company and they feel that by getting a degree, they can achieve this goal. All of them pertain to me. Especially to today’s current economy, I strongly feel that there is a great advantage to having a degree versus to not having one when it comes to searching for a job. More and more each year, I see new programs for education that are designed for working adults. If there were no real demand for these programs, I believe they would not exist. But that demand is real. There is a larger competitive environment in the work force now then there was a few years ago. With many new and fresh graduates coming out of college, I feel the pressure to increase my credentials to be able to compete. Even though I have built my experience through years of on the job education, I feel that by obtaining a graduate or even undergraduate degree is the only way to secure my position against the growing population of new graduates. I believe that you must continue updating your skills to keep up with this very competitive market. Then, there are those current working adults who are already established in their field, but would like to find a way to increase their potential of getting a raise or promotion. By obtaining a degree, this can show the managers how much value of an employee you are to the company. To have the qualifications and experience can give you a better success rate of getting the raise or promotion that you would ask for. It’s a way of selling yourself and your worth. With a degree, you just are more armed to the task of requesting for an advancement. Once I have obtained my degree, I can then see myself seriously requesting for an advance of my pay and position from my manager. Most importantly is the ability to feel confident in doing your job and to  have that credential to show people. There were many projects that I have been involved in that required myself to learn new skills. One example was learning how to program in Visual Basic 6 to create an interface GUI for one of our robot systems. Another accomplishment that I achieved was generating a database for system files used by our integration department. In almost each project, there were other managers involved besides my own manager. And each one had their doubts in my ability to succeed in the project. I have yet to fail, but each time a new project is started, these doubts from these managers come along with them. Even though I have five-years of experience in my field, I can see that it is harder to prove your ability in your skills with out a four-year degree. It is also much harder to have the confidence in yourself when there are others that lack that confidence in you. That is why I can se e by obtaining a degree can benefit me in many ways besides security and advancement in pay and position. There are times that I try to imagine how different it would be one I have earned my degree. And each time all I can imagine are anything but positive results. Sure, there are concerns and sacrifices that I would need to make down the road. Sacrifice like time. Time with my family and time for myself. But what is a couple of years of sacrifice compared to a lifetime of advancement? I once read an article about a successful businessman and how he achieved his goals by following one philosophy he recited to himself everyday. He believed the reward in terms of happiness is directly proportional to the sacrifice that each one makes. Great philosophy. And I try to live it everyday.

Gender Bias In The Workplace And Pay Inequalities Essay

In 1972, the government attempting to correct discrimination in the workplace passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. This act protects individual rights and promotes employment opportunities and fairness for everyone within the workplace (Klingner & Nalbandian, 1998, p. 158). This act should have eliminated gender bias and pay inequities, but has it accomplished its goal? Are employment opportunities and promotion opportunities fair and equal to everyone? Does gender bias and pay inequities still exist in 2000, 28 years after the passage of the act? In researching this topic, I do find that gender bias and pay inequities are still prevalent in today’s work world. Because there are so many women and minorities in the workforce today, I will attempt to explore some of the reasons why gender bias and pay inequities still exist. Background Organizational Culture First, does the organizational culture attribute to gender bias and pay inequalities? In researching this topic, I find the answer to be yes. Many times, the organizational culture and climate foster workplace inequalities and these inequalities are maintained by group pressure (Hale, 1999, p. 13). Informal networks within the agency help to maintain inequality because women and minorities are traditional employed in lower status jobs and not allowed into the networks. These jobs limit their access to powerful employees (McGuire, 2000, p. 1). These informal networks tend to be personal, voluntary and have their own boundaries. You don’t join the network because you want too, you join because you are allowed too (McGuire, 2000, p. 1). Organizations have always been geared to the white male and these habits are hard to break. To accomplish goals of the agency, all employees must work together. Managers must build rapport with their employees and this is most easily accomplished by interacting with those who share the same background and who are most like them (Maume, 1999, p. 4). White men working and networking with white men. Many times the organization does not even realize that they are inequalities in their agency because they have always done it that way. People tend to get set in their ways and operate on auto-pilot and never see their weaknesses. Organizational climates are hard to change and it takes dedication from management to make it happen. Many times the management thinks, â€Å"If it’s not bro ken then why fix it?† What they do not realize is that the organization would be so much stronger if they diversified their workforce and let all employees excel to their greatest potential. Literature also suggest that gender bias is a result of institutional and attitudinal processes. White males simply do not want women or minorities to be in an equal position with equal pay. Not only do they not want it, often times they take steps to protect specific jobs from women (Maume, 1999, p. 9). The â€Å"good ole boy† network is hard to break. All organizations state that they are an Equal Employment Opportunity company, but many agencies are only promoting that image and not actually following it. Yes, they hire minorities and yes they hire females, but these individuals do not have the same advantages as men. Often times they hire just for quotes and this causes hard feelings within the entire organization. Rather than the company hiring the best qualified, sometimes they hire a minority just to meet requirements. When this happens, the Equal Employment Opportunities policy can adversely effect other employees through reverse discrimination which in turn causes problems for the entire organization through decreased morale (Hale, 1999, p. 13). Also, if the black or female fails or performs poorly, then all white males will assume that all blacks and fem ales will fail. â€Å"In sum, it is the relationship between social roles, interests, intergroup relationships and organizational culture norms and values that set the conditions that perpetuate unequal employment opportunities and outcomes (Hale, 1999, p.13).† Society and Personal Influences What we are taught as children in regards to roles of females and males overflow into the workplace (Hale, 1999, p. 14). â€Å"Gender is a culture unto itself, raised with basic rules of conduct â€Å"instinctively† known to all adult members of that gender (Heim, 1995, p. 3). The managers of today grew up in families where their mothers stayed at home and kept house and took care of children. They have been taught at home that men should be the bread winner and women should take care of the house. They are also taught that men are stronger and should be the leader of the household and therefore these behaviors flow into the work setting. Even the Bible states that a women should not be over a man. These beliefs are taught generation after generation. â€Å"Internalization and Identity encompass the learning and socialization processes by which individuals incorporate assumptions, perceptions, stereotypes, and misperceptions and make judgments about themselves based on the way they perceive others judge them (Hale, 1999, p. 3). Women feel their are invisible, isolated and irrelevant within an organization while men see them as emotional (Hale, 1999, p.4). Men and women are different and view situations differently. Literature suggests that men do not want to give up their power and are uncomfortable working with women (Hale, 1999, p. 1). Women feel excluded from power and feel socially isolated within the workforce. Description of a Specific Situation Job Segregation Another proof of gender bias is job segregation. Often times women and minorities are segregated or placed into certain agencies only because they are women or minorities. Social closure issues hold that society has defined what jobs are appropriate for males and what jobs are appropriate for females (Maume, 1999, p. 3). Many studies conclude that men and women are allocated and segregated into positions because they are either male or female. And this segregation affects pay and promotion opportunities (Maume, 1999, p.2). â€Å"Segregation accounts for approximately one-half of the gender gap in wages (Maume, 1999, p. 9)†. A National Study of Gender-Based Occupational Segregation in Municipal Bureaucracies indicates that women can be more successful in redistributive agencies (Miller et al., 1999, p. 2). Agencies such as welfare, social justice a nd health are more likely to support affirmative action. Society has taught us that women should be caring and nurturing and because of these traits, they fit into redistributive agencies. Many women will hold administrative and professional positions in these agencies and so there appears to be a gender balance in public welfare, sanitariums, and hospitals (Miller et al., 1999, p. 8). In a study in Los Angeles, it was determined that economic restructuring had a negative impact on African Americans. The unemployment rate among black males has increased more than twice the rate of white males (James, 2000, p. 4). At a first glance, it appears black females have faired better than white females, but that is not the case. Black females are more likely to be employed in public sector work or pink-collar occupations where segregation of females is high. Many black females have entered the arena because they have obtained higher levels of education (James, 2000, p. 6). However, very few of them have management positions, but are employed as school teachers, educational counselors and social workers. While all of these professions require at least a bachelors degree, they are still relatively low paying jobs (James, 2000, p. 8). It is also noted in the study, that jobs held traditionally by black females such as housekeepers are now held by Latinos. The Latinos are not g aining employment because of non-gender bias but because these individuals are uneducated and speak limited English (James, 2000, p. 7). Once again, minorities and females are being segregated into certain jobs. If government agencies are required to follow Equal Employment Opportunity rules and affirmative action laws, then why are females not getting a fair deal? One reason is because primary stakeholders in government tend to be male and therefore they support the hiring and promoting of men. Policy making, implementation, and management of infrastructure are usually dominated by men, following the orders of men. On the contrary, in social agencies there appears to be less male influence. This is believed to be caused by the fact that most businesses are not the beneficiary, but citizens. Politicians perceive businesses as more important than citizens because of the economic impact of tax revenues. Therefore, men feel they need men in areas of real power positions. This shows a direct relationship between agency-clientele on gender-based employment patterns (Miller et al., 1999, p. 7). Once again, the municipal study finds that females are underrepresented in the best paying or most power ful positions within city government (Miller et al., 1999, p. 7). Jobs are ranked by employers and employees differently. Employers rank them according to skills and commitment and employees rank them according to desirability and rewards (Maume, 1999, p. 3). One would think this process would be fair to everyone but, in many organizations there appears to be double standards to judge men and women. Women most often have to measure up to higher standards than men do to obtain the position (Hale, 1999, p. 8). Are employment opportunities and promotional opportunities equal to both men and women? No. Reskin and Roos conclude that women can move into â€Å"male† jobs â€Å"either because market conditions force employers to reach down into the labor queue to hire women, or because men reevaluate and vacate jobs, thereby creating openings for women (Maume, 1999, p. 3).† Women are traditionally segregated into specific jobs; thereby leaving men in their on world to compete with each other for higher paid jobs (Maume, 1999, p. 3). Men traditional have higher status contacts than women which also help them to maintain their positions (McGuire, 2000, p. 2). Glass Ceilings, Glass Walls and Glass Escalators â€Å"The glass wall metaphor describes occupational segregation attributed to employment barriers that restrict the access of women to certain types of jobs (or agencies) or that trap them within certain types of jobs (or agencies). Glass walls are likely to persist when: (1) organizational cultures create impediments to change; and/or (2) skills necessary to perform jobs in a given agency are not highly valued elsewhere† (Miller et al., 1999, p. 2). The glass ceiling is an expression used to describe the inequalities of men and women within the workforce. It seems that women can become employed in an agency but then run into an invisible barrier when they try to move up the ladder of hierarchy within the organization (Baxter & Wright, 2000, p. 1). â€Å"Although women held half of all federal government jobs in 1992 and made up 86 percent of the government’s clerical workers, only a quarter of them were supervisors and only a tenth senior executives (Baxter & Wright, 2000, p. 2).† Several studies in the employment of women conclude that women continue to face glass walls and glass ceilings in government positions (Miller et al., 1999, p. 2). In addition, women continue to find it hard to obt ain employment in male-dominated fields (Miller et al., 1999, p. 1-2). This further proves that women are segregated into certain types of jobs. The findings of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics suggest that white men have a glass escalator and a glass ceiling continues to exist for women and minorities. White men tend to ascend to managerial levels with little or no effort especially in segregated workplaces (Maume, 1999, p. 3). Initially one would think that females would have the advantage in a predominate female workplace, but that is not the case. Women are continually excluded from supervisory positions and are generally paid lower salaries even in those agencies (Maume, 1999, p. 1-2). Promotions, Job Devaluation, and Pay Inequities Segregation places different sexes into unequal jobs thereby locating women and men into different opportunity structures and affects promotion opportunities (Cassirer & Reskin, 2000, p. 3). Most female jobs then to have a shorter promotion ladder (Cassirer & Reskin, 2000, p. 3). The municipal study finds that females are underrepresented in the best paying or most powerful positions within city government (Miller et al., 1999, p. 2). These positions are traditional administrative and professional occupations. They convey status, authority, and usually influence policy makers (Miller et al., 1999, p. 2). The study concluded that specialists were more likely to be promoted to these positions rather than generalists. The subject specialists are generally from professions mostly dominated by men, for example, engineers or biologist (Miller et al., 1999, p. 4). The municipal study also uncovered two patterns within city government. First, female administrators and professionals were hired in lower paying agencies. Second, agencies with higher level salaries were agencies with more gender imbalance (Miller et al., 1999, p. 10). Again, women were more concentrated in health, welfare, hospitals, and sanitariums. It appears that the jobs with better pay were held for men. Literature suggest that men are more often promoted than women. Because of this, men attach more importance to promotion than women. In addition, men are more likely located in a position where promotions are possible. The organi zational culture encourages male promotions (Cassirer & Reskin, 2000, p. 1). This culture causes women to not value promotions because they know that they will not receive one because the company just doesn’t promote females or the promotion will be blocked (Cassirer & Reskin, 2000, p. 2). Another surprising finding within female dominated organizations is the fact that males still have the advantage in management. One would suspect that in a predominate female organization, the female would have the advantage, but studies show this not to be the case. Males seem to bullet up the glass escalator. Many times the promotion occurs because the male employee will bond with the male manager who will in turn mentor him and prepare him for advancement (Maume, 1999, p.5). Often times the male is promoted in the predominant female agency to boost morale and to decrease tensions (Maume, 1999, p. 5). The tensions develop because females think that the males can not do the job because they do not match the stereotype of nurturing and caring (Maume, 1999, p. 11). â€Å"Kanter concludes that sex-differentiated work behavior results from sex-differentiated opportunity structures rather than from gender assumes a casual process in which workers’ positions, not their gender, aff ect their work attitudes and behaviors (Cassirer & Reskin, 2000, p. 2).† Another interesting facet of gender bias is that when women move into jobs predominately held by men, the jobs are devalued. The autonomy, prestige and high pay are removed (James, 2000, p. 9). It is noted that as agencies become more and more female dominated, they are viewed as the dumping ground for females resulting in lower pay scales and limited job training (Maume, 1999, p. 5). Reskin and Roos conducted a study on labor and job queues to inform readers of the changing ethnic/gender composition of occupations and how it related to African American women’s changing occupational profile. They also found that because occupations were transformed to include women, the jobs status decreased and the pay also decreased (James, 2000, p. 6). The status composition perspective holds that organizations with large numbers of female employees are devalued in the eyes of an organization. The jobs held by mostly females are considered unimportant and lower skilled as compared to male jobs. Job evaluations prove that women receive lower points than men which means lower salaries for the females (Maume, 1999, p. 3). â€Å"Inequality in the distribution of earnings and income i s generally positively related to inequality in education and training (James, 2000, p. 9). I feel that this statement is not true. A male and female can be equally as qualified, but the male will still get a better salary. Literature suggests that even when females hold masters degrees, they still make less than their male counterparts (Maume, 1999, p. 2). Although women have made some progress in obtaining management positions, gender bias is still highly integrated. Ironically, gender bias is greater at the lower level of management than at the highest level of the organizational hierarchy (Baxter & Wright, 2000, p. 9). In all the research that I conducted, the same theme was prevalent in all articles. There is not equal pay for equal work nor is there equal opportunities for advancement. Conclusions and Recommendations In order to fully gain equal employment and fairness, traditionally male positions must be opened up to females. This is the only way to shatter the glass walls and ceilings that currently exist (Miller et al., 1999, p.10). Individuals concerned about equalities for everyone should press for the continuation and strengthening of local government programs designed to increase female re presentation and more equitable gender distributions of better paying and better government jobs (Miller et al., 1999, p. 10). This support must come from white males and not only females and minorities. In addition, organizational cultures must be changed in both the private and public arena. This process will be time consuming and will inevitably run into opposition from white males. Change is hard and many times people try to block it. In order for employees to embrace change, they must understand the changes and why they are necessary. If employees are not supportive, tensions will increase and morale will worsen (Miller, 1963, pp. 236-237). Managers at all levels will need to fully embrace workforce diversification for the value that it will bring to the organizations. Literature also suggests that educational institutions must get involved in teaching equality because they are preparing the leaders of the future. â€Å"Public administration graduate programs should more actively strive to strengthen equal-opportunity learning environments by exposing students to the way gender affects their work-lives and by better preparing students to face and overcome gender-based inequalities in organizations (Hale, 1999, p. 16).† The goal of educators should be to continu ally improve society. Many times schools have failed to recognize this purpose (Miller, 1965, p. 7). Valuing differences in employees creates synergy and the key to valuing these differences is to realize that all people see the world as they see themselves (Covey, 1989, p. 277). This makes the job of equality and pay equity so difficult. Men believe that it is easier to work with men and that men do a better job and therefore deserve more money. Their pride and egos tell them that women cannot do the job as well as they can. These personal beliefs must be changed. Pairing men and women together on teams will expand the male mindset and hopefully help them realize that females and minorities are as equally qualified. Valuing the differences of all employees can make the entire agency stronger because we all have strengths to bring to the agency. Intense staff development must be held to teach men and women how to communicate with each other. Men need to learn all they can about females and females need to know all they can about males. Society requires that men and women work together and this is not going to change. What has to change is the way we work together. Communication is the key. If we do not communicate effectively, then the best intentions of both genders will fail (Heim, 1995, p. 3). In looking at my agency, I can agree that gender bias and pay inequalities exist. Our agency has more white females than white males and only a few minorities. We have an established pay scale but the scale is not always followed.There is evidence that men are given more pay than women with the same degree. Also, men with lesser degrees have received a higher salary because of who they know and not because of their education or experience. Traditionally when promotion opportunities became available, the administration would automatically appoint a white male. The new President of the college recognized the gender bias in management. He put a policy in place that all jobs must be posted and that everyone would have an opportunity to apply for them. When he was hired we had one female administrator, now we have three. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baxter, Janeen and Erik Olin Wright, 2000, â€Å"The Glass Ceiling Hypothesis†, Gender and Society, Vol. 14, Issue 2, p. 275. Cassirer, Naomi and Barbara Reskin, 2000, â€Å"High Hopes†, Work & Occupations, Vol. 27, Issue 4, p. 438, 26p. Covey, Stephen R., 1989, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York: Fireside of Simon & Schuster. Hale, Mary, 1999. â€Å"He Says, She Says: Gender and Worklife,† Public Administration Review, Vol. 59, Issue 5, p. 410. Heim, Pat, 1995. The Power Dean-Even Rule and other gender differences in the workplace, San Jose, California: Cor Vision Media. James, Angela, 2000. â€Å"Moving up, But How Far? African American Women and Economic Restructuring in Los Angeles, 1970-1990†, Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 43, Issue 3, p. 399. Klingner, Donald E. and John, Nalbandian, 1998. Public Personnel Management: Contexts and Strategies (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Maume, Jr., David J. 1999. â€Å"Glass Cei lings and Glass Escalators,† Work & Occupations, Vol. 26, Issue 4, p. 483. McGuire, Gail M., 2000. â€Å"Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Networks,† Work & Occupations, Vol. 27, Issue 4, p. 500, 24p. Miller, Van, 1963. The Public Administration of American School Systems. New York: The Macmillan Company. Miller, Will; Kerr, Brinck; Reid, Margaret (1999). â€Å"A National Study of Gender-Based Occupational Segregation in Municipal Bureaucracies: Persistence of Glass Walls,† Public Administration Review, Vol. 59, Issue 3, p. 218,

Extended Essay – Bnm

1 EXTENDED ESSAY Business and management RESEARCH QUESTION: How efficient would it be for BP Mwanza, Tanzania to introduce pricing strategies such as penetration pricing to drive out their competitors in Mwanza, Tanzania. Candidate name: Zafar Mohamed Iqbal Abdullah Osman IB candidate number: dwt124 School name: Indus international school Pune School number: 003508 Adviser: Mr. Brian Alex Date submitted: 26th November 2012 Word count: 3700 2 Abstract: This paper aims to answer the question ‘’How efficient would it be for BP Mwanza, Tanzania to introduce pricing strategies such as penetration pricing to drive ut their competitors in Mwanza, Tanzania’’ By using different techniques such as the S. W. O. T and the force field analysis to see where the business and if the company is using pricing strategies like penetration pricing how will this help them get over their rivals, this will give a clear understanding on the current situation of BP, I will compare B P with different petrol companies to see how they are competing and also if the other companies are using other strategies. Furthermore I will comprehend if penetration pricing will help BP gain market share and sales or not and along with this will asset led arketing be a crucial aspect in penetration pricing. I will evaluate and mention how penetration pricing is better than price leadership, predatory pricing and going rate pricing on getting market share and a high sales volume through secondary data. Through the company’s profile, the use of the records such as sales from January to December of the year 2011 will help me see how the company has being operating for the past year and if they use penetration pricing will it benefit them in their main aim. Along with this I will conduct an interview of the Dealer Mr. Iqbal Osman to extracts information and his iews of the usage of penetration pricing. I will display this through the Primary research that I have collected Thi s paper came to a conclusion that the introducing of penetration pricing would be efficient for BP in Mwanza, Tanzania to drive out their competitors. Word count: 280 3 Table of Contents Abstract: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2 Introduction: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4Body †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 S. W. O. T †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 8 Force Field Analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 How will Penetration pricing affect and gain sales fo r BP: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 Asset led marketing: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 Why Penetration pricing is a better way of driving out competitors: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 Interview analysis: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 16 Sales Of British Petroleum of 2011 Analysis: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 18 Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 19 Appendix †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21 Bibliograp hy: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 23 4 Introduction: When most companies need to gain profits and increase the market shares and brand image in their business, the firms start thinking of driving out their competitors because the ain aim is to do that in order to be number one in the region and a particular common method that can be used is penetration pricing, which in the same way it is used as a market led based pricing strategy, Penetration pricing is defined as setting relatively low prices (or a specially introductory price) to gain brand recognition and market share. British petroleum of Mwanza, Tanzania was run by Mr. Abdullah Osman. Along the years Mr. Abdullah Osman started opening more petro l stations throughout Tanzania, which included Oryx another petrol company. The company has been opening many petrol stations throughout Tanzania and the market hares and profit of the business have increased. Due to strong competition, the company has been trying to tackle them by using different strategies that will make them over come their competitors, to gain market share and increase their brand image. I am going to see if penetration pricing can be one of them to help the company over come their competitions in the Mwanza region and how they are going to accomplish this. Mr. Iqbal Osman and his brothers took over the business because the father had retired and suggested them to continue the family business. But during 2009 British petroleum suffered a 5 loss due to the loss of one of its wner who was helping out in the business and played a key role in the business. As the company was running under a partnership deal between the two brothers, Mr. Iqbal Osman had to take over that petrol station single handedly in order to keep the business running and to sustain it from any losses or even being sold to other companies. For sometime during 2009 the company was going through losses, due to the new ownership. Mr. Iqbal Osman found it difficult to handle the company by himself and along with this the prices of the petrol had to be increased 8 times. Due to the changes in the petrol market it caused a lot of problems within he business itself in each department. After these happenings, there was a period of time when the company was going through a stream of success, which really benefited the company financially. This made them powerful in the petrol market in Mwanza and helped them increase their brand image. The company had adapted itself to the new ownership, which did start bringing up the companies brand and image through strong advertisement and making people aware of BP and leading their mission statement, which states â€Å"we are here to stay, we are here to serve†. While this was happening the subordinates of the company gained new skills and started orking better than before and the output of the company increased by a high number. This really benefited the company and it did start getting back on track. The company is now trying to introduce new ways to keep up the profits and to gain market shares in the petrol market and increase their brand image. This includes pricing strategies such as penetration pricing wherein the company set a relatively low price to gain brand recognition and market share to attract customers and gain more market shares. By doing this BP Mwanza, Tanzania hopes this will help them to drive out their competitors and gain market shares and brand image and makeBritish petroleum number one 6 in Mwanza Tanzania: This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of penetration pricing in BP, hence the research question ‘’How efficient would it be for BP Mwanza, Tanzania to introduce p ricing strategies such as penetration pricing to drive out their competitors in Mwanza, Tanzania’’ find relevance. Body Findings: For data collection I am going to use both primary and secondary data to investigate if the pricing strategies will have any effect to the competition and bring up the brand image. For my primary research I am going to take an interview of the Dealer Mr. Iqbal Osman, to see his views on if this ricing strategies especially penetration pricing are launched will this be a success to the company and will this help the company drive out the competitors or not, also if the company really need to strategize their prices or not in order to drive out the competitors, or will this benefit the company. I will also use the company’s records to see if they introduce these pricing strategies will it have any effect. I will use the company’s sales for one year ago and see how the prices have varied through out the whole year. And from this I will be able to see if the prices of this year are better than last years, also this will give me and dea on how penetration pricing will be effectual to the driving out of their competitors and gaining market share and increasing their brand image in Mwanza Tanzania. For my secondary research, the use of S. W. O. T will help me find the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats by the use of SWOT this give me a better understanding of the 7 organization position in the market place and therefore the formulation of the company’s strategy of its long term survival and it will give me a broader perspective of BP itself and this SWOT analysis will be a powerful source to see if this penetration pricing would be a good idea or not forBP. The use of the force field analysis will help me see if the change of using penetration pricing will be a good idea or not. I will do this by analyzing the forces for and against and after analyzing it will show weather it will be succes sive or not. I will use other external resources like the internet to find out more information about the company and to see if the company can or cannot introduce these pricing strategies at the state that they are at the moment also the internet will give me statistics of the company which will help me. British petroleum have many competitors in the market in Mwanza Tanzania there are more than 5 other ompanies that are competing with BP, these companies use different techniques to try and give a better brand image they use loads of advertisements and they try to attract customers in order to get more market shares than BP and this affects BP a lot, the use of these other strategies used by the competitors will give me an idea on how BP is facing against its odds. The usage of on how the company is investing in capital and how it is benefiting them and at the same time is it producing more for the company, if the company puts in more money they will get skilled workers and the out put would increase and the quality of the machine will be

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Critically assess whether a criminal justice system based on resolution and restoration would be more effective than the one based on punishment - Essay Example They need a second chance because many have not received even a first chance. Additionally, rehabilitation is by far the best option for them because of the way they would almost certainly be exploited and turned into hardened criminals if sent to prison. This paper will provide further background to the issue of rehabilitating juvenile offenders, and strongly argue that it is the right approach. The justice system fulfills an important symbolic function by establishing standards of conduct. It formally defines right and wrong for citizens and frees them from the responsibility of taking vengeance, thus preventing the escalation of feuds within communities. The system protects the rights of free citizens by honoring the principle that individual freedom should not be denied without good reason. Rehabilitation has as its objective the return of offenders to the community as cured and viable members of society. The rehabilitation efforts of the 1980s and 1990s were to a large extent unsuccessful. No program appeared to be any more effective in changing criminals than any other program, so a sizable portion of the people released from prison continued to return (Murphy 49). This led many to conclude that the best, and possibly only, alternative was simply to remove offenders from the community, precluding any further vexation and exploitation by them. Since criminals are though t to be more likely to commit crimes than those never convicted of a criminal act, it follows that some benefits will be derived from incarcerating convicted criminals. Incapacitation has the greatest potential as a method of crime control if it is a few hardened criminals who commit most crimes. If they can be identified, convicted, and incarcerated for long periods, a significant reduction in crime would be realized. Most advocates of punitive reform have this perspective on the criminal population. Blame for the majority

Simulation and systems modelling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Simulation and systems modelling - Essay Example It provides an overview of DES, DES adoption challenges, and DES application main areas in manufacturing. The report also represents three selected famous systems appeals for small, medium, and large companies. Finally, the report gives a conclusion and future directions for simulations. First of all, to define simulation, The Oxford English Dictionary describes Simulation as: "The technique of imitating the behaviour of some situation or system (Economic, Mechanical etc.) by means of an analogous model, situation, or apparatus, either to gain information more conveniently or to train personnel." Also, computer simulation methods have developed since the early 1960s. (Holst, 2001) Holst defines discrete event simulation (DES) as "The modeling over time of a system all of whose state changes occur at discrete points in time those points when an event occurs". In discrete event simulation, the operation of a system is represented as a chronological sequence of events. Each event occurs at an instant in time and marks a change of state in the system (Banks et al, 2005) The need for simulation applications in management is increasing. First of all, Simulation is considered to be a powerful decision making tool for managers. Xianglong et al (2001) provided simulation system that can provide the decision-maker a sequential decision-making environment by establishing a virtual reality simulation system. Also, it could be used for experiments planning and results analysis. Semini et al (2006) listed several reasons why a simulation can support manufacturing logistics decision-making: It facilitates understanding of the real system and its behavior. It reveals previously hidden relationships and provides a systematic way to analyze the situation Can facilitate communication and provide a basis for discussions. "What-if" analyses can be carried out, allowing the decision-maker to test the affects of different alternative scenarios without having to make changes in the real system. Also, Simulation applications are used for risk and disaster management for businesses, organizations, or even countries. It could construct useful visualizations of risk, as provided by triangular decompositions and trade risk profiles, and calculating relevant risk measures. For example, it can provide additional

Aggregate Demand and Supply Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aggregate Demand and Supply Models - Essay Example A change in the rate of unemployment will hence result to a change in the demand and supply hence affecting the equilibrium market. People form expectations about prices; quantity supplied and inflation based on previous information. If individuals expect a shortage of goods, they will increase demand to store the goods for the scarce season. Sellers will however hold the goods and hence reduce supply since they anticipate increased costs during the scarce period. The same happens in case the customers and sellers expect an increase in prices (Tucker, 2010). Use of past information to form expectations is not efficient as it may result to wrong predictions hence affecting the equilibrium market negatively. Unemployment and expectations hence affect the aggregate equilibrium between supply and demand. The government should, therefore, develop measures to influence this non-price factors affecting demand. The economy will hence operate at equilibrium by avoiding surpluses or

The Human Nature of Prejudice Essay Example for Free

The Human Nature of Prejudice Essay Many people in society today have the mindset that being prejudice is wrong, especially as it relates to skin color and ethnicity. Social Psychology and Human Nature book describes prejudice as â€Å"an act of a wicked culture† (Roy F. Baumeister, Brad J. Bushman p. 402). Jim Cole’s description is: â€Å"Prejudices will be dealt with here as a single set of dynamics that function to dehumanize people who are identifiably different in some way from the people whose perceptions are limited by the dysfunction we call prejudice (Cole p1  ¶2). † This means that there dysfunctions in childhood structure and it has limited the person take on the world because of a certain disbelief. If taught wrong, you become more prejudice at the more dislike you see in your life growing up because these are your own perceptions on the society. However, being prejudice makes since because it is an acquired behavior. Prejudice does not always mean a person disliking or â€Å"hating† another person, or disliking someone because of their favorite color, height or weight, religious beliefs, etc. Most often times, people do not take notice that prejudice is happening to them until it is about race. If a person has a problem with someone else because they are not the same; different is seemingly fine. We all have problems, problems that can be solved with rehabilitation, some with great medicines and treatments, and others with just life. Some of our problems come from our past childhood. The way we are living and the choices we make could cause a problem; no matter what the situation is we face problems every day. Prejudice is what kind of problem we need to be aware of: socially, mentally, physically, and or most cases, for example, Dennis Rodman’s, psychologically. The problem arises when prejudice is carried out in aggression or when it is used to make people feel uncomfortable. As children, we are born into this world with many cultures already present. There are many things people are born to know. Then there are things that are learned and taught to us from our parents and society. For the most part, many children start off liking everything and everyone that does not physically harm them. It is understood that children do not learn and change behaviors themselves, and that culture influences personality, behavior, and the way in which children respond to those things and people that surround them. In my perspective, the way children learn right from wrong is the whole culture aspect existence. For example, children are indoors more with their family. Children adapt to their parents’ lifestyles, their views, values and beliefs, and their personalities. They learn quickly thus behaviors become a set way. Growing up, children learn how their parents respond to society, neighbors, political views, and even criminal situations. For example, children who commit crime or involve themselves in criminal activities are taught or learned this from somewhere like watching television, playing video games, or simply observing the behavior among family, friends, and loved ones. Richard Trembley said, â€Å"even though children are the most violent and aggressive human beings, they cannot express their anger and aggression because they may be too weak to do so† (p24). Trembley’s discovery on children at a daycare facility revealed that â€Å"25% of the interactions among children involve physical aggression† (p24). This proves that children can be born with natural aggression or be taught aggression. For instance, if you take a child’s toy their first instinct is to cry out of anger or hit you. Both crying and hitting are forms of outward aggression especially if a child throws a tantrum or â€Å"go bananas†. Chapter 10 of the text says this is called, â€Å"nature says go and culture says stop’ (p300). As children grow and mature, they learn how to control their aggression. Growing older force children to make choices and adjustments to the bad behaviors taught and learned earlier in childhood. As children begin to expose themselves to others, they quickly begin to learn from others they encounter. They learn about different cultures and different behavior other than their own or what they are familiar with. Assumptions and conclusions about people are analyzed, measured, and weighed out and behaviors begin to form. Case in point, a young girl dislikes men growing up because she experienced her father mistreating her mom with cheating, cursing, and fighting or simply no man was around in her life to learn positive things about. The girl sees a picture of her father and her mother would tell her that he is a bad man. Now, this becomes the girl’s maxim causing her to freak out or cry even meeting her mom’s new boyfriend. Even with other men, the girl would be hesitant and freak out because she has been brainwashed by her mother men are always trying to hurt or betray you. This probably would take a girl much longer to like men outside of a girl that have had a different experience being around positive men. As illustrated in the text, â€Å"prejudice is a negative feeling toward an individual based on his or her membership to a particular group† (p393). In the above example, the girl’s reaction to seeing men has become a negative feeling especially towards the particular male group. In today’s society, when a person hears the word prejudice, they automatically think racism when in fact it is something completely different. Although it is happening everywhere including in our schools systems, many do not notice that being prejudice is becoming a growing issue. In schools today, teenagers form many groups called jocks, nerds, popular kids, and thugs. Students who are athletic seem to have many favors and higher social ranks than other students. These students get recognition and are always lifted up as being higher than others. Others, such as nerds, are often picked at because of their ability to learn and excel higher than others and often looked down upon by the rest of the students. They usually never get in trouble and dress awkward to other students. The popular kids seem to be liked by everyone. They wear the best clothes and have the most friends. They seem to be everywhere and always involved in many activities. Then there are the thugs, who dress different, speak different, and display negative and hostile behavior almost in every situation possible as part of their expression and culture. All seem to have something unique that makes them very different but as a teenager there can be challenges. Teenagers tend to not like things and people that are different unless they have been taught otherwise. For example, when a child or teenager is moved constantly from foster home to foster home, there are many resentment and bad feelings inside the child. To connect with a family, children have to learn and figure a way to connect with a new family and build a bond just to get along with the family until they are taken away from that family. This seems harsh but it is reality. The experience teenagers feel every time they come across something different triggers that lashing out behavior. Trust, this is a persona feeling. Even though children may start off aggressive, children are brought up liking everything, but by socializing agents, they are taught to reject certain groups. Therefore, the jocks will dislike the nerds because of social and physical intimidation and the popular kids and thugs may dislike each other because of social power and self-centeredness thus creating bullying and a hostile environment in the school system. The bullying creates problem because negative feelings now have created negative actions, which turns into physical aggression, now discrimination occurs. Discrimination is â€Å"unequal treatment of different people based on the groups or categories to which they belong† (p393). The discrimination stage comes after the prejudice takes place. Many people see this stage as being worse than prejudice because this stage is where violence occurs like bullying, verbal aggression, emotional aggression, and physical aggression. As of 2009, 28 percent of kids 12 through 18 are subjected to this violence in school (DeVoe, Murphy). When a child is young, behavior can be influenced. Parents have the ability to discipline and chastise and correct bad behaviors but some children do not fully understand right from wrong. They tend to have differences with one another because of their lack of understanding. But when a child becomes a teenager, behavior is more difficult to change because views are set and so are their behaviors. The older a child becomes the more their decisions become their own. My parents would say, â€Å"The ball is in their court and their actions will reap with consequences. † Prejudice is not formed overnight. Children do not go to bed one night and wake the next morning with prejudice. There must be things or people to influence their beliefs. Some would argue the media, parenting, or a harsh experience is the blame. Whatever the case, prejudice form opinions before facts are known. To change prejudices, it is very important to change the social and media situations and the at-home dynamics that influence our children. Prejudice has been getting worse over the years now that technology is on the rise. There is one form known as cyber bullying. Cyber bullying refers to bullying or discrimination through communication technologies, methods such as mobile phone text messages, emails, phone calls, internet chat rooms, and instant messaging. They are often driven by anger, payback or frustration and this comes from again the intimidation this person may have with someone from a different social group. Kids are receiving these hurtful text messages and emails because the bully got their number from Facebook mobile. Social psychology is the scientific study of how people affect and are affected by others (3). We affect people just ask much as people affect us. These bullies don’t understand that they can bring about long term effects on the very people that they discriminated against and also, themselves. This affects them both physically and psychologically. Solutions to this are simple. The book explains an idea called the contact hypothesis. It says that maybe if two members from different groups were to meet more often, it would decrease racial tension and eventually reduce prejudice. Without the common interactions between the groups on a personal level, the prejudice increases. The interactions must be forced in order for it to have an effect. Psychologists are thinking if push to large conflicting groups together, over time the will little to no conflict. For example, two scientists conducted an experiment on new freshman college students. White and black college students were assigned either a black or a white roommate to live with for the year. These decisions were made by a flip of a coin so that it is a random selection. The results showed that at first some of the students where disgruntled about living in an interracial dorm room, conversely, the feeling of prejudice decreased dramatically by the end of the semester. The students needed time to adjust to their racially opposite roommate (Shook and Fazio 1). This study proves that change can affect us in a large way. In a way so shifting that the nature feeling of being disgruntled occurs. What humans fail to realize is that our ideas and decisions are chosen for us when we are young, however when we are older we began to make our own decisions: how we hang out with, our political preference, and what type of people we are. Society influences all of the above. If we want something, we can have it with hard work. This study takes the freedom of choice away and plants the student in a situation where you have to use what you have learned to handle it. As humans, we dislike change especially when it comes to a very large change such as living with the one race and culture all your life until now having to flip sides and live with someone who is completely different. This is why a person being prejudice is understandable. The big problem with society is the fear of the unknown because we are calm and content with the things that familiar to us. However, when change occurs our minds alert us that something is wrong. This is what creates the thought of being prejudice. You mind does not like what you see so your brain leads you to dislike that certain thing. This makes sense because culture is leading us to like everyone, but our society is leading us in a different. Not saying that everyone is prejudice but some things that a person does, says, or looks like that we just do not like. We are allowed to we are human it is in our blood to dislike. For example, in the Old Testament, â€Å"God divided humanity into two groups, the Jews and Gentiles. God made the Jews holy and he claimed the Jews to be his kingdom of priests† (Ephesians 2:14). However, in our human nature, the Jews because too proud of their role and picked on and despised the Jews. This is similar to the jocks, nerds, popular students, and thug situations going on in the schools. Still, even in biblical times, people were being prejudice of those less fortunate that they are. This supports my claim on how prejudice makes sense because we were created to be prejudice by our Creator. Additionally, to understand prejudice is to know the dynamics around it. Jim Cole, in his article, ask two questions, â€Å"Would you rather live in a land where discrimination is illegal, or would you rather live in a land where no one has the desire to discriminate† (p1)? These are both good questions. Cole explains this below: â€Å"To have a better grasp of how prejudices function we need to look at how we have learned prejudices. There are many stereotypes we learn as children. We do not test these and many times we do not have the opportunity to test them. We learn them as facts and behave as if they are the truth. Then, later in life, when situations come up, we behave automatically out of these earlier stereotyped learnings. This type of learning is not easily accessible for discussion or awareness, but it simply stays with us for later effortless, seemingly automatic application, since the learning is not tested and not challenged, it is not evaluated and not likely to be changed† (p1,  ¶5). Thus, giving people time and attention to adjust their behavior and make better decisions at the right time. This claim supports the idea that as children we learn ideas and certain behaviors and put them into action. Through life experiences, learning is put into action and consequences follows. As Cole illustrates in his article, there is a base of mixture of your childhood learning and what behaviors you have are reevaluated from society. The new way a person perceives the world is different because now they have made their own perception on how things operate psychologically. A mind can become more susceptible and prejudices can be eliminated all the while the behavior responses stays intact. In conclusion, prejudice is something that humans choose to do, but we do not do it on purpose. It comes from our childhood teachings about how to interact with society. This called social psychology. This is what my studying. Social psychology is the study on how our thoughts, feelings, actions, and behaviors are influenced by other people. We need people to survive. Without other people in society, a human would be another animal in the environment. Without people in our life to show us what is right and wrong we will be much disoriented people. Dennis Rodman is great example of the need for people in life. Throughout his life he showed Americans things that we thought were inhuman, but it was normal to him; the way he talked and thought, the way he dressed, and especially the things he did. Dennis Rodman lost his father at a young age. He always was a little weird. People made fun of him. When he was asked â€Å"is your dad the reason why you have a problem†, he responded the same way, â€Å"Some man bought me into this world, but that doesn’t mean I have a problem. † His mother never really had time to work with him and teach him about the real life. She was always working and his older siblings were there just as babysitters. Yes, there was discipline when needed but other than that he basically learned on his own or what he experienced. This style of childhood is what began his early sign of psychological issues. Everyone has a father and if we don’t ever see our father for 30+ years, then we should not be exempted from having a father. This is messing with Freud’s modern concept of physiology, the basis of human nature, one father, and one mother. Rodman is famous for his aggressive manners, many piercings, tattoos, and lively, multi-colored hair. This has to do with his child life with no father. According to Freud, Rodman was trapped in the phallic stage of psychosexual development. Since he had no father, he tended to cling to his mother more; since his mother constantly pushed him away he became very sick in the mind. Thus, creating the situation where he is unsure about his sexuality. Dennis Rodman was a person who didn’t know he liked or wanted out of life do he couldn’t have a specific prejudice toward anything. This supports the claim because Dennis Rodman was a person who did not have the correct people in his life to guide him; so when he was faced with a situation like his first sexual encounter with a woman, he found it as unpleasant because he probably never had the â€Å"sex talk† that most children have with their parents when they hit puberty. He claimed he was bisexual and that he was going to marry himself. He could not understand exactly what a good behavior was and that is why he acted the way he did. Dennis Rodman’s life and personality could really have many different reasons and different approaches that could all be explain thoroughly, but to me, I think that his childhood and played an enormous role in determining his character and the nature of person that is he. Rodman once said that â€Å"Relationships and athletes don’t mix†, with a different set of parents Dennis Rodman would be a 10 times better man that he is today. We know that we are the only things that can help us survive. Dennis Rodman is a good example of how we need people as direction to learn the certain things in life need to live in today’s society. He had no prejudice and because of it he did things from different cultures to see who he was. As humans we need to know who we are to be able to defend ourselves and our culture. When we know our culture is being threatened by another culture we tend to dislike those people; this why most black people are so combative with white people because they feel like they have history to protect and a race to stand up for. We fail to realize that society has turned the page in history and is now accepting of all types of people, or at least forced to by laws and regulations. I feel like some blacks are living in the past and they have not taken a looking into the present. The only thing to blame is the childhood. How they were raised and what they were exposed to is what molds them into who they are today. I think that being prejudiced can be fixed with simple education; not only informing the child about their culture but teach ways of other cultures and telling them the difference. This way the child can express any area of dislike and the lifetime thought of prejudice can possibly be refrained. The difference cannot be negative or it will solve anything and the child may still become prejudice, but now it’s a younger age. That is not the aim. The aim is allow the child to see later on in life and already have a saving knowledge about what they may see. In closing, being prejudice is not just something we do on our own, but it is an acquired behavior instilled in us when we are children. Works Cited Baumeister, Roy F. , and Brad J. Bushman. Social Psychology and Human Nature. Second Edtion. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Web. 19 Dec. 2012. Culture Society. How to Overcome Prejudice. EHow. Demand Media, 18 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. Cole, Jim. Understanding Prejudice. Beyond Prejudice, n. d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Rodman, D. (2012). Dennis rodman official page. Retrieved from http://www. dennisrodman. com/main DeVoe, Jill, Christina Murphy, and (ED) National Center for Education Statistics. Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results from the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Web Tables. NCES 2011-336. National Center for Education Statistics (2011): ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. New International Version. Ephesians 2:14. Trans. The Bible, n. d. Web. 19 Dec. 2012. Schamotta, Justin. The Development of Prejudice. EHow. Demand Media, 06 June 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. Shook, Natalie J. , and Russell H. Fazio. Result Filters. National Center for Biotechnology Information. U. S. National Library of Medicine, 2008. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.

Thanks For Not Killing My Son English Literature Essay

Thanks For Not Killing My Son English Literature Essay With hundreds of newspaper publications printed everyday, television, and Internet, you might ask yourself why do you need to read a short essay published in a college English book. Well, I decided to tell you the true story about this short essay. More importantly, I will tell you why you should read it. The essay Thanks for Not Killing My Son by Rita Schindler stands out from the crowd because it is emotionally intense, abundant in visual sentences, and very thought provoking. First, Rita Schindler combines attention-getter with persuasion technique in just 38 lines, each of them delivering full-impact feelings, making this essay intense and effective. The title is written in a way that immediately catches your attention. Thanks for Not Killing My Son its not a form to express gratitude to someone, but is instead used as irony. The constant repetition of the thank you will make you wonder at the mothers non-violent response to her sons beating, and also builds emotion in the end. However, by the end of the essay, when the mothers thanking becomes a pattern you begin to understand the patience and compassion of a loving parent. Using implied fright through the entire essay, Schindler creates another kind of emotion for the reader. When she says à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦thank you for this eyesight, his hearing and his hands which you could have easily crushed. (Schindler 8), you may think that a similar attack can really affect you or someone you care about. The whole argument raises to a climax in the final point, which suggests the ultimate loss to parents, the death of a child. When the author says, You could have kicked him to death, but you only left him to die. Thank you. (Schindler 11) she alludes to what might well have resulted from the actions of the attackers. However, by the time you finish reading this essay, itll reveal to you a final emotion; she leaves death to the end, since its a thought she would not like to ever contemplate or experience (Schindler 11, 12). Secondly, you will find this essay abundant in visual sentences, making this another effective way to grab your attention. As soon as you start reading this essay, I can assure you that youll realize how powerful those visual sentences are, and you dont have to read too much. He was left lying in a pool of blood from an open head wound (Schindler 3) is the beginning of the third paragraph and reflects immediately the ferocity of the attack. Moreover, its not just the brutality of the attack itself, but the cruelty of leaving someone unconscious lying on a park alley in the middle of December. Reading more, you realize that this idea of using visual sentences becomes more frightening because the author has used specific examples of actual events instead of talking in general about the nature of violence (Schindler 5, 6, 7, 9). Finally, the essay is very thought-provoking and it raises many questions for you to think about. Since the attack against his authors son happened à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦sometime between 1.30 p.m., Dec. 8, and 1 a.m., Dec. 9,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in the Victoria Park-Terraview area, the first thought that will cross your mind will be about the sense of security and law enforcement on the streets of Toronto. You can think about this when you read this sentence: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦when his friends were talking about revenge, I heard him say, No, I dont want someone elses mother to go through mine has (Schindler 10). Our society needs to change the way we enforce the law, so revenge should not be our concern. The essay is also relevant to our times because it makes you think about todays parental guidance related to street violence. Apparently, you may say that is no connection between those two, but when Five guys and two girls à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦beat one person definitely shows that parental guidance was n ot effective in this case. Any parent must exercise constant guidance and attention to their kids, and you can found this idea in the last sentence of the essay: I hope that someday youll have children and love them as much as I love mine- but I wouldnt wish on your child what you did to mine. (Schindler 13). In conclusion, reading Thanks for Not Killing My Son you will discover an emotionally intense, full of visual sentences, and thought-provoking essay. Giving you those reasons to read Rita Schindlers essay, lets make an effort and prove that the following rhymes from a well known song are wrong, and we can change our amazing world that we are live in. Theres somethin wrong with the world today. I dont know what it is. Somethings wrong with our eyes. / Were seeing things in a different way, and God knows it aint His. It sure aint no surprise. Were livin on the edge.  [1]  

Analysis of Performance of Registered Nurse

Analysis of Performance of Registered Nurse INTRODUCTION Critical reflection acts as the precursor for transformative learning, which takes place by altering the level of personal understandings and the behavior (Mezirow, 1990). Critical refection leads to improved learning, assessment and thinking with respect to the system and the society (Smith, 2011). Critical reflection enables an individual to look beyond the horizon and visualize the bigger picture and develop reasonable views about the situation so that the assessment can become easier. Critical reflection is taught in various professional fields, including the health care system. This concept is not just theoretical but requires practical applicability also. Theoretically there are three models for reflecting critically. The first is the Dewey’s model of reflective learning which advocates that knowledge can be obtained by relating the past and present experiences. This approach is referred to as the pragmatic approach. The second model is that of Habermas’, which ad vocates the critical theory behind this approach and demonstrates three areas of knowledge, namely, practical, technical and emancipator. The third and the last model is the Kolb’s model of reflexive learning (Patricia Lucas, 2012). The Australian Nursing Federation’s standards of competency for a nurse have identified r put forward three domains of better level competencies: adaptation of practice, conceptualization of practice and leading on with the practice (Australian Nursing Foundation, 2005). AIM AND OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper is to critically examine and reflect on my professional skills and performance as a registered nurse, in the domain of adaptation of practice. The paper discusses about the main concept of critical reflection and also the competencies in the aforesaid domain. This essay is written in first person, as it will help in better understanding of the critical competencies possessed by an individual. DESCRIPTION The initial period of working in any professional field is very difficult and tiring. When I started to work as a nurse, in the emergency, I used to work for 6 days a week. The timings were also very stringent, from 8.00 AM till 3.00 PM. The work load was much higher as compared to the task force available. The number of nurses was reduced considerably and the health staff was under continuous stress as they had to cater to so many patients. Another problem faced by the health staff was the duration of stay of the patients and the workload on the emergency section. In my country, general statistics show that patients stayed for minimum two days. With each nurse catering to 6-7 patients at one time, it is nearly impossible to pay adequate attention to each on simultaneously. Plus this increases the work load to a greater extent. Most of the nurses, who worked, just had a diploma in nursing, while I and two others had the bachelor’s degree. This is what distinguished us. We had better theoretical as well as practical skills as compared to them. This plus point kind of added to the workload I had. I was made responsible for all the emergency situations and for looking after the patients who were brought in emergency conditions. One of the main procedures of emergency is suturing. Since suturing requires both practical as well as theoretical skills, I was the one who was given the task of suturing, assessing the wounds of the injured, examining any other damage like that to arteries or tendons or nerve fibers. The morning task was to review all the patients along with the doctors and then for the latter half of the day each nurse was assigned 6 to 7 patients to take care of. OVERVIEW OF CRITICAL REFLECTION Nursing literature frequently mentions about critical reflection but nowhere has this term been defined precisely (McBrien, 2007). Vaguely it has been mentioned as the process of analyzing practice through regulated self reflection (Crowe O’Malley, 2006). Although everybody has the ability to think with a different perspective, the aim of critical reflection is to enhance knowledge and redefine our understanding about self, by increasing self awareness and self consciousness, thereby focusing on the outcomes of our actions (Forrest, 2008). There are too many scenarios in the health care system, where the nurses are exposed to unexplained judgments, interpretations and decisions. To relieve the stress burden from our shoulders, it is important to inculcate critical thinking in our lives. Yes, it is true, critical reflection will give fire to anxiety, conflict and also cause self doubting issues but it will, eventually, alter the professional practice in an affirmative way (Oâ €™Connor, 2008). The new energy within will help in challenging the beliefs and assumption, that already exist and lead to better understanding of the things and thereby bringing about a change for benefit of all. Because of the increase in expectation from the nurses, they face complex demands, change and higher accountability. To comply with such situations, they need to develop skills of thinking on a higher level and improvement in the reasoning abilities (Crowe O’Malley, 2006). SchÓÂ §n (1983) has put forward two major reflections: reflection in action (which occurs when the action is being performed and is a result of thinking critically) and reflection on action (which is reflected after the action has been performed). Reflection in action involves many skills like being a good observer in every situation and trying to learn something out of every situation, interpreting, recording and understanding your feelings and responses to a certain situation and then inter relating your previous experiences, always make yourself counted in the experience via taking a ‘ witness’ stance. On the other hand reflection on action is the most common form of reflection as what you have learnt or understood from your past encounters, all reflects in your future actions (David Somerville, 2004). Critical reflection is important for nurses because they need to incorporate change in their daily interaction, apply and update their professional skills, should develop self awareness and self directedness. They can successfully utilize the opportunities only if they ponder upon the feedback of their interactions and their impact on the patient, their families, colleagues and the health care unit as a whole. Therefore, critical reflection forms the most important ingredient for cooking the recipe of good conduct. DOMAIN OF INTEREST Day by day the complexities of the health care system are increasing. Thus, to meet the requirements various competency standards have been set up for registered nurses for advanced nursing. These competency standards aim to distinguish between the general and advanced nursing practices (Australian Nursing Federation, 2005; International Council of Nurses, 2010). The domain of interest here is the domain of ‘adapting practice’. It contains the competency abilities of advanced registered nurses to comply with and adjust or adapt to the challenging and more complex situations and still yield in better outcomes in terms of services offered (Australian Nursing Federation, 2005). The standards that are set, help in encouraging post graduate education for development in the field of advanced nursing practices and also enable each individual to individually critically analyze their competency in different domains (McGee, 2009). Like every other domain, the domain of adapting pr actice also stresses on understanding and meeting the needs and requirements of the patients who are suffering from complex and critical conditions (competency standard 4). This domain also states that improvement in the predicted outcomes should be made by referring to the past experiences and gathering information from other sources as well (competency standard 6) (Australian Nursing Federation, 2005). This essay also reflects upon the competencies of a registered nurse and the abilities that were utilized during complex and stressful situations. FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS Adaptation to a new environment is extremely difficult and it takes lots of patience and practice to adapt comfortably. I face many challenges in my workplace and earlier found it difficult to adapt. I also felt embarrassed when I needed help and could not ask anybody, fearing that my reputation would go down and that my fellow colleagues would make fun of me. Being equipped with the interpersonal skills, theoretical as well as practical knowledge about taking care of the patients and delivering the best quality of service, enabled me to climb up the ladder of success. Even though earlier it was difficult for me to interact with my fellow colleagues, now I can converse comfortably with anyone including my colleagues, patient, families and other staff members. Most of this was the result of feedback which I received from the patients, who generally praised my ability to empathize with the patients and then cater to their needs. As quoted above, feedback is an essential component for c ritical reflection, the positive feedback that I received from the consumers and my fellow staff members helped me visualize things with a different approach. I started enjoying my work. There were situations when I feared the outcome of some medical action. In my country, there are no rules and regulations pertaining to the safety of the health care professionals. This causes safety issues with the carers. Even I found myself in such situation when the medical practices could not save the life of the patient and his family members were outrageous, blaming the hospital for their loss, intending to burn down the entire building and take revenge. But then one should not be afraid of shadows, as shadows mean there is light somewhere near. There is an instance that reminds me of my good work and better performance as a nurse. I once cared for a boy who had been stabbed in the abdomen. There was profuse bleeding and I had taken every possible measure to stop the blood flow and restore th e consciousness of the boy. Three weeks later, that same boy came with his parents and thanked me for saving his life. Such precious compliments and gratitude’s count a lot in the long run. EVALUATION I realized that during my performance in the hospital, as a registered nurse, I had some positive as well as negative traits. Good command over English language was counted among my positive traits. This enabled me to quickly read and understand the nursing articles written in English. Also since I could understand and associate what was mentioned, I was able to deliver effective care to the patients. Also my expertise in the fields of pathophysiology and emergency skills made me an important person in the hospital. Whenever there was a case of any emergency, I was made responsible to monitor the patient and do the needful. On the contrary, the nurses who lacked the knowledge about emergency skills or were not fluent in English language missed the opportunity. Ching Ying Lee (1998) has reported that nursing practice requires knowledge of proficient English as the nurses should be capable of using medical terms in fluent English. English is the most common language spoken worldwide and therefore, such a language should be known by all in order to address the cross cultural barriers in health care. Not only English is a common language but it has been named as the scientific language worldwide. Therefore, it is essential that all the communications pertaining to the medical condition of the patient, the health care outcomes and the treatment be explained in English to the patient as well as the concerned members (Mylaeus Renggli MI 1998). Another positive point that added to my portfolio was the good interpersonal and communication skills. With these skills I was able to interact efficiently with the staff and the patients as well. In order to deliver better services I followed the rule of empathy. Whenever any new patient was put under my care, I listened to him/ her and tried to picture myself in her/ his situation, so that I can understand better about the current situation of the patient and accordingly provide the guidelines to the family and the other medical staff. Most frequently we were faced with situations in which the burden on the health care unit was so much that all the patients were not being given equal attention, due to lack of task force and increased number of patients. In such cases one or the other patient or the family member would stand and start shouting in anger. I helped in controlling many such situations by calmly making the individual understand our plight and thereby promising him that I will take care of his/ her family member as soon as I get free. I utilized my good communication skills to deal with such patients. It is very important to have good communication skills in order to build trust between the patient and the doctor. It will consequently allow or enable the patient to disclose the information which might prove fruitful. Good communication also motivates the patient to get involved in the decisions related to health care, minimizes the risk of mishaps and errors and eventually enhances the satisfaction level of the patient (NHMRC, 2004). Literature has also shown the importance of understanding the cultural beliefs of the patients and making more accurate and meaningful decisions that are appreciated by the patient and the family both (Lawrence Dyche, 2007). Another important learning from my experience was that knowledge is never enough. Even after being a Bachelor’s degree holder, I found myself lagging behind in the field of pharmacology. Thus, it became the need of the hour for me to undergo a special three months training in this field and then I was all set and comfortable in explaining the patients about different drugs and their prescriptions. Although it is not advisable for the nurses to get into doctor’s role and prescribe drugs t the patients but they should know what different drugs are meant for, so that if the patient has a query related to which drug is administered to him or why it is administered, they should be able to answer them with confidence (Clare Lomas, 2010). One of the negative traits that I discovered within myself was not being able to extract the medical history of the patient. Emergency nurses should possess the skills of physical assessment as well as health history. This lag can be attributed to the overburden and work overload during the emergency situations. Another reason can be the demand for nurses as there had been shortage of nurses since of long time in my hospital. Joann Griff Alspach (2011) has laid forward the importance of knowing the medical history of the patient as well as of his family. This is important because a track record of all the details about the illness that have been occurring in the family can help in predicting the prognosis of the current state of the patient. Also prior information can help the doctors determine the allergies the patient possesses when subjected to certain chemicals or drugs. Another negative quality that I possessed was lack of team spirit. Whenever I had many patients and was overloaded with work, even though I wanted someone to help me, yet I never asked for help. I am now able to realize that team work is essential for efficient working of the team as it enables us to learn something new and benefit from each of the members involved. ANALYSIS My experience, expectations, feedback and results have majorly influenced the knowledge I have gained so far. My skills like being able to communicate proficiently in English and being able to understand the text presented in medical journals, which are generally written in English, has helped me gain recognition and my work has been appreciated by the authorities as well. Communication is an important aspect of health care as it promotes commonality of understanding and meaning (Sonia Allen, 2007). Also my skills like the knowledge of pathophysiology and dealing with patients during emergency situations helped me get positive response from the patients and their family members. Though there are certain negative aspects also, like lack of team spirit and lack of ability to get medical history out from the patient, yet I am happy that I am now able to analyze my performance as a whole and can work in the field of teamwork and improve my traits further. SYNTHESIS RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE PRACTICE I feel that I have precisely highlighted all my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats pertaining to the nursing practices. According to the standards for practice specified by the Nursing Council, the very first principle to e followed if to respect the individuality and dignity of all the health consumers. Treating with respect means interacting with the consumers in a polite and considerate manner, thereby helping them cope with their deteriorated condition and enable quick recovery. It is important to understand the cultural needs as well and decide upon the course of treatment accordingly. All the registered nurses are expected to work in partnerships as this enhances the working capability and also builds trust among the members of the staff, leaving no scope of discrimination. Another perception of working in partnerships can be with respect to the health consumers. It is important to listen to them, respond to their concerns and acknowledge their preferences as well . It is not necessary to give affirmation to all their preferences but only to those which are practicable. Also, it the responsibility of the nurse to encourage and motivate the consumers by providing them relevant and complete information about their condition, so that they can make decisions independently. Another point to be kept in mind is to respect and allow patient’s privacy and confidentiality. The code of conduct should comprise of integrity so that the consumer’s trust can be justified. Integrity means consistency in the principles and ethics that you follow and not abusing the position held by you or the trust of the authorities. Lastly, all the registered nurses must maintain public confidence and trust in their profession and also maintain the ethics involved (Nursing Counsil, 2011). CONCLUSION The aim of this essay was to provide a detailed outline of the analysis of the performance of a registered nurse, when working in the domain of adapting practice. The basic concept of critical reflection and how it modifies the outlook or the perception has been well explained with the help of live examples.