EXPLANATIONS FOR THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE Essay

EXPLANATIONS FOR THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE - Essay Example The first argument suggests that the development of agriculture was driven by a scarcity of resources. The second argument differs radically, claiming that it was a surfeit of resources that encouraged domesticity. This paper will discuss and compare these two argument types and conclude that while no one model appears to have all the answers it is Hayden’s model that appears more convincing. There are obvious academic merits attached to finding a solution to the problem of formative agriculture. Indeed, since the time of Darwin scientists, social-scientists, historians even theologians have all tried to put forward a convincing model that explains why certain hunter-gatherers decided to change thousands of years of practise and begin agriculture (Richerson et al 387-390). There have been a series of interesting and intriguing theories during that time – ranging from population pressure driving domestication to the development of rituals and theology encouraging a sense of place (Hayden 31). Naturally, the stakes are high. A well developed universal model of domesticity would explain once and for all the most important transition in human history. However, such a complete model does not yet exist. Two of the more interesting theories have to do with climate change, put forward here by Peter Richerson et al, and â€Å"competitive feasting† as explained by Brian Hayden, who suggests that the surplus of food encouraged social adaptation that encouraged the continued development of further agriculture and domesticity. The climate change theory consists of two major ideas. Essentially, there were ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. The former, at least according to Richerson and his colleagues, consisted of a sense of competition between Holocene societies which in effect made the development of agriculture during this period all but â€Å"compulsory† (Richerson 387). The second factor is comparatively simple –

Understand how to safeguard the well being of children Essay Example for Free

Understand how to safeguard the well being of children Essay Issues Risks Possible Consequences Being Online 1. Cyber-bullyingChildren may receive texts or emails that make them feel sad, embarrassed, upset, depressed or afraid. This could be damaging to the child’s self-esteem and psychological well-being 2. GroomingUsed by child sex offenders with the goal of obtaining sexual contact. 3. Confidential informationCould inadvertently give out personal information such as address, school attended or bank or credit card details, resulting in fraud or worse still an attempted abduction. Issues Risks Possible Consequences Mobile phone 1. Who is child talking to?Very hard to know who your child has contact with and the content of any conversation 2. Explicit materialPhotos and explicit content either from texting or talking resulting in inappropriate behaviour. 3. Mobile phone theft/crime Expensive mobile phone handsets are desirable items, and so unfortunately are at risk from theft. Children and young people may be particularly vulnerable to such crime. Area Ways of reducing risk Social networking1.Restrict access to social networking sites. Most social networking sites have age limits so make sure they adhere to this. Talk to the children/young people about predators about never talking to strangers, meeting them etc. Internet use. Monitor children’s online activity and block site’s that are inappropriate and limit the amount of time the child/young person spends online. 2.Encourage children/young people to talk to you about things that might be happening on-line and guide them in the right direction. This will help them to recognise the dangers that could develop Buying online1.There is a risk of others hacking into your computer to get your identity this can be minimised by a firewall. A firewall can help by preventing hackers or malicious software from gaining  access to your information. There is a risk to young persons of fraud (your card details being used by an unauthorised users) whilst buying online. This can be prevented by using a secure payment system (PayPal), this enables you to buy from multi online shops and pay using one account set up by PayPal. Using a mobile phone. A risk of them being attacked if they have expensive phones . Buy a cheap pay as you go phone for them to use at school or clubs this will minimise the risk and still allow the child/young person to have access to a phone. There is a risk to their health by means of cancer/tumour, they can reduce the risk by using landline phones, hands free, loud speakers or blue tooth. If the phone is held a few inches away from the ear or less time made on phone calls perhaps use text messages instead of ringing a friend, this can make a difference.

Analysing The Virtue Of Patience Philosophy Essay

Analysing The Virtue Of Patience Philosophy Essay In today s fast paced world, where things happen with click of a button, we are growing inpatient. Gone are the days when people were patient enough to wait for days for the computer to produce the results, today we expect things to happen at speed of thought. We want success, money, happiness instantly without waiting, but alas! Ask any successful person and you will know the virtue of patience. Ancient wisdom like Bhagwat Gita has recognized importance of patience through quotes like Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self. If we examine our self as a part of nature we will realize that even nature creates change very slowly and is extremely patient. Ralph Waldo Emerson perhaps said it best in one simple line:Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience and that patience can improve life and bring it closer to perfection if you understand nature and work with it patiently. Nature exhibits patience in various forms. For example: considering the growth of seeds into trees- when we plant a seed and water it, it slowly turns into a flower and then into a fruit. The seed had to be planted, watered, and then be given time to grow into what it is meant to be. Without prior efforts and in absence of planting or watering or the nurturing the seed would not have sprung above the surface. It could not develop into its current form without all that patience, time and efforts. In order to be able to achieve success or any goals we set we have to practice patience. Patience is different from waiting. instead we have to do the work first, lay the foundation, plant the seed, make sure the soil is right prepare get ready and then wait for all the elements to come into place before making the right decision that will drive us to greater success. Conceptual Framework Definition: word web defines patience as Good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence . Other sources like Webster define patience as patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. From the above definitions we can deduce that patience is a state of persevering in case things take time or get delayed without negatively reacting or becoming sad or feeling provocated, or exhibiting patience when faced with difficulties which take a long time. Scope: This study focuses on importance of patience on individual and group behavior and performance. Importance of patience will be studied in two dimensions, first is the patience of waiting for a certain time period to end. This is perhaps what we normally mean when we use the term patience. Second, it is keeping one s mind free of distractions. It is perhaps only important when one is trying using one s mind on an important task that does not compel one s emotions. Methodology: Individuals will be interviewed independently to access the implication of the patience in day to day life and performance professional life. Implications of patience on group performance would be projected based on the study and observations in general. Five people will be separately interviewed with diverse profiles across age and profession. They include 3 students, one housewife and a bank officer. The reason for choosing people with different profile is to find out whether patience is a quality consistent across profession or does it vary across gender or work environment. Review of Literature: Patience: A Little Book of Inner Strength (Eknath Easwaran): the excerpts of the book giving its epitome are now quoted below- Patience is the ornament of the brave, Easwaran s wise grandmother used to say. In relationships, patience is the mark of love. An experienced spiritual teacher who combines humor with practicality, Easwaran gives powerful insights and sometimes surprising advice for developing patience at home and at work. Stories offer quiet interludes throughout this little book. Anecdotes about animals, sports stars, and happy family outings make these short, varied readings as entertaining as they are instructive. Gentle reminiscences of India, tales from Easwaran s Hindu heritage, and inspiration from Gandhi and the world s saints lift our spirits and give us courage. Just keep trying, Easwaran says, and you ll find there s no end to your patience no end to the wisdom, love, and compassion in your heart. Economist Magazine http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9898270: This article elaborates- Studies conducted to correlate subtle human traits such as patience and fairness with that to closest evolutionary relatives of human, apes such as chimpanzee. The article mentions that the essence of patience is the ability to delay the gratification of an appetite in favor of a greater ultimate reward. Past tests of the degree to which animals other than people can delay their gratification have focused on birds and monkeys. Both groups can delay gratification if a bigger reward is on offer, but only for a few seconds. Human, All Too Human: in this paper, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued that -Being able to wait is so hard that the greatest poets did not disdain to make the inability to wait the theme of their poetry. He notes that Passion will not wait, and gives the example of cases of duels, in which the advising friends have to determine whether the parties involved might be able to wait a while longer. If they cannot, then a duel is reasonable [because]to wait would be to continue suffering the horrible torture of offended honor. Patience and Religion: Source: Wikipedia.org: Patience is one of most important virtue as recognized by most of the important religions. o Judaism: Patience and fortitude are prominent themes in Judaism. The Talmud extols patience as an important personal trait. o Christianity: In the Christian religion, patience is considered as a very valuable virtue that it propagates people to imbibe. Increasing patience is viewed as the work of the Holy Ghost in the Christianity. This holy God who has accepted the gift of salvation. Patience is also regarded as one of the seven virtues in Christianity which are- -alongside chastity, -temperance, -charity, -diligence, -kindness, and -humility o Islam: Patience in Islam is one of the best and most valuable virtues of life. Through patience, a Muslim believes that an individual can grow closer to Allah and thus attain true peace. o Eastern Religion: In Buddhism, patience (Skt.: kshanti; Pali: khanti) is one of the perfections that a bodhisattva trains in and practices to realize perfect enlightenment also known as Bodhi. Patience is also praised in Hinduism, particularly in the Bhagavad Gita. In both Hinduism and Buddhism there is a particular emphasis on meditation which leads to patience, and an effective and well-organized thought. Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective: This book is written by Dalai Lama. In this book he has attempted to address the issue of anger. He argues that the issue of anger can be remedied through patience. He has suggested some meditation practices even for novice people. The book seems to be hard to follow if one is not much familiar with Buddhist scripture. Empirical Study and Generalization: Data Collection method employed: Interview. To study the implication of patience on individuals, I carried interview of individuals with different social and professional background. The interview consisted set of 10 questions and the answers were first recorded and then analysed to take cues and then finding the similarities and dissimilarities across the answers of the interviewees. The 10 questions used for this study are given below- Q1. Do you get fidgety if things that you want do not happen or take a lot of time to happen? Q2. Why do you behave the way you do? Q3. Are you patient in every situation alike or does your behavior depends on some factors? Q4. Do you think being patient helps? Q5. Whenever you are patient is it because you feel it will help make things right i.e. had you known that situation is surely going to worsen and you can t help in a situation will you still try to be patient? Q6. Did you develop patience over the course of your life because of certain incidents/ experiences or have you always been patient Q7. How do you react if someone is being impatient or restless in front of you? Q8. What is your impact on others when they behave impatiently, do you find success in convincing them about not being impatient? Q9. Do you take any efforts to be more patient (like meditating, yoga etc?) Q10. When are you normally more impatient? When anticipating good things or when you feel bad things may happen Findings of study and Generalization Interviewee A: This person appears to be impatient; she understands the importance of patience and is ready to help others if they are impatient. She lacks the motivation to be patient but would like to earn techniques like yoga to get self control. She would need to learn meditation, self motivation to act patient in good and bad situation. Interviewee B: This person appears more patient than the others. He has developed his patience over the course of life. He is firm believer in god and has learned to accept which are beyond control. He values personal relationships over materialism and hence whatever impatience he experiences is only confined to personal matters which are close to his heart. Interviewee C: She practices yoga to gain self control. She has developed patience after shouldering the responsibility of younger siblings. She appears to accept good thing and do not show over enthusiasm. She needs to learn to help other impatient people. She knows her level of patience and has clear goals and targets. Interviewee D: She being housewife has more care about family. She has accepted her role as homemaker and believes in letting others take the decision; this acceptance has made her more patient in non family matters. Interviewee E: She gets impatient if her activities make trouble to others. She has followed mentor approach for encouragement. She shows acceptance for the things beyond control and tries to be aloof from them. Generalizations- Above analysis shows that people show various degree of patience. Their profession, experience, age and family has considerable impact on how they learn to accept the thing and get along with the problems. There is awareness about the techniques to develop patience in all the age groups but people normally don t follow them as they don t get time or are unable to manage their time for it. Personal problems have more impact on the level of patience and this trait appears to be common among respondents. Similarly Bad incidents have more impact on patience than good .Mostly there is a willingness to help others in case of trouble. I also deduced that normally patience is a trait that can be acquired and developed over the course of time. People find motivation to become patience on seeing the negative repercussions of being impatient that they experienced in their past or saw people experience in their past. They also find motivation by looking at the positive effects that patience as a virtue brings along. It was also seen that patient people are better at convincing others or making them feel calmer as compared to impatient people. Lastly a surprising finding was that people normally behave patiently because they feel it will help them achieve their immediate goals and not because it is a part of their intricate nature. i.e the desire to be patient is more driven by its perceived benefits than by the fact that it is a established virtue. Implication of Group Work: Patience is one of the one of the most important virtue to possess. Patience can have positive impact on individual and hence group performance. Being haste to get results hampers the ability of an individual to consider all the possible option for solution of a problem. It often leads to suboptimum choice and hence failure. Being patient does not means more time, but it s an emotional state wherein individual is not concerned about the quick output at cost of quality or effectiveness. Patience is the ability to perceive hard enough till desired output is obtained. All the major scientific breakthroughs had lot of hard work and patience behind it. Patience plays major role in negotiations, which demands a win-win situation for the negotiating parties. Individuals need to develop patience by assessing their current level of patience. One needs to set the goals and work hard enough to achieve them. Impatient people are often o Dissatisfied o Withdraw prematurely in jobs, relationships etc o Feel overwhelmed by the goals and lose motivation When one grows patient stress is reduced and one enjoys the process of accomplishments without getting overwhelmed by the time. It makes individual to relax and develop healthy lifestyle and achieve effectively. Individuals when work in group, the leader need to be patient and motivate the others to be patient in achieving group objectives. Impatient leader cause hasty actions by group which often is destructive and may cause delay or disorientation from group objectives. Patience is thus one of the most valuable qualities to possess for betterment of an individual and society. Contribution to OB Patience leads to a stable mind which is better at concentrating, and hence indirectly patience is related to a positive work performance. Its impact on job performance and hence satisfaction makes it a very important topic of study from the point of view of organizational behaviour. From this study, I have established that even impatient people perceive the value of being patient and that patience can be inculcated by various means like meditating, practicing yoga or by following positive reinforcement for people who are already patient. This study is a contribution to OB as it forms a base which can be further built upon by conducting further research on effectiveness of the techniques to establish patience and how to maximize the gains or benefits that one derives out of being patient in a organization. Conclusion: Time is subjective. When one is one is enjoying the time flies. In suffering time seems forever and leads to impatience and grief. Patience makes one to learn acceptance and overcome the grief. Being patient can have positive results in ones professional, personal and spiritual life. Patience can be learnt through religious techniques such as meditation. Patience is in nature, look around in nature and observe how life takes form. And hence why should we be unnatural by following impatience when we can instead be patient and experience all the benefits associated with it.

The Concept Of Linguistic Variation

The Concept Of Linguistic Variation The ability of spoken language is believed (by many) to be attributed uniquely to humanity. Despite this evidently phenomenal existence the exact date of languages birth remains unknown and yet it continues to evolve. (Klein, 2009) The study of this ever mutable method of communication has come to be known as linguistics. However due to the communal and social nature of the human race the study of sociolinguistics could be said to more accurately represent language within human societies. Furthermore Linguists have known for some time that differences in language are tied to social class (Ross, 1954) Sociolinguistics is the study of the way in which language varies and changes in social groups (communities) of speakers, focusing primarily on the impacts of linguistic structures (such as sounds, grammatical forms, intonation features, words, etc) and social factors (such as a speakers gender, ethnicity, age, degree of integration into their community, etc). (Reference) The study of sociolinguistics has ancestry in dialectology, beginning in the 1960s (reference) partly due to the existence of inadequate methods associated with previous approaches to the study of dialect. Sociolinguistics uses recordings of informal conversations as its data; taking a significantly more scientific approach relying on quantitative analysis to highlighting dialect differences. How language changes (meme Theory) One possible reason for this change and transition of language through social groups may be attributed to a unit of cultural evolution, the Meme. A meme is defined as an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. (Dawkins,) By this definition a Meme acts as an evolutionary/replicatory unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, allowing transmission from one mind to another through an act of imitation such as writing, speech, gestures or rituals. This description of the Meme and its transmission can be applied to the Learning of language. Such learning requires, at its foundation, the ability to imitate sounds (Tomasello, Kruger, Ratner, 1993). One may be uncomfortable in describing something as complex as language as imitation, however, language clearly fit the evolutionary theory in regards to Memes. Information is copied from person to person, variation is introduced both by degradation (due to failures of human memory and communication) and by the creative recombination of different memes. Selection of this variation is then a potential result of limitations on time, memory, transmission rates and other kinds of storage space. Variation between Social Classes As described sociolinguistics is built on the foundations the presence dialect variation is from random, but are determined by what Weinreich, Labov and Herzog (1968) defined as orderly heterogeneity structured variation. This structure can be shown in a number of ways, particularly interesting from the sociolinguist perspective is the correlation often exhibited between linguistic structure and social status. Varieties of English can be identified into two groups referring to the changes of the variable (Figure 1). The variable (t) refers to the use of a glottal stop instead of [t], such as in the word bottle, which can be written botle to represent the changed pronunciation of the medial (middle) [t]. Most English speakers appear to glottalise final [t] in words such as cat, with no/little correlation to social class. This is not the case however for the use of glottal stops in the medial position, e.g., bottle (botle), butter (buter). This variant is associated with a social stigma. Table 1 shows the occurrence of glottal stops corresponding to social class in Glasgow for all positions within a word (including the final [t]) compared with that occurring only in medial position (Macaulay 1977). Upper class (Professionals) is represented by Class I whilst the working class is represented by Class III (unskilled workers). When considering the glottal stop in the medial position, the highes t social class show zero occurrences, while the lowest class uses 68.8%. The above linguistic variation is not isolated in its relation to social classes; there are of course many other variables in English which show similar sociolinguistically significant distributions. Trudgill (1974) showed the relationship for variables (ing) and (h) in a Norwich based urban dialect study (Table 2). Once gain the values show the percentage of variant forms used by different classes. The variable (ing) refers to variations of alveolar [n] and a velar nasal [ng] in words ending with -ing for example breeding and cooling. Once again a lower social status is associated a higher percentage of nonstandard variation (alveolar) rather than standard (velar nasal) endings. In common terms this variants is known as `dropping ones gs, and is a commonly recognised marker of social status over the English-speaking world. The variable (h) refers to the presence between [h] and lack of [h] at the beginning of for example heart (eart) and hand (and). This particular variation is slightly more complicated as most urban accents in England do not have initial [h]and as such no variable of it. However in regions that do represent both variants (present of and lack of initial [h]) a similar pattern is shown. The lower the individuals social status, the more likely he/she is to drop hs. As shown in all the examples above a common pattern appears to form (these cases have dealt with stable linguistic features) this can be plotted affectively as an s-shape curve. Figure 2 shows the correlation for the absence of present tense markers (she play rather than she plays) with social classes (Trudgill 1974) once again the lower the social class, the higher the variation from standard. As shown in figure 2 the data represents a continuum (s-shaped curve) despite differences between classes, this can be consider once again in a broadly evolutionary sense. Just as the transmission of linguistic features (memes) may be stopped by physical geographical barriers (i.e. mountain ranges, oceans), it may also be hindered by social class. This limitation results in boundaries between social dialects that tend not to be perfect. As such sociolinguistics has should be considered a quantitative approach not a qualitative method. Future Developments The above approach outlined for analysing language variation has been popular, being used across many speaking communities worldwide. However, whilst these studies have accepted the basic guidance (the linguistic variable), some have suggested (reference) that sociolinguistic studies have been naive by correlating social facts about the subject in isolation (gender, ethnicity and social class), rather than observing how social groups come to be and change over time, and subsequently analysing the variants that emerge as a result. As a result some studies have become to approach studies form a bottom up perspective, examining self-forming social groups and see linguistic structure reflect these grouping rather than starting with a broad social category, and look at the language use within it (a top-down approach). Research

Organizational Culture Profiles Essay -- Sociology, Culture

The purpose of this paper was to construct organizational culture profiles using the â€Å"Now† and â€Å"Preferred† average scores from the Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to get a pictogram of how the current culture for the Medicaid Integrity Group (MIG) matches the preferred culture. Organizational culture is not just any thoughts, values, and actions, but rather the unifying patterns that are shared, learned, combined at the group level, and internalized individual members. The findings of the OCAI provides a clear picture of the MIG’s operating culture in terms of behaviors that is believed, expected, or implicitly required and indicated items that could be changed to alter the current classification of the organization from a hierarchy culture to a clan culture. Conversely, the hierarchy focuses on rules, policies, procedures, efficiency, and control is the direct opposite of the clan that stresses family, loyalty, commitment, cohes ion, and morale. Organizational Culture Profiles In many organizations, one typically finds that corporate culture affects everyone. Culture is important because it can influence human behavior, can be difficult to change, and its near invisibility makes it hard to address directly. The MIG’s current and preferred culture shown in the OCAI in Appendix A focuses on some core attributes of the organization. The OCAI is a key component to help the MIG understand and conceptualize its organizational culture, its nature, determinants and predictions, as well as the relationships among culture's diverse set of variables. Organizational culture is widely considered one of the most significant factors in bringing about organizational ch... ...a pictogram of how the current culture for the MIG matches the preferred culture. First, from the perspective of where the organization’s current culture is and secondly, from the perspective of where organization’s culture should be. The MIG’s present culture indicates it experience hierarchy culture but would like to start working more like a clan culture. The organization’s profile indicated a large difference between the current and preferred situation, which means changes are desirable. Organizational culture is just one of the many pieces that make up the puzzle of public sector organizations. As such, it should not be considered the answer to all organizational problems, nor should it be applied to all organizational aspects. The organizational culture profiles can be a starting point to solve problems, but also a way to create problematic solutions. Organizational Culture Profiles Essay -- Sociology, Culture The purpose of this paper was to construct organizational culture profiles using the â€Å"Now† and â€Å"Preferred† average scores from the Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to get a pictogram of how the current culture for the Medicaid Integrity Group (MIG) matches the preferred culture. Organizational culture is not just any thoughts, values, and actions, but rather the unifying patterns that are shared, learned, combined at the group level, and internalized individual members. The findings of the OCAI provides a clear picture of the MIG’s operating culture in terms of behaviors that is believed, expected, or implicitly required and indicated items that could be changed to alter the current classification of the organization from a hierarchy culture to a clan culture. Conversely, the hierarchy focuses on rules, policies, procedures, efficiency, and control is the direct opposite of the clan that stresses family, loyalty, commitment, cohes ion, and morale. Organizational Culture Profiles In many organizations, one typically finds that corporate culture affects everyone. Culture is important because it can influence human behavior, can be difficult to change, and its near invisibility makes it hard to address directly. The MIG’s current and preferred culture shown in the OCAI in Appendix A focuses on some core attributes of the organization. The OCAI is a key component to help the MIG understand and conceptualize its organizational culture, its nature, determinants and predictions, as well as the relationships among culture's diverse set of variables. Organizational culture is widely considered one of the most significant factors in bringing about organizational ch... ...a pictogram of how the current culture for the MIG matches the preferred culture. First, from the perspective of where the organization’s current culture is and secondly, from the perspective of where organization’s culture should be. The MIG’s present culture indicates it experience hierarchy culture but would like to start working more like a clan culture. The organization’s profile indicated a large difference between the current and preferred situation, which means changes are desirable. Organizational culture is just one of the many pieces that make up the puzzle of public sector organizations. As such, it should not be considered the answer to all organizational problems, nor should it be applied to all organizational aspects. The organizational culture profiles can be a starting point to solve problems, but also a way to create problematic solutions.

Mobilize Leaders to Accelerate Results :: essays research papers

Mobilize Leaders to Accelerate Results http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=538   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this article coauthors, Brian Brittain, John Swain and Janice Simpson outline three tactics that have succeeded in unleashing productive energy and accelerating business results for organizations that have used them in a conscious and disciplined manner. Moreover, the ideas discussed in the writing are heavily related to the concepts confered by Chapter 12 in the textbook referring to strategic leadership. Specifically, Figure 12.4 shows a diagram of an exercise for gaining effective leadership. The author's ideology for their 3 common practices of strategic tactics known as; Beyond the cascade, Live the Story, and Implement a Sustaining Leadership Strategy are easily reflected by the materials are similar to the 3 directions of the exercise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the fast-changing global workplace, there is no longer one organizational structure that can be used universally to increase organizational performance. Change is the only constant in today's global, knowledge-based economy. Leaders need skills necessary to think and act strategically in translating mission into objectives, developing plans and programs to accomplish objectives, and to implement plans and programs. Each organization, department, and division must define the best systems and structures for its specific vision, mission, strategies, and competencies. The leader must get input and support from the experts who are busy doing the work of the organization and create alignment with customers and stakeholders. The International manager/executive as well as public sector executives and manager should create a road map to build organizational systems that are dynamic, flexible, and outcome focused that are successful in creating high performance. Some pra ctical results I found to be important include:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1) Link organizational competencies to outcomes and results defined in your   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  strategic plan.

Centura Health Overview

Centura Health is considered Colorado's largest healthcare organization, inclusive of a 12-hospital system. The company's mission includes celebrating the value inherent in each individuals life and working collaboratively to â€Å"lift the burdens of others† by offering comprehensive and loving care to all customers and patients served by Centura (Centura, 2005). The mission statement of the organization is to â€Å"extend the healing ministry of Christ my caring for those who are ill and nurturing the health of people in our communities† (Centura, 2005). The vision includes fulfilling the organizations covenant that guarantees excellence and integrity of service, creating partnerships with community members and patients for life (Centura, 2005). The organization has identified multiple core values which include: integrity, stewardship, spirituality, imagination, respect, excellence and compassion† (Centura, 2005). Current Centura operates as a non-profit agency and structures key decision making using what they refer to as a â€Å"Values Impact Analysis† (Centura, 2005). This tool helps organizational representatives weight the costs to benefits of selected decisions as applied to the organizations core values. The process adopted by the organization is considered â€Å"dynamic and rigorous† with the intent of enabling â€Å"conscientious decisions respectful of stakeholders needs† but also in line with the values and needs of patients (Centura, 2005). The organizational model includes a hierarchical system with the following: President/CEO, Executive Vice President and COO, Sr. Vice President, CFO, Chief Medical Officer and supporting management staff (Centura, 2005). Key to the governance model includes collaboration with other medical providers and health agencies throughout the state of Colorado. The decision making model adopted by Centura involves use of the Values Impact Analysis process that helps key management staff make decisions that are not only fiscally sound but also reflect the organizations core values and perspectives of patients that may be impacted by decisions. The organization makes use of an on site Mission and Ministry whose role includes providing â€Å"reflections, a prayer chain† and various other resources for employees and associates of the organization (Centura, 2005). In addition the organization utilizes a SHARE program that resembles a rewards and recognition program to highlight outstanding achievements among employees, customers and co-workers (Centura, 2005). Centura has also adopted a collaborative environment where communication is promoted through a â€Å"Mastery Development Plan† (Centura, 2005). This plan provides team members within the organization a method of facilitating personal and professional development and communication by providing training for technical and support staff and providing communications training to all staff to encourage greater collaboration and community connections among employees (Centura, 2005). Centura has also adopted quality improvement measures focusing on patient populations, physician and clinician teams to help promote â€Å"excellence in care† (Centura, 2005). The organization to this effect has created what they refer to as a â€Å"Quality, Safety and Outcomes Management department† whose sole role includes supporting a solid communications infrastructure and commitment to quality improvement (Centura, 2005). Centura's approach to quality involves defining ‘value directed' services and providing value directed management to customers both internal and external. This is a solid approach to instilling quality within the organization. Arogyaswamy & Simmons (1993) point to the important of using value-directed management approaches to ensure the best possible service to customers. Further the authors suggest that organizations must approach total quality and empowerment of staff through articulated measures to achieve â€Å"stronger market positions† by establishing â€Å"an unquenchable thirst for improvement† (Arogyaswamy & Simmons, 3). Ways to do this include through integration and shared vision (Lambert, Hylander & Sandoval, 2003). Barusch, Merkman & Maramaldi (2005) note that within the health care organization standardized measures are necessary to ensure control and power are properly delegated and that quality is ensured in all patient interactions and outcomes. Care benchmarks, satisfaction tools and quality assessors currently adopted by Centura fall in line with recent studies suggesting that routine attention to performance measurement via various standardized methods help improve organizational efficiency and continuous improvement (Holzer & Julnes, 2001). Further risk management is best assessed by gathering quality data from standardized reporting systems that provide detailed summaries of the industry, characteristics of service and help regulate distribution of services and procedures within the healthcare organization (Blankmeyer, Knox & Stutzman, 2001). Centura uses multiple benchmarks to currently reap information regarding quality and service protocols, including the Values Impact Analysis and the Master Development Plan. The values impact survey acts as a standardized reporting system providing mangers and staff with detailed cues regarding employee and organizational performance. The Master Development Plan serves as a tool that can enhance performance management and train various staff members including nursing staff members to achieve their highest potential within the organization. Key issues a nursing staff coordinator may address within this organizational context is whether incumbents are consistently reporting on their progress and achievements using the values impact analysis and master development program. These programs do offer detailed information regarding potential areas of weakness and improvement within the organization. At present the strongest elements of Centura's organizational structure include its commitment to shared knowledge and communication among staff members. Additionally the organization is committed to empowering employees to excel in their job functions and dedicated to continuous training. The organization may benefit from an overhaul of the performance measurement protocols adopted for individual employees. Most organizations fall short of identifying to as great an extent possible the level of staff satisfaction with performance measurement protocols. Turnover within the organization at present is relatively low suggesting that employees are however receiving the feedback they need to excel on the job. At this point in time when problem areas are identified using the quality assessment tools in place management turns to focused committees to resolve issues. The organization would benefit by involving more primary care nurses and other direct staff involved in decision making processes that involve improving quality improvement. Because Centura is a hierarchical organization, most decisions are made from the top down. Recent studies suggest however that continuous quality improvement and risk management efforts are enhanced significantly when organizations adopt a flat approach to knowledge management and quality improvement. This means that employees at all levels of the organization must be empowered to help make decisions and share information regarding continuous improvement measures. One way to adopt this philosophy at Centura may be to establish various committees designed to help solve specific problems within their scope of expertise or knowledge. Overall Centura Health provides a superb foundation for providing quality care and direction for staff and the patients and community it serves. The organization is committed to quality improvements, knowledge sharing and partnerships within the community to reduce any risk associated with delivering care and to improve its knowledge sharing ability within the community. At present the organization has adopted various standardized instruments, which consistently provide accurate measurements of quality benchmarks within the organization. The top down management approach may be the sole factor limiting consistent knowledge sharing and hence risk management reduction or continuous improvement within the organization.