In a World of Pay: Human Resource Management Essay

Pay rates have always been an important issue when it comes to hiring workersespecially when dealing with professionals whose talent and experience are highly soughtin the job market. In our case study, we will be discussing the difficulties and challenges of hiring expatriates which in this case will be revolving around pay. The case is about theproblems that arose at a German software Company (Typware) when the managementdecided to hire Anne Prevost whom they consider to be an ‘intelligent careful strategist.’Anne is generally agreed to be the perfect match for the job but the rate which Anna isrequesting for the job is causing controversy at Typware because some other workerssuch as Jurgen Mehr (Head of Typware European Marketing) feel threatened by theamount the new hire will be receiving. Case DescriptionThis case illustrates a german software company’s inability to effectively compile afair compensation package for the hire of an american ex-pat. Renate Schmidt, the headof human resources at typware, is faced with a dilemma of how much to offer AnnePrevost. Thomas Gutschein, the CEO of typware, has made it clear that Anne is a neces-sary strategic acquisition. Many managers, including the European head of marketingJurgen Mehr, have expressed discomfort and/or threatened by the high salary proposedfor Prevost. Schmidt has no reference in determining a fair ex-pat package as this is therst time in Typware’s history that they hire an outsider to work at HQ. Schmidt facesproblematic issues, one being that Typware does not use a uniform pay scale and overthe past decade many executives have received up to 30 percent extra salary based ongeographical circumstances. Having researched the employee salary les and not ndingany help from them, Schmidt calls in a favor from Rainer Barth. Barth, her contact at aconsulting rm, helps her compile a list of questions that need to be asked in order to geta more accurate idea of how Prevost’s salary will be determined. Finally, the last issueneeded to be stressed is that Prevost has another offer on the table and Typware needsto act fast if they are to successfully lock in this asset. Case Study: In a World of Pay2Section 2Problem Statement:Stafng and Job Analysis:Typware’s recruitment and selection process does not have a clear  job assessmentsystem evidenced through the hiring efforts of Anne Prevost. HR Activity in Theory:Stafng and Job Analysis:†A World of Pay,† the article discussing Typware’s employment methods, focusedtoo much on Prevost’s strengths as a candidate. Though she may have been a great as-set to the company she previously worked for, the duties she would have if she chose togo with Typware were not clearly specied. When hiring, the characteristics of a vacancyneed to be dened in order to recruit a suitable employee. Typeware’s assessment sys-tem focused m ore on keeping Prevost away from the competitors rather than paying at-tention to the job analysis. Obtaining more organizational effectiveness within the company, with regard tostafng and assessment systems requires recruiting and selecting more strongly basedon job analysis rather than the general qualications of an applicant alone. A clear jobanalysis addresses the job description and recruitment methods of a hiring company, re-sulting in a more structured approach to hiring international employees. First, Typware must clarify its job descriptions to improve human resource planningwithin the company. By facilitating more detailed job analyses, the efciency of ndingpotential candidates for vacant posts will be raised substantially. Wages and salary ad-ministration can be restructured because payment can be more strongly based on thefulllment of employee duties rather than trying to compete with wages on the interna-tional job market. The fact that Renate Schmidt needed to call Prevost a second time foranother line of questioning indicates the poor job description and HR information, be-cause such questions could have been known prior to the rst interview with proper jobanalysis. Once the job analysis is claried, the recruitment process can be broadened. Bybroadening the methods by which recruits are sought, applicants can be more readilyfound, no longer leaving Typware with the tough choice of whether to hire just one indi-vidual or not. Typware will likely have several candidates to ll the vacancy, leaving inter-national applicants with less room for bargaining their salary and compensations. Case Study: In a World of Pay3Two methods with which Typware can expand its recruitment sources are via theinternet and through employment agencies. Recruiting electronically would grant Typwarea large source for nding more talented recruits that meet the job specications. Typwarecould place the vacancy on its own website, granting public access to anyone who is in-terested in the company. This method leaves Typware free to give a clear job descriptionso that there is a larger chance to nd suitable applicants for the post. If electronic va-cancies fail to bring the desired results, Typware can recruit through employment agen-cies. A private employment agency would be responsible for lling higher posts, like theone Prevost applied for. The employment agency would look for people who may still becurrently employed and help to maintain condentiality between the employer and thecandidate. Typware’s receiving of applicants internationally brings on the added challenge oftrying to formulate a standard for hiring internationally; for example, Schmidt received in-formation indicating that four other multinational companies in Germany did not have setpolicies or standards yet. Due to the lack of an international hiring structure, the efciencyof the recruitment and selection for those other companies was greatly hindered sincecompensations and salaries became all the more difcult to balance. In the best interestof Typware and surrounding companies, Typware should formulate an international hiringmethod, which they can implement in almost any international applicant situation. Analysis & Implementation:Stafng and Job Analysis:If Typware were to implement the proposed stafng changes with regard to stafngand job analysis, there would be some added costs such as getting a web designer, orpaying for a headhunter. However, the added benets greatly outweigh the cost. The hu-man resources activities to be implemented include ensuring clear job descriptions, di-versifying recruitment methods, and formulating an international hiring structure. Schmidt’s task as the head of human resources for Typware is to ensure a  clear jobanalysis within the company at all times. Assuming she has a team reporting to her, shemust stress to its members the importance of a detailed job analysis. She should reviewsome of the job analyses from her team to ensure that the description is clear cut. In do-ing so, Schmidt produces more effective negotiations and interviews with potential em-ployees. The recruitment methods can be diversied in various ways. Two methods whichseem to most closely t Typware’s vacancy predicament are electronic recruiting and us-Case Study: In a World of Pay4ing private employment agencies. Recruiting electronically requires some technologicalexpertise, but considering Typware is a software company, that should not be an issue. Typware can utilize its own employees for web design by placing the job and the job de-scription on the company website. The benet of placing the job advertisement on thecompany website is that the applicants who visit the website are more likely to knowsomething about the company. Also, the applicants they would receive are more likely tobe closer in accuracy to the advertised post, because since it is the company website,Typware can feel free to make a detailed job description. Then, looking into private em-ployment agencies would fall into the department of Schmidt and her team. They wouldneed to nd a highly spoken private employment agency so as to ensure that they receivereturns on their nancial investment. Beyond that, after the team has contacted theagency, the responsibililty of nding a suitable candidate for Typware is left to the agency. Formulating an international hiring structure has quite a few complexities. Appli-cants such as Anne Prevost would most likely look into the potential extra costs of taxrates, ination, benets, and oating currencies. Accommodations such as schooling fortheir children, health care, social security, housing, and culture shock also need to be ac-counted for. To meet all these needs in salary and benets would mean a salary that is nolonger within equal range of their peers. Renate Schmidt can discuss ncancial optionswith a local private school, so that Typware’s international employees will not need somany added benets. Health care and housing can also be worked out in a similar fash-ion, thus helping to further reduce  costs. The costs really start to add up when there is noplan worked out at all beforehand. In the best interest of the company, Typware shouldorganize at least a minimal structure for hiring international employees to aid in more ef-fective stafng through exemplar y job analysis. Case Study: In a World of Pay5Section 3Problem Statement:Diversity of Workforce and Employee Rights:The lack of a diversity policy and the absence of concern for employee rightscauses dissatisfaction within the workforce. HR Activity in Theory:Diversity of Workforce and Employee Rights:In In a World of Pay the characters are faced with many common dilemmas thatcause problems or at the very least delays for processing new or existing candidates. Wewill be explaining, then applying diversity in the workforce and employee rights in rele-vance to the issues at hand. Equal employment compliance refers to the laws and regulations of a country inwhich a company operates. It is important for companies to identify with the well knownEEO or Equal Employment Opportunity movement started in the US. This is relevant be-cause of the ways countries and companies are evermore intertwined, creating a vastblend of cultures, setting the grounds for discrimination. Equal employment compliancehelps to avoid discriminatory scenarios. Diversity is one of the components of that policyand stipulates that an employee’s salary and benets are not to be determined or effectedby his/her race, national or ethic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, mari-tal status, family status or disability. Typware’s CEO seems to have little or no concern forequality amongst his employees, which causes great concerns. Equality in the workplace promotes a company culture that cares for its people. Itcreates an atmosphere where people want to work, there is courtesy and respect, peopleare listened to and trust and integrity are main aspects in which your staff relates to eachother. Furthermore everyone benets when the workplace is fair and equitable, and peo-ple feel valued. Analysis & Implementation:Diversity of Workforce and Employee Rights:In a  World of Pay a lack of Equal Employment Compliance compromises policiesfor hiring foreigners and integrating them into the headquarters. This stirs up inner ofcedisputes between Jurgen Mehr, Typware’s European head of marketing, and RenateSchmidt, head of human resources. It is of utter most importance that Typware quicklyCase Study: In a World of Pay6revises it’s internal policies to match those set forth by the countries in which they oper-ate, primarily Germany. In the case they are looking to draw up a proposal for one candidate. Thus a minorinfringement, if at all, on their local policy. Typware is based in Germany where the lawsare generally more favorable for the employee, meaning that once Anne Prevost is hiredlocally she will be entitled to a variety of benets and advantages non-existent in standardUS contracts. This a point to be noted when her arrangement is drafted. Typware wouldnot be disputing any of the existing German legal framework as a result of hiring AnnePrevost. Although this is the surface case, the underlying problem is a lack of equal em-ployment policy structure. On a note, the institutions governing equal employment op-portunities in Germany are ranging from legislative and administrative institutions tocourts and tribunals to workers’ and employers’ organizations such as the Biebestrat. In the case Renate Schmidt discovers that female and minority employees madeless then their white male counterparts. This is not only demoralizing and damaging tothe spirit of the workforce but it also conicts with the legislatures of the country. In notcomplying with the country’s equal employment compliance laws, Typware could ndthemselves involved in serious legal action against them. Renate Schmidt needs to takea rm ground in her talks with the CEO and explain the importance of implementing astrict pay grade system. As shown by current trends, the company need to re-structure their policies tomatch that demanded by the country. The implementation of such a pay grade systemwould benet them in various ways. One way is that it would bring them up to code onequality and employee rights. Another is it would prevent outburst like the one Renateexperienced with the German CIO who found out  his Japanese counterpart was paiddouble his salary. Typware needs to adopt new policies and treat all their employees with equality andshow a concern for their rights. In doing so, they gain a competitive advantage on theirglobal market and can continue to grow. While engaged with other HR activities they canformulate templates to process and recruit the right people for their organization. This willfacilitate their ability to correctly asses talents and consequently provide fair salary andbenets packages in line with market practices. However, if they fail to established a uni-formed pay scale and comply with the laws of the country they will suffer irreparable in-ternal damages that will lead the inevitable downfall of Typeware. Case Study: In a World of Pay7Section 4Problem Statement:Compensation and benets:†¦it appears that typware’s inability to update its compensation and benet systemhas resulted in a chaotic situation as evident by the issues arising from the hire of AnnePrevost. Compensation and benets:The use of benets by employers can be categorized into two main aspects whichcan be either as an inspirational tool to motivate employees to be more active in carryingout their tasks or it can be a form of compensation for a job well done. Benets can bedescribed as a payment made in recognition of a workers commitment to an organization. In relation to the case study, one of the major HR issues that faced Renate Schmidt wasbased on the fact that the company does not have a stipulated benet program. This isbecause the employee benet program would have provided a guideline for Renate todraft up benets for the proposed new hire; Anna Prevost. The irrational nature of Typware’s pay system has resulted in benet disparities anda difcult salary system. Such disparity like female and minority employees of Typwarereceiving less pay when compared to their white male counterparts is obviously one ofthe main reasons Jurgen Mehr is not taking the hiring of Anna Prevost lightly. This is be-cause he feared that  if a female employee will start with a salary close to his, she mightearn more than he does in the future. In his words â€Å"This isn’t fair, and it’s humiliating.†Jurgen Mehr is not just troubled because she is a new hire but it is a ‘she’ and also a for-eigner, which also brings us back to EEO. Nowadays, organizations tend to be institutionalizing benets such as savings planand pension because these are part of employment package that attracts employees andhelps the organizations to retain the good employees. However, Typware seems not tohave paid attention to these issues, because their benet system has not been updatesfor sometime. The importance of benets program to employees has become very signi-cant these days because when employees do not feel an appreciation for their commit-ment to an organization, there is a high possibility that they will withdraw that commit-ment and in some cases might leave the organization. This is based on a simple logic that†when you appreciate things that people do, it motivates them to keep on doing so.† Ineffect, benets have become part of organizational practices because it plays a signi-Case Study: In a World of Pay8cant role in helping employers retain good employees and encourages performance im-provement. Performance management:Theories and performance appraisal systems have developed as means to meas-ure employee’s performance at the work place, but none have been able to provide anaccurate assessment of employee’s performance. However, the importance of appraisalsystem can not be overlooked because they have proved to be good in detecting em-ployee’s strengths and weakness. Performance management can be dened a â€Å"meansthrough which managers ensure that employees’ activities and outputs are congruentwith the organizations goals.†1 One of the main purposes of performance management isto develop employees’ who are effective at their jobs. This is because when employees’are not performing as well as they should, performance management seeks to improvetheir performance. It appears that since Typware launched its aggressive campaign in the internationalmarket in 1996, little or no steps have been taken to promote employee development. Lots of emphasis has been paid to issues surrounding pay, with little or no steps towardsperformance management which is signicant for awarding of benets. In addition, Re-nate’s statement ‘it will make others who have been with us for a long time feel that wedon’t care about them’ is a clear indication that the organization lacks important HR activ-ity. Such HR activity includes human resource development and performance manage-ment. Also important when considering the performance management, is the link be-tween performance management and the organizations strategies and goals. This is be-cause nowadays systems such as the performance planning and evaluation system areconstantly being used to bridge the link between performance management and organi-zations strategies. Performance management and evaluation (PPE) system can be de-ned as â€Å"any system that seeks to tie the formal performance appraisal process to com-pany’s strategies by specifying at the beginning of the evaluation period the types andlevel of performance that must be accomplished in order to achieve the strategy.†2Case Study: In a World of Pay91Ibid p 3302Ibid p 332Section 5Reactions:1. What did the student think at the on set of the case?The case prompted some interesting issues in the global work place. It alsoshows how sometimes those in charge are not always fully capable, and muststrongly rely on their employees. The case also illustrates how a globally competitive company can go foronly a short time without identifying with the local legislation before it catches upto them and causes serious problems within the organization. This case reects on how organizations deal with HR issues such as paywith regards to hiring new employees. The organization has repeatedly violatedsome of its compensation and benet program by offering expatriates abroad extrabenets. This in turn resulted in a chaotic situation at the headquarters with em-ployees storming the ofce of Head of Human Resources to demand for equalbenet. 2. How did they feel about the key characters in the case?The CEO, Thomas, seems to fail to address the core issues, especially inregards to  formulating a more stable pay structure. The problems from the paystructure trickle down and cause a chain effect of problems within the company, aswas shown through the complaint of managers, and the efforts of trying to hireAnne Prevost. Furthermore, Anne Prevost is not the key to solving Typware’s problems asthought by the CEO. She is a valuable asset only if the core issues are correctionswiftly and re-structuring of the company occurs. Renate Schmidt showed some good reasoning in a tight situation. She wasable to sort out the larger issues within the company and had a well structured ap-proach to issues. She usually dened the issue, and tried to nd some precedenceon it rst. Then she would go through contacts to see who could help her achieveher set goals. The animosity we feel from Jurgen’s reaction to an American is a clear re-ection of how employees will treat each other when the work atmosphere is notfair and equitable. Case Study: In a World of Pay10Renate who is the head of human resources is faced with the challenge ofincorporating the demands of Anna Prevost (potential new hire) into the organiza-tion’s ineffective HR policy. The HR policy is ineffective because they lacked a sta-ble salary system. 3. What is the student’s opinion about the relevancy/application of HR activity In aWorld of Pay?Given the fact that the organization lacked an effective HR activity such aspay, it has resulted in a difcult situation with regards to drafting up an organiza-tional benet program for the proposed new hire (Anna Prevost). Such programswould have provided a guideline and minimized the amount of work to be done byRenate for the hiring of Anna Prevost. In a World of Pay showed how important HR activities are in preventing suchissues from arising. Had Typware more strongly followed set HR activities, thenthey could have minimized the amount of work involved to  rectify the larger issuesat hand. However, Typware did not follow HR activities closely enough and theirfailure to do so led to numerous problems within the company. Case Study: In a World of Pay11

Created for Perfection but Destined to Fail

Having a dying child changes a family’s life. A mother will do anything she possibly can to aid this child. Likewise, the rest of the family will have to commit in order for their sibling’s well being. During and after a situation like this, life for the family will not be the same. In the movie, My Sister’s Keeper, directed by Nick Cassavetes, a happily married couple with two children live their life normally and joyfully until the day they learn that their two year old daughter, Kate, had leukemia and would not live past the age of five.In the movie Sofia Vassilieva plays the role of Kate, the dying girl, whose illness would not let her live past the five. Neither Kate’s parents or brother were a match with her and thus could not donate anything to aid her with her terminating disease. The parents decided to produce a one hundred percent in vitro child so he/she could give Kate what she needed: bone marrow, blood donations, and stem cells. Cameron Diaz, Sara Fitzgerald, the mother, together with Jason Patric, Brian Fitzgerald, the husband, agreed to have a baby â€Å"made in a dish to be spare parts for Kate.†(Breslin)And as soon as their baby was born, they would summit her into numerous surgeries so she could donate what ever Kate needed to live. To me this was a great attention grabber for the movie because it gave the plot originality. The in vitro child, Abigail Breslin, Anna Fitzgerald, was twelve and she introduced the movie speaking of how she was only made to aid her dying sister. She was the â€Å"perfect in vitro child who would be Kate’s genetic savior. †(Breslin) Ever since she was a newborn she was summited to numerous operations because of the different needs Kate had.Now that she is twelve, Anna files a lawsuit against her parents wanting to be medically emancipated, to have the rights to her own body. She claims she wants to live her life as a regular twelve year old girl without having restri ctions in her daily activities. Later in the movie however, the audience comes to find that Kate had actually pleaded Anna into filing the lawsuit. Kate does this because she had no desire of living anymore, she wants the suffering to end, and the fighting in her family to end.Kate wanted Anna to be free from the surgeries, she wanted to be at peace and she wanted to free her family from further suffering. Cassavetes directed and created an excellent â€Å"tear breaking† movie yet he failed to properly construct and revise Sara Fitzgerald’s role. Sara was portrayed as a loving mother, but to a point, her character was a selfish. Her main concern since the movie began was her daughter Kate’s well being and was â€Å"not going to let her die. † (Diaz) Sara became a mother primarily interested in making Kate live and thereby forgot her role as a mother not only to Kate but to Anna and her oldest son Jesse.Sara had the entire family dedicated to watching over Kate and her needs. This made Jesse feel ignored and would constantly flee home and Anna grew feeling unloved. When Sara received the papers of the lawsuit, she became infuriated and slapped Anna across the face. This action of hitting her child demonstrated how Sara simply disregards Anna’s opinion because listening to Anna’s desires meant letting Kate die and she was not going to allow that. Sara would rather have Anna feeling miserable with her life than to watch Kate die.She  gave up her entire life to watch over Kate’s health and she was not going to let anyone or anything ruin her twelve year battle. On the other hand, Brian’s role in the movie served mainly to defend his children. Although he struggled the same battle of keeping Kate alive with Sara, his character understood and stood beside what his children needed. He let Sara take over for twelve years but when the lawsuit came he understood Anna’s point and stood beside her. Personall y I loved when he took Kate to the beach because she wanted to see it before dying.He took her even if it meant having an argument with his wife which could lead to getting a divorce. Brian wanted to make sure that his daughter had what she wanted in her last few moments of life. Looking at Roger Ebert’s professional movie criticism and review of the movie My Sister’s Keeper, he stated that the movie is â€Å"an immediate audience-grabber. † He says that the movie is good because of the plot itself. A girl who is twelve was made so she could be spare parts for her dying sister.However, he does mention that the movie is subject to different interpretations to the viewers because some may agree on the lawsuit Anna placed on her parents and others may disagree. The audience’s opinion is controversial depending on their standing point. If a person favors life then he or she would disagree with Anna’s point because if she medically emancipates and decid es not to continue to donate to her sister, Kate would die. Others who favor choice, agree with the lawsuit because Anna has a life of her own and she must pursue and live it.Ebert feels Anna is right to have gone to the lawyer, Alec Baldwin, who proves 90% accuracy on his trials because she is being independent and an achiever of what she believes is correct. He also feels that Anna has been through enough ever since she was born. She has donated her sister blood, bone marrow, and stem cells and has had to undergo several surgeries and stays at the hospital because of these operations. Ebert discusses the issue that Anna should not give away her kidney to her sister because this would limit her physical activities.She will not be able to enjoy her childhood, her teenage years and many other activities she should be experiencing as a teen and even as she grows older. Ebert also discusses how Taylor, Kate’s dying boyfriend, gives My Sister’s Keeper its best element beca use he makes the movie â€Å"tender, tactful and very touching. †(Ebert) His opinion about the appearance of this boy in the movie was to distract the audience from the entire discussion and constant fighting of the Fitzgerald family over the lawsuit. Taylor allows the audience to see that Kate in spite of her terminating disease was able to live a life like any other teenager.With this romance, Cassavetes diverted the movie aside from the tragic family disputes and turned it into a romantic love story between Kate and Taylor, and what they got to live for a while. This romance gave the movie more realism, Ebert stated. Regarding Diaz’s role as the mother, Ebert believed that her character demonstrated her fierceness in wanting to solve and win a case in her private life. Since she was a successful lawyer and won most of her cases while in practice, she now sees Kate’s disease as a case she must win as well.Since Sara won cases most of the time, she now feels sh e must fight to keep Kate alive. This is her most intense case and she has won it for twelve years by having kept Kate alive past her expected death at five. Ebert agrees with the role of Sara Fitzgerald. Both my opinion and Ebert’s agree on many factors of the movie My Sister’s Keeper yet we disagree on one point. We both think that it was a great movie with an excellent plot and attention hook. The idea of having parents â€Å"make and create† a perfect match for their dying daughter was definitely a grabber.We believe that Anna has suffered her entire life and she now has the right to live her own life and enjoy being a kid. We feel she should not be worried of limiting her activities for the sake of helping her dying sister. For these reasons Ebert and I agree on the fact that Anna has the right to her â€Å"medical emancipation†, so she could have the right to her own body. Ebert and I also concord when we say that Anna’s family is near perfec t and that the only disfunction in it is Kate’s disease. The disease was not only killing her, but it was killing her family as well.â€Å"Beneath the exterior there were cracks and resentments† (Patric) that threatened the well being of the Fitzgerald family. The constant fighting between Brian and Sara, Jesse feeling ignored, and most importantly Anna having gone to a lawyer and having sued her parents portrays the family disfunction. The fact the Sara disregarded everyone’s opinion and did what she thought was correct without anyone else’s opinion, led the family to slowly break. We think that Brian’s role as the father, served mainly as a mediator.He was in the middle of every battle at home and he was constantly overruled by his wife. He had no voice in the movie until the end when he confronted Sara and took Kate to the beach with or without Sara’s approval. All through the movie Brian was more of a secondary character yet he proved hi mself after the scene of the beach. Brian defended what he thought was correct and stood by Anna’s side when she filed the lawsuit, he understood her point and could not believe he had let his daughter suffer so much for the past twelve years.Overall Ebert and I believe he had a fairly good role but his character stood out towards the end of the movie. In the role of Sara, Ebert and I disagree as to what we think Cassavetes wanted her to represent. To me Sara’s role and character in the movie, made her be disliked by the audience. She was set as a person who did not care about her husband, as a person who did not notice her son, and in a way she despised Anna for wanting to have the right to her body and stop being Kate’s savior. I felt she was a selfish mother who only cared about Kate’s life and no one else’s.Ebert believed that Diaz’s role was her merely wanting to save her daughter Kate at all possible cost. He felt Sara viewed this batt le as another win in her life, but this win was not in her professional life but in her private one. He thinks that this was a good touch in the movie to have portrayed the mother so involved and dedicated into saving her daughter’s life because it gave the movie a sense of reality and portraying how women would actually act in this situation. The movie My Sister’s Keeper, reflects the life of a model family and how a death sentence slowly split the family members apart.Roger Ebert in his critique for this movie highlighted major aspects which I myself thought of when watching the movie. The idea of having an in vitro child be subject to various operations to aid her dying sister, made the movie so intriguing and different from many others. The plot of this movie was unexpected and completely unpredictable. Overall the movie was great because it excelled in every aspect and most certainly because it was emotionally appealing to its viewers. I give the movie My Sisterâ €™s Keeper directed by Nick Cassavetes, thumbs up.

Mental and Behavioral Health Services Essay

While the future of Mental and Behavioral Health Services continue to strive through many striving goals to develop continuous practices, treatments, evaluations, policies, and research, advancements are taking place to better the future of this program and its outreach to the people. Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.1 When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translated to 57.7 million people.2 Even though mental disorders are common in the population, the main load of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who are suffering from a serious mental illness.1 In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada.3 Many people suffer from mo re than one mental disorder at a given time. Roughly, 45 percent of those with any mental disorder meet the criteria for being strongly related to having 2 or more disorders.1 Awareness of having a disorder is very uncommon in the U.S. DEFINED & FUTURE PROBLEMS Behavioral health is a state of mental/emotional being and/or choices and actions that affect wellness. Substance abuse and misuse are one set of behavioral health problems. Others include, but are not limited to, serious psychological distress, suicide, and mental illness (4. SAMHSA, 2011). Many of these problems are far-reaching and take a toll on individuals, their families and communities, and the broader society. Research allows us to get a better picture of what the future looks like and what people need to be continuing to do and improve on. By looking over research, statistics predict that by 2020, mental and substance use disorders will exceed all physical diseases as a major cause of disability worldwide. The annual total estimated societal cost of substance abuse in the United States is $510.8 billion, with an estimated 23.5 million Americans aged 12 and older needing treatment for substance use. Along with that, every year almost 5,000 people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking and more than 34,000 Americans die every year as a result of suicide, almost one every 15 minutes. Also, Half of all lifetime cases of mental and substance use disorders begin by age 14 and three-fourths by age 24—in 2008, an estimated 9.8 million adults in the U.S. had a serious mental illness. The health and wellness of individuals in America are jeopardized and the unnecessary costs to society flow across America’s communities, schools, businesses, prisons & jails, and healthcare delivery systems. Many programs and services are working together to minimize the impact of substance abuse and mental illnesses on America’s communities. Many practitioners have a very deep understanding approach to behavioral health and perceive prevention as part of an overall continuum of care. The Behavioral Health Continuum of Care Model helps us recognize that there are multiple opportunities for addressing behavioral health problems and disorders based on the Mental Health Intervention Spectrum, first introduced in a 1994 Institute of Medicine report, the model includes these components: ( It is important to keep in mind that interventions do not always fit neatly into one category or another) * Promotion: These strategies are designed to create environments and conditions that support behavioral health and the ability of individuals to withstand challenges. Promotion strategies also reinforce the entire continuum of behavioral health services. * Prevention: Delivered prior to the onset of a disorder, these interventions are intended to prevent or reduce the risk of developing a behavioral health problem, such as underage alcohol use, prescription drug misuse and abuse, and illicit drug use. * Treatment: These services are for people diagnosed with a substance use or other behavioral health disorder. * Maintenance: These services support individuals’ compliance with long-term treatment and aftercare. Two strategies for promoting the more important and most effective openings in having access to mental and behavioral health services include providing education to reach the public, and the prevention and early intervention matters intertwining with the Continuum model components of treatment and maintenance. 7 The New Freedom Commission Report and Surgeon General’s Report both emphasized the importance of changing public attitudes to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness. Advocates for the mentally ill identify stigma and discrimination as major impediments to treatment. Stigma prevents individuals from acknowledging these conditions and erodes public confidence that mental disorders are treatable. A plurality of Americans believe that mental illnesses are just like any other illness; however, 25 percent of survey respondents would not welcome into their neighborhoods facilities that treat or house people with mental illnesses, suggesting that some level of lingering stigma persists.8 Sixty-one percent of Americans think that people with schizophrenia are likely to be dangerous to others9 despite research suggesting that these individuals are rarely violent.10 With that being said, the media plays a large role in shaping how the youth think and behave from many of the messages kids receive from television, music, magazines, billboards, and the Internet use. However, the media can be used to encourage positive behaviors as well. Four evidence based communication and education prevention approaches are through public education, social marketing, media advocacy, and media literacy that can be used to â€Å"influence community norms, increase public awareness, and attract community support for a variety of prevention issues† (SAMHSA). Public education is usually the most common strategy and is an effective way to show support to the development and success of programs and increase awareness about new or existing laws, publicizing a community based program, and reinforce instruction taught in schools or community based organizations. Through social marketing, practitioners use advertising philosophies to change social norms and promote healthy behaviors. Social marketing campaigns do more than just provide information and tries to convince people to adopt a new behavior by showing them a benefit they will receive in return.11 Social marketing campaigns are being used in a variety of social services and public health settings. Media advocacy involves shaping the way social issues are discussed in the media to build support for changes in public policy. By working directly with local newspapers, television, and radio to change both the amount of coverage the media provide and the content of that coverage, media advocates hope to influence the way people talk and think about a social or public policy12. Media literacy is a newer communications strategy aimed at teaching young people critical-viewing skills. Media literacy programs teach kids how to analyze and understand the media messages they encounter so they can better understand what they’re really being asked to do and think. Inferences about a program effectiveness relies on three things: (1) measures of key constructs, such as risk and protective factors or processes, symptoms, disorders, or other outcomes, and program implementation, fidelity, or participation; (2) a study design that determines which participants are being examined, how and when they will be assessed, and what interventions they will receive; and (3) statistical analyses that model how those given an intervention differ on outcomes compared with those in a comparison condition 19 In the past, practitioners and researchers saw substance abuse prevention different from the prevention of other behavioral health problems. But evidence indicates that the populations are significantly affected by these overlapping problems as well as factors that contribute to these problems. Therefore, improvements in one area usually have direct impacts on the other. According to the Substance Abuse and National Health Services Administration, not all people or populations are at the same risk of developing behavioral health problems. Many young people have more than one behavioral disorder. These disorders can interact and contribute to the presence of other disorders. Besides extensive research documenting strong relations between multiple problems, it’s not always clear what leads to what. Mental and physical health is also connected. Good mental health often contributes to good physical health. In the same way, the presence of mental health disorders, including substance abuse and dependence, is often associated with physical health disorders as well (O’Connell, 2009). One major advancement that has been recently made is from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, adding a new search feature to its National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) Web site. The feature allows users to identify NREPP interventions that have been evaluated in comparative effectiveness research studies. Both the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress have championed additional investments in comparative effectiveness research to enhance public understanding about which healthcare interventions are most effective in different circumstances and with different patients. The new NREPP feature can provide added information for States and communities seeking to determine which mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment interventions may best address their needs. The Surgeon General’s notes that â€Å"effective interventions help people to understand that mental disorders are not character flaws but are legitimate illnesses that respond to specific treatments, just as other health conditions respond to medical interventions.† (7) The two major influences that are targeted upon are risk and protective factors. According to SAMHSAs levels of risk and interventions, some risk factors are causal; others act as â€Å"proxies†, or markers of an underlying problem. Some risk and protective factors, such as gender and ethnicity, are fixed, meaning they don’t change over time. Other risk and protective factors are considered variable: these can change over time. Variable risk factors include income level, peer group, and employment status. Many factors influence a person’s likeliness to develop a substance abuse or related behavioral health problem. Effective prevention focuses on reducing those risk factors, and str engthening those protective factors, that are most closely related to the problem being addressed. Taken into consideration that preventive interventions are most effective when they are appropriately matched to their target population’s level of risk, The Institute of Medicine defines three broad types of prevention interventions, universal, selective, and indicated. Universal preventive interventions take the broadest approach, targeting â€Å"the general public or a whole population that has not been identified on the basis of individual risk† (O’Connell, 2009). Universal prevention interventions might target schools, whole communities, or workplaces. Selective preventive interventions target â€Å"individuals or a population sub-group whose risk of developing mental disorders [or substance abuse disorders] is significantly higher than average†, prior to the diagnosis of a disorder (5. O’Connell, 2009). Selective interventions target biological, psychological, or social risk factors that are more prominent among high-risk groups than among the wider population. Indicated preventive interventions target â€Å"high-risk individuals who are identified as having minimal but detectable signs or symptoms foreshadowing mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder† prior to the diagnosis of a disorder (6. IOM, 2009). Interventions focus on the immediate risk and protective factors present in the environments surrounding individuals. A more harsher or serious way of approaching prevention is through policy adoption and enforcement. Policy can be broadly defined as â€Å"standards for behavior that are formalized to some degree (that is, written) and embodied in rules, regulations, and procedures.†13 In order to work, these standards must reflect the accepted norms and intentions of a particular community. There are six major types of policy SAMHSA uses to prevent alcohol and other drug use through economic policies, restrictions on access and availability, restrictions on location and density, deterrence, restricting use, and limiting the marketing of alcohol products. Policy can be an effective prevention strategy—as long as the laws and regulations you put in place are consistent with community norms and beliefs about the â€Å"rightness† or â€Å"wrongness† of the behavior you want to legislate14. â€Å"The key to effective enforcement is visibility: People need to see that substance use prevention is a community priority and that violations of related laws and regulations will not be tolerated.† 6 Strategies that we use today for Enforcement are through surveillance, community policing, having incentives, and penalties, fines, and detentions. There have been many areas of progress in preventive intervention research since the 1994 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders: Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research. Experimental research has greatly improved mainly due to the advances in the methodological approaches applied to intervention research. For a range of outcomes, while the different types of intervention research has increased, so has the number of studies providing economic analyses in the costs and benefits of these interventions. As the 2001 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on children’s mental health indicated, there is a current need for improved and expanded mental health services for children and adolescents (15). There is a greater need for greater access to a variety of mental health services for children including both medication for emotional or behavioral difficulties and treatments other than medication. Recent research studies have documented the increased use of psychotropic medications (16). Less is known, though, about the use of nonmedication treatments for the emotional and behavioral difficulties of U.S. children. These treatments may include community-based services such as behavioral and family therapy provided by mental health professionals in clinic and office settings and school-based services such as assessments of mental health problems, individual counseling, and crisis intervention services for students (17,18). With the information collected by the mental health service questions in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), it will be possible to monitor future trends in the use of both medication and other treatments for the emotional and behavioral difficulties of children. Recommended changes by the Surgeon General include: †¢ improve geographic access; †¢ integrate mental health and primary care; †¢ ensure language access; †¢ coordinate and integrate mental health services for high-need populations. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001) 1. Kessler RC, Chiu WT, Demler O, Walters EE. Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of twelve-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005 Jun;62(6):617-27. 2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates by Demographic Characteristics. Table 2: Annual Estimates of the Population by Selected Age Groups and Sex for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2004 (NC-EST2004-02) Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau Release Date: June 9, 2005. http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/ 3. The World Health Organization. The global burden of disease: 2004 update, Table A2: Burden of disease in DALYs by cause, sex and income group in WHO regions, estimates for 2004. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2008. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GBD_report_2004update_AnnexA.pdf. 4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2011). Leading change: A plan for SAMHSA’s roles and actions 2011-2014. Rockville, MD: SAMHSA. 5. O’Connell, M. E., Boat, T., & Warner, K. E. (Eds.). (2009). Preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. 6. Compton, M. T. (2009). Clinical Manual of Prevention in Mental Health (1st ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. 7.. U.S. DHHS. 1999. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. 8. Pescosolido, B. et al. 2000.Americans’ Views of Mental Health and Illness at the Century’s End: Continuity and Change. Public Report on the MacArthur Mental Health Module, 1996 General Social Survey. Bloomington, Indiana. 9. Steadman, H.J. et al. 1998.Violence by People Discharged from Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Facilities and by Others in the Same Neighborhoods. Archives of General Psychiatry 55 (5): 393–401. 10. Borinstein,A.B. 1992. Public Attitudes Toward Persons with Mental Illness. Health Affairs 11 (3): 186–96. 11. Kotler, P. and Roberto, E. (1989). Social marketing: Strategies for changing pubic behavior. New York: Free Press. 12. Wallack, L., Dorfman, L., Jernigan, D., and Themba, M. (1993). Media advocacy and public health: Power for prevention. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. 13. Bruner, C. and Chavez, M. (1996). Getting to the grassroots: Neighborhood organizing and mobilization. Des Moines, IA: NCSI Clearinghouse. CSAP Community Partnerships (unpublished document). 14. Bruner, C. (1991). Thinking collaboratively: Ten questions and answers to help policy makers improve children’s services. Washington, DC: Education and Human Services Consortium 15. U.S. Public Health Service. Report of the Surgeon General’s Conference on Children’s Mental Health: A National Action Agenda. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. 2000. 16. Martin A, Leslie D. Trends in psychotropic medication costs for children and adolescents, 1997–2000. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 157:997–1004. 2003. 17. Steele RG, Roberts MC (Eds.). Handbook of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families. New York: Springer, 2005. 18. Foster S, Rollefson M, Doksum T, Noonan D, Robinson G, Teich J. School Mental Health Services in the United States, 2002–2003. DHHS Pub. No. (SMA) 05–4068. Rockville, MD: Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2005 19. Committee on the Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions, Institute of Medicine, National Research Council. â€Å"10 Advances in Prevention Methodology.† Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.

Instructional Strategies for English Language Learners Classrooms Essay - 1

Instructional Strategies for English Language Learners Classrooms - Essay Example Various strategies to include the students' background into instruction and to build the students' vocabulary are also elaborated. Finally, some strategies to ensure that students stay engaged in the instruction are elaborated on. In an era of rapidly changing demographics, teachers have to cope with classrooms which have a diverse spectrum of students. The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in mainstream schools is ever increasing. In the year 2000-2001, about 4.6 million ELLs attended school in the U.S. from the kindergarten to grade 12. This figure approximates nearly 9.3% of the total student enrollment in public schools. (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 2003).Owing to this rising increase in ELL students in classrooms, it is more important than ever for teachers to be equipped to cope with the challenge of instructing a culturally and linguistically diverse group of students. There are certain instructional strategies that teachers have to employ in educating ELL students. Very often, the age and language group of learners play a role in the effective selection of instructional strategies. For example, a native speaker of Japanese may face more difficulties with English than a native speaker of France, because French is more closely related to English as compared to Japanese. The age group that the child belongs to also plays a role in the selection of instructional strategies. ... They are open to exploration and respond well to activities that spark their imagination. On the other hand, adolescents and older ELLs are more willing to engage in abstract thinking. They have certain life experiences which they can draw on and also may have formed or may be in the process of forming certain individual learning patterns. For such learners, instructors can discuss abstract issues, provoke intellectual activity by making them aware of contrasting ideas and concepts which they can reason and resolve on their own. It also helps if language learning is closely related to the students' own everyday interests. The choice of instructional strategies for ELLs also depends upon the specific stage of second language acquisition the learner is in. The four stages of language acquisition are "preproduction, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency" (Facella, Rampino, & Shea, 2005, 212). Learners in the preproduction stage of language acquisition spend a large part of their time listening to their teachers and may respond non-verbally to the teachers' queries. Instructional strategies that teachers can incorporate for learners in this stage are using yes/no questions, pictures, props and hands-on activities focusing on active student involvement. Learners in the early production stage of language acquisition also spend a large part of their time listening to their teachers. They may also work out one or two-word responses. Instructional strategies that teachers can adapt for learners in this stage of language acquisition include role plays, completing sentences, answering who, what or where questions with one-word responses. Older ELL learners may also be asked to label objects.  

African American Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

African American Culture - Essay Example (US Census 2003-7).This has been stated to be a continuous climb in educational attainment for African-Americans in recent decades: Almost two decades ago this figure was only 63 percent for this age group and in 1980 it was 51 percent. (US Census 2003-7)..The current figures also show that 14% of the Afro-Americans e 25 and over, have a bachelor's degree or higher. (US Census 2003-7). That proportion has risen since the 1990 census, when 11 percent of African-Americans age 25 and over had a bachelor's degree or higher. (US Census 2003-7).And the current percentage has almost doubled since the 1980 census, when the figure was 8 percent. The age group of 25 and over, with in African Americans having a graduate or professional degree is 5 percent and it was 4% in 1990. (US Census 2003-7).The estimated work life earnings of the modern educated African are $2.5 million which are the estimated work-life earnings for full-time African-American workers with an advanced degree. (US Census 20 03-7)... (US Census 2003-7). Thus it can be gleaned that the Educational standards have been improving in African American population.(Jackson 2008)It shows that the modern African American population has started to take more interest in education and more and more African Americans are graduating from the different universities through out America, and the percentage increase in African American literacy has gone up as well.(Jackson 2008) For African-Americans, more education means higher career earnings: those without a high school diploma would earn less than $1 million during their work life, increasing to $1.0 million for workers with a high school education and $1.7 million for those with a bachelor's degree. (US Census 2003-7) Historically this minority was largely suppressed in terms of education and learning opportunities.Racist attitudes locked the doors of opportunities for these enslaved people and even after they gained freedom the minority ignored education as a tool for survival. (Jackson 2008)They lacked the right of suffrage until the advent of the democratic trend of Civil rights and liberties and initiatives like the American Creed during the early 1940's by Gunnar Myrdal.It was indeed Myrdal who wrote in his book famously (quoted in Jackson 2008) The ideals of the essential dignity of the individual human being, of fundamental equality of all men, and of certain inalienable rights to freedom, justice, and a fair opportunity represent to the American people the essential meaning of the nation's early struggle for independence. . . . These tenets were written into the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and into the

Read the following excerpt from Aristotle's Poetics and discuss the Essay

Read the following excerpt from Aristotle's Poetics and discuss the respects in which the Medea adheres to his guidelines and - Essay Example *** The Third Episode of Medea contains all the elements necessary, from Aristotle’s point of view, for a play to be called a tragedy. Among others these include, Jason’s mimesis, dialogues, structure of the plot, peripeteia. Another evidence of tragedian character of Euripides’ play is a scene of pain. In the Third Episode we can see the mimesis when Medea repeats Jason’s wrong doings in burning desire to revenge on him and make him suffer. She makes a plan how to force Jason to suffer as much as Medea did felt when he has broken his oath. So here we can observe one of the main elements of a tragedy according to Aristotle. Another key element of a classical tragedy is dialogue, which Medea uses when speaking to Aegeus and asking him to â€Å"Swear by the Earth on which you tread/Swear by the Sun, my father’s father dread/Swear by every god and godhead† to always defend her. This utterance is a dialogue as it said in a highly poetic, elevated tone. Peripeteia of this tragedy also purely corresponds to Aristotle’s requirements stated in the Poetics. ... In Euripides' tragedy there is too much suffering, due to this reason Aristotle called Euripides the most tragic of the playwrights. Here we can observe sufferings when Jason sees his sons’ blood seeping from under the door. It was Medea’s plane to make him suffer – with this purpose she killed her children, the only part of Jason she still had. She wanted to get rid of him completely and at the same time to make him feel grief and agony. The Third Episode of the tragedy shows vividly all the elements in which Euripides’ Medea adheres to Aristotle’s guidelines. So, Medea represents a classic tragedy and can be taken as an example for analysis. In spite of the fact that Aristotle himself considered Medea to be one of the best samples of classical tragedy, Euripides’ masterpiece contains a few elements which do not satisfy Aristotle’s views. For example, Aristotle reproached Euripides for partiality to the method of "God from the machine †, which consists in the fact that the denouement does not escape from the plot, but is achieved with god’s help. Aristotle wrote: â€Å"... the denouement of the plot should follow from the plot, but not, as in Medea, through the machine.† And if the denouement of the conflict so often required the sudden appearance of supernatural forces, then it was not due to Euripides’ inability to find a more convincing composite course, but due to the fact that the poet had not seen in contemporary world solutions for many intricate human affairs. The poet is abhorrent to every theatrical convention. According to Aristotle, a real tragedy, arousing in the viewer sympathy and fear, makes discharging of these affects, directing them into

An Ethical Leader's Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

An Ethical Leader's Response paper - Essay Example The Utilitarian Approach was pioneered by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill in the 19th century, according to their approach ethical decisions are the ones that provided the greatest balance of good over evil. Following this approach, individuals or specifically managers or leaders at work goes step by step; they first organize their thoughts by making out the different courses of actions that are available to them and then raise questions themselves about which actions or alternatives selected will result in the greatest good and the least negative consequences to the parties at stake. The ethical action is one that provides the greatest good for the greatest number1. The Rights Approach; Immanuel Kant proposed this approach and suggested that people are free to do as they wish; it tells about their right to choose for themselves and not being forced by others in direction which is against their wishes and if this happens it will be a clear cut violation of the human dignity. Some of these basic rights include the right to privacy, truth, the right not to agree, the right of not being injured etc. When making decision using this approach managers or leaders should ask them whether anyone's rights are being hurt to make sure that rights of all are respected. The Fairness or the Justice Approach was initiated by the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. This use of this approach makes sure that decisions made are not discriminatory or biased in any way. In fact, the question is whether they treat every one equally. The favoritism and discrimination are seen as unjust and thus any decision taken on such grounds are not at all justifiable. The Common Good Approach unlike the rights approach looks for the benefit for the society or the community as a whole; from this approach emerges the concept of institutions and policies that favor the society as a whole rather than individuals in particular. The Virtue Approach leads to creations of ideals and role models who should be followed. These ideals represent the people we want to become. Virtues are the characteristics of a personality that leads one to act or behave in a certain manner. An individual when making decision though is affected by the approach he follows, but there are certain factors that influence the decision making; these factors include individual differences, situational factors and lastly the issue related factors2. Personal factors influence one's ability to make judgments and also differs in respect to how much a person is sensitive to a particular issue at hand. One's cognitive moral development affects the personal factors; it depends on which stage of moral development a person is in. There are three stages of cognitive moral development- the pre conventional, conventional and the principled level. At the pre-conventional level, which is the lowest level an individual is affected most by the societal responses that the decision will foresee, the degree of ethical involvement is determined by the desire to avoid the punishment or to receive any reward. At the intermediate level that is the conventional level, the concern for society is increas ed and decisions are made on the basis how they will affect others. At the last, the principled level, a person has already developed strong moral and ethical standards that have been shaped over the years and then selects from the approaches that we