Ethical Dimensions in Recruitment and Selection: Upholding Business Values and Principles

by Herman Bailey | May 22, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

The process selecting and recruiting new employees in any organization is one that is governed by ethics. Human resource managers have a lot to consider and have to take many principles into account before settling on a particular employee. Ignoring the ethical standards required in the recruitment process is a probable way of inviting legal problems to the organization. Ethics in business such as integrity, trust, respect and equality are enhanced by the right employees. The recruitment process must therefore reflect the business values and principles of the organization in order to correctly uphold the strategy and business goals and policies.

Ethical dimensions in recruitment and selection

Respect: respect for individuals as equal human beings is not only necessary it is required in the recruitment process. Cooper et al. (2003) states that respect means holding in esteem and great value fellow individuals. Whether it is during the selection process, the interview process or the final stages of recruitment, use of derogatory language, treating applicants with disrespect and other issues that may be considered disrespectful are greatly frowned upon.

Discrimination: perhaps, the biggest issue today in the recruitment and selection process of human resource is discrimination. Selection is to be based simply on skills and ability to perform a particular task. Race, gender and social class should not feature in the process of recruitment. Billsberry (2007) defines discriminatory practices as actions undertaken by the organization or people in authority acting on behalf of the organization to limit the success of individuals based on their nature and not abilities. Offering a particular candidate for example a higher salary based on gender as opposed to others is an act of discrimination prohibited by the law. In the process of recruitment, the company must strive to ensure that all candidates receive equal treatment as well as equal consideration for employment. Considering background should only be done in an attempt to gauge the skills of the candidates. Information that is not related to the tasks that the candidate will be performing can be construed as discrimination especially when such information is used to rate the candidate and elect to recruit them and the terms of recruitment thereof.

Compensation: during the recruitment process much is discussed but most important is the compensation that employees will receive upon completion of their tasks. According to Roberts (2005) in the past, employees often played a small role if any in determining their own compensation. The company determined how much to pay particular employees and in doing so left the employee little if any choice. It was therefore possible to find employees in the same job level, with the same skills and performing similar tasks being paid varied amounts of money. However, as he continues to show today the issues have been turned around. Employees now have a right to rate themselves and determine the value of their skills. Compensation has therefore become a sticky matter for organizations. On the one hand, employees have a right to negotiate their own salaries but on the other hand all employees need to be compensated equally for the tasks they are performing. Compensation should be determined based on skills, talent and ability with allowances being negotiated on performance ratings. The indicators of performance should however be easy to see and understand and also equal to all employees. In this way employees maintain independence in compensation and the organization treats all employees equally.

Fairness: (Wood and Payne 1998) states that despite efforts by a company to employ ethics in recruitment there are some selection processes that are based on unfairness or increasing difficulty to the employee. This is especially so in organizations where applications and candidates are too many. An example of unfairness in an organization is keeping candidates waiting for months before making the final selection. Cases that have become legal matters often cite that the candidate’s life is kept on hold as they await a decision from the company which may or may not be in their favor. Such unfairness is considered unethical. In the same way, during the interview process tests on task performance maybe administered but where such tasks can only be learnt by having worked within the organization, this is considered unfair as there is no way the candidate can perform well or even satisfactorily.

Honesty: during the process of recruitment and selection, it is common for the company to expect honesty from the candidate. The candidate is expected to base his resume on true facts and accuracy; answers in the interview are expected to be honest. Should any dishonesty be found, it is possible and indeed quite probable that the company will terminate any sort of relationship with the candidate. In the same way, the company is required to base the recruitment process in honesty. The candidate should be made aware of exactly what to expect from the job, the company and the culture of the organization. Terms of employments, tasks that will be required and duties that the candidate will participate in are to be clearly stated and based on truth and accuracy.

Conclusion

Human resources deals directly with people who are not shareholders or even customers but rather assets of the company. This therefore provides various ethical challenges and pitfalls which can be detrimental to an organization’s goals and reputation. Organizations that have a good reputation in terms of ethical human resource tend to attract the best talent and the top employees. In addition employees who are ethically treated are most loyal to the company, often taking extra time and going an extra mile to ensure the company’s success. It is however important to note that a good ethical foundation in human resource requires planning and strategizing for success.

References

Billsberry, J. (2007). Experiencing recruitment and selection. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons.

Cooper, D., Robertson, I. T., Tinline, G., & Cooper, D. (2003). Recruitment and selection: A framework for success. Australia: Thomson.

Roberts, G., & Institute of Personnel and Development. (2005). Recruitment and selection. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.

Wood, R., & Payne, T. (1998). Competency-based recruitment and selection. Chichester: Wiley.

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Herman Bailey

With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.

Improving Efficiency and Eliminating Waste: Value Stream Mapping in Lean Manufacturing

by Herman Bailey | May 21, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Introduction:

Value stream mapping is a tool for lean manufacturing developed by Toyota to be implemented on their production system; it uses diagrams to illustrate and examine the current process and tries to improve it. Began as a part of lean manufacturing which is a part of Toyota production system which aims to ensure the efficient flow of materials from when the product begins to be manufactured until it gets completed and value stream mapping helps in monitoring the flow of the production lines to eliminate wastes (Rother and Shook, 2009p.90). According to (Ohno, 1988) Lean manufacturing is a logical method to identify and eliminate waste through continuous improvement by passing the product at the demand of the customer. The aim of this research and reading essay is to demonstrate the effectiveness of value stream mapping as a lean tool and to show its strength and weakness in order to get the highest result and the advantages for using lean over mass production with a focus on the last 10 years.

Potential Company Wastes

Overproduction– this refers to the production of more than required goods.
Presence of defects– defects to the products may result into waste of production time and cost ineffectiveness.
Inventory– leads to added storage costs of goods and increase in defect rates. Large inventories increase the cost of production leading to higher costs of production.
Transportation– refers to wastes resulting from transportation of goods from and to various destinations. This is a non- valuable activity that is often added in the company operations which should be reduced.

Waiting– this causes waste of time resource. It is crucial for lean manufacturing of the company to reduce waiting of services.
Over processing– refers to unreasonably doing more processing work that is not obligatory to the customer. It leads to increase in costs due to use unnecessarily using more resources than needed.
Motion– walking from one corner to the other unreasonably in the company may slow down the production capacity and speed of the workers (Locher, 2008).

A case study of Northern Industrial Supply Manufacturing Industry

Northern Industrial Supply (NIS) in Australia is a manufacturing corporation that manufactures various electromechanical gadgets. The lead time for the products is approximately seven days from when it is shipped from the factory to the market. The innovation process in value stream mapping mainly focuses on creating favorable current and future stream values maps that will reduce the current lead time by 60% when it is finally implemented. The process will also increase on the industry’s current operations. Purposefully, the company intends to employ lean thinking and lean tools in operations to minimize waste in the manufacturing process.

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a flow chart that uses the language of lean symbols to reduce and illustrate the flow of company’s operational processes. The purpose of VSM is to provide optimum value of electromechanical products to the customers through innovative creation of value and least possible lead time. This case study focuses on Northern Industrial Supply and draws the implementation of innovative stream value map. The managers of the company view implementing the value stream mapping sustainability programs to reduce the cost of production and further increase efficiency.

The company has employed lean manufacturing procedures to reduce the environmental impacts while improving the manufacturing efficiency. According to Rahman (2013), the use of value stream mapping has created the visualization of inputs and output productions. For example, the labour hours and units and materials produced have been implemented to improve the functions. The research done on the company indicated that the expansion of VSM utility has provided a more inclusive picture of the costs of operation that has led to the reduction of production costs. For instance, when used in injection modeling system, there has been potential incredible reduction of energy consumption enhancing energy savings. The benefits of VSM to the manufacturing company are just extraordinary. It has led to the creation of value with robust, flexible and adaptive process. However, VSM is not succinct. It is not analytical process as the management of the value provides the tools for analysis.

Detection and elimination of these wastes in the process of production will help in creating lean environment for the production processes of the company.
The implementation of VSM led to driving of smaller batch sizes hence minimized the work in progress inventory. In electro motives, the cost of operating large machines may lead to voluminous production and then putting off the machines. However, a smaller machine would balance the lean and cost effectiveness. Today, the company uses front line innovations that incorporate lean tools to achieve improvements in operations hence maximizing profits and minimizing losses.

A Case Study of Nickel Electrical Company

Nickel Electrical Company was founded in 1988. It performs commercial, industrial and residential electrical works in Maryland and Virginia. The company has maintained high quality standards and integrity. However, with the changing technology, the company adopted innovative procedures to cut on their costs and increase profits while maintaining customer satisfaction. The use of VSM has enabled the company to measure the flow of information and material in the process of production. The flow of material gives the company exhaustive information about the production process step by step.

The company considers the implementation of VSM as a superior tool to other production tools. VSM permit provision of detailed information that is specific to step of the process. The detailed information provided by value stream mapping include; cycle time, tact time, available time, change over time, number of operators, scrap time, downtime and throughput (Rother and Shook, 2003). The recording of the in depth processes of information enables the manager of processing to note the key areas of improvement and the effects of the adopted improvements.

Electrical consumption is a significant in depth detailed process information that is usually categorized and recorded depending on every step of processing. As illustrated below, VSM conveys information for comparison with another in the process steps. It also provides how the steps contribute to the overall time and value of production. Highlighted in red, is the overall power estimated for each process step. By finding the product of power rating and time available, kilowatt/ hour/day for each process can be determined. Electrical consumption estimation for every step allows the managers of the processes to associate the time and value of production via consumption of electricity. The figure bellow illustrates how VSM will record detailed information of the process steps.

The figure above illustrates the step process finishing with a power rate of 44.2kW with 30% downtime.
Finishing is an area with high consumption of electricity area that should be evaluated for energy improvements and potential processes. In the illustration, finishing is the potential area of improvement to eliminate the leaks in the airline in the step process.

VSM is an effective tool for measuring time and value in electrical consumption. It allows the managers to note the process impacts on reducing consumption of electricity. The process identifies non-value added and value added step processes, which, is important when implementing lean thinking hence eliminating wastes in electrical consumption. By using VSM, electrical consumption is considered to be non-value added and value added that in turn enables the consumers to determine waste of electricity. The company, however, experienced unavailability of raw materials, the VSM inconsistency in leading to cycle time deviations. For instance, the power line was largely affected by inefficiency of the process with high inventory volumes, low uptime, waiting and at times delays in checking the processes.

Companies have developed and validated a clear framework for implementing VSM (Martin & Osterling 2013). This improves the production process performance of industries. As illustrated in the case studies, VSM gives the process managers to an edge to improve the production processes. It enables the management make decisions based on the information from the VSM. Also, the managers have time to evaluate and understand problems and the recommended solutions.

References

Locher, D. (2008). Value stream mapping for lean development: A how-to guide for streamlining time to market. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis.

Martin, K., & Osterling, M. (2013). Value stream mapping: How to visualize work and align leadership for organizational transformation.

Ohno, K., & International Monetary Fund. (1988). Export pricing behavior of manufacturing: A U.S.-Japan comparison. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund.

Process Map/Value Stream Map. (January 01, 2011). 280-286.

Rahman, H. (July 01, 2013). Open Innovation in Entrepreneurships: Taxonomies of Innovation in Knowledge-Based Economy. International Journal of E-Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ijeei), 4, 3, 1-15.

Rother, M., Shook, J., & Lean Enterprise Institute LEI (Cambridge). (2009). Value-stream mapping workshop: Participant guide : a learning solution from LEI. Cambridge: Lean Enterprise Institute LEI.

Rother, M., Shook, J., & Lean Enterprise Institute. (2009). Learning to see: Value stream mapping to create value and eliminate muda. Cambridge, MA: Lean Enterprise Institute.

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Herman Bailey

Exploring Gender Roles and Societal Criticism in Aphra Behn’s “The Rover”

by Herman Bailey | May 21, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Aphra Behn, a controversial and female author is one of the notable literary critics throughout the centuries (Canfield et al, 221). the literary plays she documented during the period of restoration were very popular on the stage. Similarly, her poetry and fiction were successful. Gallagher (97) asserted that “the feminine interest now giving importance to Behn as a pioneer in professionalism in women began to emerge.” Moreover, she used her literary work to address politics, social commentary, money, sex, power, relationships, ideals, and virtue. However, her major writing focus was on gender roles.

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The essay will examine gender roles through the work of Behn of “the rover”. According to Hutner (198), the play “the rover” criticized the arranged marriages through the inclusion of societal criticism. To understand better the play of “the rover,” it is of great importance to understand the relationship of her life to her writing, the society she lived in, and the perception of the women’s roles. The rover provides an oral criticism of the expectations of the society, denounces ideas of forced marriages, and lastly the accompanying authority of the parents.

The rover is about sisters’ Florinda and Hellena who are attempting to escape the fates of their male members of their family have decided for them, in addition to a band of English cavaliers in Naples who are burnished at the carnival time. Link (109) observed that the men are promiscuous and gay; there is the loyal Belville, Wilmore, the rover, blunt, and the negative Fredrick, the low comedian squire of the country. Belvile met and rescued previously Florinda from being attacked by Naples, and eventually fell in love with her. Forinda, on the other hand, is destined for a pre arranged marriage. However, Hellena is destined for a convent. The escape of the sisters to the carnival is where they meet the cavaliers. Furthermore, Florinda loves back Belivele and Hellena and Wilmore fall in love. However, Angelina Bance, the gorgeous courtesan complicates things. She is also in love with Wilmore although she has Pedro, the brother to Hellena, and Florinda and Antonio, one of the potential future husbands of Florinda fighting to get her attention.

The plot of the play has a complicated series of masking, intrigues, and overall character confusion. There is love, rape, sex, anger, betrayal, jealousy, despair, and joy. The play finally ends with the marriages of Wilmore and Hellena and Belvile and Wilmore.

According to Markley (68), the main conflict in the play of the rover originates from the arranged marriage idea. This is attributed to their own experience of Behn and her marriage which was arranged and unhappy.

The sexual discussion and action are completely uninhibited, as was customary in Restoration plays.

As is common with so much of Behn’s work, particularly her plays, one of the central conflicts of The Rover stems from the idea of an arranged marriage, which we can likely attribute to Behn’s own experience; the little information that is known about her marriage has led scholars to believe that it was unhappy, more than likely because it was arranged (Todd). Behn, alone of her contemporaries, took a stand against this practice; her contempt for arranged marriages was a bit of a revolutionary idea, something that went against all accepted ideas of parental authority (Woodcock 51). However, despite her disdain towards this concept, Behn is obviously not encouraging a complete overthrow of society’s expectations of females; even while Florinda and Hellena are “rebelling” against their father’s wishes, they keep themselves firmly within their gender roles. Hellena only escapes a convent by becoming the wife of a philandering libertine who is after her fortune, and Florinda is in no way attempting to eschew the traditional role of a wife.

Just as society places value on women by their possession of certain characteristics, Florinda also uses these traits to judge her own self-worth; as she tells her sister “I understand better what’s due to my beauty, birth, and fortune, and more to my soul than to obey those unjust commands (I. i. 26-28). She continues to argue her point against her brother: “Let him consider my youth, beauty, and fortune, which ought not to be thrown away on his age and jointure” (I. i. 93-95). This passage is important in that it demonstrates why Florinda rebels; the very traits that she believes should allow her to choose her own husband are the same traits her male breast cancer. Ann has been a staunch Christian since childhood just like the rest of her family members exploit to essentially sell her to the wealthiest bidder. As Anita Pacheco explains it in her essay “Rape and the Female Subject in Aphra Behn’s The Rover,” “these exacted and reductive valuations open a space for rebellion and a bid for self-determination, for Florinda’s pride in her self-worth clearly chafes at the exploitation involved in forced marriage.”

Throughout this play, it becomes apparent that there are several major ways that men in society maintained their gender roles. One of these is through rape. In The Rover, rape is used for several different reasons. For Willmore, it seems to be a sort of seduction or just a diversion, but for Blunt, rape is a means of exacting revenge upon women in general for the actions of one woman in particular. For Robert Markley, in his essay “’ Be Impudent, be Saucy, Forward, Touzing, and Leud:’ The Politics of Masculine Sexuality and Feminine Desire in Behn’s Tory Comedies,” the reason Behn’s “heroes” “violate conventional standards of sexual morality… is to [legitimize] aristocratic notions of birth and worth.” This is sort of a blanket explanation for the sexual behavior of men in this play.

Blunt is a perfect example of someone who uses rape as a means of enforcing gender roles. Though a woman tricked him, allowing her male companion to rob him, his rage seems directed entirely towards women, with no consideration for the man. One can assume this is due to his feelings of emasculation. The way he sees it, the only way he can regain his manhood is to prove that he does in fact have power over women, and rape is the easiest way to do so. Frederick’s immediate acceptance and even assistance in regards to Blunt’s intentions towards Florinda is yet another example of the mentality of that society.

All of this together makes it seem as though both Behn and society perceived rapes to be trivial, just an extension of gender roles. However, Pacheco might not be correct in saying Behn makes Florinda the target of rapes due to her attempt at rebellion. Hellena also tries to “make her own sexual choices,” yet she experiences no negative setbacks as a result (except, one might argue, her eventual marriage to Willmore). Instead, it seems to me that Florinda is the repeated target in attempted rapes because the love she feels towards Belvile makes her a vulnerable object. Theirs is the only love in the play not based entirely upon lust or money, and as a result, they are scorned, in a sense, because that type of love appears to be rare in a society where money, not love, is the focus. However, it must also be noted that these rape scenes were included at least partially for the comedy that they provided. The first scene with Willmore and Florinda is extremely comedic, and may not have been viewed by audiences as a means of enforcing gender roles.

The Rover is an excellent example of the argument that Behn was not necessarily a revolutionary, attempting to overthrow prevailing gender roles. Particularly disdainful of the concept of arranged marriages, she seems to oppose the practice not just as it applies to women, but men as well. Throughout the play, one can certainly detect a sneaking sympathy for the cavaliers, particularly Willmore, the epitome of the “careless and callous” gallant that characterized Restoration comedy, concerned only with his own pleasure, “not caring greatly at whose expense he [got it]” (Woodcock 124-126). However, Behn’s criticism seems to be less about the cavaliers’ lifestyle (with the possible exception of Blunt) and more about society’s expectations. This play seems to acknowledge that these expectations of arranged marriages were not only harmful to the females being forced into them, but also to the males who didn’t have a say either.

Willmore’s view of marriage throughout the play seems consistent with Behn’s own; when Hellena first suggests marriage, he responds “Hold, hold…no, no, we’ll have now vowed but love, child, nor witness but the lover…love and beauty have their own ceremonies. Marriage is as certain a bane to love, as lending money is to friendship” (Woodcock 124). And though he appears to be a shameless libertine, Behn does not portray him unfavorably, making him witty and shrewd, charming, and attractive, much more so than the well-mannered Belville. His character made libertinage so attractive that “according to Dibdin, the prudish Queen Mary once remarked of Mountford’s acting of the part that “it was dangerous to see him act, he made vice so alluring” (Woodcock 125). The popularity of the play can certainly be attributed, in part, to his character, and this popularity ensured that The Rover was the highlight of Behn’s career (Woodcock).

During the period of productivity in which Behn produced over fifteen plays, including The Rover, many of these works were political in nature (Woodcock). Though Behn was never a stranger to criticism, nearly all of these plays enjoyed immense success on the stage. However, she eventually overstepped in her expression of her political views when she criticized the Duke of Monmouth, Charles’ illegitimate son in an epilogue. Charles took offense to Behn’s criticism of Monmouth and ordered proceedings begun against her, and she was arrested (Woodcock 161-163). Though she was quickly released, this misstep ended her career as a political dramatist, and many consider it the dividing line between her period of success and prosperity and the “era of ill-fortune which was to endow her last six or seven years with toil, poverty, illness, and continued disappointments” (Woodcock 163).

Behn moved away from playwriting altogether for several years and turned her pen to other endeavors. She devoted much of her last few years of life to writing fiction, which allowed her to explore a woman’s experience of love and desire without being confined to the risqué, comedic plot of Restoration comedy. These later works focus less on the subject of male desire, and more on the concept of romantic love, as portrayed through the lens of female desire. Her stories of lost love and love thwarted “give us a glimpse of a woman writer who was deeply dissatisfied with the plot of the conventional love story—as she both wrote and lived this narrative” (Salvaggio 254). Her fiction depicts this process as her heroines become “subjects directing their desires in anything but conventional ways” (Salvaggio 254). Her personal letters from this period also reflect this attempt to make women into desiring subjects, rather than just desirable; she strove to allow these women “to direct their own desire rather than to serve as objects of male desire (Salvaggio 255).

This foray into other literary endeavors is a major part of Behn’s legacy; these novels were not only innovative in the new, realistic style in which they were being written, but in their portrayal of gender roles and the inequalities that women faced during this time. However, there is a lot of conflict between literary critics regarding Behn’s actual contributions to the genre of fiction. Some see her work as undeniably feminist, which others argue that her work often displays a masculine set of values (Pearson 40). It seems that this last argument comes from how she tells her stories. Behn uses demure female narrators in her fiction, and these narrators often seem to be appealing to male readers, though if one looks deeper, their reason for doing so becomes clear.

In her fourteen works of fiction, none of Behn’s narrators are obviously male: six give no clue as to their gender, though they sometimes seem to be female by implication, and the other eight are definitely female (Pearson 41). The focus of nearly all of these novels is the lives and nature of women, so the fact that the narrators are (likely) female seems to offer credibility to their stories, as they would possess a better understanding than a male narrator would. Additionally, in some of her more complex novels the female narrator, like the characters, is depicted as “embedded within patriarchy and limited by it” (Pearson 41). Perhaps more important to notice in terms of Behn’s narrators are their imperfections; what they present as simple narratives, entertaining stories or moral tales, turn out to contain quite different meanings, “more sinister, revealing, and subversive, over which the narrators have less perfect control. [They] are given to Freudian slips, unnoticed and unacknowledged self-contradiction…it is these complex, uncomfortable, flawed, or even duplicitous narrators who are Behn’s most effective tool in her analysis of patriarchy,” something unique to her writing at this time (Pearson 42).

While telling their stories, these narrators resort to frequent self-deprecation, even humility, to comment on their roles in society: “Writing in a world where female authorship was the subject of a vigorous and largely hostile scrutiny by the representatives of the dominant culture, Behn has her female narrators humbly accede” to society’s expected constraints upon women (Pearson 43). Perhaps more telling of women’s role in society is the gendered language Behn frequently employs within her fiction. Some words are shown to have different meanings, depending on when they are applied to men or women; “Sylvia would be ‘undone’ by losing her virginity, while Philander is ‘undone’ by failing to have sex and proving impotent at his first encounter with her” (Pearson 44). Additionally, Behn, unlike other authors of the time, addresses female attitudes towards sex and desire both with explicit statements about the equality of men and women (“they respond to sexual passion with ‘equal fire,’ with ‘equal languishment,’ with ‘equal ravishment”) and by allowing women to appropriate a “sexual vocabulary in which they have previously been the objects of male language” (Pearson 44). Before her writing, love was expressed in terms of male desire, “sharply focused on a man’s longing for a woman—a subject’s desire for an object” (Salvaggio 253). In Behn’s work, the “object” acquired a voice, which essentially reshaped the dynamics of romance and desire, thereby transforming the love story, as well as furthering her critics’ praise for Behn as a feminist. As Jacqueline Pearson says, “almost all women writers between the 1670s and the middle of the eighteenth century are aware of Behn’s example and had probably read some of her works” (45).

Though far from the female libertine her critics have proclaimed her to be, Behn lived a sexually unconventional life. Widowed at a young age, she never remarried, though every account of her personal appearance unanimously agrees that she was an extremely attractive woman, and always had a wide circle of admirers from whom she could choose. While some of these admirers did in fact become her lovers, she refused to be a “kept” mistress, though this could have kept her from enduring several periods of poverty that marked her eventful life. An obviously independent woman, her work seems to emphasize her repugnance towards sexual relationships based on anything other than genuine feelings (Woodcock 46). For her, love was not a matter of trifling, as so often depicted by Restoration writers as a reflection of the Restoration period in general; “certainly in her plays, there is a more sincere attitude towards the intercourse of the sexes than in those of most of her contemporaries” (Woodcock 47). While she indulged in one long term affair, she lived her later life completely abstaining from sex (Todd).

Her one lengthy affair, with John Hoyle, a lawyer in London, was fraught with problems and disappointment. Though Behn knew it was conquest, not love Hoyle was seeking, she eventually gave in to his advances (Todd 175). She fell deeply in love with him, though he did not return her esteem in full measure—essentially, she became the gender stereotype she so scorned in her writing: she was the loving, fawning female, while he remained the dominant, unattached, self-reliant male. In addition to being the subject of Behn’s poetry, her “novel” Love Letters to a Gentleman is in fact a collection of letters she wrote to Hoyle, which were combined and published as a novel after her death.

For Ruth Salvaggio, Behn’s earlier relationship with John Hoyle had a huge influence on her fiction, particularly her novella The Fair Jilt. She points out that in Behn’s fiction, we continue to see two types of women, the first of which represents the role Behn played in her relationship with Hoyle. This woman has no role in expressing her desire, while the second woman represents Hoyle’s dominant role in the relationship, and can become a “desiring subject by adopting positions of coldness, distance, and power” (Salvaggio 260). We see the latter in Behn’s novel The Fair Jilt in the character of Miranda.

This novella tells Miranda’s story—she is an extremely wealthy and beautiful young orphan who voluntarily lives in a convent with other girls of fortune. It is through Miranda’s character that Behn’s readers get a description of what appears to be Restoration society’s, ideal woman:

“She was tall and admirably shaped; she had bright hair, and hazel eyes, all full of love and sweetness. No art could make a face so fair as hers by Nature, which every feature adorned with a grace that imagination cannot reach: every look, every motion charmed…she had an air, though gay as so much youth could inspire, yet so modest, so nobly reserved, without formality, or stiffness…she had a great deal of wit, read much…she sang delicately, and danced well, and played on the lute to a miracle, she spoke several languages naturally; for, being co-heiress to so great a fortune, she was bred with the nicest care, in all the finest manners of education” (“The Fair Jilt” 32).

Though Miranda is courted by many because of her beauty and is used to constant praise and lavish gifts, she does not return the favor of any of the young men who crave her attention. She first falls in love with a young friar, a prince from Germany escaping a vindictive older brother; when he does not return her ardor, she falsely accuses him of rape, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment. Soon after, she meets another “prince,” who claims to be descended from the last emperor of Rome. She and Prince Tarquin are quickly married, despite the warnings, he receives from the priests who do not believe Miranda’s accusation toward Prince Hendrick. They live an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle, which is funded by her sister’s portion of their inheritance, which she controls until her sister is married. Desperate to maintain her life of extravagance, Miranda orders first a devoted, love-struck page to murder her sister, and when his attempt fails, he is executed. Undaunted, Miranda begs Tarquin to carry out the deed, but when he also fails he is caught and sent to prison. Perhaps surprisingly, the public is sympathetic towards both the page and Tarquin, laying all their blame on Miranda. Despite public support, Tarquin is sentenced to die while Miranda is only banished. However, he survives the executioner’s botched attempt at beheading, and he and Miranda escape to his native Netherlands, where they live a long and happy life.

Miranda is an abhorrent, yet fascinating character. Selfish, vain, manipulative, wicked, and outright evil, she combines the worst possible qualities of a human being with those that are so admired. There is no more favorable description of a female character in any of Behn’s work than she gives to Miranda, yet even the most conniving of other characters do not even begin to compare to her level of destructive vanity. Even as she is falsely accusing Hendrick of rape, she is referring to her looks and position, blaming her “fatal beauty” on the fabricated attack, and claiming that she begged the friar to desist in respect to her “quality,” all while proclaiming her virtue and innocence: “you find me here a wretched, undone, and ravished maid” (“The Fair Jilt” 48).

Through her celebrated beauty, Miranda wields great power: “thousands of people were dying by her eyes, while she was vain enough to glory in her conquests, and make it her business to wound” (“The Fair Jilt” 33). She uses this power to enchant the unsuspecting, charm people into believing her, and even to tempt a weak young man into committing murder. Following Hendrick’s imprisonment, Miranda, “cured of her love, was triumphing in her revenge, expecting and daily giving new conquests” (39).

Despite the disgust a reader inevitably feels towards Miranda, Tarquin remains loyal, unperturbed by all her despicable actions. Through his unwavering love, she is able, to an extent, to overcome her vain, murderous, manipulative tendencies; faced with his imminent execution that is entirely her fault, her “griefs daily increased, with a languishment that brought her very near her grave, [and she] at last confessed all her life” (“The Fair Jilt” 66). Even when he is about to die, Tarquin “could [not] be brought to wish that he had never seen [Miranda]. But on the contrary, as a man yet vainly proud…he said all the satisfaction this short moment of life could afford him was, that he died in endeavoring to serve Miranda, his adorable princess” (“The Fair Jilt” 67). When they said their goodbyes, “a thousand times she asked his pardon for being the occasion of that fatal separation; a thousand times assuring him, she would follow him, for she could not live without him” (68).

Miranda seems a unique Restoration character in that she, not the male is the conqueror. When it was typical for a female’s story to end with her marriage, Behn allowed Miranda’s narrative to continue past that traditional and conventional conclusion. Though it seems odd, considering the twists and turns the novel takes, all of the characters (except the executed page) eventually get their “happy ending.” Miranda gives her sister enough of her inheritance that she can marry, and Hendrick is released from human behavior. In her quote, “…the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. Tarquin survives his “execution” and gains the pardon of both the state and Miranda’s sister, and Miranda, also having received pardons, can leave Antwerp with her still-devoted husband to retire to a quiet life in the country with his wealthy and accepting family. The conclusion of the novella tells us that Tarquin “lived as a private gentleman, in all the tranquility of a man of good fortune,” and that Miranda was “very penitent for her life past,” and now lives in a “perfect state of happiness” (“The Fair Jilt” 72).

Essentially, The Fair Jilt shows us a completely different woman than Behn portrays in her plays. For the first time, we see a female character with almost complete control over her life; all of the setbacks she encountered were overcome in one way or another. Miranda, often like the men of Behn’s plays, gets her way and her “happy ending.” Given the way that Behn usually portrays her female characters, Miranda certainly is best explained if Salvaggio’s theory is true, and that Miranda is a manifestation of the way Behn wishes she had acted towards John Hoyle. She certainly manages to carry out her evil plots yet end up with a happy ending by becoming a “desiring subject [who adopted] positions of coldness, distance, and power” (Salvaggio 260).

From unconventional characters like Miranda to the more quietly rebellious Hellena and Florinda to her own unique lifestyle, Aphra Behn paved the way for both future female authors and the genres in which they would write. In both her fiction and drama Behn achieved important advances in technology since her novels show the “beginning of the realist technique which was afterward to be developed more fully by Defoe and his successors,” and in her plays, we can see the “first signs of the transition from the Restoration comedy of manners to the drama of sensibility which flourished in 18th-century theater” (Woodcock 9).

Though her last few years of life were not marked by the same success she enjoyed early in her career, enough is known about the wide variety of her circle of acquaintance to realize that she was an extremely popular woman, “whose generosity awoke the affection and whose spirit and talent demanded the admiration of men and women from many walks of life, among them some of the most talented people of her time. With her rich and ample character, she had persuaded her age to accept her, not merely as the first pioneer of the great succession of professional women writers, but also as one of its most vital personalities” (Woodcock 101). Upon her death in 1689, Behn was buried in Westminster Abbey, a mark of respect for all that she contributed to England’s literary traditions. Her tombstone reads “Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be/ Defence enough against Mortality” (Link).

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Herman Bailey

Enhancing Patient Care: Evidence-Based Practice for Abdominal Pain Diagnosis

by Herman Bailey | May 21, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Introduction

Abdominal pain is felt in the abdomen. The term is generally used to give a description to pain emanating from the organs in the abdominal cavity. It arises from the abdominal wall tissues (Ruesch, 1961). For the past two decades, the diagnostic problem of abdominal pain has been analyzed by many studies. The general study point of these studies has been the problem of solving the diagnosis of the abdominal pain according to the cycle of Hypothetico- Deductive in scientific research (Sherwood et al, 2012).

The quality and safety education for nurses (QSEN) was a project designed to counter the challenges of educating the future nurses who will possess the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary for continuous improvement of the safety and quality of the healthcare systems where they work. The faculty of QSEN in collaboration with other bodies defined safety and quality competencies for the nurses to offer direction for development of curricular in the formal academic programs, practice and the continuum programs (Sherwood et al, 2012).

Assessment of the organizational environment

Advanced practice nurses can play a significant role in Evidence –Based Practice facilitation
The key aspect of the advanced practiced nurses role is knowledge brokering and it can be leveraged to promote Evidence Based Practice
Knowledge brokering also needs specific skills and knowledge
The effect on evidence based practice implementation by the other clinical nurses and the advanced practice nurses on the outcomes require further exploration.

Nursing diagnosis of abdominal pain according to NANDA

The main goal for the diagnosis is for the pain to be controlled or resolved. The criterion for diagnosis of the abdominal pain as elaborated by NANDA International (2002) is when a patient reveals a decrease in discomfort and also expressed some pain at levels tolerable.

The specific assessment for the small intestine and the colons are:

Small intestine

Weight like the abdominal cramping pain and increased distention
Nausea
Vomiting and food is not digested at the beginning, vomit has the bile, is black and also the fecal.
Dehydration

Colon

Mild discomfort in the abdominals
Severe distension
Vomiting the latent fecal
Rarely acidosis but presence of latent dehydration (NANDA International, 2002)

Change introduced

According to Yoder-Wise (2006), the change identified and introduced for the nurses based on evidenced based practice are:

The patient to maintain bed rest and not support the knees in a comfortable position
Assess the weight, location and the type of the pain
Monitor any side effects, assess the effectiveness and morphine
Planned rest periods should be provided
Recommend doing and review passive or active range of motion at an interval of four hours
Frequently change positions and give the patient skin care and back rubbing
Notice of any increasing pain or kekauan, auscultation of the bowel sounds , give slowly enema when ordered
Recommend and give alternative measures of pain relief.

Leadership and Management- Development

The change theory for the project is to enable application of the all evidence gathered whether electronic or manual to be used in changing the way of diagnosing of the health problems. The target population for the project ranges from not only within the organization of the health facility but to other spheres of medicine through exchanges.

The long term goal is to adopt method of problem solving that maximizes the possibility of getting a solution to complex health problems by exploiting optimally the benefits of both relevant knowledge mobilization of the practitioner and systematic approach.

The short term goal is to create a rational basis for therapeutic action and further diagnostic that is taken by the physician.

The man power will be sourced from the already available nurses and it will engage all the stakeholders of the healthcare facility. The change is also expected to invite minimal legal ramification as it will be proposed to the Health Advisory Board of the state by the management to adoption.

Ethically, the change is concurrent with the code of ethics as experience and evidence are the basis for treatment. It does not introduce any new treatment methods that are unethical. All practices are proven. Furthermore, the policy is expected to be accepted and adopted because it is workable. However, the health board will have to draw some regulatory guidelines in its application.

The anticipated resistance is minimal but it is expected from the new nurses who have minimal experience. Furthermore, the patients and their families may need technological treatment based on the current research and technological advancement. Therefore, application of the old treatment methods might elicit resistance.

Leadership and management-Implementation

According to Yoder-Wise et al (2006), Evidence- Based Practice needs a commitment to adaption of innovation for clinical problems change. In abdominal pain care, the commitment requires making use of the best current evidence in decision making on the care of the patient for the benefit of the patients and their families. The implementation of the change proposal varies with a timeline of one to six months and caters all the communities served within the location of the healthcare center.

Embracing Evidence Base Practice results to professional and patient outcomes that will create a synergy that will be accepted and welcomed at all levels. Yoder-Wise et al (2006) points out that moving towards Evidence Based Practice in this arena is quite a challenging objective for the nurses who may sometimes encounter barriers. From the discussion of the essay, all the key stakeholders and the organizations infrastructure all combined can make the implementation of the change be done.

Evaluation

Evaluation can be done on a long term basis but only on the findings from the outcome from the patients, families and the professionals. Critical areas are the nursing satisfaction, improved healthcare and the outcomes (Yoder-Wise, 2006).

Analysis of the effectiveness of communication

The informatics competency applies information and technology to manage knowledge, communicate, support decision making to mitigate error. The skills, knowledge and attitude explain why skills in information and technology are significant for the patient care, uses management tools for information and technology in supporting the safe care process, seeks education on how management of information takes place in care settings before care is provided, appreciate the importance of all health care professionals seek continue, lifelong learning of the technology an information and their impact on quality and safety. Lastly, to navigates the electronic records of health, plan and document patient care in health records electronically (Ruesch, 1961).

According to Sherwood et al (2012), informatics also applies communication technologies in coordination of the patient care. Moreover, value technologies support the clinical decision making, coordination of care and error prevention. Yoder-Wise (2006) points out that it also protects the confidentiality of the electronic record and health information.

References

Ruesch, J. (1961). Therapeutic communication. New York: Norton.

Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. H. (2012). Quality and safety in nursing: A competency approach to improving outcomes. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Steelman, V. M. (2006). Evidence based practice. Philadelphia: Saunders.

NANDA International. (2002). International journal of nursing terminologies and classifications: The official journal of NANDA International. Philadelphia, PA: Nursecom.

Yoder-Wise, P. S., & Kowalski, K. (2006). Beyond leading and managing: Nursing administration for the future. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby Elsevier.

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Herman Bailey

Exploring the Views on Supernatural and Natural Distinction in All Cultures

by Herman Bailey | May 20, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Introduction

The common debate amongst many anthropologists is whether there exists a distinction between the supernatural and the natural in all cultures. The essay will analyze the views of two anthropologiwho include roger Ivar Lohmann who concurred that there exists a distinction between the supernatural and the natural and said “yes” in his article “The Supernatural Is Everywhere: Defining Qualities of Religion in Melanesia and Beyond” (Lohmann, 2003). Similarly, the essay will also analyze the opposing view of Fredrich P.Lampe who said “No” in his article “Creating a Second-Storey Woman: Introduced Delineation between Natural and Supernatural in Melanesia” (Lampe, 2003). Despite the fact that both Lohman and Lampe had valid points in their arguments, Lohmann’s argument had a lot of evidence and was more persuasive when compared to Lampe’s arguments.

The summary and view of roger Ivar Lohmann

Lohmann who is a cultural anthropologist argues that cosmology or super-naturalistic worldview is central virtually to all religions. To him, supernatural is an idea that is ubiquitous, although in each and every society, it is expressed differently. The supernatural’s core is giving conscious will or preference to things that do not have it. Therefore, Lohmann (2003) indicated that things such as luck, kharma and fate are also in the supernatural’s realm. According to Lohmann, supernatural forms part of the daily experiences of people in West in a similar way to the experience of people in Papua New Guinea or southwest pacific where and whom he worked.

According to Lohmann (2003), the supernatural’s etic category is a mental model that is omnipresent, and depicts one or more volitional, sentient agencies that are understood to be eventual cause of physical reality elements cause, and are biologically substrate independent. Lohmann further elaborates that some people tend to criticize the supernatural as misleading or ethnocentric. He further continues to say that these people have a belief that spiritual powers do not form part of the “natural” world (Lohmann, 2003). Moreover, these critical individuals further make claims that the supernatural world is not real while the natural world is real. These, according to Lohmann (2003) does not represent whatsoever the views of the people who have a belief in the world of spirits. In their eyes, both worlds are real but separate (Lohmann, 2003).

Lohmann (2003) pointed out that when the natural and the supernatural world are distinguished, the concept of supernatural makes a clarification on both the scientific position on religious behaviors major source, and also improves people’s ability to understand worldviews of religion. When talking about the Melanesians, Lohmann (2003) highlights that sometimes they are characterized as lacking the concept of supernatural. The Melanesians have a belief that the spirits instead of inhabiting an object, they can take the objects physical form. He further argues that the Melanesians have an understanding that some spirits at least are visible and tangible, therefore the supernatural beings tend to appear in the cosmologies (Lohmann, 2003). According to Lohmann (2003), this implies that all cultures in the world have the supernatural idea and how it is interpreted is what is brought into question.

In his conclusion, Lohmann (2003) says that supernatural and natural distinction is necessary and is significant in understanding religions for both emic and etic points of view.

Summary and view of Fredrich P. Lampe

Lampe (2003), on the other hand, discusses about how the distinction between the supernatural and the natural in all cultures does not exists. To begin, his arguments is questionable since his article does not provide clear definition of what is “supernatural ” and this takes a huge toll on his persuasion. He argues that “supernatural” is inappropriate and problematic term just like the term “primitive.” Therefore, if the society accepts the term supernatural, it will be very easy for people to be ethnocentric and make assumptions that anything that is supernatural is unreal and hence false.

Lampe (2003) gives a descriptive analogy of how university of Technology’s dormitory was built. In the beginning years when the university was being founded, the students’ body was male exclusively, but eventually it was changed coed. Lamp (2003) further elaborates how there was need of protecting the female students from the male students, therefore, the female students were housed on the dormitory’s second floor on top of the first year students but under the males of upper division. The first year students had a belief that the female sexual fluids had a power that probably would cause potential danger to students; therefore they refused sleeping in their rooms and would sleep on the floors of their counterparts of upper division. From the analogy, there is no clear tie and coherence in the author; hence, to the reader it is not persuasive for the position to take. The article of Lampe also gives an example of women in Melanesia who would reside in the “menstrual hut.” The women were not allowed to make contact with any other person or the rest of the group, be it in food handling or in socializing among others. This was because of the belief and fears amongst people that women while menstruating, if she handled stuffs would taint them.

From Lampe’s perspective, the westerners tend to view the world through labels and assumptions window. The westerners tend to assume the rest of the world is like them while the fact is opposite. As much as the western worlds may have clear distinction between supernatural (spiritual and religious beliefs) and natural (science and facts), however, that is not true for other cultures. A belief of another society, such as people of New Guinea in what is referred to as religion is their natural, “supernatural” is meaningless to them (Lampe, 2003).

Critical assessment

The essay critically assessed the two articles of the two anthropologists, Lohmann and Lampe, to find out whether distinction exists between the supernatural and the natural in all cultures. The question being raised is whether every society has a belief in the supernatural as a category of reality, separate and distinct from that of the natural world. Endicott & Welsch (2012) defined supernatural as relating to existence order beyond the observable visible universe; cannot be given explanation by the laws of nature or science. For example, reincarnation, polytheism, Holy Spirit, and God or Allah. The essay supported Lohmann’s arguments that there is distinction between supernatural and natural in all cultures.

To begin, Lohmann’s arguments are clear and persuasive based on facts and examples. He begins by providing the definition of “supernatural” and emphasize that it is core to every religion and culture. According to him, all humans can sense the realms of supernatural yet scientifically is hard. Supernatural is viewed amongst humans as universal assumptions, or to a given culture as a unique spiritual reality. For instance, in this regard supernatural is like sex, which just like all common human experience realms, is modeled differently in various traditions to produce various systems of gender. The distinction between gender and sex is necessary in understanding the relationship between cultural models and objective physicality of the physically real (Lohmann, 2003).

Lohmann (2003) argues that there is distinction between supernatural and natural in all cultures and when these are distinguished, the concept of supernatural both makes a clarification on the scientific position on the religious behavior major source, and improves people’s ability in understanding religious worldviews. The supernatural is a real phenomenon with physical effects and causes, which people differently model from one culture to the other. He further suggests that everyone can distinguish naturalistic ideas from super-naturalistic ideas, though the distinction is not salient.

According to Endicott & Welsch (2012) religion and supernatural goes together in every culture. Klass (1995) argued that it becomes confusing when the term “supernatural” is used because its usage suggests that there is distinction between supernatural world that is seen as unauthentic and is unappreciated verses natural and real world. This is also similar to words such as “primitive” “race” which has conflicts. In his article, Lampe (2003) concurs with Klass (1995) by making a suggestion that such words in modern anthropology should be retired. This is because it is very easy to label “supernatural” as irrational and “natural” as conceivable. In his analogy, Lampe (2003) pointed out that Melanesian women hold some powers over men because of their menstrual cycles. This is because the female menstrual fluids are surrounded by a taboo in that any form of contact with a women menstruating or the menstrual blood is a taboo or harmful to men. Therefore, during their menstrual cycles, women seek refuge in menstrual huts to protect the entire community. Some of the regulated precautions include handling and preparations of food, specific sexual relations and physical contact between girls and men when they commence menstruating. However, the fact that in the article of Lampe did not provide any clear definition of “supernatural” lowered his arguments and persuasions greatly. This is because of his example of groups he discussed were portrayed as extremely superstitious towards females. In this case Lampe could have provided definition of “supernatural” as having to do with objects or non-living beings. However, the examples provided by Lampe were primary of men’s cautious attitudes towards the sexual fluids and menstruation of women in certain societies.

In general, the arguments of Lampe was not that much persuasive and did not provide many convincing and stimulating answers to persuade the reader see his argument’s side.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the debate or the essay is of whether or not there exists distinction between the supernatural and natural in all cultures. The essay has discussed both arguments of Lohmann and Lampe from their articles. Both anthropologists and authors provided valid points, but Lohmann’s points generally were better in argument, persuasion, examples and facts. Therefore, the essay supports that there exists distinction between supernatural and natural in all cultures.

References

Endicott, K. M., & Welsch, R. L. (2012). Taking sides. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Klass, M. (1995). Ordered universes: Approaches to the anthropology of religion. Boulder: Westview Press.

Kottak, C. P. (2010). Anthropology: Appreciating human diversity. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Lampe, F. F. (January 01, 2003). Creating a second-storey woman: Introduced delineation between natural and supernatural in Melanesia. Anthropological Forum, 13, 2, 167-174.

Lohmann, R. I. (January 01, 2003). The supernatural is everywhere: Defining qualities of religion in Melanesia and beyond. Anthropological Forum, 13, 2, 175-185.

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Herman Bailey

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