by Herman Bailey | Aug 2, 2023 | Essays |
The first case chosen for the study is whether physicians should offer recommendations based on experience but contrary to current practice guidelines by Beth and Kren. In this case, a patient Mr. S goes to meet his doctor, Dr. O. During the visit, Mr. S requests Dr. O to recommend his statins because in the past he had a lifestyle modification (Beth and Karen, 2018). However, there has been no positive change, but rather elevated low-density and high-density lipoprotein that is lower than normal. In his response, Dr. O feels that Mr. S should continue living a modified life. He uses his life experience and that of his other patients to discourage Mr. S from the drug.
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The case presents two major issues; the first one is based on how physicians should help patients make treatment recommendations. The second issue is the role of both the patient and the physician in making treatment decisions. In this case, Dr. O uses his personal life to help Mr. S to avoid using a statin. He mentions that he had earlier had complications as a result of using the health to ensure the safety of prescribed drugs. This paper discuss the recall of tetrazepam drug. By using his personal experience, Dr. O raises some ethical principles. The first ethical principle is truthfulness. He was honest with his patient concerning the effects of the internet also promotes establishment of illegal pharmacies that may be dealing in unapproved or recalled drugs. Besides, online drug. The other principle is confidentiality. In medical practice, it is important that certain issues are kept private and should not be exposed to patients. Dr. O uses his patients’ information or condition to convince Mr. S against the drug.
Mr. S and Dr. O have had a long-term relationship. Dr. O was their family doctor and presently, he is treating Mr. S and his three children. Before he started his treatment for the day, they had a social talk which confirms that there was a personal relationship. The close relationship they had might have influenced his decision to use his personal story and that of his patients to convince Mr. S against the regulations. If I was in Dr. O’s situation; I would have limited the influence of the personal relationship in my professional work. Instead, I would have employed other ways that do not involve use violation of any regulation.
The second case discusses how physicians can respectfully counsel a vegan patient with (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) IBD and benefit from the supplements. In this case, there is a young lady, Kate, who is a committed vegan. However, during her bloodwork, her doctor, Dr. C notices that she has low levels of iron, calcium, and folic acid, and he relates these symptoms to her condition of feeling tired (Elizabeth and Kayhan, 2018). Kate is seen to inquire from Dr. C about the best vegetable she can eat to help her gain the specific nutrients. Dr. C in his response advises Kate that the fastest way to gain the nutrients is to take their supplements. Kate, however, insists that she does not want to take the supplements because she is aware they contain animal products.
The major issue, in this case, is how Dr.C advises Kate to take the supplements knowing that they contain animal products. The ethical principle in the case is autonomy. Kate believes that as an animal lover she should not be eating animal products. After watching documentaries and reading an article, Kate found a good plant vegan diet. She learned that by being a vegan, she would acquire adequate nutrients and she will get health benefits such as treatment and prevention of certain diseases (Elizabeth and Kayhan, 2018). Dr. C understands Kate’s position but still feels that she has a unique condition of IBD that may require her to take supplements rich in iron and calcium. In this case, Kate has made a decision, but Dr. C is the external influence.
If I was in the position of Dr. C.; I would try to understand Kate’s involvement or stand in her diet goal as a vegan. Knowing that people decide to become vegans based on different reasons, a physician needs to understand his or her patient before deciding to introduce them to supplements. Even though Kate did not have spiritual issues regarding animal products, she was committed to her course as a vegan. After realizing that Kate had a strong commitment, as a physician, I would study her diet history before researching some of the vegan diets that can provide the needed nutrients (Rowe & Moodley, 2013). Also, I would not assume other factors or reasons that could have led to her drop in the levels of the said nutrients. Lastly, I would demonstrate total commitment in trying to understand her health and values (Rowe & Moodley, 2013). I would then look for a vegan diet that would address her nutritional recommendations. I will as well work with her to help her identify what she can do without having to sacrifice her values and at the same time improve her health.
References
Beth A. Lown, MD and Karen E. Victor, MD Should a Physician Offer Recommendations Based on Experience but Contrary to Current Practice Guidelines? https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/should-physician-offer-recommendations-based-experience-contrary-current-practice-guidelines/2018-11
Elizabeth Southworth and Kayhan Parsi, JD, Ph.D. How Should a Physician Counsel a Vegan Patient With IBD Who Might Benefit From Supplements? https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-should-physician-counsel-vegan-patient-ibd-who-might-benefit-supplements/2018-11
Rowe, K., & Moodley, K. (2013). Patients as consumers of health care in South Africa: the ethical and legal implications. BMC Medical Ethics, (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6939-14-15
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.
by Herman Bailey | Aug 2, 2023 | Essays |
Introduction
India is the seventh-largest country in the world and covers about 3 million square kilometers. She has the 10th highest GDP worldwide with an estimated value of over 1.9 trillion. However, the per capita income is as low as $ 1.592. Among the problems that India experiences are its poor education system which impacts severely on the per capita income levels each year. India has an unfavorable education system to her people and it has impacted negatively on the socio-economic lives of the residents. There has been a concern over the education system for decades. Several films have been produced to raise the issue for years which influences the prevailing socio-economic problems. This paper seeks to discuss the prevalence of the unfavorable education system in India, with specific reference to the video produced by FMF where the male actor tells the story about his country’s education system. This paper will also comparatively discuss the manifestation of the education system in the popular film, “The three idiots”. This shall be done in an in-depth manner.
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Issues raised in the short video “The three idiots”
In the video by FMF, the actor explains how unreliable the Education System of India is. In the clip, he expresses his dissatisfaction with the system in a rather intriguing way. The actor reveals that he quits studying in an attempt to find other ways to demonstrate his mental capabilities. The film raises several issues which are a clear depiction of how the education system has played a role in the demoralizing of its citizens. For instance, there is an over-emphasis on a specific line of discipline in the whole of India’s education higher learning institutions; this poses a threat to the thriving of other experts interested in other bodies of knowledge. The short video also raises concerns for the need for a reformation in the discipline preference of the general society. Society is inclined towards the development of scientific knowledge as a tool of modern development.
The social sanctioning of scientific disciplines
In the social context, the Indian education system denies its citizens the freedom to choose other disciplines of interest. The over-emphasis on scientific development favors only those top students who demonstrate excellence in the sciences. Indian societies have the mentality that all students should pursue science and become engineers in the future. As seen in the short video, the actor reports that his parents, neighbors, friends, etc. begun talking him into taking Science in his upper studies to pursue Engineering. However, at the beginning of the film, the actor reports that he failed in his examinations. The news of academic performance failure is often not received well by parents and guardians; so the actor goes ahead and states his decision to quit studying in a discipline he rather not desired and announces his decision to live a free life, chilling in the park, waiting for the rare opportunity of other people to discover his ideal capabilities.
Disinterest in education
The actor expresses his unwillingness to continue studying in his institution of higher learning. Magnifying this aspect, Kunal Chalwa reports in his article that most students in India find school boring. A survey conducted by ASER in 2017 revealed that 34% of male students drop out of school because they lack interest in the study curriculum. The Pearson Voice of Teacher Survey also reported that 45% of teachers in India admitted that their learners were barely actively engaged in the routine classes. Most students are usually poor in math and algebra at tender ages. However, the Indian curriculum requires young learners to understand these subjects already. The system portrays some level of extreme emphasis on science contrary to the mental capacities of the students according to their level.
The three idiots
The film “The three idiots” features three college friends from both modest and rich family backgrounds. The three students pursue a course in Engineering and all live in one hostel in the Imperial College of Engineering. Farhan, born in a poor family desires to pursue a course in wildlife photography but is unable because his father wants him to be an Engineer. Similar to the short film mentioned above, Farhan’s family is hardly interested in their son’s disinterest in Engineering and rather chooses to struggle in poverty to finance his education in engineering. Raju, on the other hand, comes from a middle-income family but wants to pursue Engineering, not because of passion but to change the economic status of his parents. Rancho comes from a rich family and is obsessed with developing machines. However, his obsession invites him trouble especially when he repeatedly conflicts with the Engineering professor over controversial issues, unrelated to his academic aspirations.
The privatization of higher education
The high cost of higher education has been recognized as a major factor that contributes to the poor education system in India. With their low per capita income, it is challenging for most parents to afford to educate their children. More importantly, India implemented the legislation that required the privatization of institutions of higher learning. This led to an increase in investment by private sectors in higher education (Kingdon 3310). They became competitively profit-oriented, creating a high demand for education in India. However, India reports less domestic enrollment as compared to the high number of foreign students. In the film, the professor is aware of the backgrounds of his students and when he threatens to expel Raju from the college unless he talks to his colleagues Ranchu and Farhan. Unable to betray his friends, caught between saving them and letting down his family, Raju opts to commit suicide. However, it was an unanticipated move.
Student stress and suicide
Stress is a common issue in Indian schools. Stress implies mental pressure exerted on the mind of the learners as they make sense of the world around them in school environments. Conditions at schools are different from those of their upbringings. From a social perspective, stress is known to discourage progressive activities. A 2015 research in Kolkata revealed that 63% of learners exhibit stress arising from academic pressures. A stunning 81% reported examination-anxiety stress (Chawla). In India, stress begins during the application to colleges since only a few are usually accepted in the high-rank institutions. Secondly, parents have been discovered to be the other contributors of stress to learners as they exert pressure on their children, with an over-emphasis on academic excellence at the end of their studies. This stress often yields depression, anxiety, and the farthest extremes, suicidal impulses as seen in the film, “The Three Idiots”. At the college level, youths are in their stages of self-realization and are vulnerable to self-destruction when confronted in stressful situations beyond their limits. In real life, the issue of student stress has been debated several times. The Prime Minister, Modi, attempted to help by writing a book advising on how to counter stress.
Lack of resources
Institutions in India lack basic supplies. There is poor infrastructure in India which allows for the prevalence of a poor education system. Mostly, primary schools are deprived of basic resources. There is insufficient electricity coverage in India which makes it harder for schools to implement modern technological systems. Additionally, most schools lack toilet latrines hence exhibiting poor hygiene which impacts directly on the health of both the learners and the teachers. Teachers are also lowly paid because there are scarce resources. Many articles have been written by scholars to address the issue of inadequate supplies. However, it remains to be a problem today. In the Indian film, it is shocking that the best professor in the college is unable to provide standard maternal service for his daughter Pia, who delivers successfully with the help of the genius Rancho. Rancho modifies a sucking machine from local equipment while the professor watches in faith that the delivery works. It is rather questionable how a highly reputable character in society is unable to acquire medical attention for his daughter in the life-threatening process of child delivery.
Conclusion
As seen in the films, India is indeed experiencing a wide range of problems in her education system. However the humorous aspects of the films, it is important to note that they both depict the actual situation of Indian society. Most importantly, the mindset of people has poisoned society by leading people to believe that science is very important in one’s academic life. At the end of the film “The Three Idiots”, all the three friends succeed in their ultimate goals, contrary to what their parents forced them to do. This indicates that most students are dissatisfied with their enrolment in scientific disciplines and have other dreams but unable to pursue them because they prefer not to conflict with their caregivers. The short film gives an insight into what most students really want compared to what they receive from their education systems. It is a clear indication that India has to reform its curriculum and learning protocols to make a better society.
Work cited
Chawla. K. 2018. “Major problems with the Indian education system” Accessed at https://medium.com/@chawlak/major-problems-with-the-indian-education-system-a9fafcf49281
FMF. Nov. 17. 2017 Youtube. “Dear Indian Education System” Indian short film. Accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa-2KbM_cXQ
Kingdon, Geeta G. “”Private schooling in India: Size, nature, and equity-effects.” Economic and Political Weekly (1996): 3306-3314.
Modi. N. “Exam Warriors. Kindle edition.” 2016
The Three Idiots. Dir. Rajkumar Hirani, Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, and Omi Vaidya and Abhijat Joshi. Comedy-Drama 2007
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.
by Herman Bailey | Aug 2, 2023 | Essays |
Introduction
Workplace incivility is a major setback in the healthcare sector, affecting both the physicians’ welfare as well as the quality of patient care. It is quite unfortunate to note that a profession whose main purpose is to care for people has issues related to taking care of each other. Incivility can be in form of impolite and disrespectful dealings of rumor-mongering and or declining to help a colleague. All of those insult a coworker’s dignity and infringe on the respective guidelines set for every professional to follow. These actions can as well involve mocking, using a disdainful tone, and publicly criticizing someone. The negative effects of incivility can be major and extensive and cause harm not only to the targeted nurses, but also the onlookers, peers, stakeholders, and institutes. If not attended to, it may sometimes advance into threatening circumstances or aggression.
Usually, incivility is not intended for any particular individual or individuals. Nonetheless, it can bring about or lead to harassment and workplace hostility; hence it cannot be described as harmless or trivial. The American Nurses Association recommended that all nurses have the right to work in an environment that does not condone harassment, lateral violence, and fear. Nurses should therefore not be afraid of retaliation for exposing such acts to the management. No matter how hard people try to ignore it, incivility does exist in the nursing world and there needs to be a way to end it. This paper will examine the level of incivility in the healthcare sector and possible ways to solve it.
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Effects of Incivility on a Nurse’s Ability to Make Clinical Judgments
Incivility at the workplace harms someone’s intrinsic feeling of self-respect and assurance which ends up in certain corporal warning signs like headaches, interrupted sleep, and intestinal uneasiness. Those actions may also relate to mental conditions such as increased levels of emotional tension, nervousness, irritability, and despair (American Nurses Association, 2015). According to reports, this increased stress is said to advance to post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Such effects are likely to worsen medical decision-making to the degree that nurse productivity is largely affected. According to research conducted by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices, it was reported that nurse intimidation often leads to medication errors. Other researchers report that incivility among nurses often leads to increased errors in patient safety, increased incidences of patient falls, administering medicines late, and medication mistakes (Amos, 2013). As such, if incivility decreases a nurse’s confidence and competence, then this can extensively affect the quality of patient care and intervention outcomes.
Nurses often ignore incivility at the workplace because of their lack of knowledge. Incivility also leads to reduced limited workplace commitment among the nursing staff. Incivility at the workplace is also one of the reasons nurses quit or plan to quit the profession. Furthermore, new graduate nurses entering into the healthcare workforce are often met with incivility. This in turn affects their organizational commitment and their ability to make clear judgments with regards to patient care. Most nurses also often display a decrease in job satisfaction hence start absenting themselves from work and this affects’ their ability to deliver the right care to the ailing.
Issues that occur with workplace or clinical site incivility
A workplace filled with incivility often contributes to unhealthy work environments that in turn negatively affect the quality and safety of patient care. Incivility among nurses impacts both the nurse’s drive to work and patients’ safety and intervention outcomes. It often leads to heightened patient undesirable outcomes and their general wellbeing risk (American Nurses Association, 2015). According to recent research, it is reported that any form of disruptive behavior, whether clinician or colleague incivility, has the same effects on patient safety outcomes.
Each one can harbor direct impacts on the noted frequency of undesirable outcomes and nurse-assessment quality. How nurse incivility translates to limited patient safety is often when there exist negative interpersonal communications between nurses and their superiors or physicians; thus efficient communication concerning patient needs and practices starts to be affected (Amos, 2013). In the long run, this leads to a deteriorated care delivery system and heightens the probability of unwanted patient care outcomes.
How the workplace or clinical site communication is affected due to incivility
Effective communication is a key requirement for better patient care and safety. Because of the stressful healthcare workplace, it is no wonder nurses often find themselves communicating in disrespectful and inconsiderate manners. Incivility often negatively impacts close-loop communication channels in the healthcare setting since such negative behaviors usually isolate nurses from each other. If there is no close-loop communication, misinterpretation of information becomes unavoidable hence leading to increased tension in the workplace.
Tension in the workplace is believed to affect effective teamwork behaviors like coordination and performance monitoring (Amos, 2013). Furthermore, such strain is said to often limit team productivity and efficiency. Incivility also detriments the communication process in that if a lot of people are involved in an issue that could have been handled individually, the nurse is likely not to provide the quality of care they are required to.
Initiatives to decrease Workplace Incivility
There are several actions that health care leaders should take to promote civility among nurses. The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses clearly states that the nursing profession cannot tolerate violence, bullying, or incivility any longer. The association further adds that knowing that you are a nurse makes you obligated, both legally and ethically, to “promote an ethical environment and culture of civility and kindness, treating colleagues, employees, students, and others with dignity and respect” (American Nurses Association, 2015). It provides for three intervention measures that nurses experiencing incivility can use to address the perpetrators. These are: primary prevention which aims at improving interpersonal and interprofessional relations as well as addressing vulnerabilities; secondary prevention intends on reducing the negative effects of incivility and bullying; and tertiary intervention whose purpose is to minimize the consequences of workplace violence.
As a nurse, one is required to first understand that they are obligated to help develop an ethical and safe environment for everybody they work with and care for. Also, they should acknowledge the fact that they are worthy of and should be accorded the same respectful treatment from fellow workmates (American Nurses Association, 2015). One also needs to let go of the need to gossip about others, shift blame, or isolate others they do not like. Also important is an open, respectful, and clear communication system in which people are ready to listen to each other’s opinions without having to disregard them.
As such, these provisions give practical options for nurses and physicians to help tackle the issue of workplace incivility. Most importantly, nursing managers are expected to establish a working environment where nurses feel empowered and encouraged in the workplace. Healthcare settings are then required to enforce new policies against workplace incivility and create an environment open to educating on the importance of teamwork (Amos, 2013). It is important that training should be offered throughout all the levels of workers in the healthcare environment so that the whole institution can have a sense of civility.
Additionally, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses provides behavior guidelines to be followed by nurse practitioners in a healthcare environment. These guidelines include; effective communication, honest collaboration, efficient decision making, meaningful recognition, appropriate staffing, and authentic leadership (American Nurses Association, 2015). Having all healthcare settings abide by these guidelines, incivility becomes a thing of the past, as communication and effective leadership are key to curbing uncivil behavior among nurses.
Conclusion
Incivility in the healthcare environment not only affects the nurses’ welfare but the patients’ safety as well. Matters concerning communication are also affected by incivility. Incivility has been noted to pose a serious threat to nursing burnout, stress, lack of communication, and deteriorated mental and physical health outcomes. Incivility among nurses has become very prevalent in many healthcare institutions mostly because of the many new graduate nurses entering the field. These incivility incidences need to be directly addressed, and training given concerning the hospital setting, the number of nurses, and the extent of incivility among co-workers. Nurses and all healthcare stakeholders have a duty to identify the different types of workplace incivility and how usual they are in the work setting. It is only through identifying and distinguishing the different forms of nurse incivility that the relevant stakeholders, including the nurses, can collectively develop ways of creating a culture of respect, safety, and effective interpersonal communication.
References
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements.
Amos, K. S. (2013). Nursing faculty members’ perspectives of faculty-to-faculty workplace incivility among nursing faculty members (Doctoral dissertation).
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.
by Herman Bailey | Aug 2, 2023 | Essays |
Company Overview
IBM – International Business Machines Corporation is an international US technology company as well as a consultant based firm with the headquarters in Armonk, New York, US (Maney, 2003). According to Maney (2003), its specialties lives within the marketing of both computer software and hardware, computer peripheral, consultation as well as hosting in problem-solving which include social, computers, as well as technological attributes. According to Killen (1988), IBM was initially known as Computing Tabulating Recording Company when it was created in 1911 in Endicott, then a small and quiet village. Killen (1988) expresses that, the name IBM came as a result of the merger between Computer Scale Company, Tabulating Machine Company as well as international time recording company, thus making the name official in the year 1924. Fortune then ranked IBM as the second largest firm internationally IBM as a firm entails over 435,000 behavior in the organization. Therefore, employees and over 12 research labs across the world, and by this, the company has marked a set record as the greatest number of patents, all through 20 years. According to Maney (2003), IBM has been awarded internationally concerning capitalization, revenue, employees, and market assessment. IBM has been recognized by Forbes and fortune 500, Newsweek for the service to its customer and employees assessment. IBM is the company behind globally desired inventions such as the hard disk drive, ATM (automated teller machine), magnetic stripe card, floppy disk, Watson artificial intelligence as well as SQL. The most recent analysis shows that the project was entirely beneficial. The major areas of expenditure for the project were on transport, the acquisition has been the Kenexa and the SPSS in the year 2012 and 2009 respectively (Hoskins, 2005).
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Perlow (2018) illustrates that, in recent decades, with the start of the technical revolution IBM stamped its authority in sectors such as computing, data storage devices, microprocessors, gaming consoles such us x360, Wii, Sony ps3 and Nintendo, and many more such as the hitherto, numerous electronically operating devices, utilize the IBM powered microchips as well as the processors (Perlow, 2018).
Thomas J Watson stands as a significant part of the firm’s foundation that IBM has had (Killen, 1988). Killen (1988) states that he was the CEO from 1914 to 1956. Killen (1988) further says that Watson had an instinctive style of process development which was linked with unifying the organization structure. He died in 1956 and had since been a legend that was honored as remembered amongst the highly influential as well as greatest salesmen in his century.
In 2011 the firm transcended a number of the other key players within that arena as it succeeded Microsoft with a closure value of 214 billion dollars followed by Microsoft at 213.2 billion dollars (Soltis, 2001). According to Soltis (2001), to guarantee its dominance and enhance its quality and quantity in production IBM acquired the Texas memory system. In the year 2017 according to IBM’s financial report, the company posted revenue of 71.9 billion us dollars and an operating pretax income of 12.9 billion us dollars this is a drop from 2011 in which it cut across all the heavyweights in the technology world (Perlow, 2018).
The current CEO is Virginia ‘Ginny’ Rometty she also doubles as the president and the chair of the CEO board of directors the position she assumed in 2012 (Perlow, 2018). Perlow (2018) mentions that she has moved up the latter from holding several positions at the company from being the vice president as well as the primary firm’s executive for IBM’s marketing as well as sales. Perlow (2018) further states that other than that she has been a senior vice president for the company’s international business services. Moreover, she played a prominent role in ensuring the process of integration of price water houses coopers consulting. James Kavanaugh has been the company vice president since his appointment in early 2015. His responsibility is focused on the overall development as well as the creation of an effective and operational business model that enables IBM to adapt to changes in the market (Lombardo, 2017). Martin Schroeter is the Senior Vice President as well as the firm’s chief financial officer from 2014. He is in charge of the overall financial operations management.
Social issues
In the mid-20th century, IBM became the most admired and famous company to work for. According to Soltis (2001), it had a culture of how to treat employees, and in the late 1960s, the company became the epitome of directions for companies to treat employees as well as pondered on their roles within a community. The culture was referred to as “cradle to grave” Which Soltis (2001) vividly illustrates meant that it literally indicated that the company would go an extra mile ensuring the employee is comfortable throughout his life, and by this, they got loyalty in return. They would offer extravagant festivals for employees together with their individual families, golf courses as well as country clubs where employees could play for free (Kessler, 2016).
Kessler (2016) mentions that this was the period where Thomas Watson was the CEO, and the company had three strong values that they clanged on. But first, he came out with the company motto “THINK” which in it the three values were derived from(Kessler, 2016). Kessler (2016) states that he was vividly passionate about the health care sector. The act of patenting medical innovation across all the levels of the company.
Kessler (2016) points out that, the first value was respect for the individual this policy guaranteed job security as the company never laid-off workers for over seven decades. Kessler (2016) explains that, if the business changes the employees were then forced into adapting to the various changes. According to Soltis (2001), the significant probability of deployment overseas or across the country, landing IBM the nickname amongst employees, “I’ve been moved.” Thomas Watson felt that individuals were more productive when they felt secure about their jobs than when they are not. He felt the level of commitment would rise if people or employees find the company assuring and therefore make a full commitment to them. Maney (2003) mentions that unlike many CEO during this period who were focused on maximizing profit and considering other stakeholders more than the workers Thomas Watson insisted that employees come first before anything else. The second cultural value Watson came with was the best customer service in the world, which focused on ensuring all the employees at all levels work in ensuring they satisfy their customers and lastly excellence. Thus, Watson ensured he had excellent talent, extremely knowledgeable, and innovative staff members who would ensure the company’s long-term success giving the customer the best and successfully achieving the company’s objectives (Kessler, 2016).
Killen (1988) says that it was during the Vietnam War around the 1970s where IBM and other companies began rethinking this model and even opted to build the company where cheaper labor is offered in countries like Mexico. According to Killen (1988), inflation hit the nation terrible that corporate that had started emulating IBM together with IBM itself shifted from focusing on employees to considering profitability and sustainability of their corporate business. At around the 1980s, IBM was running out of cash from the competition from other PC manufacturers, and this led to the hiring of Louis V. Gerstner (Killen,1988).
Therefore, Maney (2003) explains that to get the company back Gerstner had to do away with the values instilled by Watson. In his first speech, he described his strategy as a robust minded market-driven strategy that will guarantee the company performance in the marketplace and shareholder value (Maney, 2003). With this in mind in 1993, IBM laid off over sixty thousand employees.
Current practice
Thomas J Watson’s values were rerouted and changed in 2003 with the current corporate culture being: thinking radically, dedicated to achieving client’s success, innovating to what matters, and finally, personal responsibility as well as trust in all relationships (Lombardo, 2017). Lombardo (2017) states that with the new organizational culture the managers constantly encourage their employees to particularly engage in thoughts that would cause a disruption to the status quo and thus, lead to the technological background. It is based on this radical thinking that IBM system/360 was introduced. Lombardo (2017) expresses that, in regards to dedication to every client’s success, employees are guided to enhance and maintain the significant quality of customer service with aim of addressing technological needs. Innovation that matters culture emphasizes innovation that meets market demand the one that would ensure several benefits for long periods of time to their clients in the sense of presenting solutions to their business issues. And finally, on trust and personal responsibility in all relationships, IBM looks at it as a way of boosting high morale in employees and stronger alliances with business partners (Lombardo, 2017).
Lombardo (2017) points out that, international marketing and could definitely affect the process of marketing adversely. The constraint of language and culture might appear to be more of the same as the original one introduced by Watson. However, according to Lombardo (2017), there is a shift from focusing on employee’s welfare to put more emphasis on innovation, creativity, and customer service
The recent social issue at IBM was the relocation of the employees who worked remotely from home to the offices located in Boston, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Raleigh, and Austin(Lombardo,2017). As per Perlow (2018), this decision was made in 2017 by Peluso who is IBM’s chief marketing officer who in her view the company would be more successful when they work together in a conducive creative environment. Lombardo (2017) states that the decision affected over 2600 employees in the marketing department. Lombardo (2017) firmly insists that this particular decision was very devastating to the employees as those who worked in a different location from the five mentioned were given an option of moving or looking for another job.
According to Carroll (1994), this is the company who had embraced working remotely for decades and from the early 1980s, IBM had successfully installed several “remote terminals” in a reasonable percentage of their employees’ home. It is noted in 2009 when most people preferred working remotely 40% of the firm’s global employees were already working remotely(Edwards, 2018). By this IBM saved around $100 million annually as working remotely reduced the office space by 78 million square feet. Hoskins (2005) points out that, IBM department of marketing efficiently established small startups without the need to the relocation of their employees to the central working firm’s offices as they were working remotely. Brito (2011) states that from the interviews conducted on employees they expressed dissatisfaction while some were extremely furious and stated that they would look for other jobs. Furthermore, according to Brito (2011), others swore not to contribute to the long-term projects of the company because these changes made them fear that they would lose their jobs shortly.
According to the Gallup poll, an estimated 25% of the nation’s employees work either full time or part-time remotely. Hoskins (2005) expresses that, with technology such as video-conferencing and slack moved to the cloud, remote working has been made easy as the employees still stay in touch. This research further notes that the remote workers put in more hours than the ones working within the offices and hence they are more productive. Furthermore, Perlow (2018) mentions that relocation would also destabilize the families as the employees whose families had settled in the current location and are in school would be forced to change the schools and start afresh in a new city where they were not familiarized.
Kessler (2016) points out that, the current strategy is totally contrary to the company’s founding principal and culture initiated by Thomas Watson. Which looked mostly into employee’s welfare. Drop-in revenue can be associated with many other factors including competition but job security and the level of motivation at work have also played a major role (Edwards, 2018). The loyalty and rapport established by Watson is now a gone case, and this is key to the reduction in productivity of the employees (Edwards, 2018).
Background research and analysis
Even though it has been proven that when employees work together, the rate of innovation increases and hence productivity. IBM could have offered an incentive that would encourage employees to prefer working in the office (Soltis, 2001). Companies like Facebook and Apple make around a million per employee as compared to IBM which the rate is about 0,000 for each employee, and this is according to San Francisco State University Professor of Management who specializes in human resource management, Professor John Sullivan. He goes ahead and states that remote working in the current market is not as productive as it was in the early 80s and 90s. He observed that in the current market the value of innovation trounce any productivity gain and team proximity has a hand In helping to foster better new ideas. According to Edwards (2018), a study conducted by Harvard also found out that there were more impactful papers produced by researchers who worked in proximity. Edwards (2018) further points out that, another report on employee interactions argued that employees who are presented with a range of opportunities, as well as unexpected interactions, perform significantly better. Most of the key technology companies have embraced this idea, for instance, Steve Jobs was obsessed with the creation of unexpected meetings to the extent of proposing that all the bathrooms b on one side of the Pixar office to encourage interactions.
Facebook, on the other hand, gives employees living close to the firm’s headquarters an incentive of a bonus of $10,000 (Edwards, 2018). The famous Tech office perks located in Silicon Valley keep employees in the office by offering a free spread of foodborne disease. Part 9. Washing and drying of hands to reduce microbial contamination. Journal of food and laundry services. Lombardo (2017) mentions that Yahoo is also among the companies that ended working remotely in 2013 when Marissa Mayer made that decision.
These examples show how this company ended the remote working. As per Perlow (2018), it was humanly and the introduction process to change was gradual therefore it faced less resistance. Change and resistance to change in an organization are inevitable according to Kessler (2016), resistance to change is classified into individual and organizational resilience. In the case of IBM, both kinds of resistance must have been witnessed. Kessler (2016) explains that, the individual resistance by the employees who considered the change, from remote to the office, as a habitual threat, economic condition as well as security and organizational resilience resulting from the fear of significantly losing expertise, power, as well as resources control, structural inertia and group inertia. Thus, to overcome the resistance collaboration and teamwork are vital.
Conclusion and recommendation
Over the years IBM learned that culture could not only be regarded as a tool of management. They have come to look at it as essential. It is evident that employee makes the better and right decision not influenced by orders from their employer but because they have knowledge on making the better decision. When this culture is nurtured, the organization can be guided through centuries while this culture is preserved.
IBM’s organizational culture s focused on motivating employees to a creative approach to problems and challenges. Radical thinking is feted for creativity and is seen as a critical factor in the information technology business. A good example is based on these cultural characteristics where employees are urged to acknowledge their individual and specific responsibilities rationally tackling solvable issues thus contributing to business growth
On the other hand, it has the shortcoming of significantly limited support for the firm’s flexibility in the business processes in IBM as a firm corporate culture. This issue has its base in innovation and excellence. Employees might be seen to have significant flexibility within their particular jobs however this lack of rigidness does not automatically translate to the flexibility of the various firm’s processes employees are involved in. When observed keenly, it’s evident that IBM culture lacks the official support essential for both self-correction and self-checking of departments and groups in the firm. For instance, IBM does not adequately address mistakes associated with challenges as well as obstacles in the information technology industry because the company does not provide formal support to the teams, groups, and department to tackle such issues
I recommend the following in a way to improve the IBM corporate culture. First of all, would be to increase the flexibility of business processes by implementing a cultural trait. Secondly, it would be significantly favorable if the company assimilated self-correction as well as self-checking within the education and schooling. Schools do bring together individuals from the different socioeconomic and cultural character of trust as well as individual accountability in relationships. Therefore, building strong and loyal relationships particularly between the employers and employees, enable a higher and reliable level of growth for the company as a whole.
References
Brito, M. (2011). IBM Case Study: A lesson in Social Business Transformation. Social Business Blog | Michael Brito.
Carroll, P. (1994). Big blues: The unmaking of IBM. London: Orion.
Edwards, H. (2018). What the US post office really gets from Amazon. Quartz. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://qz.com/1247302/what-the-us-post-office-really-gets-from-amazon/http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/Organizational%20Behavior/OB-DS21.htm
Employee Training Isn’t What It Used To Be. (2015). theatlantic.com. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/ibm-transformation/employee-training-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/249/http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/ibm-transformation/employee-training-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/249/
Hoskins, J. (2005). IBM on-demand technology for the growing business: Building a flexible infrastructure for today and tomorrow. Gulf Breeze, Fla: Maximum Press.
IBM About IBM – United States. (2015). Ibm.com. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://www.ibm.com/ibm/us/en/?lnk=fab
IBM Story – CEO, Founder, History, Founded | Famous Companies | Success Story. (2017). Successstory.com. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://successstory.com/companies/ibm
Introduction: Organizational Change on JSTOR. (2015). Jstor.org. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40396759?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contentshttp://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/think_culture/
Kessler, S. (2016). IBM, a remote-work pioneer, is calling thousands of employees back to the office. Quartz. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://qz.com/924167/ibm-remote-work-pioneer-is-calling-thousands-of-employees-back-to-the-office/https://www.marketplace.org/2016/06/08/world/profit-ibm
Killen, M. (1988). IBM, the making of the common view. Boston: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Lombardo, J. (2017). IBM’s Organizational Culture & Radical Thinking – Panmure Institute. Panmure Institute. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from http://panmore.com/ibm-organizational-culture-radical-thinking
Maney, K. (2003). The maverick and his machine: Thomas Watson, Sr., and the making of IBM. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
Perlow, J. (2018). I used to be with IBM, now I work for Microsoft | ZDNet. ZDNet. Retrieved 12 April 2018, from https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-used-to-be-with-ibm-now-i-work-for-microsoft/https://www.fastcompany.com/40442966/why-ibm-pays-its-employees-to-take-time-off-to-tackle-the-worlds-problems
Soltis, F. G. (2001). Fortress Rochester: The inside story of the IBM iSeries. Loveland, CO: NEWS/400 Books.
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.
by Herman Bailey | Aug 2, 2023 | Essays |
Introduction
Human trafficking is described as harboring, transportation, transfer, receipt, or recruitment of an individual by the use of force, coercion, or abduction to abuse position or power to exploit a vulnerable individual. In the world of today, human trafficking has become a worldwide problem. Inclusive of the United States, sexual slavery, debt bondage, and forced labor are taking place all over the world. This problem has been overlooked by many governments and even though there are many laws and declarations concerning it, it is still occurring. Traditionally, most people were majorly used as agricultural laborers and home servants. However, most people today are used for prostitution and jobs like brick making. It is estimated by the International Labor Organization that almost 21 million individuals are forced labor victims and their suffering is facilitated by the use of products made by the slaves (Wheaton et al. p.115).
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One of the major products of slavery that I use almost all the time is fish. I love to fish and it is one of my favorite dishes. I have not been aware that the fish that is sold to us is majorly caught by people considered as slaves in different countries before it gets to our country. The Korean ship captains abuse their laborers and sometimes force them to work for almost 30 hours consecutively abusing them sexually and not giving them enough compensation for their hard work. The companies in New Zealand buy the fish from the Koreans. The environmental inspectors from New Zealand ignore this slavery by saying it is not their job. Lastly, American distributors purchase this catch and this is what ends up on our tables (Albert et al., p144).
The second product I use daily and I was not aware of was from slave labor in cocoa. I use cocoa for my early morning beverage because I prefer it to coffee and I enjoy eating chocolates; most people actually do. One of the biggest cocoa producers in the world is the Ivory Coast. Cocoa is used in the production of chocolates and it majorly comes from this country. Despite its good and large production, it has been estimated that it has child laborers which add up to almost 250 000 of them. Most of the chocolates and cocoa consumers including myself are not aware of how it is produced and harvested. People should be made aware of their source and how young children are forced into these farms to harvest and plant them. If most consumers are made aware, then a lot can be done to stop this kind of exploitation of young ones.
The third product I use daily of sugar. Who likes sugarless tea? Chocolates, beverages, and most snacks are made with sugar as one of the major ingredients. What we do not know is that sugar production, sugarcane planting, and harvesting requires a lot of work that most of the farm owners cannot do. They hence are forced to employ young people who cannot fight for their labor rights and end up doing a lot of work for very little pay. Our world has a sugar addiction therefore we need to have more production of it. One of the hardest products to be harvested is sugar. The more it is needed by people the more workers are needed and that is why they opt for children who are majorly exploited, unlike the adult laborers.
Now that I have clear knowledge about how these products are made available in our markets today, I am going to make a change because it all starts with me. First and foremost, my consumption of fish is going to reduce slowly until I can stop consuming it completely. Before I get to the point where I will not consume fish, I am going to be purchasing organic fish as expensive as it might be. I am not going to promote the Korean market and I will try to influence my friends and family not to as well. I will help in the elimination of this slave-made product’s market by avoiding their products at all costs. I used these products before because I was not aware but now that I am aware, it is a game-changer for my breast cancer. Ann has been a staunch Christian since childhood just like the rest of her family, friends, and me.
The cocoa, chocolates, and sugar, I am not sure if I can get to the point of not using them however, I will give it a try. In the meantime, before I get to the point of not using them, I will be very observant when purchasing them and consider the various factors. For instance in sugar purchase, I will consider a label with fair trade and buy that because they are not produced by slave laborers. For purchases like cocoa, I will find labels that clearly state that their production is ethical; a very good example is Theo. This I know will be the start to the end of the failure of markets for child labor products. It starts with one and the one, in this case, is me.
Conclusion
Human trafficking has been going on for quite some time now in the world. The attempts to stop it have not succeeded and people should not give up until it is fully done. People are vulnerable and sometimes they are forced to do hard tasks for their quality of life. Arthur should be educated during the discussion with the doctor and also his family and their own survival. Changing brands from child labor products is a good start to end the markets of their products. This when done, will save a child somewhere in the world.
Works Cited
Albert, Benjamin B., et al. “Fish oil supplements in New Zealand are highly oxidized and do not meet label content of n-3 PUFA.” Scientific Reports 5 (2015): 7928.
Wheaton, Elizabeth M., Edward J. Schauer, and Thomas V. Galli. “Economics of human trafficking.” International Migration 48.4 (2010): 114-141.
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.
by Herman Bailey | Jul 25, 2023 | Essays |
High-class (adj.)
Introduction
Semantic analysis forms the basis of providing a clear understanding of words often used in our routine conversations. Most of the words we use have a range of meanings depending on the speaker, context and environment. These words bring out a different meaning hence they are subject to compromises in one’s understanding of a particular context. More specifically, some words are often misused through the development of slang languages and they tend to inhibit the previous conceptualization of their intended meanings. The ability of a word to have a wide range of meaning creates a communication problem between individuals since everyone is vital to their original understanding. This paper seeks to expound on the term “high-class” in regard to its two definitions. It will also provide a deep analysis of the disparities between the definitions as well as insights on the implications of each definition, all in an exclusive manner.
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First definition: High social reputation
The term “High-class” has two definitions. First, it is often used to describe people with higher social statuses in the community. Identity, which impacts one’s reputation, is very important to individuals in any given society. The high-class identity is usuallystemmed froman individual’sbehaviours, moral standards, physical appearances, dignity and social reputation. A high-class person by nature commands respect and authority with barely any struggle. To qualify to be a high-class individual, one has to obtain the community’s social approval often demonstrated by exquisite respect. High-class people are selectively differentiated from the rest of the population and rendered less vulnerable to social conflicts because they see the world as fair (DeAngelis 62). With a high social status, a high-class individual has a higher potential for power and authority over other members of society. In this understanding, it is imperative that high-class people in the community play a major role in community development because their opinions on societal issues are often welcomed. To effect any form of social change, these individuals are crucial to the extent of change implementation. However, they too need the other classes to approve their social opinions otherwise they would lose their social reputations which nurture their high-class identity. Societies which experience multiple deviance cases are usually more likely to approve any individual who demonstrates good moral conduct, as a high-class person. Then again, societies which are more inclined to establishing socially sound members will tend to classify their members using this criterion.
Second definition: Economy-based
In the economic perspective, a high-class individual is one who generates more income and doesn’t necessarily have to work on a daily basis to earn a living. This represents a small portion of the global population. The high-class population often demonstrate their possession of wealth and luxuries desirable to every individual. Their livelihoods are usually admired by many in society. More importantly, they often demand respect through the ownership of wealth, contrary to the above definition who derive respect through their values, appearance and relationship with others. They are also known as the upper-class population. The high-class according to this understanding barely suffer financial constraints (Dittmann). Most of them are part of the sources of income of the middle and lower classes. According to Karl Marx, the economy is divided into two: the upper class, in this case, the high-class, and the lower class. The lower class relies on the upper class for survival in many societies because they own the means of production, crucial to the survival of all humanity (Karl 21-35). As seen, the second definition of “high-class” is more economical than sociological. Modern society is experiencing a revolution into an economy-based world. Individuals known to have high incomes and expenditures as well are identified as the high-class. This understanding is more globally accepted as compared to the first definition of the term.
The disparity between the meanings
The two meanings have a similarity in that, they both point to an elevated status. Nevertheless, they differ in terms of the implications and intentions of the speaker. In the first definition, there is an over-emphasis on the sociological reputation of the actor. It shows no regard for the actor’s economic life. Additionally, the first definition is more oriented towards the values demonstrated by the actor, contrary to the second definition. The second definition is keen on the economic achievements and financial status of the actor. There is a major variation in the two definitions. It is vital to understand the flexibility of the human mind in making sense of the world. While financial assets may be important to some people, others are more motivated to considering the humane qualities which nurture social interaction. The economic understanding of the term is driven by the over-emphasis of modern society on income generation. It is a criterion for awarding the industrious population who manage to achieve success in the obtaining of the monetary resources, which indeed determine one’s position in society today. Unlike the economy-based understanding, the first definition pays close attention to the ability of people to interact effectively and efficiently as well as providing the grounds for mitigating any social interaction barriers. According to the first definition, the high-class people possess qualities admirable to every member of any given society: the qualities that influence the sustenance of peace, collaboration and the good health of the entire community. They play a very important part in society by leading an example to other members of society. To reward them, societies find it worthy to brand them the title “High-class”. All the same, despite the linguistic competition between the two definitions, they can equally be viewed as a reward by the society to its members, depending on the implications by the situations they are confronted.
The implications of the two definitions
The two meanings illustrate the differences in the conceptualization of societal matters among the diverse human race. Having the freewill of understanding situations is critical to the definition of terms, with significant variations in relation to each other. The two definitions are socially accepted but do demonstrate diversity among individuals. Unless one can define the boundary between the two meanings, the word “high-class” is subject to misinterpretation and confusion. To understand the basis of social reputation, one has to fully understand the scopes of both definitions. Although the second definition has become more popular, it is vital to embrace the first definition. As the global economy rises, people are tending to ignore the intrinsic values that have governed humanity in history. The acceptance of the first definition in modern society exemplifies how people are still concerned over the principles of positive human relations, to combat the socio-economic and cultural issues that arise in all societies. On the flip side, the second definition is a key motivator to individuals in society to battle for high economic achievement, a crucial ingredient to the ultimate success in today’s society. This definition raises concerns for financial prosperity. It encourages people to work hard, to increase their chances of success though calculated investments and innovativeness. Technology is always advancing every day, meaning that people are struggling to meet their financial needs, perhaps to gain entry to the high-class positions or maintain their already achieved high-class statuses. More importantly, the second definition is the threshold for today’s motivation because a significant part of the global population strives to achieve the high-class status.
My perspective
Despite the fact that the first definition is losing meaning today, it stands to provide the best understanding of “high-class”. All economic and technological progress are rooted within the people’s ability to interact in the most positive and beneficial way possible. Carrying its potential influence on one’s behavioural and personality designation, the first definition is important to allow for the continuation of good moral conducts. Proper interpersonal presentations are embraced in the first definition. With effective interaction between people, the chances of success into the advancement to a better world are affirmative. Essentially, the first definition gives insights to solving interpersonal conflicts which deter development in all sectors established by man. Good moral conducts campaign for proper relations with each other, including problem-solving criteria.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the meaning of the term “high-class” points to a positive attribution by the societal members in any given geographical location. Depending on the conversational atmosphere, the word may lead to different meanings. A proper understanding of one’s audience is important in its usage. However, the usage of the word hardly nurtures any negative insights in any given conversation. As seen in this paper, the meaning of the word is bargained by its usage in its context.
Works cited
DeAngelis, Tori. “”Class differences.” Monitor on Psychology 46.2 (2015): 62.
Dittmann, Andrea. “”Understanding Social Class as Culture.” Image (2016).
Karl, Marx. “Classes in capitalism and pre-capitalism.” Inequality. Routledge, 2018. 21-35.
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.
