Effective Leadership: Implementing change

Effective Leadership: Implementing change In todays volatile economy landscape, changes are inevitable and necessary. Continuous organisational developments and restructuring are vital for survival and growth. Therefore, it is important to identify growth opportunities in order to ensure the organisations sustainability and at the same time overcoming their weaknesses (Cranfield University School of Management, 2010). However, organisational change generates resistance in employees, making it challenging for successful implementation. Moreover as organisation expand, the challenges of implementing change will be greater due to diverse environment. Leaders can lead/motivate employees towards the achievement of goals in time of change. They process the quality traits which create vision and direction to motivate employees to strive harder towards goals. Also, they can facilitate employees in overcoming challenges and resistance induced by change. Leaders also have power to communicate, influence and negotiate employees away from the harmful cashes of conflicts (Robbins Judge, 2008). The objective of this report is to determine how the modern day organisation in this research can make use of effective leadership to implement and achieve successful change. It will provide more insights on how leaders can identify factors that bring about change. Discussion will be carried out on how to diagnose change factors and identify threats/opportunities. Next, the report sets to determine the impact of communication styles of the leaders on organisational cultural values. Communication plays an important role in the change process as it helps employees to see the need for change. It also highlights the importance of the affected parties role in the whole change process. The report will also examine suitable leadership style which will help with transformational change. Effective leadership translates to effective communication and overcoming resistance. Furthermore, leadership is crucial to identify, lead and manage change. Lastly, this report will set to understand how leaders overcome employees resistance within the organisation. It is of paramount importance for leaders to implement appropriate solutions in order to minimize resistance and maintain sustainability of new change. BACKGROUND OF ORGANISATION The organisation in this research is an Indonesian IT firm specialising in the importing/exporting of self-manufactured laptops. The Singapore regional office was established four years ago and has staff strength of twenty five direct employees. It has a local regional manager in-charge of running Singapores daily routine operations. Since its establishment, the regional office has been experiencing deficits in their income statements. The organisation emphasizes on a tall organisational structure, where top-down hierarchical authority is being practised. Decision-making is made by the head office in Indonesia without any effective communication with the regional office. Quarterly review meetings are held with regional manager to only report on business performance that the regional office is currently experiencing. Owing to a lack of demand for IT peripherals due to the worldwide economic meltdown in 2009, the regional office had recently carried out a retrenchment exercise as a cost-cutting measurement. Prior to the recent downsizing exercise, each of the thirteen departments was led by a supervisor. Each employee is expected to keep to his/her individual job scope and is held accountable for all his/her actions. Strict protocols for individuals are laid out and upward interactions are usually not encouraged. The decision for the recent exercise came straight from the head office without any consultation with the regional manager. The retrenchment announcement was made through email and did not state any future plans for the remaining employees. After the downsizing exercise, the remaining employees have low morale, little sense of pride in their work and are alienated from the management team. Employee absenteeism and turnover rate has been increasing. This change has lead to further deterioration of productivity and quality of the products that are offered by the regional office. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Sampling Schedule In order to define situation concisely and to gather comprehensive information on objectives for the study, the research design methods of interview and personal observation is carried out for this case study. Before primary research is conducted, a group of respondents from regional office is selected for an interview to obtain their opinions. For this selection, non-probability sampling (Quota Sampling) is carried out. The sample audiences (quota) are to be made up of potential leaders of the regional office. They have direct and regular interaction with head office. They are someone of a seniority level, with leadership capabilities and have the power to influence subordinates. The sample audiences are identified to be the regional manager (whom is accountable for the operations of regional office) and the human resource officer (who is responsible for the linking of employees-related policies and organisational strategies). For personal observation, it will be done by researcher of this study in her course of work as a regional sales executive (In charge of generating sales revenue). 3.2 Methods of Gathering Data (*There is limitation of the research design as it all measures information entirely from the regional offices prespective. This might result in possible biasness/prejudices from common method variance. Primary and secondary research time-frame is in Appendix B) 3.2.1 Observation Observation is done by researcher to obtain informal visual assessment of the regional office. Events associated with the objectives are monitored, accessed and recorded. Structured observations are carried out in her course of work for the visual assessment of the organisation as a whole so that the behavior is carefully documented to ensure its validity/reliability. 3.2.2 Interview For this study, direct interview is more efficient and accurate due to small staff strength of only twenty-five. An interview study is held in order of the initial development of interview questions, the conducting of interviews, followed by data analysis. Two identified interviewees whom have interactions with the head office would be interviewed. The interviews (Appendix A) are carried out in the research direction to comprehend actual work practices, procedures, structure and embedded problem/issues faced by the organisation. 3.3 Secondary Data In order to provide in depth assessment, there is also the collection of secondary data. Besides using the online search engines for obtaining information on objectives and findings; books and journal databases (existing articles on literature review and case studies) are the main sources of references. Frameworks obtained are verified using different sources in order to validate the research findings without subjecting them to any form of prejudices. The results from the interviews and personal observation are analyzed with comparisons to secondary data. 4.0 LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE 4.1 External Macro Environment As head office is unfamiliar with Singapores working environment, leaders do not have proper business strategic plan and this would bring about disastrous consequences. Decision making are based on day-to-day responses by the head office. They have no sense of urgency to develop a long term strategic planning as they lack an external consultative opinion on how to operate the business. They also do not have good leadership skills to develop effective strategies as they had only focused on the situations at-present and eventually lost sight of main objectives. Perhaps this could be due to the differences in the cultures, where Singaporeans being highly efficiency is a stark contrast with the more laid-back mindset that most Indonesians possess. The need for change encompasses within all organisations in order to cope with the rapid environmental influences. The business environment is defined as a concept whereby external forces play a major role in the successes/failures of any organisation. By paying attention to the wider environment, leaders can identify threats/opportunities to ensure effective planning and implementation of change (Brooks Weatherston, 2000; Griffin Ebert, 2006). 4.2 PEST Analysis Hayes (2007) and Robbins Judge (2008) agree that PEST analysis will allow leaders to examine the external macro environment in which a business operates and search for evidences of change. Understanding the impact and situation of external forces would help identify factors that could possibly bring about change within the organisation. Political Griffin Ebert (2006) and Hayes (2007) concur that political change will pose threats or create opportunities for any organisation. It has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses and the possible spending power of consumers. It is important for organisations which are exposed to international risks as the political stability of different countries will affect operations and ultimately, revenues. It consists of elements like regulations set by the government on business practices, acceptable business conducts within an economy, environmental management legislations, labour law, international trade regulations, tariffs and political stability. Economic Economic factors refer to the condition of the trading state in which the business operates in. It includes exchange rates, money supply, changing consumption patterns and power and trade cycles. All these factors will impact the operation and decision making of an organisation. For example, in an economy in which the organisation is in is experiencing economic growth. The organisation would expand leading to change and leaders must establish control during the transition period. Leaders must develop a new vision, direction, new plan and to allocate resources properly to deal with the change (Hayes, 2007). Socio-Cultural Socio-cultural factor consists of having the elements of customs, moral values and demographics of the society where the organisation operates in. It affects business ethics and operations across countries so leaders must be mindful of the different customer preferences within national boundaries. For example, MacDonalds do not sell pork items in its menu in Singapore due to the differences in religious practices in the multi-racial environment; whereas in Thailand this acceptable. Change in employees attitude towards education, work and leisure which will impact on labour force and consumption demand. Leaders should produce a working environment that is conductive enough to motivate them and improve efficiency (Hayes, 2007; Griffin Ebert, 2006). Technological Technology is defines as innovations applied into society and organisations to carry out tasks. Some examples are level of investment in Research and Development (RD), availability of new materials and new production process. Technology is constantly changing and hence staying ahead of competitors has been increasingly difficult. Organisation must have the latest equipment, processes and resources to deal with technology change. Leaders must make sure that organisational structure, vision and resources align with technological aspect. Leaders must ensure that sufficient funds are allocated on RD for better technology to improve competitiveness and gain competitive advantage (Griffin Ebert, 2006; Hayes, 2007). 4.3 Findings: Implication of PEST and SWOT Analysis The interview findings (Appendix C) show that the organisation adopts a top down approach management style by the head office in Indonesia. PEST analysis is recommended so leaders in Indonesia will be able to improve on its decision-making process as it allows them to assess Singapores market potential, situation and business development. It encourages proactive thinking and allows them to plan ahead. With the analysis, leaders will know their present position, environment and how they can develop in the future. As they do not understand the impact and situation of external factors; they will need PEST to understand Singapores regulations, labor market, economy, customers, competition and technology. The analysis at external level helps to identify opportunities and threats of the external environment. With PEST, there will be detailed preparation and formulation of strategic plans, good leadership skills can be deployed to anticipate change and align businesss vision. The regional office will have better decision making process, productivity, competitive advantage and sense of belonging in employees. An example of the PEST analysis of the organisation is as follows: Singapores Regional Office -PEST Analysis * Data adapted from Morrisons website (2009) External Environment Factors Potential Impact: (+) / (-) Relative Importance Political Strict Government Legislation in Singapore High Opportunity Critical Labour Law (Singapore) Medium Opportunity Critical Political Instabilities in Indonesia High Threat Critical Economic Economic Downturn High Threat Critical Decrease in Consumers Demand and Investments High Threat Critical Stable Money supply Medium Opportunity Critical Social Demographic Trends Low Opportunity Unimportant Consumers Change in Preference and Attitudes High Threat Critical Attitudes towards Work and Employment High Threat Critical Technological Technology Revolution and Development High Opportunity Critical R D High Opportunity Critical New Production Processes/Ideas/Innovation High Opportunity Critical 5.0 LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION 5.1 Communication Barriers The lack of communication, especially in terms of feedback from employees whom are familiar with the local demands of customers, coupled with stringent cost cutting measures could said to have contributed to poor sales performance. Many consumers are unaware of products that the regional office is offering due to lack of budget in generating brand awareness. Comparing to the bigger players whom have higher levels of economies of scale, it would definitely lose out in terms of its revenues. The regional office does not hold any weekly meeting within departments and there are no consultative approaches. Head offices quarterly meetings are only held with regional manager to obtain report solely on its current business performances. There are no established channels to voice employees feedback to the head office and it often results in a lack of information for proper accomplishment of tasks. Without proper communication structure, there is no room for improvement and employees will commit the same mistakes repeatedly. This would also mean that the head office would be unfamiliar with Singapores working environment, which would result in ineffective communications amongst the employees. Robbins Judge (2008) stated that communication is the life support for any organisation and it plays a vital role in the change process. Communication links people who believe in a common cause and unites them with a common vision to achieve goal congruence for the organisation. 5.2 Styles of Communication 5.2.1 Downward and Upward Communication Leaders would engage in top-down communication to disseminate information/goals, inform job procedures and highlight problems (Robbins Judge, 2008). Gilley et al. (2009) argued that in times of change, leaders must provide employees with abundant and value-added information with regards to change. Leaders must give justifications for rationale for change and also address employees concerns. Well-developed rationalizations are more likely to be accepted as employees acceptance and participation depend on their perception of personal benefits associated with the change. Hence, proper explanation and feedback is important for leaders to work on in areas of change to increase employees acceptance. Upward communication is used by employees to provide feedback, inform progress and issues towards goals to leaders. It is important for leaders to know about how employees feel and to allow for opportunities for growth and improvement. Upward communication has its limitation whereby leaders are overwhelmed and distracted. Employees morale would be affected as it would be time-consuming and demoralizing if it is difficult to get their leaders attention (Robbins Judge, 2008). Hayes (2007) exclaims that without proper upward/downward communication, it will lead to organisational silence which is a major barrier to change. One illustration within the cited organisation Due to Indonesias culture, leaders like to be respected and will disregard negative feedback from subordinates as a form of attack on their credibility. A culture might be cultivated whereby employees might be afraid to voice out the truth to their leaders. It is a double-edged sword when employees do not highlight issues to leaders and leaders will find it tough to get employees to accept change. In times of change, leaders must acquire a diverse set of effective communication techniques to convince employees to embrace a new breakthrough (Robbins Judge, 2008). In contrast, leadership ambivalence reduces acceptance to change and increases resistance. Communications should be regular, motivating and yet achievable. Unfulfilled vision will weaken leadership credibility leading to employees feeling a sense of injustice. Gilley et al. (2009) explain that employees whom experienced unjust treatment would be resentful towards their superiors, thus destroying commitment. Being honest and fair when things go wrong enables employees to accept an undesirable outcome. Therefore, there is a need for realistic and truthful communication that includes communicating negative aspects of change implementations when necessary. 5.2.2 Communication Strategy In every change process, communication plays a big part for leaders to ensure a smooth transition. There are five basic communication strategies (Hayes, 2007): Spray and Pray Showing all the information and hope others can understand and share the vision. The effectiveness is low as it depends on employees perspective of what is important. One major drawback is that the employees would be overloaded, thus increasing resistance. Tell and Sell Leaders would only communicate the core issues that relate to the change and pushes the idea for acceptance. This strategy is a one-way-communication process without any channels for meaningful feedbacks to express concern. Employees will tend to feel uncommitted as little input is required from them. Underscore and explore Similar to the Tell and Sell, but the sender listens to the receivers feedback to prevent misunderstanding. This is a very effective communication method as leaders would listens to employees concern to clear embedded doubts/queries. Identify and reply This is a reactive approach as leaders will listen and respond to the employees concerns which would guide employees out of complexity. One short-coming is that employees might not be aware of the critical issues currently hence, it might be time-consuming. Withhold and uphold Most of the information are withheld and employees are unaware of the real situation. Leaders who adopt this strategy are power-oriented and think that employees are not capable enough to handle core issues. This strategy will lead to dissatisfaction and mistrust amongst employees. Communication can be an effective tool in shaping organisational cultural value in motivating employees, providing feedback and reinforcement during the change. This would foster an environment with better decision making process to deal with obstacles (Gilley et al., 2009). 5.3 Findings: Implication towards Effective Communication Base on the interview findings (Appendix C), the organisation adopts the Withhold and uphold strategy to deal with the downsizing exercise. As leaders in head office are power-oriented due to Indonesias culture, they make decisions without consultation with regional office. Subordinates are expected to carry out requests of the retrenchment in exacting detail. As there are no justifications for the change and unable to express concern, employees are feeling resentful and thus causing the high turnover. There is also lack of proper downward/upward communication between the two offices. It leads to the improper sharing of information which results in inefficiency. One recent incident that happened that illustrates this effectively. The Head office had instructed the dealers to return an outstanding consignment of laptops and they had made arrangements to ship it back to Indonesia. However, this message was not communicated to the regional sales executive. She was unaware of this agreed communication, continued to send e-mails, reminding the dealers about the outstanding consignment. Such miscommunications inevitably tarnish the organisations reputation as the dealer was very unhappy and spread this among other dealers. She was made responsible for this miscommunication and feedbacks by her were rebuked. As remaining colleagues felt unjust for the sales executive, the miscommunication drove conflict between head office further and aggravated the misunderstandings and hostilities. In t he long run, with only top down communication and no feedback, it will lead to organisational silent with disastrous consequences. As the main problem lies with the internal communication of the organisation, leaders needs to resolve the problem by setting up basic structures to promote effective communications. For the head office to improve relationships with employees, internal communications must consist of the personal touch. Electronic communications cannot be a substitute for personal interactions. Going forward after the retrenchment, leaders should convey messages personally to their employees as this allow opportunities to clarify complex or sensitive issues. Leaders must foster an open environment, using underscore and explore strategy which allows feedback as communication is a two-way street in any change process. Leaders must have an open-mind to be more receptive to new ideas from employees. Regional manager should hold weekly meetings within departments to gather information and feedbacks. It would help employees to understand and follow up with the outstanding issues and for the managers to establish their authority. Constructive feedback from employees would help to identify problems which help the organisation to improve. By keeping employees informed and involved with the implementation of change programs; it would help increase the commitment levels and increase productivity. 6.0 STYLES OF LEADERSHIP 6.1 Leadership Role in Change Process The organisational structure emphasizes on top-down hierarchy authority and major decisions are made by the head office. The top-down leadership approach and strictly-defined job scopes reduces the employees into becoming merely cogs of the machines, where they would merely perform the bare minimum within their stated job scopes, with minimal dedication to what they do. As such, everyone will only specialize in what they are doing, without a clear picture of the main business objectives, which impedes innovation and quality improvements. Weak leadership is also shown by the surprise retrenchment exercise, which caught many employees in the regional office off-guard. Without proper leadership to establish/lead new direction after the retrenchment, it eventually might be a possible factor that would lead to the downfall to the organisation. Kotter (Senior Fleming, 2006) emphasise that in all change process, effective leadership is needed to establish direction (develop vision/strategy), align members (communication to gain cooperation/acceptance), motivate and inspire (leading members to overcome various barriers) and overcoming change. 6.2 Transactional Leadership Robbins Judge (2008) indicated that transactional leadership would ultimately influence employees into the direction of achieving pre-established organisational goals by being task-oriented. Transactional leaders aim to maintain the status quos by making use of contingent and monetary rewards for effort and good performances. They would state their expectations; establish rules and procedures, and emphasize a fair deal with their employees. When work is allocated to employees, the leaders would expect them to take full responsibility. If the tasks are not performed to expectations, employees would be held liable. Hence, it is important for leaders to engage in open forms of communication to bring about mutual trust between employees and themselves. Contributions should be acknowledged and rewarded by the leaders towards their employees according to the industry standards, so as to bring about job satisfaction. However, Hoogh et al. (2005) argued that stringent goals, rules and procedures due to transactional leadership would only promote stable work environment with high degrees of structures. It results in employees having little ambiguity in pursing the goals. The lack of ambiguity would help ensure fairness and set straightforward guidelines. Moreover, with stability, it would not promote inducements or opportunities for change. Employees would not be motivated to perform beyond expectations. They would not be flexible and innovative enough to response quickly and effectively to environmental change; it would be difficult for the transactional leaders to bring about change. 6.3 Transformational Leadership Kotter (Senior Fleming, 2006) Robbins Judge (2008) agree that transformation leaders goes beyond transactional leadership by inspiring members to achieve goals, paying attention to their needs and encouraging new breakthrough in goal attainments. They will make use of charisma (providing vision, direction and gaining trust), inspiration (using communication/symbols to get things done), intellectual stimulation (promoting participation and problem solving) and individualized consideration (treating individual members equally/individually) to handle change. Transformation leaders will encourage followers to be more innovative and creative to increase efficiency. Hence, Followers would push beyond boundaries to pursue ambitious goals/vision of organisation, be more committed and will pursue it with due importance. Transformation leadership is able to induce higher levels of motivation and satisfaction leading to higher performance. There will also be lower turnover, higher productivi ty and lower stress levels. Transformational leadership is critical in helping mangers to identify change, which would in turn aid them with leading and managing change by ensuring effective communications and encouraging acceptance. Transformational leadership will ensure vital planning and design assumptions to allow leaders to recognise change by paying attention to the external environment, financial resources, and company staffing. In addition, it ensures proper management of formal and informal relationships between members to increase change momentum and improve managerial change interventions. Finally, it helps to overcome employees resistances when the organisation is disturbed by initiatives to change (Karp Helgo, 2009). 6.4 Leaders Checklist for Leading Change Every leader can adopt a process perspective on change management on top of the above-mentioned leadership approaches by adopting a checklist to control the change process and ensure smooth transitions (Kotter, 1999). Establishing Sense of Urgency Leaders must alert employees to need for change by creating a sense of urgency. They should begin examining the organisations external environment and communicate these findings to induce aggressive cooperation of employees and motivate them to change. Forming Powerful Coalition Leaders should form a competent strong team with expertise and have sense of urgency to kick start the change process. Leaders must lead the team to assess the problems, identify opportunities and change the mind of oppositions. Creating Vision The coalition team would need to create a shared vision to clarify the possible attainable directions, thus providing a guideline about organisations future to the employees. It must be flexible to encourage involvement and develop strategies to deal with the change. Leaders must allocate ample time to develop the shared vision so that it would be ingrained as a strong set of shared values. Communicating the Vision Leaders should communicate the vision as it would establish the direction, commitment and learning within the organisation towards the structural changes. They must use every method to communicate the new vision and strategies to ensure that employees understand and make short-term personal sacrifices in order to help the organisation achieve its goals. Empowering Others to Act on Vision through Leadership Good leadership skills are needed to lead transformational change and raise demands that are consistent with overall change effort. Leaders must remove obstacles and encourage risk taking to generate more creative actions to support the vision. Leaders must make use of compensation to encourage employees acceptances of new vision. Planning and Creating Short Term Wins Leaders should plan, and create visible performance improvements and reward employees involved in the change improvements. As changes cannot take place overnight, it should be implemented in phrases, allowing time for maturity. The short-term goals in phases would act as a source of motivation in continual efforts for change. Consolidating Improvements and Producing More Changes Leaders should capitalize on early wins but should not declare victory too early should there be any possible amendments to the winning efforts; and use that as further motivation for continued and subsequent changes. Next, leaders should use increased creditability due to short term improvements to overcome the current structures that are not in alignment with the vision. Institutionalizing New Approaches Leaders need to ensure that change is consolidated by showing employees how change has produced optimal performance. Every opportunity should be taken to demonstrate the benefit Cervical Cancer: An Action Plan Cervical Cancer: An Action Plan INTRODUCTION Cervical Cancer also recognized by ‘cancer of the cervix’ occurs from the tissue of the cervix. The cervix is a component of the female reproductive system, which also encompasses the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, vagina and vulva (Australian Government-Cancer Australia, 2014). The cervix is the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina. It is sometimes called the neck of the uterus. Cervical Cancer affects the cells of the lower part of the uterus that joins the inner end of the vagina also known as the uterine cervix (Cancer Council Victoria, 2014). In Victoria 179 women were diagnosed in 2010 with cervical cancer (Department of Health 2014). This is considered to be the twelfth most common cancer in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra, 2013) and has a much greater impact on indigenous women than non-indigenous complements. An indication of evidence shows that 59% of the women population died from this disease. According to Vic toria Health, 85% of women developed cervical cancer and either never had conducted a Pap smear test or failed to follow the recommended two yearly screening programs therefore leaded to a lack of participation in cervical screening which is one of the main risk factors for cervical cancer and is common against Indigenous women. Due to the inadequate time frame and the availability of health services such as the Bunurong Health service, Dandenong and District Aborigines Co-operative Limited to contribute in the project, the Indigenous population in the City of Greater Dandenong is the focus of this assignment. The objective of this is to reduce the occurrence of cervical cancer rates among Indigenous women in the City of Greater Dandenong over a three year plan. The strategies conversed in the project involvement plan by engaging the broader participation of indigenous people and their culture imparting a holistic approach to addressing this specific issue. Intensifying cultural awa reness and cultural safety is also a significant component. This realization plan will focus mainly on two detailed strategies: to familiarize and educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the City of Greater Dandenong by 50% informing about the new and easy technology use for cervical screening to reduce the pain and discomfort by 2015-2017. Another significant strategy is to ensure that the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women diagnosed with cervical cancer are met physically, culturally, spiritually and medically within the timeframe of three years 2015-2017. This curriculum will provide two-yearly Pap tests to women aged 18-69 for the early detection of cervical cancer. This implementation plan will initially present an action plan and next it will discuss about methods that have been used to encourage sustainability. Then methods of communication, which will be developed to connect stakeholders involved in the assignment, will be conversed along wit h the supply of resources. ACTION PLAN STRATEGY 1:To familiarize and educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the City of Greater Dandenong by 50% informing about the new and easy technology use for cervical screening to reduce the pain and discomfort by 2015-2017. STRATEGY 2: To ensure that the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women diagnosed with cervical cancer are met physically, culturally, spiritually and medically within the timeframe of three years 2015-2017. SUSTAINABLITY Attention to the sustainability in a community based cervical cancer; controlled program over a 3 year period must have extensive experience in planning implementing and evaluating a program which engage the indigenous aboriginal women, to educate women in City of Greater Dandenong. To sustain the program of prevention of cervical cancer, various steps must be put in place to maintain that the sustainability in the implementation scheme (Shediac-Rizkallah Bone, 1998, p.87-108). For instance, an entire program may be continued under its original or an alternative organizational structure, parts of the program be institutionalized as individual components, or there may be a transfer of the whole or parts to the community ownership (Shediac-Rizkallah Bone, 1998, p.87-108). In 2013 an study conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare identified the main changed that would be needed to occur and which stakeholders would be likely to be impacted. Projects with training (p rofessional and paraprofessional components are more likely to be sustained than those without: those trained can continue to provide benefits, train others and form a constituency in support of the program. As strategy 1 states that it is aimed to familiarize and educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the City of Greater Dandenong by 50% informing about the new and easy technology use for cervical screening to reduce the pain and discomfort. Therefore; by having general community and professional monthly and or yearly meetings and follow ups will help the project be sustained for a longer period of time and this will be evident with the use of data towards the participation of Pap screening tests for the population of Indigenous women. The results of this data in future within the 3 year time frame will help to detect whether more education and support implants are needed to be put in place culturally, physically and mentally or whether the results show an increase towards the population of Pap screening tests for cervical cancer in Indigenous women specifically. Topromote ongoing skills, development in health promotion and training/education, by allocating half a day to train the leadership skills and furthermore; being qualified to maintain their relationship with the Indigenous women for better health. It is important to train the trainers to help health services and programs to be sustained, patient-centered care, self-management support and behaviour change within their organisations therefore will be structured to be continued for the management and progress (Practice change requires staff skills development and systems implementation planning, 2013). For that reason, where the team will identify a reliable person who will be appropriate for the subject of leadership in future and have a greater understanding of the vision and management skills about health project towards the Aboriginal culture. Managing the culturally supportive environment for the Indigenous women will encourage the team to promote and achieve the sustainability and health promotion goals. COMMUNICATION To build a therapeutic relationship among indigenous women is quintessential; Health workers must gain trust and build rapport and considering their cultural background. There are various stakeholders one needs to consider while promoting health. For instance; while developing and delivering Aboriginal specific cervical screening health promotion training to health professionals, health promotion workers, aboriginal health workers and others who are working within the project. However; to establish organizational supports, such as local advisory committees, and in order for the project to develop effective relationships, within the Indigenous women committee (Gruen et al., 2008, p, 1579-89). One of the key strategies to achieve in this project is to train local clinicians to provide education and awareness about Pap screenings and cervical cancer to Aboriginal women in a form of considering their cultural background. Public is the first and prime stakeholders as the implementation of health promotion plan deals within the public domain (Hetzel, Glover, Gruszin. 2012). Apart from public, local councils and local councilors, Australian Health department and party workers were in the middle stakeholders (Gruen et al., 2008, p, 1579-89). Medical expert’s dealing in the treatment and research institute where diseases are the first lane resources, therefore; is vital to be included in any plan in prevention for cervical cancer (Anne F.Rositch, Michelle I. Silver, Patti E. Gravitt, 2014). CONCLUSION In conclusion, cultural barriers prevent Aboriginal women from seeking for their sexual and reproductive health and creative strategies are needed to encourage Aboriginal women to attend for Pap screens. For example: Information needs to be presented to the community in a format and language that is understandable to the target population. Services need to be provided in a safe and confidential environment and services need to be available on a â€Å"walk up basis† to avoid the need for appointments which can lead to a fear of loss of privacy and confidentiality. Due to cultural impediments, past research has proven that the establishment of women’s advisory committee was/is a strong scheme as a strategy to facilitate the promotion of the project within the community by engaging respect within the community and the women who are involved in the project so they could promote to the targeted group. In order to continue the momentum started by the project, community awareness of the need for cervical screening, needs to be maintained and raised contained by the Aboriginal women. This will require ongoing consultation with the community and ongoing health promotion activity which has been mentioned above. Ongoing involvement and collaboration with other community stakeholders such as Bunurong Health Services, Local Government – Victoria, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, Cancer Council- Victoria, Royal Women’s Hospital Aboriginal Advisory Unit, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and City of Greater Dandenong are also seen as dominant too long term success in increasing awareness and promotion of cervical screening in the City of Greater Dandenong among Aboriginal and Indigenous women.

Challenges Facing 5 Star Hotel Businesses Essay

The hotel industry contributes significantly to revenue generation through customs, license fees, value added tax, landing fees, and exercise duty. The revenue generated plays a significant role in the overall development of resident economy as well as the global economy. The hotel industry, under the umbrella of tourism and hospitality, has faced numerous challenges that have led to a stagnated growth. Most 5-star hotel businesses across the globe often shift their operation to restaurants that have potentially limited their growth. Most hoteliers have mentioned short comes in demand and supply that are not in sync. Likewise, the market for five-star hotels is growing at a slower rate that demands operational efficiencies to have a bigger share of the pie. As such, this paper discusses the challenges experienced by five-star hotels in this century based on current research validations. Description of a 5-Star Hotel and Rationale for the Choice The term five-star hotel is most often associated with ultimate luxury and by implication, expense. Five-star hotel groups are committed to displaying conduct through their behavior and actions. Hotels promote corporate citizenship through their strategic private-public partnerships. The significance of hotels is to reduce malnutrition, enhancing employment, promoting indigenous craftsmen and artisans. Five-star hotels present a unique scope and opportunity that enables the development of raw potential individuals to a skilled workforce, which according to Chandana, are immediately employable by the key players in the hotel sector (Chandana, 2013) Likewise, five-star hotels drive myriad community projects that emphasize on food production, housekeeping, kitchen management, spas, and customer service to promote economic empowerment for candidates from vulnerable social and economic backgrounds. The rationale for choosing the hotel sector is due to their capability and previous good re cord in global economic performance. However, the challenges facing the hotel sector are numerous and solutions are readily available. Likewise, the commitment of the hotel sector in economic development, creation of employment, food security campaigns, and environmental sustainability is significant for developing careers in the sector.Shortage of Qualified Employees According to a study conducted on the Romanian 5-star hotels, approximately 40 percent of the 5-star hotels are facing the shortage of qualified employees. Besides, Haidment (2007) predicts that within the next ten years, employee shortage in terms of talent in a five-star hotel would increase by 15 percent. As such, five-star hotels around the globe, according to him, will face challenging times from the human resource point of view. However, the problem is not the presence qualified and talented candidates to work for these hotels; rather it is the inability of these hotels to attract talented and qualified candidates for the hotel industry (Haidment, 2007). The deficit mainly refers to the specialized positions such as receptionist, cooks, pastry cooks, chambermaids, and waiters. The study further reveals that the number of vacancies in five-star hotels is continually increasing with 11, 000 jobs announced annually, according to data forecast by World Travel and Tourism Council (2 007). The causes of labor shortage in five-star hotels, Haidment (2007) explains, begin with the shrinking of the population due to emigration. Besides, the lack of national integration plan to and action plan to support the development of human capital in the hotel industry, 5-star hotels, in particular, partially explains the deficit of employees in 5 star hotels. Look more:Â  the basic economic problem essay Insufficient Employee Training and Development The current market for 5-star hotels is highly competitive and requires skillful workforce to remain successful in the competitive hotel sector game. Boella and Goss-Turner, (2005) indicates that one of the major obstacles that affect the workplace of 5-star hotels is the lack of employee training and development. According to him, employee training is an essential process that should be designed and implemented continually in any 5-star hotel as well as other firms. The significance of human resource department is to improve the attractiveness of the organization by providing the employees with skills, knowledge and attitudes that in turn improves their current job performance (Boella & Goss-Turner, 2005). However, five-star hotels have experienced limited development activities that have reduced the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for the purposes of employee career and personal growth. The current economic downturn has hit five star hotels with appalling impacts everywhere especially Europe and U.S. Thus, the productivity of the employees in the sector, according to Boella et al. (2005), has reduced in double digits further challenging the organizations in meeting their establishment goals. Insecurity Terrorism is a global problem affecting both the developed and developing countries. According to Chandana, (2013) terror groups that exist in many nations have led to a sharp economic downturn. In particular, the hotel industry is a sector that provides revenue for the government and employment to numerous people globally. However, the acts of terrorism have led to the closure of some 5-star hotels and numerous people rendered jobless. Chandana, (2013) notes that most five-star hotels, especially, in developing countries relies on visitors from abroad touring the nation. However, the threat due to terrorist and bandits in these countries has led to decrease in traveling and tourism activities. For instance, the recent terrorist activities and attacks by bandits in Kenya and Nigeria have seen some countries such as U.S warning their citizens to visit these countries at their own risk. Yet, these countries have five-star hotels that heavily bank on of foreign visitors that seek the se rvices of their facilities considered expensive for most of their citizens. Therefore, terrorist activities and bandit attacks, according to Lockyer (2007), provides a significant challenge to five-star hotels and the tourism sector at large. Also, bandits that reside within the countries have discouraged domestic tourism with the few potential visitors of 5-star hotels avoiding such places. Lockyer, (2007) further highlights that 5-star hotels attract terrorist activities as some of the agendas derived by the terrorists aim at seeking audience of the high class. Thus, the terrorists keep on storming 5-star hotels and kidnapping and killing people. In a nutshell, the resultant victim in this tussle is the five-star hotel investors that experience severe losses leading to closure in extreme scenarios. Competition Fierce competition among the 5-star hotels has recently underscored by the increased opening of more hotels across the globe. Currently, luxury hotels are build up to 180-story with numerous rooms and reduced charges. The cut-throat competition among the hoteliers has led to the withdrawal of some hotels and mergers. Lockyer, (2007) writes that hotels have experienced mergers and acquisitions to achieve competitive advantage in the market. Due to the decrease revenues, merger and acquisition among hotels are the key marketing strategy of sustaining a competitive market. As such, numerous hotels are forced into mergers and acquisition, thus shutting their individual objectives. Conclusion Five-star hotels around the world have documented numerous challenges over the past, according to research. The main challenges facing five-star hotels are competition, insecurity, and lack of competent employees. However, in order for five star hotels to survive the management must set most efficient strategic goals, identify the needs for implementing the goals, train employees and equip them with skills and knowledge required for job performance. Likewise, employee motivation to improve their skills is essential for curbing some challenges facing the hotel industry. References Boella, M. & Goss-Turner, S. (2005), Human Resources Management in the Hospitality Industry, London: Elsevier Chandana, C. J. (January 01, 2013). The Canadian hotel industry: innovative solutions to secure the industry’s future. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 5, 2, 219-230. Haidment, F. (2007), Human Resources 2006-2007 – Annual Editions, London: Then McGraw – Hill Companies Lockyer, T. L. G. (2007). The international hotel industry: Sustainable management. New York: Haworth Hospitality & Tourism Press World Travel and Tourism Council (2007), Romania – Travel &Tourism Navigating the Path Ahead Source document

Abortion Is a Form of Murder

Each year, two out of every one hundred women aged fifteen to forty-four have an abortion, 48 % of them have had at least one previous abortion and 61% percent have had a previous birth. This means that these women understand the joy of a baby being born, and still choose to take away their privilege to live. They’ve carried these children before and know the happiness of seeing their own healthy child in their arms for the first time. Why then, when they know they are creating a new life inside of them, do they choose to deprive their child the right to live and experience everything life has to offer? They willingly decide to kill that child and decide to have an abortion. Hence, abortion should be illegal because one is committing an inhumane act by killing an innocent child inside the mother’s womb. The reasons included are abortion is a form of murder, causes many psychological issues, other means of contraceptives are available, legal view against abortion, is very costly, and abortion can cause medical complications. â€Å"Abortion is a form of murder and demeans the value of human life. When a mother is carrying a child, she does not say â€Å"oh, the fetus kicked† or â€Å"oh, the mass of cells that hasn’t become a person kicked†, the mother says â€Å"the baby kicked† (Balanced Politics). After contraception the baby is considered alive and a human. According to â€Å"The Official Senate report on Senate Bill 158†, the â€Å"Human Life Bill†, says that conception marks the beginning of the human life of a human being- a being that is alive and a member of the human species. The life of the baby begins right away; one cannot take that away and kill the baby. Everything that determines the individuality and originality of a person is established at conception. The first single cell contains the entire genetic blueprint of the human being. Abortion ends the innocent life of a baby. From conception, the new human conceived deserves the full protection of the law just as any other person does. Abortion causes many psychological issues not only to the mother, but also to the family. Many women who have an abortion in their younger years end up living the rest of their lives in permanent guilt. Even if the mother is fine with aborting the child, the father may not be. The father might want to keep the baby, but he thinks he has no legal alternative if the mother chooses abortion. Why should he suffer for the decision the mother makes? Abortion causes damage to everyone. In a study of post-abortion patients only 8 weeks after their abortion, researchers found that 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor. Since many post-aborted women use repression as a coping mechanism, there may be a long period of denial before a woman seeks psychiatric care (Major Psychological Sequelae of Abortion). These repressed feelings may cause illnesses and psychiatric or behavioral issues in other areas of the mother’s life. As a result, some counselors report that unacknowledged post-abortion distress is the main factor in many of their female patients, even though their patients have come to them seeking therapy for seemingly unrelated problems. Also, women may experience abortion as a traumatic event. Many are forced into unwanted abortions by husbands, boyfriends, parents, or others. If the woman has repeatedly been a victim of domineering abuse, such an unwanted abortion may be perceived as the ultimate violation in a life characterized by abuse. Other women, no matter how compelling the reasons they have for seeking an abortion, may still perceive the termination of their pregnancy as the violent killing of their own child. The fear, anxiety, pain, and guilt associated with abortion all cause damage to the motherand anyone who is associated with the baby being aborted (Major Psychological Sequelae of Abortion). Women have the right to treat their bodies however they want, but there are other means of birth control that are much more suitable; abortion should be a last resort option and even then only if it is absolutely necessary. If a woman does not want to become pregnant, she should avoid this with some sort of contraception or abstinence. There are many ways that a woman can prevent pregnancy, the most common of which being a birth control pill that generally must be taken once a day. If a woman accidentally becomes pregnant she can choose to put the child up for adoption, take the morning after pill, which is generally a stronger dose of a birth control pill, or use a copper intrauterine device, which must be inserted within five days of conception in order to work properly. If they find out too late to use either the morning after pill or to use a CID, they should make the right choice and put the child up for adoption. A big mistake that most people think is that the morning after pill is the same thing has having an abortion because you are killing the baby, but the pill kills the sperm before it conceives the egg and is not actually killing the baby. About 1. 5 million American families want to adopt children, and women have up to nine months to decide where and who they want to raise their child. It is a win-win situation for the mother because she does not have to kill her baby if she does not want the child; instead she is doing a good thing by giving up the child for adoption. Rape and incest victims should take the morning after pill to prevent a pregnancy if they do not want it to occur, or put the child up for adoption. It is understandable for the mother to not want to go through with the birth because she wants to forget about the incident, but it is a much better alternative to abortion and a much safer one. The only situation where abortion is understandable is when the mother is in danger of dying because of giving birth to the baby. This happens in ectopic pregnancies, where the fetus begins developing outside of the womb. In this situation the mother can resort to abortion, because her life is in danger. The baby has a zero change of living also (Balanced Politics). There are many legal arguments that support not having an abortion. A good example of a case is of Roe v. Wade, which allows abortion seven months into pregnancy. It violates the standard of legal reasoning. The Supreme Court made a decision on not to decide when life began. It overturned state laws that protected the unborn and has resulted in over 30 million abortions (roughly the population of Canada) in the United States. The Supreme Court clearly stated that it does not know when life begins and then violated the very spirit of this legal principle by acting as if it just proved that no life existed in the womb. A crucial role of government is to protect life. Government cannot remove a segment of the human population from its protection without adequate justification. For example,† A hunter who hears rustling in the bushes shouldn't fire until he knows what is in the bushes. Likewise, a Court which doesn't know when life begins should not declare open season on the unborn. † (Arguments Against Abortion). Abortion is extremely expensive and tax money should not support this horrible act. The First trimester procedures run about $500-1000. Second trimester procedures cost $600-10,000. People have the right to see where their tax money is going. Abortion is a medical procedure that must be performed by a doctor. The government contributes to many health care institutions such as Healthcare for the Homeless, Planned Parenthood, free clinics, etc. Planned Parenthood, through promoting abortion, has killed far more people than the Third Reich did. It is the most efficient mass-murder machine ever devised, and is funded by our federal tax dollars. It may not use our tax money to abort babies but our taxes buy and maintain the office, hire the personnel, and pay for the counseling that leads to the abortion. Everyone who pays taxes has the right to prevent their money from going to these institutions that commit murder by killing an innocent child (Abortion And Your Taxes). Abortion also causes various medical complications to the mother. Some complications include blocked fallopian tubes, weakened cervix, uterine scarring, and damage to the mother’s reproductive system, which may make her unable to conceive in the future. Women may also face the increase in the probability of tubal babies, hysterectomies, miscarriages, still births, and premature deaths. Abortion increases the chance of breast, uterine, and cervical cancer. â€Å"During a women’s pregnancy a surge of hormone, estrogen, causes the breast cells to divide, become more mature and secrete milk† (Anti-Abortion Arguments). During this process of cell division they are more susceptible to cancer causing agents. If the woman has an abortion, the natural process is interrupted and her breast cells will remain immature. Also, not all abortions are 100% hygienically clean, which may create a leeway for hundreds of types of infections for the mother. For example, if the mother cannot afford a proper abortion, and has an abortion in a dangerous location or environment it can be harmful because the proper tools are not being used and they might not be properly sanitized (Anti-Abortion Arguments). In conclusion, abortion should be illegal due to the specific reasons mentioned in the above paragraphs. Abortion is a very harmful process which could in the end harm not only the mother, but the father too. Killing a human is never what someone should decide on doing; instead they should consider giving the baby up for adoption. The mother carrying the child should realize that there are a lot of other options available for her and she does not have to kill a human if she does not want the baby. If a woman has been raped, she should take the morning after pill and it will help her have a less of a chance of being pregnant. In the end the guilt of killing a human will never leave the mother. Why live with that guilt feeling when one knows there are many other options out there instead of killing an innocent baby?

Social Construction of Technology Cell Phone Development

The Social Construction of Technology (or SCOT) is a new research tradition rooted in the sociology of technology. SCOT provides a multi-directional model based on the property of interpretative flexibility, and emphasizes on social influences on the technology design and development. This paper will apply SCOT principles to explore the development of cell phone, define the development of cell phone into three different stages historically, and analyze the interpretative flexibility of the cell phone accordingly in the three different stages. Based on SCOT theory, this paper will discuss how the original huge cell phones are shaped and developed by social influences to the smartphones in today’s life. In 1983, Motorola released its first†¦show more content†¦They defined the newly raised industry. What they made, how they design, and to whom they sell their products made a fundamental influence on this young industry. The third social group was those who didn’t own a cell phone but were interested in having one. Despite the huge shape and the heavyweight, cell phones became the new crazy of that time when it was released to public. However the problem was, this group of people could not afford it, and even if they could afford the cell phones, it wouldn’t be necessary to buy if they hardly got the chance to use. According to SCOT, the cell phone can be interpreted in many ways according to different social groups. To solve the problems that each social groups had, the makers have made the cell phones cheaper, lighter, and smaller than before. According to the first profile of cell phone users generated in 1987, the majority group of users, who were at the age between 35 and 50, had income in excess of 35000 dollars in average, but the average mobile phone at the time only cost 1000 dollars, with portables reaching 2000 dollars. 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