Relationships and Interactions in Biology Essay - 1038 Words

Biology essay – Relationships and interactions There are many different types of relationships and interactions between organisms. Every organism is in some way connected or associated with another. Some organisms need to depend on other organisms to survive which shows how important some of these relationships or interactions can be in biology. Interaction is a vital part of how many organisms develop over time. Predation is a main example of a relationship between organisms. Predation involves predators and prey, such as a fox catching and eating a rabbit. There are two other forms of predation called, parasitism and grazing. Parasitism is where the host organism is exploited and used for benefit by the other organism called a†¦show more content†¦Lichens are another example of mutualism. Lichens are formed by algae and fungi living together and they both help each other. Algae can photosynthesise and make food, which is shared by the fungus. The fungus in turn shelters the algae from a harsh climate. Commensalism is when one species can benefit from a relationship and not hurt the other. There are four different main types; chemical, inquilinism, metabiosis and phoresy. Chemical commensalism is most often observed between bacteria. It involves the species of one bacteria feeding on the chemicals produced or the waste products of the other bacteria. Inquilinism involves one species using the body of another organism as a platform or living space while the host does not benefit or is harmed. Metabiosis occurs when one species unintentionally creates a home for another species through one of its normal life activities. A phoresy takes place when one organism attaches to another organism specifically for the purpose of gaining transportation. An example of commensalism (inquilinism) is barnacles and whales. Barnacles are non-moving and they rely on currents to bring them food. Some barnacles attach themselves to whales in order to help them live. They can benefit as they are then tra nsported over the ocean which exposes them to more feeding oppurtunities. The whale neither benefits or is harmed by the barnacles. Competition is a hugeShow MoreRelatedThe Body, Gender, And Sexuality964 Words   |  4 Pagesattempts to explain each of these characteristic constructs purely through biology. However, ignoring the social implications in various cultures takes away from the complex analysis these foundational human descriptors actually deserve. In the writings of R.W. Connell, Suzanne Kessler, S.E. Smith, Lisa Wade, Riki Wilchins, and Patricia Hill Collins, these authors incorporate sociological analyses to investigate the relationships among the body, gender, and sexuality in daily life. These authors attemptedRead MoreThe Child s Home And School Life1477 Words   |  6 Pagesto consider the different relationships in the child’s home and school life. 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In his work, On Human NatureRead MoreThe Machine Man By Max Barry1043 Words   |  5 PagesCapitalizing on Biology Machine Man by Max Barry demonstrates the perils of society’s compulsion to change the world with technological advancement despite the consequences and the disconnection it creates. Technology and biology are interconnected in today’s society. The world is obsessed and dependent on machines and devices to make one’s life more efficient and manageable. The science fiction genre often predicts what may happen in a world where technology is abused or becomes too formidable.Read MoreMachine Man By Max Barry1036 Words   |  5 PagesMachine Man by Max Barry demonstrates the perils of society’s compulsion to change the world with technological advancement despite the consequences and the disconnection it creates. Technology and biology are interconnected in today’s society. The world is obsessed and dependent on machines and devices to make one’s life more efficient and manageable. The science fiction genre often predicts what may happen in a wor ld where technology is abused or becomes too formidable. Machine Man explores thisRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Love And Sexuality1652 Words   |  7 PagesThe world as we know it is constantly changing and evolving. Changing with it are concepts that seem to have been around for ages, such as love and relationships. The inner mechanisms of our minds continue to grow as continue to we develop fields such as psychology and sociology. Relatively new fields such as these tie together society and science in a way that helps us understand ourselves and the communities in which we live. An important aspect of either field being love and the way humans interactRead MoreMarxism, Feminism And The Works Of Max Weber1584 Words   |  7 Pageshad divisions of class and therefore inequality as a result of capitalism. He believed that capitalism would always be antagonistic because one class could exploit another class instead of working in a cooperative way. Marx was concerned about relationships between individuals, predominately men, and their access to power; whether this was in the form of scarce resources such as fuel, food and jobs. Marx believed that separate individuals form a class only if they come together as a group in a common

Should High School Students Be Allowed Cell Phones School

Should High School Students Be Allowed to Bring Cell Phones to School? By Ronnie Phillips | Submitted On July 07, 2011 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook 1 Share this article on Twitter 1 Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest 1 Expert Author Ronnie Phillips Educating young people today is a full time job for all schools in American. Many of our students come to school not prepared to learn. They are in need of extra motivation to get them on the right track. Schools are taking on more and more challenges as they educate our children. The lack of positive support from parents is also at an all time high. To make matters worse, schools have no input on policies that directly affect their job. One of the policies that has a tremendous impact on education involves allowing students to bring cell phones to school. This article will attempt to explain how cell phones are a distraction to the educational environment. Our country is experiencing a breakdown in our K - 12 educational systems. The dropout rate is higher than ever before. When you compare our educational system with those of other countries, we are not in the top twenty. What has happened to our system? There are many reasons for our decline, but this article will deal with one. PoliticiansShow MoreRelatedCell Phones Should Be Allowed in School802 Words   |  4 Pagesanother. You discover that you do not have a cell phone or any device to contact your parents. There won’t be any chance that you and your parents could contact each other. What would you do? How would you feel? It seems to me that if cell phones were allowed in schools, students could contact their parents easier and people could stay in touch. Therefore, cell phones should be allowed to be used in schools. For one, cell phones could provide students with academic help. According to Apple, aboutRead MoreCell Phones And Its Effect On Our Human Interaction1204 Words   |  5 Pageslive off of cell phones, it is considered a necessity of life. By 2015, it is estimated that Americans will consume both traditional and digital media for over 1.7 trillion hours, an average of approximately 15 and a half hours per person per day (Short). Is it good or bad for schools to allow students to have cell phones? The latest Teens and Technology 2013 study, from Pew Research, found that 78 percent of teens aged 12 – 17 own a cell phone (Haselton). However, a Worcester School committee memberRead MoreImportance Of Cell Phones In School809 Words   |  4 Pagesin class with a cell phone going off? Nothing is worse than a phone interrupting you during class. Some schools try to prevent this. For example, at George Washington Middle School, students have to have their phones turned off and in th eir lockers. Although many people believe phones should be in schools for resources, phones shouldn’t be allowed because theyre distracting. they can hurt your education, and they can cause cyberbullying. Phones should not be allowed in school because they areRead MoreLimited Use of Cell Phones1453 Words   |  6 PagesArgumentative essay    Mobile cell phones should be limited in certain schools Mobile phones can be an issue in certain schools. Mobile phones should be banned in elementary and middle schools. However, phones during class in high school and college should be up to the teacher, whether or not to have them. As youths get older, they become more responsible on how they use their phones. Elementary  schools  shouldn’t  have  phones  period.  The  kids  shouldn’t  have  a  phone  that  young.  They  don’t  need  it  for  many  reasonsRead MoreCell Phones Should Not Be Banned910 Words   |  4 PagesCell Phones Should be Allowed in School Seventy eight percent of 12-17 years old have cell phones as of a survey taken in 2013. Cell phones have boomed and its time to let them shine. Cell phones becoming a major part of peoples life’s. Cell phones are welcomed every where this days. There allowed in restaurants and hospitals, but one place they are not welcome are schools. Cell phones should allowed in schools. Cell phones are used by around third of the population. With teenagers being a very bigRead MoreUse Of Cellphones On School Activities Essay1516 Words   |  7 Pagescellphones in school has brought up debates all over the world. While some believe they are an advantage, others believe that they are a hindrance to the learning process. Despite the fact that smartphones can be used for important school activity such as research and time- management, they are also one of the main sources of classroom distractions. As a current student, I can attest to the fact that students often play games or text friends instead of listening to what is being taught. Students often argueRead MoreImpact Of Technology On Our Daily Life1259 Words   |  6 Pagesonly for texting and calling. They are high-tech devices that can access the internet, emails, and social media. However, arguments on whether these functions are necessary for students in high school are beginning to surface. Despite the fact that phones can be utilized educationally and serve as a learning too, this same technology can also be utilized negatively at the wrong time. In agreement with many teachers, â€Å"a fair amount of teachers say cell phones have officially replaced chewing gum asRead MoreShould Cell Phones Be Banned?979 Words   |  4 PagesCellphones in class By: Easton Stackis Have you ever wanted to use cellphones in school? Cell phones have many benefits and positive uses that help students during school a lot. Although cell phones can be distracting they should be allowed in school in case of an emergency, to teach responsibility, and to help in school like homework and research. Cell phones are very helpful in emergencies. With cell phones, parents know if their children alright in an emergency. Which takes a lot of stressRead MoreSmart Phones And Class Rooms1464 Words   |  6 PagesSmart Phones in Class Rooms One of the worst massacre murders to ever occur in an American High School building was the 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High school in Littleton Colorado. There were 12 students and one teacher who lost their lives because of this incident. Some schools across the country made new policies to allow students to carry cell phones as a means to feel safe. After this incident however, there were schools that continue to ban them. Those schools that don’t allow cell phonesRead MoreCell Phones in School1140 Words   |  5 Pagesever heard of the gruesome Columbine High School massacre? This incident occurred on April 20th 1999 and involved two students embarking on a shooting rampage, killing twelve students, a teacher and wounding twenty three others. Unfortunately during this incident, the school s most easily accessible phone was on the complete other side of the school in the library. Perhaps some of these lives could have been saved if the students in this class had cel l phones that they could ve used to contact the

Major Abnormal Behavior Theories of Psychology Free Essays

Major Abnormal Behavior Theories of Psychology Luciano Lara PSY 303 William Ross, Ph. D. July 13, 2009 Major Abnormal Behavior Theories of Psychology Abnormal behavior has been witnessed by humans throughout the age of modern man. We will write a custom essay sample on Major Abnormal Behavior Theories of Psychology or any similar topic only for you Order Now From the pre-industrialized societies of the past that correlated abnormal behavior to evil spirits and supernatural and magical forces to be cast out by spiritual healers or magician with magical spells and holy ritualistic incantations, to the purveyors of modern day scientific medical and psychological treatments that include psychotherapy and genetically engineered medicines, human abnormal behavior has been scrutinized and reconstructed under countless theories of causation through the annals of history. Witches from the middle ages on were thought to cast evil spells or hexes on people that would cause them to act in unusual ways. Well into the age of The Renaissance, demonic possession was believed to be one of the chief causes of abnormal behavior that could only be cured through religious rituals known as exorcisms. Even with the prevalence of such ideas throughout much of the past, progress was made towards identifying where the causes of such abnormal behavior might originate. Examples of attempt to move away from the beliefs that abnormal behavior was a form of punishment delved out by the gods towards those who angered or offended them can be seen from some of the great thinkers of the ancient Greeks such as Hippocrates, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who rationalized that such behaviors could possibly occur from diseased brains. â€Å"Another general approach to the cause of abnormal behavior reflects what might be called the psychological perspective. According to this point of view, behavioral disturbances are caused by inadequacies in the way an individual thinks, feels, or perceives the world. According to the psychological perspective, people are at least potentially capable of examining their own thinking and modifying their behavior in light of that examination. † (Sarason amp; Sarason, 2005, p. 11). References Sarason, I. G. , amp; Sarason, B. R. (2005). Abnormal psychology: the problem of maladaptivebehavior (11th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. How to cite Major Abnormal Behavior Theories of Psychology, Papers

The Joys and Despairs of Playing Video Games free essay sample

Do you reach level 80 on World of Warcraft? Or do you beat all of New Super Mario Brother’s worlds in one day? Have you gotten bored of all of your video games that you need to reset all of them? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you might be addicted to video games. This might alarm you if it is true, but please stay calm. I’ll be honest with you. I play video games myself, but I don’t go overboard with it. Video games are fun, but just because you have them doesn’t mean you can neglect them. You still need to exercise. Playing video games too often can lead to some really bad side effects like increase of weight, hurting in the thumbs and hand joints. Carpel Tunnel Syndrome is common in everyday life, for instance if you text 2000 words a day, play video games for a long time, or just repeatedly use your hands. We will write a custom essay sample on The Joys and Despairs of Playing Video Games or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Don’t think that all the things about video games are bad. They help a lot with hand eye coordination, and they build up muscle in your hand. Except if you do it too much, then your fingers could begin to hurt. You may be thinking that you don’t play video games or you don’t have video games. Well, if you play board games then you are at risk for Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, because you are still moving your hands repeatedly. If you do get Carpel Tunnel Syndrome from playing too many video games, you can get a brace, get injections, or just stop doing the thing that aggravated it. â€Å"But there is a small chance of that happening, and I type on the computer all day and my fingers are still the same†, says Zachary Bruennig. Well, Zach, there is another thing that comes into play, and that is your age and youth. It doesn’t affect you until you get in your later 20’s. You might have video games and just play one out of 61 that you have. But if yo u play that one game all the time, then you might still be in the I have no life and an addiction to Mario Bros category. Addiction doesn’t have to happen with the games with a ton of violence or warfare in them. Addiction can be in any game that you like, and that you are really good at. This could be a sport game, action game, music game or any game in the world. There are a lot of themes like Mario and Luigi, Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman, Rock Band, or Guitar Hero. So video games are fun, but overusing them has costs. The meaning of this whole essay was not to point video gamers in the wrong direction, but just to tell teens and young adults to take a break every once in a while to rest your hands and try to not play them for 5 hours straight.

African Americans Unnoticed Essays - Identity Politics, Politics

African Americans Unnoticed For too many years, African Americans have lived without knowing the people who have influenced their way of life. We walk around without taking the time to appreciate the people that have allowed us to go to these black colleges and universities, or the African Americans that have dedicated life their to make life better for all mankind as well as blacks. Women as well men have gone out of their way to make life better for their future. We know that women have influenced life from the beginning of time whether the role of the women is a mother, wife, doctor, or educator. But women have not always been able to advance in society, as men have been able to. As a black women I am proud to hear of women such as Lucy Laney, who she dedicated her life to get funding for black Georgia schools. She believed that women are better teachers than men and that an educated Negro woman is what is needed to teach students of all ages. Annie Julia Cooper was an active participant in the women's organizations in the 1980s. She believed that higher education of the black woman was too rare and did what she could so that young women like me can attend college. Fannie Barrier Williams realized that racism was a major problem, but also realized that sexism was an even greater problem in equality. For, as she said, to be a colored woman is to be discredited, mistrusted and often meanly hated. Through times of strife and stress she worked, sometimes successfully, to eliminate discrimination against black women. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Stokely Carmicheal; these names when said are ones to which black people respond to, because all of these men improved social conditions for African Americans. All were part of large organized mass movement in black history. Each on of these men played a different part in influencing black America. Washington was skilled at politics. He was powerful and influential in both the black and white communities, Washington was a confidential advisor to presidents. DuBois was a public speaker who noted how America tactically sidestepped the issues of color, and how his approach of educate and agitate appeared to fall on deaf ears. Marcus Garvey drawing on a gift for oratory, he created Garveyism eventually evolved into a religion of success, inspiring millions of black people worldwide who sought relief from racism and colonialism. Malcolm X and Martin LUTHER King Jr. spoke for equal rights. With Marti n Luther King Jr.'s I Have A Dream speech, which inspired people all over the nation, and Malcolm X's autobigraphy The Autobiography of Malcolm X, people lives were changed significantly. Which in turn has affected my life. And Stokey Carmicheal who was one of the most charismatic figures of the Black Movement who populated the term Black Power. Book Reports

crusade essays

crusade essays The causes of the Crusades were many and complex, but prevailing religious beliefs were clearly of major importance. The Crusaders continued an older tradition of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which was often imposed as a penance; now, however, they assumed a dual role as pilgrims and warriors. Motives for crusading in addition to regaining the holy land was: to unite the catholic church, increase papal authority, reunite the western and eastern churches and put surplus knights to work. It is arguable that crusading diminished, rather than increased, the economic and cultural exchange between Western Europe and the Islamic world that might otherwise have taken place. For Byzantium, the impact of the crusading movement was disastrous. The crusades coincided with, and to some extent caused a decisive shift in the balance of economic and military power between western Europe and the Faltering Bzantine empire. Trade between Islam and the West continued despite periodic interruptions caused by crusader attacks on Syria, Eqypt and North Africa. Even though countless numbers of people died during the Christian Crusades, there were many positive effects for both the East and the West. After the Crusades halted, various trade routes opened up between Eastern and Western cities. Also, the Muslims developed new military strategies and techniques during the fights with the Europeans, and they united themselves against one cause, producing a stronger religious nation. These trade routes generated a beneficial contact between the cultures of East and West. From the Muslims these merchants bought spices, sugar, cloth and cotton. Other merchants from Sicily and Aragorn traded for Tunisian gold, and Algerian wool and animal skins. Popular goods traded from the Middle East were sugar, melons, cotton, ultramarine dye and damask cloth. Though most of the traded goods came from the Middle East, the combined efforts from both East and West brought ...

Jack Welch leadership principles Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jack Welch leadership principles - Assignment Example On the other hand, situation theory assets that leaders makes the best decision depending on the situation on the ground whereby, different leadership may be adopted in different situations. Contingency theory asserts that there is no one style of leadership can suit in all situations because different situation may call for different leadership styles (Cherry, 2013). Trait theory asserts that, to be a leader one should possess some special leadership qualities that can help to influence, inspire and motivate others towards meeting the goals and objectives of an organization (Wolinsiki, 2010). In addition, management theory asserts that a leader should be able to supervise and motivate team members by rewarding them accordingly for better performance. Human relation theory asserts that a leader should be able to inspire and motivate members to see the significance of better outcomes. In above connection, participation theory involves encouraging top, middle and lower level employees to participate in decision making process (Cherry, 2013). Therefore, to be efficient and effective, a leader should possess some special traits. This study will put forth the most recent professional roles that one should possess as a leader and principles considered as strength. The study will further explain the impact of this principle to a leader and how those pri nciples considered as strength relate to aspects of emotional intelligence. Additionally, the study will explain specific steps to be employed in order to boast strengths as well as improve areas of development as a leader. Most recent aspects of my professional leadership role and principles strength The most recent aspects of professional leadership include; formulating plans, acting as representative of the entire organization, integrating individual and organization goals, soliciting support, acting as a guide as well communication role. This means that a leader has a role making plans on what to be done in order to avoid confusion and ensure seamless operations within an organization (Cameron & Green, 2008). Additionally, a leader should formulate policies that act as a guide to his or her followers when implementing organization plans. This may help employees to have emotional preparedness on what they are expected to do. In above connection, a leader has a professional role o f representing departments and entire organization inside and outside the organization. For example, during leadership seminars a leader should represents the entire organization. Leaders should communicate the objectives and the needs of the entire organization to the employees and other corporate entities. As a leader one should play the role of integrating employees’ personal goals towards implementing organization goals. In above connection, a leader should play the role of soliciting employees in lower levels of management to participate in corporate decision making (Cameron & Green, 2008). Additionally, a leader has a role of communicating organization goals to all employees as well as ensuring there is proper flow of information within all relevant departments. In addition, a leader plays a professional role of practicing three main leadership traits namely: sharing employees feeling, listening to their opinions as well as providing them with a

Monetary Policy Wages, Markets and Income Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Monetary Policy Wages, Markets and Income - Essay Example As asserted by Woodruff, the real interest rate is defined as the interest rate minus the rate of inflation in the economy. Viewing it in another way, interest rate, specifically the nominal interest rate, is the real interest rate plus the inflation. The nominal interest rate is what is actually applied to my mortgage or loan application. With this, it becomes evident that an increase in inflation brings about an increase in interest rate. As such, should I perceive that inflation is relatively during a particular period, then I may defer my decision to apply for a loan or mortgage until inflation has been curbed as expected by economic agencies. This would generally lessen my cost of borrowing given the resulting lower interest rate. Relative to inflation, Woodruff also noted that leading inflation indicators should be watched. These key reports include those on unemployment rate, employment cost index (ECI), GDP, consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI). The employment reports of the Department of Labor are deemed as the "harbinger of inflation." This is because of the perceived inverse relation between inflation and unemployment rate, meaning with a lower unemployment rate-an uptick in inflation is expected.

Corporate Income Taxes - Client Letter Research Paper

Corporate Income Taxes - Client Letter - Research Paper Example Equity financing on the other is when a company issues shares of the company’s stock and receives money in return. Depending on the capital raised through equity, the company may relinquish about 25% to 75% of the business. The advantage of using debt to finance capital expenditure is that you will not give up control of your business. The lender who is usually a bank or lending institutions does not have any right to manage or oversee how things are run in the business. By simple means, your only obligation will be to repay the loan in regard to the agreed terms. Additionally, interest paid on the loan is tax deductible thus it could be savings in term of tax when the business is still small (Hovakimian, Opler, & Titman, 2001). There is some predictability with debt as the corporation knows exactly how much it owes. The disadvantage for this form of capital formation is that the money has to be paid within a fixed period regardless of the business success. Relying too much on debt may prove to be strenuous if the business cash flows do not balance. Potential investors may also run away as a huge debt is termed as a high risk. Loans are not just expensive, the lender might also ask for collateral which includes the business assets or personal guarantee which will put you on the hook in case the payment defaults. Equity financing on the other hand does not have to be repaid. The risks and liabilities of the company are shared between the ownership and the investors that come on board. Since no debt is being repaid, cash flows generated can be used to reinvest back into the company and promote further growth or may be to diversify to other areas of interest. Having a low debt equity ration is advantageous as it puts the company on a better position to acquire loans in future (Klein, O’Brien, & Peters, 2002). Equity investment may sound good but it also means that the corporation has to give up

Borderline personality disorder: Object relations perspective

Borderline personality disorder: Object relations perspective The term Borderline was coined by Stern in 1938 to describe a group of clients that exhibited primitive thinking and defense mechanisms, regressive transferences, destructive behaviors, and intense countertransference reactions (Berzoff, Flanagan, Hertz, 2008; Gunderson, 1984). Today, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a well known and recognized diagnosis; yet, it is still perceived to be a frustrating, perplexing, and complicated disorder for clients and clinicians to experience, understand, and treat (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984). Clients with BPD can present with a number of different characteristics and symptoms. However, clinicians and theorists have identified key symptomatology associated with the diagnosis of BPD. One of the most prevalent characteristics of BPD is the presence of intense and unstable interpersonal relationships (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). In this realm, individuals with BPD struggle to develop and maintain close an d intimate interpersonal relationships as a result of a terrifying fear of abandonment and lack of object constancy (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). Clients with BPD frequently experience ambivalence in relationships with a desire for attachment coupled with a simultaneous need for distance, and will frequently oscillate between compliant and self-destructive behaviors in interpersonal relationships (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). Clients with BPD are dependent on others to satisfy their needs of closeness and intimacy, and these individuals will often exhibit negative behavior in a desperate attempt to garner attention that ultimately results in the dissolution of relationships further perpetuating their fear of abandonment (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). Additionally, relationship boundaries are often permeable and diffuse resulting in issues associated with engulfment or detachment (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderso n, 1984; Millon, 1992). Individuals with BPD also frequently seek relationships with people that victimize or mistreat them, and reject healthy partners and relationships (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). Clients with BPD are also characterized by an unstable and fragmented sense of self (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). They frequently struggle with establishing a healthy sense of self-esteem, lack ambition, and experience difficulty in setting and attaining goals resulting in low achievement in various aspects of life (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). A number of ego functions are also impaired in individuals with BPD. Clients with BPD have difficulty regulating their affect and exhibit a range of intense and negative emotions including anger, hate, and bitterness (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). Individuals with BPD also tend to lack impulse control resulting in unpredictable, self-destructive, and ego dystonic behaviors including self-mutilation, sexual promiscuity, and substance abuse (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). Clients with BPD also utilize a number of primitive defenses including splittin g, projection, projective identification, denial, primitive idealization, and devaluation (Berzoff et al., 2008, p. 331). Lastly, individuals with BPD may occasionally suffer from psychotic episodes and dissociative experiences despite a relatively stable sense of reality testing (Berzoff et al., 2008; Gunderson, 1984; Millon, 1992). There are numerous theories regarding the etiology of BPD. However, this paper will focus on the significant contributions that object relation theorists William Fairbairn and Otto Kernberg have made regarding the etiology and treatment of BPD. Theoretical Perspectives (Object Relations) Fairbairn: Fairbairn made great contributions to understanding issues of dependency, the use of splitting, and the inexplicable desire to continuously seek out and attach to frustrating and rejecting objects commonly seen in clients with BPD (Celani, 1993). Fairbairns theory places an emphasis on attachment and ego development in accordance with object relations rather than traditional Freudian drive theory (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). Fairbairn posits that personality disorders develop in early childhood, and created a developmental model to explain how an infants interactions and relationships with objects in their early environment can influence dependency and future pathology (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). Developmental Model Fairbairns model consists of three stages of development: infantile dependence, transitional stage, and mature dependence (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). Of particular importance to the development of BPD is the transitional stage, which is aligned with Mahlers rapprochement stage, in which a child struggles with the conflict of wanting to separate from the mother while simultaneously desiring to remain connected to the mother (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). The transitional stage is critical in the developmental process as the mothers rejection of or ability to connect with the child and satisfy their needs will ultimately determine the quality of the object relationship and level of dependency a child has on the mother (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). Successful completion of this stage results in the ability of a child to integrate positive and negative aspects of the mother, view the mother as a whole rather than partial object that is separate from the child, and develop a hea lthy object relationship with the mother (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). Clients with BPD are unable to successfully complete this stage of development due to an inability to differentiate from the maternal object resulting in increased dependency (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). This pathology is later replayed in adult relationships when clients with BPD exhibit a desire to separate from a frustrating object coupled with a conflicting desire to stay connected to or dependent on the frustrating object (Celani, 1993; St. Clair, 2004). Dependency and Attachment Fairbairn described clients with BPD as suffering from severe splits in their ego resulting in a sense of omnipotence, a sense of detachment, and an excessive focus on the inner world (Celani, 1993, p. 6). Fairbairn believed that these personality deficits were a direct result of an unnurturing environment that forced a deprived and frustrated infant to split the mother into part objects in order to preserve the need satisfying aspect of the mother (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). According to Fairbairn, over time the rejected and frustrated child comes to view his mother as a bad object but is hopelessly attached to and dependent on her (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). Fairbairn developed the concept of stubborn attachment to explain why rejected children become increasingly attached to the frustrating object (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). According to Fairbairn, rejected children come to understand that their mothers do not love and value them result ing in feelings of deprivation and inferiority that lead children to become fixated and hopelessly dependent on their mothers as both frustrating and exciting bad objects (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). In essence, Fairbairn asserts that the more neglectful and depriving a mother is, the more a child will cling to the mother in an attempt to win her love and affection (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). This behavior is seen in clients with BPD who repeatedly attach to rejecting and frustrating bad objects continuously replaying the same futile attempt to win the love and nurturance they were deprived of in childhood (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). Fairbairn asserts that the lack of a nurturing and loving environment results in reactive hate in which the child feels they are innately bad and reflect this belief onto future relationships (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). This is evident in the behavior of clients with BPD who often respond to int eractions with objects in their environment with anger and hostility reflecting their own internal feelings of badness (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). The paradox of this behavior is that individuals with BPD are desperately seeking a loving and nurturing relationship, but their hostile and destructive behavior often results in further abandonment and abuse (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). The Moral Defense One of Fairbairns major contributions to the understanding of BPD was his proposal of the Moral Defense Against Bad Objects (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). The moral defense is a childs ego defense against the dilemma of being attached to and dependent on a frustrating object (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). This ego defense allows children to stay attached to a frustrating or rejecting object by repressing memories of abuse or abandonment and the rage associated with those memories, and developing a view that the child himself is the bad object and responsible for and deserving of the behavior of the parent (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). In essence, the child internalizes and represses the negative aspects of the frustrating object allowing the child to view the parent as a good rather than bad object (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). Unfortunately, the moral defense results in a child learning to introject bad objects and reject good object s which ultimately influences the development of BPD (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). Borderline adults continuously seek and return to the exciting aspect of bad objects while rejecting the good and nurturing objects they desperately need (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983). Endopsychic Structure Fairbairns endopsychic structural theory provides an explanation for this paradoxical behavior by focusing on the central role of the ego and the defense of splitting as a result of a childs inability to mask object failures (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). Fairbairn asserts that children must split off the negative aspects of the bad object and focus on the exciting aspects of the bad object in order to survive abuse and deprivation (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). Fairbairn postulates that the endopsychic structure is composed of a central ego and two subegos: the libidinal and antilibidinal egos (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). Each aspect of the ego associates with a different part of an object (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). The antilibidinal ego is home to the rejecting aspect of the bad object, and the libidinal ego houses the exciting aspect of the bad object which pro motes hope for future gratification (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). In the normal developmental process, the central ego connects with a good or ideal object and grows in response to a nurturing environment that contributes to stable ego functioning and a healthy sense of self (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). In a frustrating or rejecting environment a child internalizes the bad object, splits the object internally to reflect the satisfying and unsatisfying components, places these aspects respectively into the libidinal and antilibidinal egos, and aggressively represses these aspects of the ego (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). This ego split allows the child to view a bad object as both frustrating and exciting (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). The libidinal and antilibidinal egos dominate the world of an individual with BPD, and are constantly in conflict with one another (C elani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). This internal conflict explains the sudden shifts in mood that clients with BPD often experience as well as the continuous return to the exciting aspect of the bad object in interpersonal relationships (Celani, 1993; Greenberg Mitchell, 1983; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg: Kernberg created a theory underlying the development of BPD that integrates object relations theory with aspects of Freuds drive theory (Clarkin, Yeomans, Kernberg, 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg asserts that the mind consists of psychological structures (ego, superego, and id) that are formed by internalized object relationships in early development, particularly that of the relationship with the mother (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). This primary object relationship is correlated with the drives of libido and aggression, and lays the foundation for ego development and the establishment of a stable, integrated, and cohesive sense of self and objects in the environment (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg emphasizes the important role affect plays in object relationships, and asserts that affects result from both biological and environmental influences (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). According to Kernberg, BPD pathology results from innate o r genetic pregenital aggression and/or frustrating object relationship experiences in the developmental process (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg asserts that these feelings of intense aggression inhibit a child from integrating positive and negative self and object representations, and results in the use of primitive defense mechanisms to protect and dissociate the positive image of the self and the object from aggressive feelings associated with negative self and object representations (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). In essence, primitive defenses are used to separate contradictory views of the self and object in an attempt to resolve feelings of intense anxiety associated with intrapsychic conflict (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg also draws a correlation between attachment, affect, and the development of BPD by asserting that children with consistently frustrating and distressing self and object experiences in early development have incr eased negative affect or aggression which contributes to intrapsychic conflict (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg also asserts that early failures in attachment contribute to the development of BPD by decreasing an individuals ability to experience and modulate a range of affects and control impulsivity (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Let us now examine Kernbergs concepts and theories associated with the etiology of BPD more closely. Object Relation Units According to Kernberg, objects are internalized as units which include an image or representation of the self, an image or representation of the object, and an affect associated with a drive (libido or aggression) that connects the internalized images of object and self (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). In short, an individual internalizes an object relation unit which represents aspects of the self and other that are connected by an affect of pleasure or frustration (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg referred to these internalized units as object relation dyads that correspond to specific moments of interaction with objects in early development (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg asserts that infants experience and internalize multiple object relation dyads with varying levels of affective intensity throughout the developmental process (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Experiences associated with high affect intensity are generally associat ed with pleasurable or frustrating interactions, such as when a mother satisfies or fails to satisfy a childs needs (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg posits that these high affective experiences are internalized and become part of affect-laden memory structures in the developing psyche (Clarkin et al., 2006, p. 5). Kernberg asserts that an abundance of intense frustrating or negative affective experiences interferes with the development of a stable ego and sense of identity by inhibiting an individuals ability to integrate these experiences in later development (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Thus, the interactions a child has with early object relation dyads significantly affects the development of their personality structure, sense of self, and views of others in their environment, and can lead to BPD pathology in adulthood (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). The Process of Internalization According to Kernberg, an infant progressively internalizes object relation units in early development, which provides the foundation for psychic structures, through the process of introjection, identification, and ego identity (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Introjection is the earliest and first stage of internalization where self and object images are fused and associated with intense and primitive affects (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). If infants are inundated with feelings of frustration and aggression during this stage of internalization it will result in the development of negative self and object representations which adversely affects ego and personality structure development (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Splitting is generally used adaptively in the introjection process to help a child separate positive and negative self and object representations; however, the continued use of splitting in the internalization process can lead to BPD pathology (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Identification is the next level of internalization and encompasses a child learning social roles through interaction with objects in their environment (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). These object relationship interactions are also connected by libidinal or aggressive affective states that influence a childs interpretation of social roles (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). The last step of internalization contributes to the development of a healthy and stable ego that is able to differentiate and organize self and object representations and affects in a coherent manner that supports identity development (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). According to Kernberg, individuals with BPD are able to complete the process of differentiating between images of self and object, but are unable to effectively integrate libidinal and aggressive self and object representations as a result of pregenital aggression (Clarkin et al., 2006; S t. Clair, 2004). Thus, children internalize both positive and negative aspects of early self and object relationships which are activated to varying degrees in future relationships (Clarkin et al., 2006; St. Clair, 2004). Developmental Model Kernberg also proposed a developmental model of psychic structure formation that coincides with the internalization process (St. Clair, 2004). Kernbergs developmental theory consists of five sequential stages (St. Clair, 2004). Of particular importance to the development of BPD are the third and fourth stages which align with Mahlers separation-individuation/rapprochement stages (St. Clair, 2004). The third stage of development occurs when a child is one and a half to three years of age, and constitutes a childs ability to differentiate between positive and negative self and object representations, and the use of splitting to protect positive self and object representations from negative object relation units (St. Clair, 2004). The fourth stage of development occurs between the ages of three to six and is defined by a childs ability to view self and object representations as whole, and to integrate good and bad aspects of the object relation dyads and their associated affects into a realistic view of self and object (St. Clair, 2004). Clients with BPD are generally fixated in these stages of development resulting in an inability to integrate good and bad self and object representations, a primitive use of splitting, a weak and dissociated ego, a lack of object constancy, and the development of a diffuse and unstable identity (St. Clair, 2004). Kernberg believes that the inability to integrate positive and negative object relation units results from overwhelming feelings of frustration and aggression as a result of negative self and object experiences in early development (St. Clair, 2004). Primitive Defenses Kernberg asserts that much of the pathology associated with BPD results from the rigid and excessive use of primitive defense mechanisms to protect and separate the ego and imbued positive self and object representations from intense aggression associated with negative object relation units (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Although many of these defenses are used adaptively in early development, the continued use of such defenses in adulthood as a result of an inability to integrate positive and negative object relation units frequently contributes to the development of BPD (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Splitting is the primary defense used by clients with BPD, and involves separating good and bad object relation units in an attempt to avoid intrapsychic conflict (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Splitting is frequently used in conjunction with idealization and devaluation in clients with BPD (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Idealization complicates the process of splitting by imbuing either the self or external objects with faulty or unrealistic qualities of power and omnipotence (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Idealization is dangerous for clients with BPD because it creates further contradictory experiences for the client when the self or object is unable to fulfill the unrealistic expectations; this phenomenon generally results in an abrupt shift to devaluation or degradation of the self or the previously idealized object (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). The process of splitting and the concomitant use of idealization and devaluation also make the therapeutic experience difficult and emotionally draining as a result of intense transference and countertransference issues (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Clients with BPD also frequently rely on the defenses of projection and projective identification in an attempt to rid themselves of feelings of intense aggression (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Projection occurs when an individual places their own negative feelings onto someone else and views these displaced feelings as emanating from that person as opposed to themselves (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Projective identification takes this process one step further and results in an individual depositing negative feelings into another while simultaneously eliciting those feelings out of that person (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Unfortunately, the use of projection and projective identification often results in a desire to control the person that carries the projected feelings or the development of fear associated with the projectively identified object (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Lastly, the defense of denial a llows individuals with BPD to negate and separate past feelings of aggression and frustration from their present emotional state (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Consistent reliance on these defense mechanisms in adulthood leads to significant difficulties in the realm of interpersonal relationships for clients with BPD (Clarkin et al., 2006; Clarkin Kernberg, 1993). Neurobiology Much of the literature and research on the neurobiological etiology of BPD emphasizes the connection between abuse, trauma, and attachment in early childhood (Applegate Shapiro, 2005; Cozolino, 2010; Teicher, Ito, Glod, Schiffer, Gelbard, 1994). Studies have indicated that nearly 81% of clients diagnosed with BPD have suffered some form of abuse or trauma in their childhood (Teicher et al., 1994). The presence of trauma and/or abuse in early development frequently results in the dysfunction of the limbic system, cortical region, and frontal and temporal lobes of the brain (Cozolino, 2010; Teicher, 1994). The limbic system develops in early infancy and is considered to be the social and emotional aspect of the brain which includes the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, amygdala, and the hippocampus (Applegate Shapiro, 2005; Cozolino, 2010; Teicher et al., 1994). Abuse and trauma often have deleterious affects on neural regulation within the limbic system that adversely affect s emotional and behavioral aspects of personality development (Teicher et al., 1994). For example, an excessive release of norepinephrine in response to stress can impair the hippocampal memory networks resulting in the formation of dissociative symptoms commonly seen in clients with BPD (Teicher et al., 1994). Additionally, trauma often increases kindling, or the repeated stimulation of neurons resulting in increased excitability, in the limbic system which can adversely affect behavioral inhibitions (Teicher et al., 1994). Limbic kindling is associated with the expression of inappropriate and excessive aggression and/or sexual promiscuity frequently seen in clients with BPD (Teicher et al., 1994). The lack of integration between the right and left hemispheres of the brain is also thought to contribute to the formation of intrapsychic conflict and splitting associated with BPD (Teicher et al., 1994). Cozolino postulates that BPD results from negative, frustrating, or frightening interactions with early caregivers resulting in an inability to regulate affect and integrate experiences as a result of insecure attachment (Applegate Shapiro, 2005; Cozolino, 2010). From a neurobiological perspective, insecure attachment occurs when an infant is exposed to negative interactions with the primary caregiver which increases the production of cortisol in the brain and induces feelings of fear and danger within the amygdala; this affective response is then processed by the orbitofrontal cortex and stored as implicit memory in the right hemisphere of the brain (Applegate Shapiro, 2005; Cozolino, 2010). Cozolino (2010) argues that the characteristic fear of abandonment and aggression associated with BPD stems from implicit memories of real or perceived abuse, abandonment, and frustration in early development. Cozolino (2010) also asserts that frequent and abrupt shifts in mood and the oscilla tion between positive and negative views of the self and objects may result from dissociation within the orbitofrontal cortex impairing the brains ability to adequately process information (i.e.: right-left/top-down). Cozolino (2010) further argues that increased levels of cortisol in the brain may impair hippocampal and amygdala functioning resulting in the experience of intense affective states and a reduction in an individuals ability to appropriately modulate affect. Lastly, Cozolino (2010) argues that insecure attachment can result in a reduction in the level of serotonin in the brain increasing the risk of depression, irritability, and decreased positive reinforcement from interpersonal interactions (p. 283). Diversity Sociocultural factors play an integral role in the process of personality development (Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). From a young age, children are influenced and guided by cultural values, traditions, norms, and expectations that contribute to how they view themselves and the world around them (Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). Every culture has a unique way of interpreting and addressing issues of anxiety, distress, depression, and emotional upheaval (Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). Some cultures value these symptoms and view them as a natural means of growth and development, while others perceive the presence of these symptoms as pathology (Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). Paris contends that many traditional cultures provide protective factors that inhibit the development of BPD and other personality disorders, while others argue that individuals from virtually all cultures suffer from symptoms similar to BPD due to a perceived sense of social failureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦inadequacy, marginality, an d powerlessness (Miller, 1996, p. 194). However, each culture differs in how they view, express, and treat these symptoms; thus, it is imperative that clinicians consider the influence of sociocultural factors on personality development and/or pathology in order to accurately diagnose and treat clients (Berzoff et al., 2008; Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). The prevalence of BPD and other personality disorders in American culture provides a unique understanding of how sociocultural factors influence personality development (Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). Millon (2000) argues that American culture is filled with ambiguous and contradictory values, beliefs, and expectations that contribute to identity diffusion and interpersonal conflicts. American culture also places a strong emphasis on achievement and encourages competition in various aspects of life placing intense pressure on individuals to continuously strive for excellence while inadvertently setting the stage for failure and feelings of guilt and shame (Millon, 2000). The presence of conflicting demands and expectations, an emphasis on competition and success, and harsh sociocultural conditions such as poverty, prejudice, and racism in American culture complicate the process of personality development and perpetuate symptomatology commonly associated with BPD including dissociation, intrapsychic conflict, and a fragmented identity (Miller, 1996; Millon, 2000). There is also debate surrounding issues of gender bias in the assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008; Widiger, 2000). Many scholars argue that the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) defines and describes personality disorders in a way that is biased toward traditional male or female characteristics (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008; Widiger, 2000). As a result, personality disorders that are associated with dramatic emotional responses, dependency, and masochist qualities such as Histrionic and Borderline are often over diagnosed in women (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008; Widiger, 2000). Scholars argue that this bias pathologizes female traits without consideration of the impact that societal, familial, and cultural pressures and external influences have on these behaviors (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008; Widiger, 2000). Women are generally socialized to be more in touch with and expressive of their emotions, compliant or submi ssive to others needs, and dependent or reliant on others to varying degrees (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008; Widiger, 2000). Yet, these very characteristics can be viewed pathologically when they are incorrectly or incongruently expressed in accordance with social and cultural norms and expectations (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008). Additionally, the DSM criteria fails to account for the relevance of the psychological distress that many women experience associated with trauma, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and oppression which results in women being frequently misdiagnosed with BPD as opposed to post traumatic stress disorder (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008). It is important for clinicians to be aware of gender biases within the DSM, as well as personal gender biases, when assessing pathology in a client, and to ensure that a diagnosis accompanies adequate consideration of the social and cultural norms placed on women as well as the influence trauma, victimization, a nd oppression have on personality development and pathology (Becker, 1997; Berzoff et al., 2008; Widiger, 2000). Treatment Fairbairn: Fairbairns treatment model was designed to address the needs of what he termed dependent borderlines who express an obstinate attachment to frustrating-exciting objects within their environment that perpetuate ego splits and intrapsychic conflict (Celani,

American Education System Versus Asian Education System :: Compare Contrast School Asia USA Essays

American Education System versus Asian Education System   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today the American education system is no longer the best in the world. With declining test scores and poor academic achievement, people have questioned whether our current educational system is working for us. On the other side of the Pacific, the situation is totally different. Students of Asian countries achieve higher academic achievements, and they rank at the top on math and science tests. If their educational system is better than the U.S system, should we adopt their educational system, or not?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  America the land of opportunity, which is famous for its democratic society and unique culture. People in America like to be free, to do whatever they want to do without any restrictions. This belief is reflected in the American educational system. In American schools, teachers and students are at the same social level. Students are encouraged to exchange their own opinions with the teacher. From an early age, students in the American educational system have been taught that they have the ability to achieve whatever they want to be, but rarely have been told how they can achieve their goal. This is because in America there are so many ways to achieve one's dream.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because of this belief in natural born ability in the land of opportunity, students receive very little pressure in school, so whatever they do in school is totally based on their personal beliefs. If a student wants to be successful he or she can study very hard and get in to a very good college. On the other hand if a student doesn't have any self control and just wants to get school over with, it is OK too, because nobody cares. The advantage of this kind of educational system is that , it really developes student's individual thinking skills, they are encouraged to try out different options to achieve their goal. For example Bill Gates, who dropped out of college, started his own company, now he is one of the richest man in the world. That bad thing about this system is that not that many students don't have the responsibility to get good grades or become successful many believe that even if you don't have a good education you can still get a good paying job. That's why many students in school are doing poorly on their school work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Asian countries, the cultures and social standards are totally different from the U.S. In those countries most of their values are based on Confucius which heavily stresses education and group values. One's social status is based on their education level.

Zara Supply Chain

A network and flow explanation to Zara’ success Angel Diaz and Luis Solis Instituto de Empresa, Maria de Molina 12, 5 °, Madrid 28006, Spain E-mails: angel. [email  protected] edu; luis. [email  protected] edu Abstract Zara is a Spanish fashion manufacturer and retailer that has known swift success. Spaniards have become used to visiting Zara frequently, as there is always a new product. Zara launches 100 different collections every year, with over 11000 models, none lasting more than five weeks in production and with an average lead-time (design to store delivery) of four weeks. Inditex, the group to which the brand Zara belongs owns five brands with over 1000 stores in more than 30 countries. Although its global sales are still one sixth those of Gap, its sales have increased at an average 30% per year over the last three years, with net benefits over sales of close to 12% in the same period. In this paper we examine Zara’ production and distribution systems, looking for clues to its mass-customization capabilities. We argue that the key to Zara’ success is its Supply Chain (network and flows) approach. The production network is made of a tightly integrated net of product specialized factories, intensive in capital and run under Toyota’s principles, and a secondary network of over 400 micro enterprises, tightly controlled by Inditex but independent. All these are located in the same small geographical area, Galicia (northwest Spain). The swift flow is facilitated through advanced automation and logistics systems, with emphasis on postponement. We compare these network and flow approaches to those of Benetton and Gap, and argue that the key to Zara’ success is this combination of a tightly integrated local network coupled to the most advanced flow systems. A final consideration is the sustainability of these orderwinners over time. Keywords: Key words: Zara, logistics network, flow, fashion Introduction Intense competition in the global marketplace is forcing organizations to consider new practices by which they could enhance and sustain their competitive capabilities. Network configurations and alliances is such one option through which an organization can leverage its resources to compete effectively against fast and nimble competitors. Furthermore, the emphasis on supplier integration in supply chain management has contributed to the growing interest on strategic supplier alliances by companies around the world. Strategic network alliances are innovative and interesting forms of relationships between buyers and suppliers, however, successful supplier alliances have proved to be very elusive for the most part (Landeros and Monczka, 1991). Despite that academic and practitioner literatures have devoted considerable attention to supply network alliances issues, its dynamics has yet many unanswered questions. Furthermore, most of the literature has focused on cases in few developed countries like USA. There is a need to expand our understanding about international cases since more and more global supply chain networks are becoming more important. The study of the ZARA supply chain network in Spain is a contribution in this direction. The Spanish integrated manufacturer-retailer of apparel Zara has been defined as the Armani for the masses. Although sales of Zara (close to two billion dollars, comparable to Benetton) are much lower than that of the clothing retailer leader Gap, its financial performance has been bright. Net profits of Inditex in 2001 were 340,4 million â‚ ¬, 31% more than the previous year, out of sales of 3. 249,8 million â‚ ¬, a growth of 24% with respect to 2000. Zara launches over 100 collections per year (11. 00 new garments) and has a total design-to-store cycle time of less than 4 weeks. Every garment will be on sale for a maximum of 5 weeks, after which is removed and sent to discount stores or destroyed. Zara invests close to zero percent of its sales in advertisement (5% of sales for Gap), relying instead on keeping customers perpetually interested in finding new surprises (Zara? s customers visit the conveniently located stores an average 17 times a year). While Gap brands, Zara i ntrigues. We argue in this paper that the success of Zara is explained by a business approach in which a highly automated and largely local production and distribution network facilitates very fast response times as the key competitive advantage, and that this design can be due to cultural and market characteristics of Spain. History The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega started a small garment factory in La Coruna, Galicia in 1963. In 1975 Ortega integrated downstream by opening his first store, Zara. By the end of the decade six stores with that name were located in Galicia. The eighties saw important changes. Ortega created the parent company of Zara, Inditex (stands for Textile Design Industry) announcing a movement toward integrated designfabrication-retail operations. Also in this period an ex-IBM salesman, Jose Maria Castellano, the actual Vice-president of Inditex, imposed a vision of time-based competition sustained on the intensive use of technology that was to dominate the holding in the future. By the end of this decade Zara had 82 stores in Spain and six abroad. In the nineties the group developed the quick response, integrated logistics network described in this case. An important milestone was the adoption at the beginning of the decade, and well ahead of other Spanish companies, of Just in Time and lean production practices, with knowledge provided by Toyota, Japan. By the end of the century, Inditex added four new brands, each for a different market niche and with their own distribution channels. At the closing of the 2001 exercise the group had 1080 stores (449 of Zara, that represents almost 80% of total sales) in 33 countries, over 20. 00 employees and the impressive profitability and growth figures mentioned in the introduction. Networks and Alliances Researchers have provided some evidence that companies relying on strategic network alliances are more profitable since closer buyer-supplier relationships may offer many technical, financial, and strategic advantages over spot market transactions and vertical integration (Mohr and Spec kman, 1994). Furthermore, strategic alliances provide an effective alternative to improve economies of scale and scope. Different scholars have studied the antecedents that lead to different forms of network alliances. These studies suggest that assets type involved will impact the type of relationships (Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh, 1987). A different stream of research has studied the relationship between environmental uncertainty and resource interdependence with the nature of relationships. Handy, 1995; and Mohr and Spekman, 1994, have conducted empirical exploratory studies on the formation and evolution of inter-organizational elationships. Production and logistics are largely regional at Inditex, with much less outsourcing than is common in this sector. Why the network evolved into this configuration can be due to cultural characteristics of Spain. There exist a rich literature on collaboration. According to this Industry Networks, a set of organizations that have developed recurring ties when serving a particular market, is a variation of the old idea of industrial districts (Ebers & Jarillo, 1998). The drivers for collaboration have been extensively analyzed in the literature and can be synthesized in strategies of coespecialization; the search for mutual learning to support fastest product developments, better information and product flows (resulting in cost and time reductions, a dominating theme in logistics); the creation of virtual scale and scope economies; and in the creation of entry barriers, among others (Cervilla and Lorenzo, 2000). Hofstede characterizes Spain? culture as risk avoidance, hierarchical inclined (Granell, 1997). Solis et al. (2000) show that in Spain companies, integration and closer relationships with local and global suppliers in critical processes are becoming paramount. Strategic network alliances require time and resources to be built and sustained. In getting the benefits of integration and synchronization with suppliers, building trust represents the most critical issue for supply network managers. Important for successful strategic supplier alliances is the communication expected behaviour, particularly the quality of information and participation, and the extent to which relevant information is transparent to suppliers. No less important for alliance success is the existence for a formal purchasing commodity selection process and a formal supplier assessment and selection process. These factors plus a comparatively low degree of outsourcing activity in Spain can explain the formation of this type of network. Factories Inditex owns 25 factories, each dedicated to capital-intensive activities (dye, cutting) and the production of a family items. The large majority of these are located in La Coruna. Inditex has additionally developed a network of external micro-companies, many households, that provide labor-intensive services, mainly sewing, which has proven difficult to automate. According to Mr. Castellano the local work force has higher labor cost but also faster reaction time (than outsourced production in a low-cost area). Distribution Inditex owns a single logistics center in La Coruna. This large facility (400,000 square meters) is largely automated, with 2 carrousels for fold garments (60,000 per hour) and 200 kilometers of elevated tracks. Products are transported directly to stores using outsourced but dedicated carriers (Azkar for land transportation –some 80% of deliveries in 2000, and different airlines for exporting, all taking-off from local Galician airports). Flows Two distinct flows can be appreciated at Inditex. One consists of long-term cycles, i. e. purchasing of raw materials and the other a short-term cycle, i. e. , design, fabrication and distribution. The long cycle starts three to six months before each fashion season and consists in the acquisition of two thirds of the raw materials required, mainly cloth (90% of which is sourced from India, China, Morocco, Mauricio, Korea, Italy Germany and Turkey –the remaining one third is supplied during the season), and of one h alf of all garments (15%-20% is acquired in advance, 50%-60% at the beginning of the season and the rest during the season). These are those items that are thought to be stable, i. e. , basic products for which demand is fairly predictable. The rest of the garments (those thought to have a higher risk) are produced inhouse in the short cycle described bellow. The short cycle start with design. This is totally an in-house affair in which over 200 designer work simultaneously on three season collections, the current one for modifications and improvements and the next two (winter 2002 is being currently worked on in the Spring of 2002). Target pricing and low scale customer acceptance trials are usual practices at this step. Patterns are scanned and sent electronically to the manufacturing plants. Here capitalintensive activities such as dying and cutting are performed, while sewing is manually done by the micro-companies described above. Processes in the plants are kept flexible using lean production principles such as multi-skilled and flexible work forces (with an enviable strike record) and simple Japanese-like control systems. Production is thus pushed into the stores (15% at the beginning of the season, the rest according to demand), where the manager uses hand-held devices (currently Cassiopeia PDAs) to send feedback in close to real time about what moves and what doesn’t (colors, sizes, models), allowing for fast adjustments to the production plan. Replenishment to stores is done twice or three times a week, with a lead-time for existing (or subject to slight design modifications) items of two weeks, and of five weeks for new products. Comments It is interesting to compare the strategy of Zara/Inditex to that of Benetton (a similar sized competitor) and of the market leader Gap. Of the three the more integrated, both upstream and downstream is Zara/Inditex. Benetton produces through a network of mainly regional subcontractors, distributes from a centralized, automated warehouse and retails through franchises. Gap subcontracts production to a network of global producers (over 3000 in more than 70 countries) and has a network of global warehouses and distribution centers. Design Zara Benetton Gap Own- continuous Own-periodic Own-periodic Production Distribution 0% own regional factories Centralized D. C. 50% subcontractors Own stores Regional subcontractors Global subcontractors Centralized D. C. Franchises Decentralized warehouses and D. C Zara/Inditex model is not a fashionable global, outsourced network. It evolved as a probable consequence of limitations in the Spanish market, but has proven that a vertically integrated l ocal network when linked to advanced manufacturing and information technology practices can result in quick response times with little stock or waste, a by-product of the synchronization of offer and demand that the integration nature of the process allows. Postponement of the (in-house) fabrication of fashion items considered of high uncertainty, plus the flexibility and quick response implicit in the lean and automated process results in low levels of stock (40% less than Gap, is proportion to sales) An important question is now whether the organization of Mr. Ortega and Castellano can maintain its characteristics and stellar performance as global growth takes place. Due to European expansion a new distribution center is being built in Zaragoza, close to the French border and facilities for production in Mexico are being considered. Labor shortages in the small Galician area have also been reported. The organization could then decide to play in a niche market position and remain as it is, duplicate the actual local Galician network in other regions (e. g. , Mexico) or move towards a global and more externalized network. If the last, and arguably most probable option is pursuit, the challenge for Zara/Inditex will be to maintain their current flexibility. References Cervilla y Lorenzo (2000): â€Å"Redes de empresas y tecnologias de informacion: copciones para el desarrollo de la PYME†. Debates IESA. Vol. 5. No. 1. Dwyer, F. , Schurr, P. , & Oh, S. (1987). â€Å"Developing buyer-seller relationships† Journal of Marketing, vol. 51 (2), 11-27. Ebers, M. y C. Jarillo (1998). â€Å"The construction, forms, and consequences of industry networks† International Studies of Management & Organization. Vol. 27. No. 4 Granell, E. (1998). Managing cluture for success. Ediciones IESA, 1997. Handy, C. (1995). â€Å"Trust and the virtual organization† Harvard Business Review, vol. 73(3), 40-50. Landeros, R. , & Monczka, R. (1991). â€Å"Cooperative buyer/seller relationships and a firm? competitive posture†. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, vol. 11, 2-8. Mohr, J. , & Spekman, R. (1994). â€Å"Characteristics of partnership success: Partnership attributes, communication behaviour, and conflict resolution techniques†. Strategic Management Journal, vol. 15(2), 135-152. Solis, L, & Escobar, D. , (2000). â€Å"The Management of Successf ul Strategic Alliances in Supply Chain Management Networks: An Empirical Study of Success Factors in Spain† Proceedings of XXXV CLADEA Annual Meeting, September, Barcelona. Zara Supply Chain A network and flow explanation to Zara’ success Angel Diaz and Luis Solis Instituto de Empresa, Maria de Molina 12, 5 °, Madrid 28006, Spain E-mails: angel. [email  protected] edu; luis. [email  protected] edu Abstract Zara is a Spanish fashion manufacturer and retailer that has known swift success. Spaniards have become used to visiting Zara frequently, as there is always a new product. Zara launches 100 different collections every year, with over 11000 models, none lasting more than five weeks in production and with an average lead-time (design to store delivery) of four weeks. Inditex, the group to which the brand Zara belongs owns five brands with over 1000 stores in more than 30 countries. Although its global sales are still one sixth those of Gap, its sales have increased at an average 30% per year over the last three years, with net benefits over sales of close to 12% in the same period. In this paper we examine Zara’ production and distribution systems, looking for clues to its mass-customization capabilities. We argue that the key to Zara’ success is its Supply Chain (network and flows) approach. The production network is made of a tightly integrated net of product specialized factories, intensive in capital and run under Toyota’s principles, and a secondary network of over 400 micro enterprises, tightly controlled by Inditex but independent. All these are located in the same small geographical area, Galicia (northwest Spain). The swift flow is facilitated through advanced automation and logistics systems, with emphasis on postponement. We compare these network and flow approaches to those of Benetton and Gap, and argue that the key to Zara’ success is this combination of a tightly integrated local network coupled to the most advanced flow systems. A final consideration is the sustainability of these orderwinners over time. Keywords: Key words: Zara, logistics network, flow, fashion Introduction Intense competition in the global marketplace is forcing organizations to consider new practices by which they could enhance and sustain their competitive capabilities. Network configurations and alliances is such one option through which an organization can leverage its resources to compete effectively against fast and nimble competitors. Furthermore, the emphasis on supplier integration in supply chain management has contributed to the growing interest on strategic supplier alliances by companies around the world. Strategic network alliances are innovative and interesting forms of relationships between buyers and suppliers, however, successful supplier alliances have proved to be very elusive for the most part (Landeros and Monczka, 1991). Despite that academic and practitioner literatures have devoted considerable attention to supply network alliances issues, its dynamics has yet many unanswered questions. Furthermore, most of the literature has focused on cases in few developed countries like USA. There is a need to expand our understanding about international cases since more and more global supply chain networks are becoming more important. The study of the ZARA supply chain network in Spain is a contribution in this direction. The Spanish integrated manufacturer-retailer of apparel Zara has been defined as the Armani for the masses. Although sales of Zara (close to two billion dollars, comparable to Benetton) are much lower than that of the clothing retailer leader Gap, its financial performance has been bright. Net profits of Inditex in 2001 were 340,4 million â‚ ¬, 31% more than the previous year, out of sales of 3. 249,8 million â‚ ¬, a growth of 24% with respect to 2000. Zara launches over 100 collections per year (11. 00 new garments) and has a total design-to-store cycle time of less than 4 weeks. Every garment will be on sale for a maximum of 5 weeks, after which is removed and sent to discount stores or destroyed. Zara invests close to zero percent of its sales in advertisement (5% of sales for Gap), relying instead on keeping customers perpetually interested in finding new surprises (Zara? s customers visit the conveniently located stores an average 17 times a year). While Gap brands, Zara i ntrigues. We argue in this paper that the success of Zara is explained by a business approach in which a highly automated and largely local production and distribution network facilitates very fast response times as the key competitive advantage, and that this design can be due to cultural and market characteristics of Spain. History The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega started a small garment factory in La Coruna, Galicia in 1963. In 1975 Ortega integrated downstream by opening his first store, Zara. By the end of the decade six stores with that name were located in Galicia. The eighties saw important changes. Ortega created the parent company of Zara, Inditex (stands for Textile Design Industry) announcing a movement toward integrated designfabrication-retail operations. Also in this period an ex-IBM salesman, Jose Maria Castellano, the actual Vice-president of Inditex, imposed a vision of time-based competition sustained on the intensive use of technology that was to dominate the holding in the future. By the end of this decade Zara had 82 stores in Spain and six abroad. In the nineties the group developed the quick response, integrated logistics network described in this case. An important milestone was the adoption at the beginning of the decade, and well ahead of other Spanish companies, of Just in Time and lean production practices, with knowledge provided by Toyota, Japan. By the end of the century, Inditex added four new brands, each for a different market niche and with their own distribution channels. At the closing of the 2001 exercise the group had 1080 stores (449 of Zara, that represents almost 80% of total sales) in 33 countries, over 20. 00 employees and the impressive profitability and growth figures mentioned in the introduction. Networks and Alliances Researchers have provided some evidence that companies relying on strategic network alliances are more profitable since closer buyer-supplier relationships may offer many technical, financial, and strategic advantages over spot market transactions and vertical integration (Mohr and Spec kman, 1994). Furthermore, strategic alliances provide an effective alternative to improve economies of scale and scope. Different scholars have studied the antecedents that lead to different forms of network alliances. These studies suggest that assets type involved will impact the type of relationships (Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh, 1987). A different stream of research has studied the relationship between environmental uncertainty and resource interdependence with the nature of relationships. Handy, 1995; and Mohr and Spekman, 1994, have conducted empirical exploratory studies on the formation and evolution of inter-organizational elationships. Production and logistics are largely regional at Inditex, with much less outsourcing than is common in this sector. Why the network evolved into this configuration can be due to cultural characteristics of Spain. There exist a rich literature on collaboration. According to this Industry Networks, a set of organizations that have developed recurring ties when serving a particular market, is a variation of the old idea of industrial districts (Ebers & Jarillo, 1998). The drivers for collaboration have been extensively analyzed in the literature and can be synthesized in strategies of coespecialization; the search for mutual learning to support fastest product developments, better information and product flows (resulting in cost and time reductions, a dominating theme in logistics); the creation of virtual scale and scope economies; and in the creation of entry barriers, among others (Cervilla and Lorenzo, 2000). Hofstede characterizes Spain? culture as risk avoidance, hierarchical inclined (Granell, 1997). Solis et al. (2000) show that in Spain companies, integration and closer relationships with local and global suppliers in critical processes are becoming paramount. Strategic network alliances require time and resources to be built and sustained. In getting the benefits of integration and synchronization with suppliers, building trust represents the most critical issue for supply network managers. Important for successful strategic supplier alliances is the communication expected behaviour, particularly the quality of information and participation, and the extent to which relevant information is transparent to suppliers. No less important for alliance success is the existence for a formal purchasing commodity selection process and a formal supplier assessment and selection process. These factors plus a comparatively low degree of outsourcing activity in Spain can explain the formation of this type of network. Factories Inditex owns 25 factories, each dedicated to capital-intensive activities (dye, cutting) and the production of a family items. The large majority of these are located in La Coruna. Inditex has additionally developed a network of external micro-companies, many households, that provide labor-intensive services, mainly sewing, which has proven difficult to automate. According to Mr. Castellano the local work force has higher labor cost but also faster reaction time (than outsourced production in a low-cost area). Distribution Inditex owns a single logistics center in La Coruna. This large facility (400,000 square meters) is largely automated, with 2 carrousels for fold garments (60,000 per hour) and 200 kilometers of elevated tracks. Products are transported directly to stores using outsourced but dedicated carriers (Azkar for land transportation –some 80% of deliveries in 2000, and different airlines for exporting, all taking-off from local Galician airports). Flows Two distinct flows can be appreciated at Inditex. One consists of long-term cycles, i. e. purchasing of raw materials and the other a short-term cycle, i. e. , design, fabrication and distribution. The long cycle starts three to six months before each fashion season and consists in the acquisition of two thirds of the raw materials required, mainly cloth (90% of which is sourced from India, China, Morocco, Mauricio, Korea, Italy Germany and Turkey –the remaining one third is supplied during the season), and of one h alf of all garments (15%-20% is acquired in advance, 50%-60% at the beginning of the season and the rest during the season). These are those items that are thought to be stable, i. e. , basic products for which demand is fairly predictable. The rest of the garments (those thought to have a higher risk) are produced inhouse in the short cycle described bellow. The short cycle start with design. This is totally an in-house affair in which over 200 designer work simultaneously on three season collections, the current one for modifications and improvements and the next two (winter 2002 is being currently worked on in the Spring of 2002). Target pricing and low scale customer acceptance trials are usual practices at this step. Patterns are scanned and sent electronically to the manufacturing plants. Here capitalintensive activities such as dying and cutting are performed, while sewing is manually done by the micro-companies described above. Processes in the plants are kept flexible using lean production principles such as multi-skilled and flexible work forces (with an enviable strike record) and simple Japanese-like control systems. Production is thus pushed into the stores (15% at the beginning of the season, the rest according to demand), where the manager uses hand-held devices (currently Cassiopeia PDAs) to send feedback in close to real time about what moves and what doesn’t (colors, sizes, models), allowing for fast adjustments to the production plan. Replenishment to stores is done twice or three times a week, with a lead-time for existing (or subject to slight design modifications) items of two weeks, and of five weeks for new products. Comments It is interesting to compare the strategy of Zara/Inditex to that of Benetton (a similar sized competitor) and of the market leader Gap. Of the three the more integrated, both upstream and downstream is Zara/Inditex. Benetton produces through a network of mainly regional subcontractors, distributes from a centralized, automated warehouse and retails through franchises. Gap subcontracts production to a network of global producers (over 3000 in more than 70 countries) and has a network of global warehouses and distribution centers. Design Zara Benetton Gap Own- continuous Own-periodic Own-periodic Production Distribution 0% own regional factories Centralized D. C. 50% subcontractors Own stores Regional subcontractors Global subcontractors Centralized D. C. Franchises Decentralized warehouses and D. C Zara/Inditex model is not a fashionable global, outsourced network. It evolved as a probable consequence of limitations in the Spanish market, but has proven that a vertically integrated l ocal network when linked to advanced manufacturing and information technology practices can result in quick response times with little stock or waste, a by-product of the synchronization of offer and demand that the integration nature of the process allows. Postponement of the (in-house) fabrication of fashion items considered of high uncertainty, plus the flexibility and quick response implicit in the lean and automated process results in low levels of stock (40% less than Gap, is proportion to sales) An important question is now whether the organization of Mr. Ortega and Castellano can maintain its characteristics and stellar performance as global growth takes place. Due to European expansion a new distribution center is being built in Zaragoza, close to the French border and facilities for production in Mexico are being considered. Labor shortages in the small Galician area have also been reported. The organization could then decide to play in a niche market position and remain as it is, duplicate the actual local Galician network in other regions (e. g. , Mexico) or move towards a global and more externalized network. If the last, and arguably most probable option is pursuit, the challenge for Zara/Inditex will be to maintain their current flexibility. References Cervilla y Lorenzo (2000): â€Å"Redes de empresas y tecnologias de informacion: copciones para el desarrollo de la PYME†. Debates IESA. Vol. 5. No. 1. Dwyer, F. , Schurr, P. , & Oh, S. (1987). â€Å"Developing buyer-seller relationships† Journal of Marketing, vol. 51 (2), 11-27. Ebers, M. y C. Jarillo (1998). â€Å"The construction, forms, and consequences of industry networks† International Studies of Management & Organization. Vol. 27. No. 4 Granell, E. (1998). Managing cluture for success. Ediciones IESA, 1997. Handy, C. (1995). â€Å"Trust and the virtual organization† Harvard Business Review, vol. 73(3), 40-50. Landeros, R. , & Monczka, R. (1991). â€Å"Cooperative buyer/seller relationships and a firm? competitive posture†. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, vol. 11, 2-8. Mohr, J. , & Spekman, R. (1994). â€Å"Characteristics of partnership success: Partnership attributes, communication behaviour, and conflict resolution techniques†. Strategic Management Journal, vol. 15(2), 135-152. Solis, L, & Escobar, D. , (2000). â€Å"The Management of Successf ul Strategic Alliances in Supply Chain Management Networks: An Empirical Study of Success Factors in Spain† Proceedings of XXXV CLADEA Annual Meeting, September, Barcelona.

Health Services Resource Management

Health Services Resource Management The Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital, being a private establishment and also a non-profit organisation utilizes its funds in the day to day running of the organisation. Of these funds, the doctors usually pay a certain amount for the use of the hospital’s consulting rooms and there are also funds from the little percentage of the total cost of treatment that is usually charged on patients.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Health Services Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The hospital also has a variety of members who contribute to a health fund. The hospital charges service providers such as those offering radiology and dialysis services, the car park operators and the coffee shops for operating in the hospital. The most important source of revenue for the hospital is the health funds, which is mainly made of payments from the vast majority of the patients. This is done through per day payments or case based payments depending on the services rendered to a particular patient. The health fund agreements are usually negotiated from time to time and this is meant to increase the revenue that the hospital receives from the fund. The main hospital expenses includes: salaries paid to the staff; payments for support services such as cleaning; and the procurement of patient’s food, equipment and other utilities. The main expense of the organisation is staffing which consumes about 70 percent of the revenue allocation, which also includes agency staff. The hospital is not meant to make any profits from its operations. The aim of the hospital is to provide quality health care services to its patients who are mainly drawn from the nearby community. It also provides research and training facilities to health and medical students as well as researchers. Since it is not a profit making organisation any funds collected are reintegrated into the hospital which then sub sidises its services and also offers some services free especially to the poor in society. The major health services provided by the Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital are: pathology and radiology; orthopaedics; gynaecology and obstetrics; renal dialysis; cardiac surgery, vascular and angiography services; lung and respiratory medicine; neurosurgery; emergency medical services; intensive care units and neonatal intensive care unit and finally, outpatient clinics.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More I am aware of the costs of the services provided by the hospital and I believe it is imperative that the staff be aware of the costs of the services they provide so as to be more informative to the patient. Since the payments made by the patient to the hospital are through their own funds or from the health insurance claims, it helps them plan their treatment in adva nce and manage their expenses. The Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital has a documentation system policy though this is done for official purposes only. The only information that the hospital management is keen on implementing is the hospitals cash inflows since this impact directly on their credibility as managers. However, it is imperative that the staff should document the information collected on procedures performed, patient diagnosis and stay patterns and implement the deductions given. This is meant to ensure that they provide their patients with quality services since they can have follow up records of their health status. There is, however, a general reluctance especially by the clinical staff to adopt proper documentation which can be attributed to how they were originally trained, where there is more concern on their diagnosis rather than medical histories of patients which could be of particular importance. The sale of the Mersey hospital to the commonwealth by the Tas manian government was so low since the exchange of ownership was not meant to be a gift, but rather a sale and to accommodate this technicality, the purchase price of $1 was set. In selling the hospital, the government wanted to allow the adoption of the commonwealth system of healthcare management first with the hospital as a pilot program before incorporating it to the other hospitals in Tasmania (Wynne, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Health Services Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Though others may argue that the government lost in healthcare funding, it is still receiving its entitlements as well as increased funding from the commonwealth for all its other health care operations, which indicates that the deal was of great advantage to the Tasmanian government and the people of Tasmania in general. At Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital, the main fixed overheads for the hospita l are: employee salaries and benefits; building maintenance; interest expenses; capital expenditures property tax; and insurance. The main variable overheads in the hospital include: overtime wages; diagnostic services; patient care supplies; agency expenses; delivery costs; medications/drug therapy; utilities; therapy supplies; and food as well as housekeeping services. If 10% of the operating costs at Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital were to be saved, this would mainly be drawn from the agency staff and the payment of overtime staff, which is usually expensive. However, this would not influence the hospital negatively if it is coupled with the hiring of permanent staff that will be integrated into the staff schedules to achieve maximum output per employee. This should also incorporate provisions for emergency services, which, if included, should be limited to particular times so as not to have staff on standby idling. At Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital, the budgeting re sponsibility is given to the accounts department where the department establishes several cost centres and cost drivers. However, basing my analysis on what has been learnt in this course, there are some deficiencies that are notable in the way budgeting is done at Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital. Currently, it is hard to establish the real cost of a specific service as the hospital does not use the activity based costing method. Instead, things are valued in a wholesome manner where one cannot know which services are overpriced and which services are underpriced. Thus, it becomes hard for effective valuation of services in this hospital.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital do buy expensive equipments. This calls for effective capital budgeting approaches. To ensure that the hospital makes sound investment decisions, the hospital have established a competent cost and investment control department that utilizes various tools of capital budgeting. One of the main tools used by the hospital as part of its capital budgeting is the net present value as well as the analysis of the economic life of any machinery or other investments that the hospital decides to venture into. This enables the hospital to be well equipped with what is relevant as opposed to irrelevant material. The concept of capital budgeting in hospitals seems to have taken root as it was evidenced in the class discussion that most organizations are taking this issue with the gravity it deserves. There is a general tendency for hospital to move from the traditional funding where the issue of cost associated with a specific service was not important. Curre ntly, the case mix funding method being adopted lays a lot of emphasis on the number and the type of patients that a hospital serves. Therefore, the case mix method that emphasizes the product costing is important as it helps in the pricing of services to ensure that no service is offered at a loss to the hospital. The method is also important as it helps to show the adequate profit margins to ensure that hospitals do not make unethical profits at the expense of the customers. This is useful in the management and in the soliciting of funds, which is an important aspect in modern private hospitals as the rising cost of healthcare provision has ensured that the profitability of such hospitals reduce tremendously. It is worth noting that this course has been extremely helpful. There are many aspects that I have learned from the course. Of the most importance is the need to adopt a case mix or product costing model in the managerial activities of the hospital as this model ensures that every service offered by the company is done with cost consciousness. Although I work in a non-profit making hospital, the concept of product costing is important as it ensures that all the aspects of costs associated with a specific service are covered. The course will prove valuable in the quest to make Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital a place where customers pay a discount for the services provided, while all other aspects such as depreciation of equipment as well as lapsing of economic life of various hospital assets are covered by other means of funding. This means that the course will ensure that I possess the required skills to formulate service based payment policies that ensures that Dr. Efran and Bagedo General Hospital funding is sustainable not only in the short run, but also in the short run to ensure that the customers receive quality services. Reference Wynne, Michael. 2005. Health scope: The Mersey Hospital Story.  https://www.bmartin.cc/dissent/documents/heal th/healthscope_mercy.html (Retrieved)