The Sociology of Health

The Sociology of Health The socio-medical model of health The socio-medical model of health focuses on the social factors which effect an individual’s health and well-being. They believe each person should be treated in accordance to their own personal circumstance and situation surrounding there illness, rather than be treated as a member of a group suffering from a particular illness, and should be treated the same as each person within that group. The socio-medical model concentrates on social factors contributing to the standards of health.Social inequality and living standards are important influences on the standards of health. The socio-medical model suggests that the wealthy are more likely to have good health and suffer from less illness, and the poor are more likely to have bad health and suffer from more illnesses than the wealthy would. Things which could be factors contributing to ill health within societies with poor living standards, according to the socio-medic al model are; damp or cold houses, lack of exercise, poor diet, lack of education and health awareness etc.The socio-medical model also suggests that the standards of health varies across different cultures, and that what is considered an illness in one society might be not be seen as an illness in another society. For example the contagious skin disease ‘yaws’ was so common in sub-Saharan Africa early this century that it was not considered a disease at all, it was considered normal because most of the population had the disease. The socio-medical model thinks that some societies also treat people with an illness differently from other societies.For example Australia does not allow anyone with HIV into the country, which is seen by most other countries as morally wrong and contrasts with the way people with HIV are treated in the majority of societies around the world. Time is another factor which the socio-medical model believes influences the standards of health. For instance cigarettes were promoted as being positive over 60years ago, whereas today smoking cigarettes is a well-known health threat.Socio-medical treatments for illnesses include looking at an individual’s personal situation, identifying the factors which have contributed to their illness or disorder, and removing these factors in order to correct or resolve the problem. For example a young man who has gone bald, from a socio-medical point of view, would be assessed and factors in his life such as great stress at work would be identified, this stress would be seen as the cause of his premature baldness, and they would try to help the man find a health way to vent his stress – in order to improve his condition.The biomedical model would view this man in a different way, they would concentrate on genetic factors such as premature baldness in his father, and put this forward as the cause in contrast to the socio-medical model. The biomedical model of health The biomedic al model emerged after the industrialisation of the western world. New scientific discoveries and methods were being used to produce a new model of health which used new technologies and tests such as x-rays, biopsies and electroencephalographs in order to monitor people’s health.These tests aim to show ‘biological malfunction or irregularity’ in order to diagnose illnesses, which are then treated using biological methods such as drugs, operations, hospitalisation etc. (Ross Clarke, 2012). According to the biomedical model the individual is not responsible for their illness or condition, and think that illness is caused by; a biological breakdown within the individual (this can be things such as infections, genetic malfunctions, broken bones and so on) or by external factors invading the body – such as virus’s and disease etc.They believe every single illness has ‘one single observable cause’. (Mike Harris, 2008). The biomedical model b elieves that the cause for a certain illness in one person has the same cause of that illness in another person – so all people with that illness should be given the same treatments, no individual cases are usually taken into account. (Ross Clarke, 2012). The biomedical model refers to ‘good health’ as having no illness. If you have ‘bad health’ you are considered to be ill, or to have an illness.Treatment is given with the aim of correcting a malfunction within the body and once this malfunction is corrected, you will be considered to be healthy again. (The Open University, 2012). The biomedical model is the dominant model of health in the modern western world. It treats illness and ‘malfunction’ with the use of medication, operations, radio and chemo therapy, transplants etc. Some socio-medical methods of treatment, however, are used alongside the biomedical model treatments, such as the use of therapy. (Unknown Author, 2012).The diffe rent approaches to mental health and illness Mental health and illness can be defined and viewed in many different ways according to many different factors including; the models of disability, the culture, gender, social class, the time period, religion etc. (Ross Clarke B, 2012). The biomedical, or medical, model of health would describe mental illness in the same way they describe any other illness; that it is caused by one single physical/genetic cause. This could be things such as genes passed down from your parents, a bump or bang to the head etc.They believe that symptoms are caused by a physical problem within the person or in the brain and they group these symptoms together in order to diagnose an illness or syndrome. The medical model uses two classification systems of mental illness in order to diagnose a patient. These two systems are the DSM IV and the ICD-10. The DSM identifies the patient’s symptoms in order to give a diagnosis for their disorder, while the ICD- 10 not only identifies the disorder and relevant symptoms, but it also tries to identify a cause. Andrews, G. , Slade, T. , Peters, L. 1999). The medical model of mental health describes people with mental illnesses as victims of their disorder, they see them as being unable to control their own actions and place no blame on the patient. The medical model uses drugs and therapies in order to treat people with mental illness, these could be things such as antipsychotic drugs, antidepressant drugs, mood stabilisers, sectioning, institutionalisation, ECT (Electro compulsive therapy), psychosurgery etc. (Saul McLeod, 2008).The socio-medical model’s approach to mental health is a total contrast to that of the medical model. It believes that many of the treatments used by the biomedical model are inhumane and unnecessary, and that mental illness is a result of social and personal factors surrounding an individual, rather than as a result of a biological cause. The socio-medical mod el would use therapies such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), client-centred therapy, family interventions, self-help groups, social and individual learning skills sessions and vocational training.The therapies used by the socio-medical model aim to give insight into the patients personal problems which could be causing the mental illness, they aim to give the patient unconditional positive regard, boost self-esteem and confidence (which may be low due to the negative perceptions of mental illnesses in most societies) and try to promote an independent life for the patient so that they can live in society safely, whilst still getting the care and treatment they need from community carers etc. (Coppock and Dunn, 2009).They believe the society you live in, your quality of life and your social class has a great influence on an individual’s mental health. They would say that due to the financial stresses and low life quality of the lower classes, this would make them more li kely to suffer from mental illness. They will use the client centred therapy to identify the personal problems in an individual’s life such as marital problems, financial problems, problems in the work place etc. The socio-medical model believes that the medical model stigmatizes patients by treating all patients suffering from a particular mental illness the same.They believe that society has a negative perception of mentally ill people and that they should not be labelled as it is not their fault they are suffering from that condition. (Ross Clarke B, 2012). Besides the different medical models, there are also other approaches to the study of mental health. Sigmund Freud, and others who follow the psychodynamic theory, would say that mental illness is due to an unsuccessful completion of a psychosexual stage or due to a trauma in a person’s childhood, and that bringing their unconscious thoughts to the surface of the conscious mind (using psychotherapy) will eliminat e the problem. Unknown Author B, 2011). Different time periods have also had different approaches to the study of mental illness. Early this century, for example, people suffering from mental illness were seen as being inadequate to the rest of society, a danger to their-selves and others and unable to live ‘normally’ within society. They treated these people inhumanely, carrying out horrendous treatments which often resulted in patients becoming emotionless and ‘zombified’.Before the 1950’s ECT was carried out without the use of anaesthetic, which was very painful and uncomfortable for the patient. Around this time people with mental illnesses were being institutionalised on a regular basis, and by the mid 1950’s there was a total of around 150,000 people across the UK in mental institutions. (BBC, 2010). People were institutionalised for a variety of different reasons, ranging from sufferers of depression, to violent outbursts (mostly among women) and then extreme things such as murder or suicide attempts.These institutions at the time thought they were providing the best form of treatment for their patients, but people in more recent times think that the institutions had an unpleasant ‘prison-like atmosphere’ and that they totally took away people’s rights, freedom, independence, social skills and self-esteem and confidence and that the treatments they used were unnecessary and inhumane. (BBC, 2010).In the late 1950’s – early 1960’s a more humane approach started to be taken to the study of mental health. The start of the NHS in 1948 meant that mental health would now have a more modern and humane view from society, the NHS started to introduce new treatments and therapies in the asylums/institutions such as ‘programmes of activity’ including craft and sewing classes ect, and also introduced an ‘open-door policy’, aiming to give the patients more indep endence and freedom.This new approach recognised that asylums were not necessary for all mentally ill patients and in 1961, a man named Enoch Powell tried to change societies vision of mental ill health and, as the health minister of the time, he vowed to close all mental asylums/institutions and to instead, release patients into society, providing treatment and care for them at home and in the community via community carers. (Adam McCulloch, Michael Fitzpatrick, 2011). It wasn’t until the 1970’s however that people stopped being admitted into the asylums and still took until the 1980’s for the first asylum to close.By 1990 100,000 patients had been released into society and mental hospitals started to become extinct. This was the start of care in the community for the mentally ill, as we know it today. (BBC, 2010). The modern approach to mental illness is that there could be a number of causes, whether that be genetic, organic, personal, social or a combination of either, and that sufferers should not be labelled, should not be considered ‘abnormal’ and that they should be treated just like any other ‘normal’ member of society. Ross Clarke B, 2012). They should receive sufficient care via GP/hospital appointments, care in the community and by alternative therapies such as family interventions, self-help groups etc. ‘User movements’ have also quite recently been introduced, this is a system which encourages the patient to work with a professional such as a doctor/psychiatrist to help choose the treatments they receive in order to make them feel more in control of their illness or disorder and to help them feel more confidence that the chosen treatment will work. BBC, 2010). People with mental illnesses are no longer stigmatised or labelled and a majority of the western world have now accepted mental illness as a genuine problem which needs to be solved, rather than seeing it as a condition which needs to be locked away from society like in the early 50’s. References Mike Harris. (2008). Sociology of health and illness. Available: http://www. slideshare. net/Bias22/sociology-of-health-and-illness-presentation#btnNext Last Accessed: 06/12/2012Unknown Author. (2012). What is the biomedical model? Available: http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-the-biomedical-model. htm Last Accessed: 06/12/2012 Ross Clarke. (2012). Booklet 3 – the different constructions of health and illness. The Manchester College, 2012 The Open university. (2012). Models of healthcare: the biomedical model. Available: http://openlearn. open. ac. uk/mod/oucontent/view. php? id=398060§ion=1. 6 Last Accessed: 06/12/2012 Andrews, G. , Slade, T. , Peters, L. (1999).Classification in psychiatry: ICD-10 versus DSM-IV. The British Journal of Psychiatry. v. 174. no. 1. p. 3 – 4 Ross Clarke B. (2012). Booklet 4 – approaches to the study of mental health and illness. The Manchester College, 201 2. Saul McLeod. (2008). The medical model. Available: http://www. simplypsychology. org/medical-model. html Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. Coppock and Dunn. (2009). Understanding mental health and mental distress. Available: http://www. sagepub. com/upm-data/30675_02_Coppock_&_Dunn_Ch_01. df Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. Unknown Author B. (2011). Psychology 101. Available: http://allpsych. com/psychology101/personality. html Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. BBC (2010). BBC4 video – mental history of the mad house. Last Accessed 27/11/2012. Adam McCulloch, Michael Fitzpatrick. (2011). Mental institutions, Enoch Powell and community care. Available: http://www. communitycare. co. uk/blogs/social-care-the-big-picture/2011/09/mental-institutions-enoch-powell-and-community-care. html Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. The Sociology of Health The Sociology of Health The socio-medical model of health The socio-medical model of health focuses on the social factors which effect an individual’s health and well-being. They believe each person should be treated in accordance to their own personal circumstance and situation surrounding there illness, rather than be treated as a member of a group suffering from a particular illness, and should be treated the same as each person within that group. The socio-medical model concentrates on social factors contributing to the standards of health.Social inequality and living standards are important influences on the standards of health. The socio-medical model suggests that the wealthy are more likely to have good health and suffer from less illness, and the poor are more likely to have bad health and suffer from more illnesses than the wealthy would. Things which could be factors contributing to ill health within societies with poor living standards, according to the socio-medic al model are; damp or cold houses, lack of exercise, poor diet, lack of education and health awareness etc.The socio-medical model also suggests that the standards of health varies across different cultures, and that what is considered an illness in one society might be not be seen as an illness in another society. For example the contagious skin disease ‘yaws’ was so common in sub-Saharan Africa early this century that it was not considered a disease at all, it was considered normal because most of the population had the disease. The socio-medical model thinks that some societies also treat people with an illness differently from other societies.For example Australia does not allow anyone with HIV into the country, which is seen by most other countries as morally wrong and contrasts with the way people with HIV are treated in the majority of societies around the world. Time is another factor which the socio-medical model believes influences the standards of health. For instance cigarettes were promoted as being positive over 60years ago, whereas today smoking cigarettes is a well-known health threat.Socio-medical treatments for illnesses include looking at an individual’s personal situation, identifying the factors which have contributed to their illness or disorder, and removing these factors in order to correct or resolve the problem. For example a young man who has gone bald, from a socio-medical point of view, would be assessed and factors in his life such as great stress at work would be identified, this stress would be seen as the cause of his premature baldness, and they would try to help the man find a health way to vent his stress – in order to improve his condition.The biomedical model would view this man in a different way, they would concentrate on genetic factors such as premature baldness in his father, and put this forward as the cause in contrast to the socio-medical model. The biomedical model of health The biomedic al model emerged after the industrialisation of the western world. New scientific discoveries and methods were being used to produce a new model of health which used new technologies and tests such as x-rays, biopsies and electroencephalographs in order to monitor people’s health.These tests aim to show ‘biological malfunction or irregularity’ in order to diagnose illnesses, which are then treated using biological methods such as drugs, operations, hospitalisation etc. (Ross Clarke, 2012). According to the biomedical model the individual is not responsible for their illness or condition, and think that illness is caused by; a biological breakdown within the individual (this can be things such as infections, genetic malfunctions, broken bones and so on) or by external factors invading the body – such as virus’s and disease etc.They believe every single illness has ‘one single observable cause’. (Mike Harris, 2008). The biomedical model b elieves that the cause for a certain illness in one person has the same cause of that illness in another person – so all people with that illness should be given the same treatments, no individual cases are usually taken into account. (Ross Clarke, 2012). The biomedical model refers to ‘good health’ as having no illness. If you have ‘bad health’ you are considered to be ill, or to have an illness.Treatment is given with the aim of correcting a malfunction within the body and once this malfunction is corrected, you will be considered to be healthy again. (The Open University, 2012). The biomedical model is the dominant model of health in the modern western world. It treats illness and ‘malfunction’ with the use of medication, operations, radio and chemo therapy, transplants etc. Some socio-medical methods of treatment, however, are used alongside the biomedical model treatments, such as the use of therapy. (Unknown Author, 2012).The diffe rent approaches to mental health and illness Mental health and illness can be defined and viewed in many different ways according to many different factors including; the models of disability, the culture, gender, social class, the time period, religion etc. (Ross Clarke B, 2012). The biomedical, or medical, model of health would describe mental illness in the same way they describe any other illness; that it is caused by one single physical/genetic cause. This could be things such as genes passed down from your parents, a bump or bang to the head etc.They believe that symptoms are caused by a physical problem within the person or in the brain and they group these symptoms together in order to diagnose an illness or syndrome. The medical model uses two classification systems of mental illness in order to diagnose a patient. These two systems are the DSM IV and the ICD-10. The DSM identifies the patient’s symptoms in order to give a diagnosis for their disorder, while the ICD- 10 not only identifies the disorder and relevant symptoms, but it also tries to identify a cause. Andrews, G. , Slade, T. , Peters, L. 1999). The medical model of mental health describes people with mental illnesses as victims of their disorder, they see them as being unable to control their own actions and place no blame on the patient. The medical model uses drugs and therapies in order to treat people with mental illness, these could be things such as antipsychotic drugs, antidepressant drugs, mood stabilisers, sectioning, institutionalisation, ECT (Electro compulsive therapy), psychosurgery etc. (Saul McLeod, 2008).The socio-medical model’s approach to mental health is a total contrast to that of the medical model. It believes that many of the treatments used by the biomedical model are inhumane and unnecessary, and that mental illness is a result of social and personal factors surrounding an individual, rather than as a result of a biological cause. The socio-medical mod el would use therapies such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), client-centred therapy, family interventions, self-help groups, social and individual learning skills sessions and vocational training.The therapies used by the socio-medical model aim to give insight into the patients personal problems which could be causing the mental illness, they aim to give the patient unconditional positive regard, boost self-esteem and confidence (which may be low due to the negative perceptions of mental illnesses in most societies) and try to promote an independent life for the patient so that they can live in society safely, whilst still getting the care and treatment they need from community carers etc. (Coppock and Dunn, 2009).They believe the society you live in, your quality of life and your social class has a great influence on an individual’s mental health. They would say that due to the financial stresses and low life quality of the lower classes, this would make them more li kely to suffer from mental illness. They will use the client centred therapy to identify the personal problems in an individual’s life such as marital problems, financial problems, problems in the work place etc. The socio-medical model believes that the medical model stigmatizes patients by treating all patients suffering from a particular mental illness the same.They believe that society has a negative perception of mentally ill people and that they should not be labelled as it is not their fault they are suffering from that condition. (Ross Clarke B, 2012). Besides the different medical models, there are also other approaches to the study of mental health. Sigmund Freud, and others who follow the psychodynamic theory, would say that mental illness is due to an unsuccessful completion of a psychosexual stage or due to a trauma in a person’s childhood, and that bringing their unconscious thoughts to the surface of the conscious mind (using psychotherapy) will eliminat e the problem. Unknown Author B, 2011). Different time periods have also had different approaches to the study of mental illness. Early this century, for example, people suffering from mental illness were seen as being inadequate to the rest of society, a danger to their-selves and others and unable to live ‘normally’ within society. They treated these people inhumanely, carrying out horrendous treatments which often resulted in patients becoming emotionless and ‘zombified’.Before the 1950’s ECT was carried out without the use of anaesthetic, which was very painful and uncomfortable for the patient. Around this time people with mental illnesses were being institutionalised on a regular basis, and by the mid 1950’s there was a total of around 150,000 people across the UK in mental institutions. (BBC, 2010). People were institutionalised for a variety of different reasons, ranging from sufferers of depression, to violent outbursts (mostly among women) and then extreme things such as murder or suicide attempts.These institutions at the time thought they were providing the best form of treatment for their patients, but people in more recent times think that the institutions had an unpleasant ‘prison-like atmosphere’ and that they totally took away people’s rights, freedom, independence, social skills and self-esteem and confidence and that the treatments they used were unnecessary and inhumane. (BBC, 2010).In the late 1950’s – early 1960’s a more humane approach started to be taken to the study of mental health. The start of the NHS in 1948 meant that mental health would now have a more modern and humane view from society, the NHS started to introduce new treatments and therapies in the asylums/institutions such as ‘programmes of activity’ including craft and sewing classes ect, and also introduced an ‘open-door policy’, aiming to give the patients more indep endence and freedom.This new approach recognised that asylums were not necessary for all mentally ill patients and in 1961, a man named Enoch Powell tried to change societies vision of mental ill health and, as the health minister of the time, he vowed to close all mental asylums/institutions and to instead, release patients into society, providing treatment and care for them at home and in the community via community carers. (Adam McCulloch, Michael Fitzpatrick, 2011). It wasn’t until the 1970’s however that people stopped being admitted into the asylums and still took until the 1980’s for the first asylum to close.By 1990 100,000 patients had been released into society and mental hospitals started to become extinct. This was the start of care in the community for the mentally ill, as we know it today. (BBC, 2010). The modern approach to mental illness is that there could be a number of causes, whether that be genetic, organic, personal, social or a combination of either, and that sufferers should not be labelled, should not be considered ‘abnormal’ and that they should be treated just like any other ‘normal’ member of society. Ross Clarke B, 2012). They should receive sufficient care via GP/hospital appointments, care in the community and by alternative therapies such as family interventions, self-help groups etc. ‘User movements’ have also quite recently been introduced, this is a system which encourages the patient to work with a professional such as a doctor/psychiatrist to help choose the treatments they receive in order to make them feel more in control of their illness or disorder and to help them feel more confidence that the chosen treatment will work. BBC, 2010). People with mental illnesses are no longer stigmatised or labelled and a majority of the western world have now accepted mental illness as a genuine problem which needs to be solved, rather than seeing it as a condition which needs to be locked away from society like in the early 50’s. References Mike Harris. (2008). Sociology of health and illness. Available: http://www. slideshare. net/Bias22/sociology-of-health-and-illness-presentation#btnNext Last Accessed: 06/12/2012Unknown Author. (2012). What is the biomedical model? Available: http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-the-biomedical-model. htm Last Accessed: 06/12/2012 Ross Clarke. (2012). Booklet 3 – the different constructions of health and illness. The Manchester College, 2012 The Open university. (2012). Models of healthcare: the biomedical model. Available: http://openlearn. open. ac. uk/mod/oucontent/view. php? id=398060§ion=1. 6 Last Accessed: 06/12/2012 Andrews, G. , Slade, T. , Peters, L. (1999).Classification in psychiatry: ICD-10 versus DSM-IV. The British Journal of Psychiatry. v. 174. no. 1. p. 3 – 4 Ross Clarke B. (2012). Booklet 4 – approaches to the study of mental health and illness. The Manchester College, 201 2. Saul McLeod. (2008). The medical model. Available: http://www. simplypsychology. org/medical-model. html Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. Coppock and Dunn. (2009). Understanding mental health and mental distress. Available: http://www. sagepub. com/upm-data/30675_02_Coppock_&_Dunn_Ch_01. df Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. Unknown Author B. (2011). Psychology 101. Available: http://allpsych. com/psychology101/personality. html Last Accessed: 06/12/2012. BBC (2010). BBC4 video – mental history of the mad house. Last Accessed 27/11/2012. Adam McCulloch, Michael Fitzpatrick. (2011). Mental institutions, Enoch Powell and community care. Available: http://www. communitycare. co. uk/blogs/social-care-the-big-picture/2011/09/mental-institutions-enoch-powell-and-community-care. html Last Accessed: 06/12/2012.

Human Resources Functions Essay

Human resources or personnel function fulfils a number of needs. It is responsible for the hiring and firing of employees, for staff training and development, and for dealing with matters relating to industrial relations. In this report I will be analysing each of the functions related to human resource and then take one of them and make an in depth analysis of it. Once I collect the information I need regarding the responsibilities of the human resources and how they should be carried out, my next step will be to compare them with a medium or large size company to see how they carrying out the responsibilities and what alterations they have made to suit their particular needs. To do this I have chosen Tesco. Below I will briefly look at the four functions of human resource and how they affect Tesco: 1. Human Resource Planning Human resource planning can be defined as: â€Å"The activity of management which is aimed at coordinating the requirements for and the availability of the different types of employee† In simplicity, this means to make sure that the organisation has the right number of employees and of the right quality. For the human resource to achieve their targets they need to have a good understating of the labour market in the local area. When planning human resources Tesco need to take into account the following factors: a) Local employment trends Local employment trends tells Tesco about the levels of employment in the area and gives them a general idea of the type of jobs people are getting and the type of jobs that there are a shortage in. b) Local skills shortages Local skills shortages is an important aspect to Tesco’s human resource because it informs them about the lack of people with certain qualities in the local area. This is important as it can be used to compare against the Tesco’s skills criteria for new employees. If they are looking for certain skills from people and theses are not available then they will either need to compromise or look elsewhere. Also, if they know the general skills of the people then when they advertising for a job, it will reduce the chance of them asking for qualities which are absent in the people, which might keep very suitable people from applying and few applicants might mean that further advertisements are needed, costing time and money to Tesco. c) Competition for employees There may be very few people with top qualities willing to work for a company like Tesco. It would be in the best interest of Tesco to seek and take theses enthusiasts on board. If they don’t, then other similar retailers will recruit them and then they will become rivals to Tesco. Competition for employees may even be on the lower skills end where there may be a shortage for cashiers, for example. Tesco will need to provide suitable incentives to attract these key people. One simple way in which to attract the mass of people is to increase their wage. This is not always the case due to the financial constraints on a business. d) Availability of labour Availability of labour is an important factor for Tesco. They need to make sure that they are aware of the quantity and quality of workers available when recruiting. This understanding will allow them to make right decision when employing people. If there are very few suitable candidates then they will have to choose someone amongst those. However, if there are many people suitable for the job then they can carry on with their search until they come across some one who fulfils all the requirements. It is important for Tesco to know the availability of workers in their locality as this will enable them to prepare and make back up plans for when there is a shortage of suitable people willing to work for Tesco. Human resource planning also involves looking at how labour is organised within a business. The factors that Tesco must take into account are as follows: a) Labour turnover This is about forecasting supply of labour. It asks the question ‘how many employees will we have in the future?’ It therefore means looking at internal and external sources of labour. When Tesco is looking at the total supply of labour in its organisation it is important for them to look at labour turnover. Below is an example of one of many ways of working out employee turnover: This is sometime called the ‘percentage waste rate’. It tells Tesco what percentage of workforce left in a year. There are also other indexes which deal with stability, which give a good idea of how long employees are staying with the organisation. If employees are not staying very long in certain departments of Tesco, then this can be pinpointed and investigated. b) Sickness and accident rates A high level of sickness absence will affect the supply of labour very badly. If genuine then Tesco can do very little in the short term. If they are bogus then moral within honest workers will be low and confidence in managers can sink. There are many ways in which the human resource team can monitor performance against: o Performance in the previous year o Trends in other organisations in the same industrial sector o National sickness absence figures Accident rates can be lowered and kept to a minimum if health and safety guidelines are followed properly. c) Age, skills and training This is also known as stock taking. It asks the question ‘what is the quantity and quality of staff available in the organisation?’ It uses the following techniques: o Job analysis involves gathering information about all employees. It collects information regarding their duties and skills required to fulfil those duties. o Skills audit is a survey of the skills, qualifications and experience of all existing staff. o Performance review involves looking at the performance of all employees in order to: o identify potential staff o identify where staff have more training needs This information will give an idea to the rest of the company about the skills and training of their employees. Weakness can be tackled using these information and strengths can be built upon. d) Succession This really only applies to employees at supervisor/line manager level and above. Succession planning enables the organisation to ensure that staff with potential to fill top jobs are given extra training or wider experience so that when the time comes they will be able to fill those positions. Without this type of planning Tesco would see good employees leaving for better opportunities elsewhere. This will make it harder for Tesco to fill gaps at a later date. Conclusion on Human Resource Planning Humans are the most important resource to Tesco and they will need to make sure that they plan properly to ensure that they employee the best people who are best suited to the job. This will ensure they have an advantage over their rivals, as rivals can copy products but not staff. 2. Recruitment and Selection Tesco recruit staff for a number of reasons. Initial recruiting is needed when a new store opens and after that there will be a constant need for recruiting due to the changing needs of Tesco and the needs of he employees. o The growth of Tesco is usually seen with the opening of new stores. The opening of stores means that they need to recruit so that the employees can run the store. o Changing job roles within the business o Resignation, retirement, dismissal also means that recruitment needs to take place in order to replace these workers and keep the business running as before o Internal promotion means that new recruits are needed when existing employees are being promoted to higher positions, which leads to vacancies which can be filled by internal candidates. Promotion usually means that there are now gaps at the lower skill level in the store and this creates jobs for external candidates with less experience. Extra costs are always frowned upon by businesses and recruitment, if not properly done can cost a business a lot of money and time. This means that it is very important for a business to recruit accurately and this will mean that the recruiting team have a clear idea of what sort of person the business is looking for and what is expected from them. The team can save the business money and time by: o Preparing person specifications and job description which clearly outline what kind of person they are looking for and with what qualifications. The job description will clearly linked with what they are expected to do once recruited and what is expected of them. o Carefully planning how, when and where to advertise as this will save time and money for Tesco. Tesco need to weigh out the costs and benefits of different methods of advertising (e.g. using internet or the local newspaper), when the best time for advertising is (in the summer holidays or beginning of the school year) and where to advertise (e.g. in the stores or at the job centre). o Identifying the strengths and weakness of job applications, curriculum vitae and letters of application. The recruiting team will need to be very experienced at electing candidates. Their experience in recruiting will be reflected in the quality of candidates they recruit. o Short-listing candidates involves selecting a small number of applicants for the next stage. This may well be training or more tasks to lower the number of people for the next stage. This selecting will carry on until the right numbers of candidates are found with the desired quality. The recruiting team need to be able to distinguish easily the strong applicants from the weak as there may be hundreds of applicants. When recruiting every applicant deserves and expects the same opportunity as their rivals. There are many legal and ethnic responsibilities relating to equal opportunities which Tesco must uphold so that they don’t break the government law and trust of the public. Below are a few acts passed by the government which will govern the recruiting method and process. o Equal Pay Act 1970, requires employers to pay same rate of pay to men and women if they are doing the same job. o Sex Discrimination Act 1975 states that employers may not discriminate on grounds of gender. This act makes it illegal to discriminate against a particular sex when: o Advertising to fill jobs available o Appointing employees for those jobs o Promoting staff into better jobs o Determining the terms and conditions of the ob o When offering employees opportunities for training and development There are Exceptions to this act where this act does not apply. However, these exceptions do not apply to Tesco and this means that the whole act is to be followed by Tesco. o Race Relations Act 1976 makes discrimination on grounds of race illegal in the same areas as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, i.e. advertising jobs, appointing staff, promoting staff and providing staff benefits. Again there are exceptions which do not apply to Tesco which means the whole act is to be followed by Tesco. o Disability Discrimination Act 1995 updates the protection for disabled persons and places it onto a similar basis as for other forms of discrimination. Key aspects of the Act warn against discriminating when advertising jobs, appointing staff, promoting staff and providing staff benefits. It also states that reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that a disabled person can work on the premises. This act does not cover organisations employing fewer than 20 people. It is therefore correct to say that this act is to be followed closely by Tesco as their employees’ number thousands. However, Tesco only have to do what is reasonable. If modifications are very expensive then this would be deemed unreasonable. There is some government financial assistance available for modifications to buildings. To ensure that only suitable candidates are chosen and to make the selecting process easier and less time consuming, there are testing method and techniques available to the recruiting team. Aptitude tests It has become increasingly common for employers to expect job applicants to carry out tests to give a fuller picture of their ability to do the job applied for. They are appropriate or manual work where there is some skill involved and also for office work. These types of tests are appropriate for Tesco to use as they will allow them to find out more about the applicant before selecting and will allow the applicants to show their full potential. Psychometric tests These types of test assess the intelligence and personality of applicants. They are much more sophisticated then aptitude tests and Tesco must have properly trained staff to carry out and analyse the tests. The producers of such test argue that they are unbiased and that they can sow, for example, if a candidate would work well in a team. Human resources department must have good interviewing techniques and the interviews must adopt these methods and techniques when interviewing to ensure they reach out comes in the best interest of Tesco and its entire staff. Tesco must make sure that recruiters are aware of all the criteria for evaluating the recruitment process and must ensure that all the guidelines and methods are followed carefully. Many employers now use their employees in a ‘flexible’ way so that they can get the most value form them. Tesco must understand the importance of recruiting and maintaining a flexible workforce if they are to remain competitive. There are different bases for recruiting people for a flexible workforce, and below I have mentioned a few: o Different modes of employment o Different terms and conditions Just as methods of working have changed, so have the terms and conditions under which people are employed. People may be employed full-time or part-time under a number of contractual arrangements. o Core employees are highly paid workers who offer ‘firm-specific’ skills which are hard to acquire form anywhere else. Often such skills will have been acquired within the organisation itself. They provide functional flexibility because they do a range of tasks. Because they are so ‘firm-specific’ they have high job security. o Part-time, temporary and contract labour Sometimes temporary staff are required for short periods of time either to replace employees who are absent or to help out in busy times. When labour is plentiful the short-term contract enables firms to meet present staffing needs without making a long-term contract. Tesco use this type of recruitment when there is a shortage of staff or when there s a busy period (e.g. Christmas) which demands more assistants in the shop floor. Conclusion on Recruitment and Selection Tesco must ensure that their recruiting team is the properly qualified as a good team will lead to good recruits. Tesco must ensure that they use the best and fair methods suited to their environment to select the right candidates. This will ensure the best people are working for them to create the top company. 3. Training and Development A general definition of ‘training’ is: ‘the acquisition of a body of knowledge and skills which can be applied to a particular job’ Training can be divided into two main categories: ‘on the job’ training or ‘off the job training. ‘on the job’ training This means that the employees acquire their training or development in the workplace itself. An example of this in Tesco is when they recruit a school leaver who has little work experience. One of the supervisors will show the new recruit what they have to carry out and may show them how this is done. ‘off the job’ training This means attending courses which may be in a collage or training centre away from the work place. This usually applies when there are insufficient facilities or people to train the trainees. Tesco may want its entire senior staff to have a high degree of understanding in health and safety and for this they may send their seniors to a course where they would acquire this knowledge from experts. Induction This is an introduction to the organisation for new employees. It is designed to familiarise new recruits with the organisation, its rules, facilities, policies and key staff. Usually an introductory pack containing the main details will be provided. In Tesco this would be carried out once a recruit starts working or when they are being promoted and new responsibilities are put on them. The induction is very important to both Tesco and their new employee. Tesco need to ensue that they give the best possible start to the recruit and the employee needs to be satisfied that this it is in their best interest to work for Tesco. Tesco will also get their first impression of their recruit so this stage is important for Tesco. Mentoring This can take a number of forms. It may involve an experienced member of staff supporting a new recruit through initial stages after joining the organisation. The aim is to give a new member of staff a point of contact where problems can be taken and advice given. The meetings are usually informal and supportive and the mentor is often someone at the same level in the organisation as the new recruit. Mentoring will allow the new member to pick up new ideas quickly and will be more beneficial for the company. Coaching Coaching is a term which is becoming increasingly used in association with training in business. It involves an expert helping employees to develop specific skills through explanation, practice and encouragement. Coaching is becoming popular as a means of developing the skills of senior managers. This is important as it targets employees at the higher end of the chart. Their success will be passed on to the juniors and this will mean that better managers will mean better staff. Apprenticeships Traditionally, an apprenticeship involved a trainee working for a period of time with a craftsperson in order to learn a trade. In-house raining This is where employers run courses inside their own organisation. Courses run ‘in house’ will be ones where it is impractical and unrealistic to offer any other alternative – an oblivious example would be the organisation induction programme. This type of training is very useful to Tesco because this means that they can easily gather all their employees and teach them new methods or make them aware of surrounding situations. This will give them advantage over rivals as it will mean that all their staff are always up-to date with the latest knowledge, skills and methods. External training Sometimes it is necessary to send staff to do courses elsewhere. This may be at a factory of a n equipment supplier (when an organisation buys new equipment the supplier will usually run training programmes at its own factory to get employees accustomed to using it). This type of training will make the employees more efficient as they won’t be wasting valuable time on the shop floor trying to figure out what certain buttons on a machine do. Transferable skills These are skills that, once learnt, may be applied in many different situations. The key skills of Application of Number, Communication and Information Technology are transferable. This could be for example cashing up the till. Non-transferable skills These are narrow skills that are job specific; they apply only to a particular situation. This for example could be the procedure of dealing with out of date food. Conclusion on Training and Development Knowledge and skills of staff are vital to the success of Tesco. Therefore, they must ensure their employees are best trained and that they are always developing. 4. Performance Management A business needs to ensure that its employees are performing effectively. It will wish to: o Identify areas which are unsatisfactory o It may wish to find areas where employees need to be trained and developed o It may wish to encourage and reward good performance – perhaps with performance-related pay in the form of bonuses or pay increases. Performance management refers to the practice of setting targets, measuring performance against these and suggesting courses of action. A number of methods may be used to check performance the choice will depend upon the business in question. Performance reviews including appraisals An increasingly important way of getting feedback on employee performance is through appraisal. Appraisal may be closed, in which case the report remains confidential. More usually the process is open, in which case the appraisee takes an active part in the review process and discusses the results. The appraisal essentially looks at what an employee’s job is, how well it is being performed, and what action should be taken for the future. Self-appraisals Self-appraisals involves employees assessing themselves against a series of criteria. These results can then Peer evaluations This involves employees on the same level within the organisation assessing each other. This may mean that managers in different of Tesco observe each others and write a report. Target setting for individuals and groups All employees should know just what’s expected of them on the job. When setting targets the Human Resources department for Tesco must make sure that their targets meet these criteria: o They should be specific. Every person doing a job should know exactly what he or she is expected to do. o They should be measurable. Tesco should have a touchstone against which performance can be measured. o They must be attainable. Unless the targets can be met, staff will consider them unfair and Tesco may find that their staff, resist working towards them. Measuring individual and group output/production Tesco employ staff in order to help the organisation sell the products and provide its customers with quality service. The efforts of the human resources managers will be towards improving the performance of employees and thereby enabling the organisation to achieve its objectives. Performance can be measured in a number of ways: o Performance through profit This may mean comparing its profit for different years or against its other stores. o Performance through quality Today, quality is a word used in all organisations, those providing services as well as those providing goods. This means that Tesco can use methods such as suggestion box for customers to praise customer service or to make complaints against staff. This will enable management to work with the employee in question or to reward them. o Performance through productivity In Tesco, sales representatives, for example, keep records of sales they make. Tesco can for example, compare two staff at the checkouts working the same shifts to see how fast they are serving the customers, by analysing how many customers they have served. They can use this to determine training needs. After setting these performances, the staff will be monitored and their results analysed. In order for Tesco to prosper amongst their rivals they must use the performance results as a way to find and solve problems. For example, the results may show that a particular employee or a group of employee lack certain aspects of knowledge in their jobs. Using this information Tesco can target these employees and send them on training programmes so that they are more developed. Motivation It may seem obvious that staff should be motivated; however, from the point of human resources management this is only true if motivation leads to improvements in the work. Over the years a number of management theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain the nature of motivation and suggest ways in which it may be improved. Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management Taylor’s belief was that complex tasks should be broken into separate operations so that little could go wrong. Each operation would be performed by a separate employee. The whole job could then be completed in a series of stages by a number of employees working together. This theory can be seen if one aspect of Tesco is looked in to detail. For example, when a delivery comes one employee doesn’t unload the truck, check them off, and put them on the shelves. This process of getting goods from the truck on to the shop floor is done by a number of employees working in team so that once one stage is completed the second can be tackled by another set of employees. This way each set of employees knows exactly what they are required to do and chance of something going wrong is decreased. Fredrick Herzberg’s two factor theory Herzberg’s theories, produced in the 1950s, concern job design and satisfaction. From numerous interviews with accountants and engineers he concluded that two sets of factors are important. o Hygiene factors, which include reasonable pay, satisfactory conditions of work and benefits such as sick pay. o Motivators, which include responsibility, challenge and self-improvement. Hertzberg believed that properly designed jobs provide satisfaction and personal development for the employee. The workers become motivated, perform well and are less likely to be absent. To Tesco this theory is very important. They have taken advice from such theory and adapted their policies where possible to suit their employees. Tesco pay competitive rates, their working conditions are of top quality and they have many benefits. These are a result of understanding this theory and implementing them so that they get the desired results that all companies want. Abraham Maslow’s hierarch of needs Maslow developed his ‘Theory of Human Motivation’ in 1943. He believed that motivation comes from a desire to satisfy needs. He placed these in a hierarchy with the basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid and higher needs at the top. In practice Maslow accepted that a variety of needs will exist at the same time, but suggested that once lower needs are satisfied then higher needs become the strongest motivators. Maslows theory has the same basis of Fredrick Herzbergs’s two factor theory because they both argue that what satisfies a person is the hygiene factors and the Motivators. Fredrick just says that a combination of these two factors leads to better performance where are Maslow goes further to say that they come in a set order where once basic needs are satisfied, higher, more complicated desires will be sought. Both Maslow and Fredrick speak of the same requirements in their theory. Evidence of both these theories can be seen in the day to day running of one of the Tesco stores. One such examples is the promotion of senior managers to managerial positions. In this instance the desire of the employee in question has been fulfilled and soon their desire will advance and they may start looking for further responsibility. Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Y. In his book , The Human Side of Enterprise, he put forward two extreme views about the way in which organisations manage their employees. He called theses ‘Theory X’ and ‘Theory Y’. ‘Theory X’ states that all employees are lazy unambitious and dislike extra responsibilities. They will always resist change of any kind and are totally uninterested in the future success or otherwise of their employer. They are not interested in how the organisation works and prefer to be told what to do. ‘Theory Y’ is exactly the opposite. Employees are interested in their work and want to be asked for their opinions on how to improve things. They want to be given more responsibilities and will naturally work hard without having to be told what to do all the time. They are also prepared to accept change because they understand it is in everyone’s best interest to move with the times. In practice theses views are extreme ends of the scale and Tesco like most other organisations falls between the two. They have both employees who have the characteristics of ‘theory X’ as well as employees with characteristics of ‘theory Y’. Naturally the more characteristics an employee holds of ‘theory Y’ the more likely that that person will be promoted to higher, more responsible positions as it’s in the best interest for Tesco to make ‘theroy Y’ employees managers key workers. One reason is that ‘theory Y’ employees are more likely to have better attendance and punctuality rates because they are self motivating, and this is a great advantage to Tesco and will help Tesco move further. McGregor’s theories are similar to Muslow’s and Fredrick Herzberg’s. They are all closely related because they all base their theories on the same principle of desire. All their theories show that if a person desires for something and the condition is right then they will work towards it with all their effort. For example, if their s a managerial position and they have the ability to grasp that position then they will, but only if they have the desire to take such responsibility. If however, the conditions are right but the desire is absent then they may not try for such a position or may be promoted with no desire which could lead to chaos. On the other hand, if there is an employee with the desire and no opening is in sight then he/she may decide that the best option for them is to move to another company. Therefore, Tesco endeavours to provide eager, hardworking employees the benefits and promotions they rightly deserve. Relationship between Training & Development and Performance Management Before Tesco can give its staff advance training it needs to know what they lack. It will be very expensive for Tesco to give training to its entire staff regarding all the different aspects of the company. Therefore Tesco needs a way of knowing what their staffs lack knowledge in and which staff or group of staff in particular. As I have mentioned earlier there are many different ways of finding out the training is needs and there is a variety of training programs to suit the needs of the employees. Tesco will set training according to the needs which arise from the performance reviews. Once training is given another performance review will be done to asses its success and further training may be suggested. This cycle of training and reviews will always be part of any company due to advances in technology and constant changes in employees and the attitude of society. The training methods Tesco decide to use and they way in which they review performance will be according to the way in which the person in charge understands and evaluates the A business needs to ensure that its employees are performing effectively. It will wish to: o Identify areas which are unsatisfactory o It may wish to find areas where employees need to be trained and developed o It may wish to encourage and reward good performance – perhaps with performance-related pay in the form of bonuses or pay increases. Performance management refers to the practice of setting targets, measuring performance against these and suggesting courses of action. Conclusion on Performance Management Tesco must ensure that performance of staff are at their very best. They must use suitable methods to find weakness in staff and improve. T succeed they must make certain that the correct attitude is always emanating from their employees and that they are ready for change. Quality of information collected from recruitment documents When Tesco are recruiting people they have set procedures to deal with application forms and there are several key recruitment documents that are used by them to evaluate the quality of the person applying. Before any candidate is given the an interview they must pass the selection process. When Tesco are advertising for a recruit they will provide the person with a job description. A job description lists the main tasks required in a job. The person flicking through the newspaper for example, will decide if the tasks suit them and they will then apply if they do. Along with the Job description, Tesco will also provide what is known as a person specification. This sets out the qualities of an ideal candidate whereas a job description defines the duties and responsibilities of the job. The best-known method of drawing up person specification is based upon seven separate groups of characteristic: 1. Physique, health and appearance 2. Attainments 3. General intelligence 4. Special Aptitudes 5. Interests 6. Disposition 7. Circumstances This specification clearly sets out the description of the ideal candidate and applicants can be easily measured against this. This makes the job of the interviewer much easier and will ensure that Tesco are recruiting the right people for the right job. One a person has seen the advertisement and they want to work at Tesco, there are many ways they can apply. Below I will list them and analyse the advantages and disadvantages of each: The curriculum vitae (CV) This is the most common way in which applicants let Tesco know that they are interested to work in Tesco. CVs are very useful to Tesco as they advantages Provides an overview of the applicant Easy to produce Taught at school Can be used in the selection process Can be used to compare against requirements disadvantages May not provide vital information Not everybody has easy access to computers The letter of application This is simply a letter asking for the job and explaining why they are suitable it. Human Resources department staff may need to read hundreds of application letters so it is in the applicants interests to pay attention to doing it properly. advantages o Can be used in the sorting process o Provides an overview of the applicant disadvantages o The person taught to write letters well at school will stand out even though their other qualities might no be so good o The letter may miss out information, which is important, and conversely is likely to dwell on factors, which make them look a more attractive applicant. The application Form This is a far more commonly used method of selection. Consultants devote hours to designing a new and better forms which will extract even more accurate information from people. advantages o Specific requirements from the job and person specification can be compared with the application form o Questions, which might otherwise not be answered in CVs or letters, can be asked. o The form can act as a framework for the interviewer, making the interview easier to conduct. o Forms can be kept of all short listed candidates and drawn on them again if another vacancy arises. o The form for the successful applicant will become a very useful part of his/hers personal records. disadvantages o Costly to design and produce. The effects of I.C.T on recruitment documents The advance of I.C.T means that companies like Tecso use their web site to advertise jobs. They also have online application forms that will appeal to a wider range of audience. Their website also facilitates for C.Vs to be sent directly to Tesco. The new ways of capturing information is a great advantage to Tesco. They receive application forms and C.Vs within minutes, which saves them time and money. However initial costs of setting up the websites are very high, but the Human Resources Department doesn’t have to worry about this because Tesco will have a website whether the Human Resource department want to use it or not.

Assess Albert Speer’s contribution to the Nazi war effort Essay

Albert Speer’s contribution to the Nazi war effort started well before the declaration of war. His work for the Nazi regime aided Adolf Hitler in lifting the morale of the German people and consolidating Nazi power which was determined to engage in armed conflict. Speer was an accomplished architect and a highly efficient organiser. Hitler addressed Berlin’s university students at a Berlin rally in 1931, and Speer who was in the audience was so overwhelmed by what he heard that he joined the Nazi party and committed himself to his work. By 1932 he was working independently as an architect and used his party contacts to gain him more work. In 1933, Goebbels asked Speer to renovate the Propaganda Ministry. His next project proved to be even more successful planning and organising massive banners, swastikas and searchlights for the celebration of the Day of National Labour on the Tempelhof Field in Berlin on May 1st 1933. Goebbels was so impressed that he commissioned Speer to design the surround of the Nuremberg Rally later that year. Soon he was renovating Nazi Party offices and through his hard work and enthusiasm he mad a name for himself amongst the Nazi leadership. With the death of Hitler’s architect Troost, Hitler co-opted Speer as his personal architectural advisor. They became personal friends and Speer moved his family to be near Hitler’s mountain lodge. Speer was commissioned to rebuild the Nuremberg Party Rally grounds and due to his success in propaganda architecture Hitler appointed him in 1938 as General Building Inspector for the National Capital. Speer placed his department at the disposal of the Wehrmacht. Among his innovations were quick-reaction squads who construct roads and cleared away debris. Before long, these units would be used to clear bomb sites. As the war progressed, he failed to convince Hitler of the need to suspend peacetime construction projects, so he continued to work on the Berlin and Nuremburg plans. Speer also oversaw the construction of buildings for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, and developed a considerable organization to deal with this work. Speer continued with his duties designing and constructing for the Reich up until 1942. In this period, his ideas and plans were used by Hitler to show the German population how great the nation could be. That year he was appointed Reich Minister for Armaments & Munitions as a reward for his faithful and unswerving loyalty to Nazi Party and Hitler. Hitler also believed that due to his close relationship to Speer and Speer’s loyalty, he could control arm’s production. Speer’s effect was immediate. In the first six months, he increased production of guns by 27%, tanks by 25% and ammunition by 97%. By the end of 1944, production had increased by 300%. This included a rise in the construction of aircraft from 9500 in 1941, to 34300 by 1944. All this was done with only a 30% increase in the workforce. Speer convinced Hitler that many workers should be diverted from producing consumer items for armaments production. He also used foreign workers and prisoners to work as forced labour. When German war production was at its peak in late September 1944, there were over seven million foreign labourers and 400,000 prisoners of war working as slave labourers. This was approximately 20% of the total workforce. Speer was so efficient with his duties, that many historians credit him with prolonging the war for a further twelve months. Speer was a great believer in the V1 & V2 Rocket programs to swing the tide of the war in Germany’s favour. He claimed that the inability of senior Nazi figures to fully comprehend rocket technology led to a delay in overcoming initial problems with the V2. He believed that the V2 would have been operational far sooner if the project had received greater backing. General Eisenhower claimed after the war that if the V Weapon program had been in place in earl 1944, the D-Day landing may have been impossible. In early 1944, Speer was admitted to a clinic as a result of health problems. During the period of his recovery, he had time to reflect and in doing so, realised his growing disenchantment with Hitler and the Nazi regime. In November 1944 in a private conversation with Joseph Goebbels he indicated his belief that a German victory was not possible. The war was going so poorly for Germany that even Speer’s talent and efficiency drives were unable to reverse the oncoming defeat. By the middle of the year, he had disobeyed Hitler’s orders to put a halt of producing aircraft and boost anti-aircraft production. He also refused to engage in Hitler’s ‘Scorched Earth’ policy which meant that all infrastructure, power supplies, records & documents and food be destroyed before it could fall into the hands of the advancing Allied forces. He did this because he had realised that such an action would devastate any possible chance of recovery for the German people after the war had been lost. It is evident that Albert Speer had an overwhelming effect on the Nazi war effort. His ability to organise and plan projects from architecture, which would lift the peoples morale, to the production of arms which enabled the German armed forces to continue the fight against the allies for so long. Without a person of his ability, the German war machine and the Nazi government would have fallen far earlier.

The Impact Of Tourism In The Construction Industry Essay

The Impact Of Tourism In The Construction Industry - Essay Example This type of development is now under the scanner and faces various pressures and challenges like environmental regulations, land-use planning and protocols, local socio-economic forces and other requirements. Under this situation, it makes a good case to assess and investigate the impacts and implications of modern-day tourism on the construction sector. A careful look at any tourist destination reveals the cyclical link between tourism and the construction industry, both capacitating and facilitating each other. Identifying this link, Riera (1999) and Apostolopoulos et.al. (2001) expressed that mass tourism and accommodation construction are inter-woven, accommodations and hotels need tourist to survive and do business and tourism too needs good accommodation facility for attracting tourists (Riera A., 1999; Apostolopoulos et.al., 2001). Thus, the current trend is in favor of exotic destinations and vacation or second home, a home away from the home which is also an investment home for some. The growth of tourism is always welcome as it has the potential of offering multiple benefits (WWF, 2001; UNEP/CI, 2003; WITC, 2005)-economic opportunities, socio-cultural exchanges & integration, international relationship building and many other associated advantages. For any tourist destination or spot, the growth of tourism implies additional influx of tourists which in turn calls for construction of additional accommodations/vacation homes and tourism infrastructures. Under this situation, tourism growth means more tourists, more demands for accommodations and infrastructures and consequently more construction activities. Looking it the other way, good infrastructures and accommodations can also add to the real value of a destination and attract people facilitating tourism in the process. Thus, there seems to be a straight forward interrelation between tourism and the construction industry (Apostolopoulos et.al., 2001). However, this interrelation or interdependence is not as simple as it sounds. Tourism is intrinsically an activity constrained by time and space and construction too is heavily dependent on space or geographical area and land-use configuration (Hall, 2005). Space has limitations and thus, tourism and the construction industry cannot keep on growing or developing indiscriminately and ceaselessly or else, the realities of space constraints and the possible negative environmental consequences are sure to push this industry into the extinction. Construction related to tourism development (hotels, airports, roads, and vacation homes) causes the greatest negative impact to the ecosystem and more so when the destination is rich in biodiversity like the Mediterranean region. Loss of biodiversity and picturesque landscapes already affects a number of tourist destinations throughout the Mediterranean and often, these losses or negative impacts are far greater than the positive outcomes or the associated values of tourism (Paris Chris, 2006). Therefore, balancing the

Ethical Clinical Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ethical Clinical Research - Essay Example Meeting the diverse needs of these stakeholders generates a number of questions and sometimes conflicts about responsibilities and values, where the most important philosophical need would be to carry out research in a way sensitive to the needs of participants in the field (Chadwick and Tadd, 1992, 7-63). Some basic issues in research ethics centre on special levels of protection and aid for vulnerable and disadvantaged parties, when a research is contemplated involving their participation. These issues cut across clinical ethics, public health ethics and research ethics (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2002a). When individuals lack the ability to select the approach that would be most consistent with their values and preferences, it is inappropriate to give them control over their consent to a research (Royal College Of Nursing Research Society, 2004). Vulnerable persons usually need the protection of a trustworthy individual to make decisions on their behalf. The capacity evaluation is essential to determine whether autonomy or protection is the appropriate governing principle in particular cases (Broome, 1999, 96-103). Ethical and Legal Principles in Research To make autonomous choices, people must have certain abilities, and there is agreement on the basic features of decisional capacity. It has been mentioned that four abilities are central, the ability to communicate a choice; the ability to understand relevant information; the ability to appreciate how this information applies to one's current and future situation; and the ability to give comprehensible reasons for a decision (Noble-Adams, 1999, 888-892). Simple mental status assessments may furnish preliminary guidance; they are insufficient to determine whether someone is able to make autonomous decisions about participating in research. This is more so if the person is being treated for some mental reasons, and research involving these persons are very common (Polit, Becks, & Hungler, 2001, 143-160). Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate decisional capacity in the context of the specific research situation at hand. Decision-making capacity should be assessed through a discussion o f the facts relevant to the particular choice facing a patient. At the least, patients should demonstrate the ability to understand the goals, potential benefits and risks of a proposed research, and should be able to express a reasonably stable choice as well (Manning, 2006, 35-47). Consent and Informed Consent Often, in research, it is insufficient to obtain the cooperation of prospective study participants alone. If the sample includes children, mentally incompetent people, or senile individuals, it would be necessary to secure the permission of parents or guardians. From that point of view, a research problem may not be feasible because the investigation of the problem would pose unfair or unethical demands on participants. The ethical responsibilities of researchers should not be taken lightly (Noble-Adams, 199

Electronic use in everyday life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Electronic use in everyday life - Essay Example These opponents argue that technology is making things difficult for mankind and these problems would be felt in the latter years of life. On the other hand the proponents of technology argue that it is a blessing for the whole mankind as it is making things a lot easier for people. The question then remains â€Å"Is technology really affecting us adversely or not?† This essay would further address this question by revolving around the negative influence of technology on our daily lives. The introduction of internet and computers in our life has turned out to be joyful for many as individuals enjoy surfing and chatting on the internet. Internet not only helps one to surf and chat but also helps to find out useful information about different topics. But the opponents argue that internet has turned out to be a disaster for many. Experts on technology believe that excess usage of computers and internet makes one impulsive and forgetful in his daily life. Excessive usage of internet has been termed to be fall under the category of addiction. Different types of self assessment tests have been designed to check if one falls under the category of internet addiction or not. A study done by the researchers in the University of Melbourne showed that around 10% of the students were suffering from the problem of internet addiction and this clearly shows that people are wasting their time on the internet rather than doing something useful. Some term this addiction as internet de pendence but this also has its negative effects as it is causing people to be distracted from their real life relationships. In other words internet is causing people to be distracted from education and family both at the same time. Cell phones also fall in the category of the internet as they seem to be causing dependence amongst the people too (Parker 2010). The introduction of nuclear power and nuclear weapons has also turned different aspects of the

Environmental Scan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Environmental Scan - Research Paper Example The changes in economic cycles affect the sales of the two firms in the beverage and snacks industry e.g. fluctuating interest rates, exchange rates fluctuations and income levels (PepsiCo, 2010). Reduction in the income level will reduce the two company’s level of sales. The social factor like the cultural beliefs and practices determines the level of sales in the global arena. There are some regions across the globe where the consumption of snacks are discouraged hence reduce sales level. Demographic factors like youth population, family sizes further influence sales. Since the two firms operate globally, the political changes that determine the legislations, taxation and regulations affect the firms equally. The adoption of enhanced technology that reduces operational costs and efficiency will make the external environment (Coca-Cola, n.d). The internal environment that includes financial strengths, employee enthusiasms, organization culture, and innovation remain core to t he businesses. PepsiCo core competitive advantage is the diversified portfolio of products and brands, high innovation and differentiation of products and ability to enter into new markets successfully. The healthier food makes customers purchase their goods. The company strategy is to rethink and implement new efficient ways of production and best practices that would enhance customer satisfaction (PepsiCo, 2010). On the other hand coke competitive advantage include market leadership, business partnerships, multi-segmentation, strong brand portfolio, collaborative customer relationships, sustainable development and managerial expertise among others. These make core a leader in the snack industry. Coke strategy is the maximizing growth and profitability to create shareholders value through transforming commercial models, multi-segmentation, product innovation, and expansion

The Divergence of U.S. and UK Takeover Regulation Essay - 1

The Divergence of U.S. and UK Takeover Regulation - Essay Example who decides the rules of takeover in both countries. Rules of takeover in the UK are the outcome of the self regulation where interests of institutional investors play an important role while on the other hand the US judicial setup holds the responsibility of takeover rules and thus, limiting the influence of shareholders over making of rules. In the UK, shareholders’ perspectives play an important role in deciding about takeover bids and thus, takeover regime is â€Å"privatized†. Easterbook and Fischel proposed limited capability of managers to defend takeovers which did not become part of practice in the US after its dismissal by the Delaware Court and takeover decisions are still based on decisions made by those who manage businesses and they are allow to undertake several types of defense actions such as the â€Å"poison pill† or shareholder rights plan to undermine bidder’s stake. These tactics are prohibited in the UK and without the consent of shar eholders managers cannot maneuver any tactic in defense. However, in the UK managers are allowed to make use of â€Å"embedded defenses† which may involve issuance of dual-class voting stock or several other ways to take action before any bidder takes an offensive position (Armour and Skeel). Takeovers do not always result in higher returns for shareholders therefore it seems more appropriate to leave the decision in case of takeover to shareholders as in the UK. However, it is noted that the number of takeovers in the US has been greater than the UK. There could be several reasons including the veto power of directors who may feel that they are not entitled to sufficient incentives from the shareholders. In the UK, bidder can lodge a protest against managers’ actions to the Takeover Panel comprising of representatives from LSE, BOE, major banks and institutional investors. There is a greater flexibility in dealing of this Panel and limited

Book review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Book review - Essay Example ‘Still alive’ opposes all the simple assumption about history. Kluger’s experience was a popular when produced in the creative German, gaining a big status and technical acclaim. The Holocaust survivor had spent her time in three concentration camps as a young teenager; she was helped by her mother to translate her book into other language versions in order for the whole world to read about her story. Her mother got her first book accidentally and translated it in English and this was after kluger’s friend sends the book to her as a gift. Luckily her story of Vienna’s darkest hour did not fail. She tried to remember her childhood memories, where she creates a tale equal to the miseries that the entire human nature is able to do. Keen to her step-by-step experiences has opened the entire women fraternity the knowledge about their abilities and rights in the current global existence. Her face off with conflicts never ended with frustrations as a young Jew in Vienna, neither the brutality of the Theresienstadt and Auschwitz-Birkenau camps nor the university institutions in German. This is where her state of a being female was heavily undermined in the male superior society. Conflicts accompanied her to the post-war New York, where she was criticized by the earlier generation of immigrants for her opposition to adopt the American culture Kluger in her life she faced the negative side of the real life situation but her intellectual love made her appreciate anything that occurred. This acted as her survival tool during those times. This one of the best reason to compel one to read the Still Alive story of Kluger. Here is when she goes by her opinion of identity creation from which she perceives her way into the life. This should be a driving force for women to venture into life situations without fear. In her book, ‘Unterwegs Verloren a story line that can take readers to a young

Gerard Manley Hopkins Essay Example for Free

Gerard Manley Hopkins Essay The Windhover, by Gerard Manley Hopkins is a poem about the essence of natural things. This poem describes the relationship of human beings to the natural world as the poet is addressing God through the bird. It is praising him for all the marvellous things He has created and that humans can enjoy. The poem consists in three verses. In the first verse, the poet describes the power of the bird as it is portrayed as the master of heavens. This verse captures the movement of the bird in the sky. It starts with I caught this morning mornings minion that gives the feeling that the bird is a servant of the sky and it is the morning because it is a good time for hunting. Hopkins puts words together like dapple dawn-drawn to portray multi-images as here where the bird is drawn in the sky. Also, the alliteration here produces the effect of the birds movement in the air and the intensity of the poems feeling. The author writes that the bird is striding high there and this produces the image that the bird is taking huge steps in the air. The bird also rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing showing his power and control with ecstasy. The bird has control over the wind. The rhythm in this verse is very slow, yet steady. This verse consists in very long sentences that convey the effect that the bird is circling the air; with long movements it also reflects the poets feelings. This verse gives as the feeling that he poet has searched very well the words to describe his feelings but at the same time describing the bird. He searches for words that sound as they are written for example sweeps smooth. The second verse consists only of three lines explaining how the bird spots its pray and here, the beauty of the bird is more accentuated when the author uses Brute beauty to describe how beautiful the bird is, even when it is hunting. The word brute has an impact on the readers because this word means violent, wild, but here, the author uses it to emphasize that the beauty is a different kind of beauty; that it is a magnificent beauty, so marvellous and magnificent that there is no better word to describe it than brute. The poem reaches to the climax when the bird spots the pray and the author writes here buckle! as if warning us for action. To be prepared. From now on, the rhythm is more steady with lots of comas and faster than the first verse. This gives us the effect that the bird is now descending towards its pray. At the end of this verse, the author addresses to God as Oh my chevalier! and this is to thank Him for creating such marvellous things as the bird, full of Brute beauty so that humans can enjoy, even though it is only by watching them. When the author addresses to God, the rhythm changes. This matches the ecstasy of the bird in his own physical mastery of the sky. The last verse consists also in three lines, and here, the relationship of human beings to the natural world is also portrayed. This verse is more as a pronouncement. Here the author stops speaking about the bird and makes us realise how Gods beauty of creation is in everything, even in things where there is no apparent beauty. This is achieved also when Hopkins starts talking about how the shi er pli d makes even ploughing beautiful and how blue-bleak embers are also beautiful. In conclusion, I think that Hopkins decides to first start talking about the Windhover and about its Brute beauty to then compare it to the beauty found in every thing of creation. He relates human being to the beauty of nature because the beauty found in nature comes from humans sacrifice. The words on Hopkins poem impact me because they make me realise how lucky we are to be part of creation and enjoy the beauty there is from Christs sacrifice.

Gangs And Relationships With Drugs And Violence Criminology Essay

Gangs And Relationships With Drugs And Violence Criminology Essay There are very few things new to this world, money, greed, religion, or even science. But like all things, over time, ideas and concepts grow and reform, taking on seemingly new impressions in the eyes of the people. One of these ideas that has seemed to sneak up on the world is gangs, and their new found territory of untold violence and crime, that has rose and spread like the plague across America and many major countries around the world. Even though it seems to be an out of control problem, the complexity is still very simply understood and broke down to help reason why many would put themselves as well as their family in a life of crime. In the definition of a gang, it is explained as a loosely formed group of at least three people through which an organization, formation, or establishment of an assembly, share a common identity. However, gangs in todays society have taken the word to embody fear due to its relationship to criminal organization and the negative connotation that go with it. The group usually has a name to bond around with a structure of leaders or with one sole person in charge. Many of these developed gangs have started to use identifying signs such as colors, symbols or tattoos to distinguish themselves. These groups continuously and regularly commit crimes in support of the gang. As well as being known for trouble, gangs have grown from small street crimes to larger level felonies involving drug and weapon dealing causing a large number of unsettling homicides within the United States and around the world. The first street gang in the United States emerged sometime around the 1820s in New York City, and just thirty years later, there were more than two hundred fights reported. After only a few generations and a still steady flow of immigration, Chicago had reported more than a thousand gangs in 1920. In those days, most of the crimes involved small criminal activities and large brawls. Drug trafficking of todays gangs doesnt play a role until the later 1970s. As the same as in the 1920s, it doesnt take long for gangs to expand, grow, and relocate. In 2006, the United States reported active street gang members numbering around 785,000. Even with its birth in our country being New York, the ideology has spread across the nation and has settled in todays capitol of Los Angeles County, California. The county itself has somewhere around 120,000 with an estimated 41,000 within Los Angeles. To bring light to how fast the populations of gangs grow, in just one year, the number of known active members grew to around 900,000 in 2007. The United States Department of Justice estimates there are approximately 30,000 gangs, with 760,000 members, impacting 2,500 communities across the United States in its most recent reports and steadily growing every year. (Hagedorn, 2008) The numbers produced around the world are not much better. For instance, the Mexican drug cartel may have as many as 100,000 members not only involved in minor gang activity, but also produce a large percentage of the worlds drugs, which has become something the newer versions have evolved into. In addition to that, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that the four largest Italian organized crime groups to be around 25,000 collectively with as many as 250,000 affiliates around the world. One of the largest single associated crime groups in the world, the Yakuza, has more than 102,000 members from what Japans reports say as of 2005. The United Kingdom has as many as a thousand known gangs as of 2009, and estimating that they are thought to make as much as  £352 billion through the drugs trade (Hagedorn, 2008). Regardless of origin, there are several different types of gangs, separated by race, religion, or simply by goals in life. However the most three concerned by law enforcement, and most influential types, are street gangs, prison gangs, and criminal gangs. Street gangs are the most widely known and fastest spreading organizations. The prison gang exist behind bars and add a new level to the street gang operations. The criminal gangs are normal associated and made popular by mob families, like the Italian Mob. With street gangs, the people involved generally have relatively similar backgrounds, motivations, and struggles with a self-formed union of peers. This formed group becomes united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization. Once the steps to becoming organized have been accomplished, the group can act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of a particular territory, facility, or enterprise. Street gangs often take over territory or turf, as commonly used, in a particular city and use this area as protection for themselves as well as providing protection for the community. Many gangs use the front of protection in the community to influence and gain revenue in an area safe from intrusion. Prison gangs are groups in a prison or correctional facility designed for mutual protection and advancement. These gangs tend to have more affiliates and chapters among the different prisons across the nation that interacts due to the high frequency of transfers. Studies have shown that there is a high correlation between street gangs and prison gangs (Hagendorn 2008). This is due to the fact that many gangs use the protection scare tactic to recruit large amounts of members quickly, transfer them, and expand even more. Even when behind bars, many gang leaders are able to communicate operations to the foot soldiers still on the streets. Like street gangs, criminal gangs also function in and out of the prison system, such as the Mexican Mafia does, where many of its highest members are locked up and still have control. Criminal gangs are involved in all areas of street-crime activities like extortion, drug trafficking, both in and outside the prison system and theft. Criminal gangs are more involved with victimizing individuals by robbery and kidnapping. Cocaine is the primary drug of distribution by the criminal gangs in America, which like to use large cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and New York who all have large ports to export drugs internationally quickly. Often, the larger, more organized groups hire lookouts, which tend to be the smaller less organized street gangs, to warn members of upcoming law enforcement. This team work builds dangerous affiliations that help and make it more difficult to pin point specific gangs involved in crimes. The dense environment of urban cities, like public housing projects, c orruption of police, as well as the division between the relationship law enforcement has with such neighborhoods, has helped gang members escape and hide from police easily. As the gangs have grown and become more intelligent and organized, violence has become an effective weapon for advancement. Gang violence refers to mostly those illegal and non-political acts of violence committed by gangs against innocent people, property, or other gangs. Throughout history, such acts have been committed by gangs at all levels of organization and nearly every major city has been ravaged by gang violence at some point. Modern gangs introduced new acts of violence, which may also function as a rite of passage for new gang members, whether it be a beat into the gang or a killing of a rival member before a affiliate can become a full member. Because of this level of violence in the gang culture 58 percent of Los Angeles murders were reported to have been gang-related during 2006. Gang related homicides are concentrated mostly in the largest cities of the United States, where largest number of documented gang members reside. Ethnic solidarity is a common factor in gangs. Black and Hispanic gangs formed during the 1960s in the United States and often adapted independent style. Both majority and minority races in society have established gangs in the name of identity, like the Igbo gang or the Bakassi Boys for instance, who defend the majority Igbo group violently and through terror. As for the whites who feel threatened by minority, defensive counter rights have formed their own groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan to threaten minority groups back. Responding to a sudden increase in black and Hispanic migration, a white gang called Gaylords quickly formed in Chicago. If a person carries a gun while committing any crime, he or she can expect to face harsh penalties. State prosecutors or the United States Attorneys Office, depending on the nature of the crime and the severity of the violence, may prosecute firearms offenses. Illegally carrying a handgun is a Class A misdemeanor, unless it is carried on any premises where alcohol is being sold, in which case it is a third-degree felony. A person who allows a child to gain access to a loaded firearm may be charged with a Class A misdemeanor if the child discharges the firearm and causes death or serious bodily injury to himself or another person. Federal gun laws are very strict. A person can be punished by up to 10 years in prison if convicted of illegally possessing or receiving a gun or ammunition. A person may also receive a minimum sentence of 15 years without parole if the person has three or more prior convictions for a violent felony and/or a drug trafficking felony. Certain individuals, such as felons or drug users, are prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. Using, carrying or possessing a firearm in connection with a federal drug felony or crime of violence may result in punishment ranging from at least five years up to life in federal prison without parole. It is illegal under federal law for most citizens to possess certain firearms such as machine guns, assault weapons, silencers, sawed-off shotguns or rifles, or certain other destructive devices. Possessing or receiving a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number is also illegal and is punishable by up to five years in prison. These crimes may range from Class C misdemeanors to serious felonies. It is illegal to be a member of a gang on a public school campus. It is illegal to coerce, induce or solicit a child to actively participate in the activities of a criminal street gang through the use of threats or violence. It is a state jail felony to threaten a child into joining a gang and a third-degree felony if bodily injury is caused. If you have been threatened or coerced into joining a gang, you are a victim of a crime. It is natural to feel intimidated or be fearful of retaliation when this occurs, but what happened to you was not your fault and it was a crime. Report this criminal activity immediately to your school resource officer or the local authorities. State law provides for punishment enhancements for offenses committed with a gang. Simply put, gang membership gets you into more trouble and gets you a harsher sentence. Who gets to say they are wrong for wanting to defend themselves. The concept of the gang as a form of protection reaches back centuries, from immigrants grouping to stay alive on the streets, to the foreign villages battling over land. There have been many researches done on gangs and their reason for existence to try to find the core of the problem. One of the many studies done on the youth searched to single out and concentrate on the relationship between gang members and individual levels of criminal behavior. The research done in both the United States and Canada has shown the obvious, that even after separating mass triggers from individual level characteristics, gang members are more delinquent and tend to be more involved in committing crimes than do non-gang members. The conclusion drawn from these findings is that the observed relationship between gang membership and offending levels cant be explained through a simple process singling out individual traits, but instead by understanding additional influences that gang members bring to allow higher levels of criminal behavior among the individuals who join, especially for behaviors relating to guns and violence. Case in point, involvement in gangs significan tly increases the probability that a juvenile will be involved in an exchange involving a firearm. The above information leads to implications that patterns and levels of firearm violence is evident at the community level. As membership in a gang opens the door for the possibility for a gun to be used, there becomes an increase in firearm related violence. The violence tends to be concentrated around the activity space of gangs, or on their turf. The research was conducted in what is now being referred to as an emerging gang city, or the class of cities that only recently have been introduced to gangs and have began to experience serious problems with violent urban street gangs in the last twenty years. The other classes of cities include places like Los Angeles and Chicago, which have had a much longer story of gangs and are now known as chronic gang cities. Though some of the initial emergent gang cities have experienced a significant decline in gang activity, others appear well on their way towards becoming chronic gang cities. (Tita, 2007) A small amount of information is known about how inner-city street gangs evolve over time within an emerging gang cities. Other countries that are relatively new to the gang territory, like Canada, may provide researchers with an invaluable opportunity to study juveniles and gangs to determine the scenarios that support the development of local gangs from loosely associated groups into stronger, organized, local neighborhood establishments. Furthermore, it is important to learn and understand more intervention activities that could be most efficient at inhibiting such growth before gangs and gang violence becomes a chronic problem in more cities. This is especially important as studies have shown that gangs and the gang violence correlation often begins in heavily populated areas and spreads to smaller cities. The participation in the drug market has also revealed a relation to gun violence. Even though many studies involve gangs as the primary ignition source responsible for increased levels of gun violence, the participation in dealing drugs has also made firearm involvement more probable. That is, those who buy or sell drugs do experience higher levels of gun violence than non-drug participants (Tita ET AL). With the information, a strong case can be put together that the arrival of the crack cocaine market was accountable for the explosion of guns within the urban communities of the United States. Guns became an essential tool to promote and produce, and deal in the drug market. This seems to suggest that drug markets do serve as a source of conflict that ends up closing with gun violence more times than not. This relationship has not only been evident in the United States, but in England, Wales, Scotland, and Canada as well. Tita (2007) also gave to that: Given that sellers carried large sums of cash and valuable drugs, they needed to protect themselves against acts of robbery. As youth participation in the drug markets increased, carrying firearms soon became a status symbol and the carrying of guns soon diffused to non-drug youth as well.  (p. 11) But other than gun and drug prevention efforts, more can be done to further remove the problem from a much deeper source. Studies of juveniles, done within the United States, made it clear that juveniles who decide join gangs tend to have lower levels of parental attachment. This can be due to many situations, but most commonly due to the crumbling importance of family value and structure as well as the poor economic situation in many areas. This has caused parents or guardians to work two to three jobs, missing out on valuable time to be a childs deterrence from getting involved in trouble with gangs. Along with missing guidance in their lives, the young members that were prone to join gangs also exhibited aggressive behavior early in life, did poorly in school, and have lower levels of self-control. Gang members also tend to be among the lower members of society in terms of social and economic status and are said to have little to no chance to create the drive necessary to make it in the world. Being part of a minority groups is also a main characteristic in a gang community, combined with the members residing are in high levels of concentrated poverty, joblessness and crime give them all something in common to bond to. For these people to move away from these characteristic, investment in the community to produce better education, access to jobs, basic public services, and possible recreation alternatives the people is needed before they learn the negative behaviors. There are many major reasons that these gangs feel the need to be violent. One of the main focuses between gangs is their belief in respect and control over their turf which motivates most gang-on-gang violence. To many peoples disbelief, the drug dealing business plays a very small role in the violence, yet still just as serious. Compared to non-gang homicides, gang homicides tend to involve multiple suspects in an outdoor environment, more likely concentrated in the neighborhood of the gang, more often involving a gun. Even though it is known that gangs have designated missions to take out other gang members or acting in order to defend themselves, much of the violence that is recorded is opportunistic with more than one-third of all gang homicides occurred in areas where neither the victim nor offender resided. Regardless of the numbers recorded, there is definitely a link between drug use and the increased likelihood of being involved in an incident in which a firearm is present. Young adults and juveniles that have been questioned about using or dealing drugs reported carrying a gun far more often than do peers not involved with illegal drugs. These finding are elevated among gang members with a far larger margin within the gang. Not only do they carry and use guns at a higher rate, but they are also much more likely to be involved in a homicide. These results hold true for females as well. There is an ongoing debate regarding the relationship between firearm accessibility and levels of gun violence. Compared to the rest of the world, citizens in the United States have greater access to the legal purchase of firearms causing many to point to this as a factor for why the United States has a much higher rate of violence than do other developed nations. However, there are some findings from studies conducted by other countries, Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe, that contradict this believe. Many believe that lower murder rates in foreign countries prove that gun control works, however this is false. Lower murder rates have been one of the favorite arguments for gun control, and yet the numbers show that there is no direct correlation between gun control laws and murder rates across a wide spectrum of nations and cultures. In Israel and Switzerland, for example, a license to possess guns is available on demand to every law-abiding adult, and guns are easily obtainable in both nations. Both countries also allow widespread carrying of concealed firearms, and yet one of the foremost medical advocates of gun control, Switzerland and Israel have rates of homicide that are low despite rates of home firearm ownership that are at least as high as those in the United States. A comparison of crime rates within Europe reveals no correlation between access to guns and crime. The basic premise of the gun control movement, that easy access to guns causes higher crime, is contradicted by the facts, by history and by reason. In fact, within the United States, the states that allow registered citizens to carry concealed weapons have lower crime rates than those that dont. Out of the 31 states that have shall issue laws allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons have, on average, a 24 percent lower violent crime rate, a 19 percent lower murder rate and a 39 percent lower robbery rate than states that forbid concealed weapons. In fact, the nine states with the lowest violent crime rates are all right-to-carry states. One large finding shows that guns are used for self-defense more than two million times a year, which is somewhere between three to five times the estimated numbers of violent crimes committed with guns. Conclusion: Lampo, D. (2010). Gun Control: Myths and Realities. Cato Institute: Daily Commentary. The Cato aaaaaaaInstitute. Retrieved April 20, 2011, from http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4706 Tita, George. ET AL. (2007). Strategies for Reducing Gun Violence: The Role of Gangs, Drugs and aaaaaaaaFirearm Accessibility. National Crime Prevention Center, Research Report, 3, 1-53. Braga, A., Pierce, G. McDevitt, J. (2008). The Strategic Prevention of Gun Violence Among Gang-aaaaaaaInvolved Offenders. Justice Quarterly, 25 (1), 132-157. Melde, C., and Rennison, C.M. (2010). Intimidation and Street Gangs: Understanding the Response of aaaaaaVictims and Bystanders to Perceive Gang Violence. Justice Quarterly, 27(5), 621-657. Archbold, C., Meyer, M. (1999). Anatomy of a Gang Suppression Unit: The Social Construction of an aaaaaaaOrganizational Response to Gang Problem. Policing Quarterly, 2(2), 201-224. Garcia ET AL. (2007). Impacts of Violent Crime and Neighborhood Structure on Trusting Your Neighbors. aaaaaaaJustice Quarterly, 24(4), 680-702. Freng, A. and Ebensen, F. (2007). Race and Gang Affiliation: An Examination of Multiple aaaaaaaMarginality. Justice Quarterly, 24(4), 600-628. Hagedorn, J. (2008). Tutor Gig Encyclopedia. Gangs. Retrieved April 27, 2011, from www.tutorgig.com/ed/Gangs Hochstetler ET AL. (2007). Toward an Integrated Model of Offending Frequency: A Replication aaaaaaaaStudy. Justice Quarterly, 24(4), 582-597.