Reducing Juvenile Delinquency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reducing Juvenile Delinquency - Essay Example There is a great variation in the manifestation of delinquency and the underlying factors behind them. Peer pressure, poor parenting, the media influence, and other societal factors are cited as some of the causes of juvenile delinquency. Addressing the matter would require multiple approaches that incorporate the input from different sectors of the society. This paper seeks to illustrate various aspects associated with juvenile delinquency and measures taken to lower the prevalence rates. Juvenile delinquency refers to the violation of law committed by a person under the legal age, and one that defies parental control, which makes him or her subject to legal action. Alternatively, a juvenile delinquent could be defined as an under aged person who has been found guilty of a crime but is protected by the law as a minor, which absolves them from full criminal responsibility (Snyder & Sickmund, 2006). Normally, such violations fall outside the strict understanding of the law in the same way that it may apply to an adult offender. This implies that the violations may not be punishable by death or life imprisonment. The main objective of interventions is the rehabilitation of the underage offenders in order to convert them into law-abiding citizens. Institutions such as juvenile detention centers and courts assist in the dispensation of legal interventions based on specified procedures in the legal system. The age of criminal responsibility may be lowered in accordance with the nature and seriousness of the crime. This would imply that the individual could be tried as an adult in some specific cases. However, it is usually considered that the age factor of a juvenile delinquent makes them incompetent to stand trial. The assumption is that under age offenders lack mature judgment and cannot be held fully responsible for their actions. Children and young adults may be influenced to engage in certain activities that go against norms, laws, and expectations of the socie ty. Such actions may develop into consistent patterns of behavior that render the children into juvenile delinquents. On a wider scale, juvenile delinquency may yield significant social disorder. Past and recent surveys have indicated that a high percentage of children and adolescents engage in activities that are in violation of the law. The reality of the situation is illustrated in the drop in the average age of first arrests made among young people. This can be attributed to the common notion that juvenile offences are normative adolescent behaviors. However, repeated or chronic offenders are most likely to carry on with the trend away from adolescence and turn into criminal elements or outlaws. At a tender age, delinquent behavior involves minor theft, but can evolve to violent acts involving the use of weapons as the individual nears the statutory age. Other delinquent behaviors include bullying, truancy, vandalism, assault, gangs, and sexual offences. It is for this reason th at persons under the statutory age can be charged as adults depending on the severity of the crime. National statistics indicate an increase in the number of juvenile delinquency cases owing to numerous social factors within the society. Juvenile delinquency has its impacts on the victims as well as the society. Damages incurred by the victim may be in the form of injury or loss of property. Such an eventuality could be construed as a loss in productivity during that period. The victim may also

The Snow Storm Lawsuit Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Snow Storm Lawsuit - Research Paper Example In the given case study, because of heavy snow storm, many hospital staffs who were working for a no-profit community hospital providing patient care called out from work on the 3-11 and 11-7 shifts which resulted in damages including loss of life to patients due to lack of nursing staff available during that period. The families of these patients sued the hospital on behalf of their deceased relatives. This paper briefly analyses legal, ethical, professional and business considerations involved in this case. The first legal consideration involved in this case is that the hospital management failed to provide necessary protection to the patients admitted in the hospital. It is the duty of the hospital management to ensure adequate medical care to all the patients admitted in the hospital at any cost. By calling out the nursing staff, the management sacrificed the interests of the patients. The hospital should have taken adequate precautionary measures to counter the problems associated with snow storm as snow storm was not a new thing to them. The patients who were not able to move out of hospital left unnoticed in the hospital till the snow storm ends which is definitely illegal. The hospital management played with the lives of patients and definitely they were guilty of neglecting the interests of the patients. The second legal consideration in this case is that whether the hospital staff could be forced to work in such drastic conditions. Life is precious to all whether it belongs to the patients or to the hospital staffs. Under such circumstances, can the hospital authorities pressurise the hospital staff to work? The third legal consideration in this case is that one patient lost his life because of incorrect medication. Only one nurse was agreed to work during this disaster period and she should have heavy workload during this period because of lack of other medical staffs available at that time in that hospital. It is quiet possible that she might have

How World War One Led to the Creation of the Modern Middle East Essay

How World War One Led to the Creation of the Modern Middle East - Essay Example This essay declares that Britain took the central part in the War against the Middle Easterners with the aim of capturing the empty Otto Man Empire. In order to succeed, it had to involve the Indians forces in the war. It also underwent changes in the troops including the officials. A more social soldier, General Sir Edmund who managed to create bonds with his soldiers, making it easy to wage war against the Mesopotamians, replaced Murray. The Ottoman had combined forces with the Turkish soldiers. The following essay will succinctly describe the aftermath of the war on some of the Middle Eastern nations. Outlining and description of the today’s Middle East economic, political, and social situations will be done. As the paper explores the Ottoman/Turkish army was one of the armies’ of unstated quality. However, with Germany as an ally, the empire became a real threat to the British Empire; and in a quick rejoinder, London hurriedly landed an Anglo-Indian influence at Basra that situated between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. This was mainly done to safeguard the rich Anglo-Persian oil pipeline that was very crucial to the British Army, and to show the Union Jack this purposefully significant area near the Persian Gulf. During the conflict, the cluttered reasoning resulted to this crusade that proceeded during the moment of recovering from conflict, and principally British force major losses and these sick and wounded soldiers had to withdrawn from the area of the conflict. The Ottoman/ Turkish Fifth Army, who were well equipped with military weapons and had strong defense positions and strategies, had proved to be much stronger than there allies. When the Gallipoli conflict subsided, an Anglo-Indian influence was cut-off and was encircled at Kut-el-Amara, a city that was situated approximately 100 miles south of the town of Baghdad (Woodward, 2011). The restricted, protective stance at Basra had emerged into a distant and uncertain development up the Tigris towards Baghdad, and this eventually was the outcome. During this period, the Anglo-Indian influence lacked enough reserves and logistical structures to maintain and sustain the city of Baghdad, although they had recaptured it. In addition, a well-built British forces was present in Mesopotamia, but had no link to conquer Britain’s principle approach on the rival, Germany. However, the government of India was more worried that the holy war may spread to Persia and Afghanistan, hence intimidating the stability in India. The Indians needed the British reputation upheld in the Islamic community to avoid such a war. In the process of the war the troops were

Which equation is correct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Which equation is correct - Essay Example Because, copper has two oxides Copper (I) oxide Cu2O and Copper (II) oxide CuO; therefore, there can be following two possible equations for thermal decomposition of Copper (II) carbonate: It is to be determined as which of the two equations is the correct equation. Looking at the right side of equation, we find the clue for designing an experiment to determine the correct equation of the thermal decomposition. There are two clues – 1. Mass of the black residue and 2. Volume of the gas liberated. If one starts the thermal decomposition experiment with two moles i.e. 247 grams (2x123.5 grams) of copper carbonate and mass of the black residue is 143 gram, then Equation 1 is correct; on the other hand the mass of black residue being 159 grams implies Equation two being correct. One can measure the volume of the gas released as well. In case of Equation 1 being correct, two moles of copper carbonate will give two and a half moles of carbon dioxide gas, which is 2.5x22.4 liters = 56 liters at STP (Standard Temperature and Pressure, which is 273.16 K and 1 Atmosphere). In case of Equation 2 being correct, two moles of copper carbonate will give only two moles of gases, which will occupy 44.8 liters at STP. Based on these clues, we design the following experiment to determine the correct equation for thermal decomposition of copper carbonate. Pneumatic trough, test tube (13 x 100 mm), one hole stopper to fit test tube, plastic tube (from pulled Beral), graduated cylinder (100 mL), thermometer, laboratory burner, test tube clamp, CuCO3 (solid), balance 5. Bubbles started getting into the graduated cylinder. Towards the end of the decomposition reaction the rate of CO2 release slowed down. When the bubbling stopped, the burner and the delivery tube were removed. Because 2.5x10-3 moles of copper nitrate gives 2.5x10-3 moles of carbon dioxide gas, therefore, Equation 2 is the correct equation for decomposition of the copper carbonate.

Microsoft’s Lost Decade Essay Example for Free

Microsoft’s Lost Decade Essay Introduction Microsoft’s story serves as a prime example of the pitfalls of success. In this case we can analyze, critique, and make recommendations to avoid a similar disaster in the future. While they were really the sole company to open the window into computer technology for the everyday user, but over the last decade appears to have been a victim of its own success. Once so dominant in the industry which is basically created on its own, today cannot be described as â€Å"cutting edge†. The name no longer resonates with younger generations. Evidence of this struggling success can be seen in its stock prices which have completely plateaued and even began to drop recently. What happened? Why are they no longer creating wonderful technological advances for its consumers? In order to compete in the technology industry, a company needs to continuously be innovation for its customers; Microsoft was not doing that. Despite facing a challenge in IBM in the beginning when Microsoft first entered the industry, who was also getting overly confident and comfortable with its position in the industry. It actually appears as though Microsoft has reenacted the problems of their former nemesis. Clearly not focused on development or bringing out a new product, and their new philosophy as expressed by the most recent CEO Steve Balmer about a decade ago was we won’t be first to cool but we will be first to profit. In other words, they don’t care about coming out with some cool new technology, they will wait for somebody else to do that, and then buy their way into that market. Obviously the major problem with that is if somebody else is coming into that product first, that company will most likely lock up the market. It is possible that Microsoft has its hands in too many things. There is no focus. Microsoft doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be. This is evident by the competition microsft is facing. One division is competing with SONY, while another group is battling apple, while even other teams are competing with Google for example. It’s possibl e that what the company really needs is a fresh start; New atmosphere, new leadership, new goals. Microsoft has great products in Xbox and connect, but inside the massive† machine† that it has become they are just small underdeveloped projects. So again, it is obvious that there are issues to be looked at here, but somebody in charge missed the signals and let this happen. The most telling story from the case is that Microsoft in fact had ideas about the first e-reader, the very technology that is today very popular in the Kindle and iPad, as early as the late 1990s. Unfortunately for the company, the story tells of a meeting in which Bill Gates gave this new technology the â€Å"thumbs down† because the screen didn’t look like windows. Do the customers care about that? No. So that was a huge missed opportunity. The leadership was blind to that element, which dictates that for the customers’ needs to be addressed first and foremost. As a technology company the goal should be to â€Å"create† what is needed. Microsoft started doing things th e other way around. Windows started getting so complicated because they overloaded the engineering aspect to create things that will look good, not perform well. What it has come to at this point it seem is there is no way for Microsoft to compete at this stage. Everything within the company, including the employees appear to be almost â€Å"weighed down† by what can almost be describes as a massive bureaucracy with far too many meetings and memos. Microsoft’s â€Å"law of large numbers† is failing. In order to fix the causes of their problems, we must follow the symptoms back to the root causes and make changes there. On the surface, it appears their issues are due to bad management style, poor organizational structure and a generally counter-productive culture that strained relationships between the â€Å"old guard† and the â€Å"new blood† of the company. To get a better look at the cause of these symptoms, I will follow the eight operations management principals. Part 1: Critique Unity of Purpose Unity of purpose within an organization is definitely not something that a manager can ignore when running a business with goals. It is imperative to remember that to function as a goal oriented team, all parts of the various positions must be working together as one. This is where I will begin our observation of the Microsoft empire and the decade of struggle that diverted it from the success that it once enjoyed. When looking at how Microsoft was handled by Bill Gates, there are undoubtedly some moments that suggest that the unity of purpose was not clearly defined and never adequately addressed to the degree that it needed. We can start at the root of the problem to learn the origins of what Microsoft ultimately faced: namely discord and disharmony in the work place. Looking at the early success of the business, we notice that Microsoft created an innovative and personalized approach to the computer that made it significantly more user-friendly. The initial public reactions were almost unanimously positive due to the fact that the product was revolutionary and had changed the personal technology landscape for the better. Interestingly, Microsoft began this venture in the shadow of IBM, who was also getting overly confident and comfortable with its position in the industry at the time. It actually appears as though Microsoft has reenacted the problems of their former nemesis over the past decade. As time progressed for Microsoft, however, there came to be a noticeable drop off in success of the company. Steve Jobs and his exciting, strong and, most importantly, new Apple brand seemingly booted Microsoft to the curb, out of the public’s eye. It is easy to assume that Microsoft was simply outmanned by Apple, that the latter company came into the picture and took the market share away from Gates and his supposed dynasty. This, however, does not describe the true cause of the downfall suffered by Microsoft. The real cause that sent this company on the track to irrelevance was due in large part to the lack of unity in the business purpose. Microsoft was clearly not focused on development or bringing out a new product, and their new philosophy, as expressed by the most recent CEO Steve Balmer about a decade ago, was â€Å"we won’t be first to cool but we will be first to profit†. In other words, they don’t care about coming out with some cool new technology, they will wait for somebody else to do that, and then buy their way into that market. Obviously the first problem with that is if somebody else is coming into that product first, those companies will most likely lock up the market. Additionally this completely throws off the company’s purpose of unity! What is a technology company if it isn’t researching, developing, and creating for its customers a new technology? The answer is very simple: Microsoft was not united around a general value or principal. As I mentioned earlier, it is possible that Microsoft has its hands in too many things. There is no focus. Microsoft doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be. This is evident by the competition microsoft is facing. One division is competing with SONY, while another group is battling apple, while even other teams are competing with Google for example. It’s possible that what the company really needs is a fresh start; New atmosphere, new leadership, new goals. Microsoft has great products in Xbox and connect, but inside the massive† machine† that it has become they are just small underdeveloped projects. Once upon a time, Bill gates had a vision. Gates wrote an operating program using the computer language called BASIC which proved to be a wonderful innovation. Driven by his new product, and with that his new purpose, his company took off and left everybody else in the dust. Gates was relentless and demanded the same intense commitment from everyone he hired. Back then they were united each member of the group was invest for the right rea son, which was creating a new product that people wanted before anybody else created it. Neither Gates nor Allen had management skills and business savvy that were needed to help the booming company in its infant days. Once the company started doubling and tripling in size year after year, the company could not keep focus on one particular goal or direction. Unity happens when leaders are committed to and engaged in the process of building a united, winning team. It requires focus, time, and energy. Unfortunately as we’ll discuss a little later on, focus may have been another contributing factor that hindered Microsoft from being the company Gates idealized in his head. Unity occurs when team members care more about the vision, purpose and health of the organization than they do their own personal agenda. Changing the mindset is essential. Unity happens when each person in the company can clearly see how their personal vision and effort contributes to the overall vision and success of the team. This involves meaningful conversations between the levels of management as well as between engineers and sales people. Unity of Purpose results when you weed out the negativity that sabotages far too many organizations. All of these things were issues at Microsoft that hindered it from having one united goal as a company. Having the right people in charge of making decisions can make a world of difference when trying to unite the group behind a cause, which will lead me to the next principle of Operations Management, Human Resources. Invest in Human Resources Microsoft needed to invest in human resources to implement and maintain plans and policies. Strategically placed investments in human resources will develop a more skilled, innovative, productive and loyal workforce thus providing an organization with a competitive advantage over a less progressive competitor. Investment in human capital offers both short and long term gains that help produce not only skilled, productive employees, but those that are both loyal and ethical. Microsoft’s goal should have been to increase the ownership of employees work by providing the right incentives. Already we see evidence that the company will fall prey to the same arrogance that dethroned IBM. There were signs but Microsoft didn’t see them until it was too late. When it comes to your employees, long-term thinking guides an organization. That’s where Microsoft missed the mark by a long shot. Microsoft was focused on too many short term goals. Employees at Microsoft had an obsession with revenue and growth, and it’s no surprise why! Almost every employee received a stake in the company through stock options. When the share price went up, everyone got richer. When it went down, everyone suffered. Everyone ran full speed in hopes of pushing up the stock price a little bit more. Internal competition became a huge issue with Microsoft’s employees as well. The perception of stability within the workforce is especially beneficial during periods of economic decline and or organizational restructuring. The perceptions of stability as offered by organizational culture will often help retain employees during recessionary periods and motivate everyone during stable times as well. This was potentially the biggest issue in house for Microsoft. The days of shoulder to should teams innovating and thriving within the company were gone. A â€Å"financial fissure† penetrated the already strained relationships between th e â€Å"old guard† and the â€Å"new blood†. People were becoming destructively competitive. Its was a sink or swim environment and drowning someone else in order to survive was the name of the game at Microsoft. Something had to be done. Companies can obtain a competitive advantage if they utilize strategic human resources investment practices. If the operation is a primary manufacturing facility investments such as group bonus pay-outs based on overall group performance or attendance for example, could provide an initial increase in output. Furthermore, empowerment of the team by allowing aspects of total quality management to take place will help build confidence and a feeling of responsibility within the group. If the operation is research and development oriented then the culture should be based on rewards focused on those who develop and produce. In either case whether the culture is based on group or individual performance, the overall goals must be focused on the retention, growth of, and maximum utilization of talent. Microsolf is a company with all departments and people with both typed of jobs. The organizations that are best able to manipulate the corporate culture into one of maximum benefit will become significantly more competitive than those who do not, and Microsoft did not. At Microsoft it got so bad that one employee was quoted saying â€Å"We couldn’t be focused anymore on developing technology that was effective for consumers†. It had become all about, â€Å"how am I going to make money†. HR should have used training and development to invest in their employees. Make them feel valued, offer appropriate promotions as incentives for great work and loyalty, and place a greater emphasis on teamwork. The cut-throat atmosphere does not generate positive results, and Microsoft’s organizational structure was such that executives and engineers were from a different generation with cutthroat mentalities. This only results in self immolating chaos. The real villain here was the wrongly implemented Stack ranking system. Managers had a rest and vest mentality which bread ill feelings and jealousy all around. These factors were naturally at variance with team work and innovation. A better reward systems should focus on facilitating cooperation, enhancing long term thinking, tolerating mistakes because they are learning tools, and not letting egos get involved. Whatever Microsoft determines it’s goals and purpose is going to be, it is important for the companies directors to remember that investing in the appropriate human resources is much more than making sure the new employees don’t impact your current paychecks and health insurance. It is the definition of the company, its culture, and its employees performance. With the right culture instilled in the company, employees might have a chance to work on focus for an-unmotivated Microsoft. Focus Microsoft was lacking, and desperately needed focus. Sustainable growth is important. Such a pattern emerges in organizations that are superior in executing their business plan and can maintain a compounding positive trajectory in their revenue development. Organizations that are so oriented build success patterns that breed a culture of confidence and a competitive advantage. This is how growth becomes sustainable. Such a pattern is of primary importance to any focus-oriented company. Sustained growth in a business comes about primarily because key employees are focused on performance factors they can impact and they feel motivated to do so. That focus leads to execution. When sustained, that pattern brings about the results and success the business plan calls for. This being said, Microsoft was committing all the wrong crimes against successful business focus. Vague accountability on the part of higher management made it impossible for the rest of the employees to envision goals a nd work with a purpose. A major contributor to this at Microsoft was the fact that they held too many meetings. Meetings in turn slows new product development and staggers innovation. Just as with e-books, opportunities for major product developments slipped away from Microsoft. Windows CE, an operating system distinct from Windows that was originally used for pocket devices like personal digital assistants, would ultimately be the foundation of the mobile operating system that would power Microsoft’s first smartphones. But despite the fact that Microsoft had the jump on its competitors with Windows CE, it still lost the race for the wildly successful smartphones. In addition to too many meetings, Microsoft had too many managers. Current and former executives said, each year the intensity and destructiveness of the game playing grew worse as employees struggled to beat out their co-workers for promotions, bonuses, or just survival. Microsoft’s managers pumped up the volume on the viciousness around each other and to their subordinates. What resulted, when combined with the bitterness about financial disparities among employees that already existed, the slow pace of development, and the power of the Windows and Office divisions to kill innovation. All in all, it was a toxic stew of internal antagonism and warfare fueled by the generation gap between the old, established managers and the young, aspiring engineers. That â€Å"warfare atmosphere† was only the beginning of the distraction. At Microsoft every employee had a smiley face icon to monitor stock prices at every moment of the day. When shares increased, the face smiled, but when they fell it frowned. This placed way too much focus on shareholders, profits, and employees job security. There was simply not enough emphasis on the customer, and nothing was focused on the company’s future. Futher issues at Microsoft included obsession to capitalize on every opportunity to gather new revenue, teams of people fighting shoulder-to-shoulder had been replaced with backstabbing and selfish goals. Microsoft even went as far to save money, the company no longer helped with towels in showers at work. Why is that a focus at all!? That’s such a pathetic problem to have at an industry-leading technology company. To achieve quality, you have to define it. Focus is a definition and you have to make sure that definition is disseminated throughout the rank and file. Its the job of any company to be clear about the nonnegotiable core values. A lack of focus creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate and surely hinder innovation. Visibility Management The lack of focus we attribute to the poor leadership transitions us to our next issue with Microsoft, that there is not a fair, balanced model in the company with solid visibility management. Natural self-promoters, like many of the managers and executives at Microsoft, instinctively exploit opportunities to make themselves visible. In today’s competitive corporate environment, being good at what you do isn’t enough to earn your keep or what you’re worth. You have to practice â€Å"visibility management,† letting people know who you are and what you do well. Managing visibility is an integral component of modern success and career management. Microsoft had extremely poor visibility management for a number of key reasons. For starters Microsoft did not recognize or enforce fairness throughout its organizational structure of employees. The organizational structure followed a stack ranking system, like a forced bell curve model, that puts individual goals at complete variance with teamwork. The managers who were supposed to be making decisions and conveying them to their sales and engineer teams were in constant meetings instead of making information available regarding any management decisions. Microsoft was lacking â€Å"new blood† in its management. The divisions between the old timers and the young innovators had grown wildly out of control. Corporate culture is built from the combined experiences of the members of the organization working in harmony with clear visibility. This effects the results of the organization’s efforts, and helps the psychological tone set by top management and every level of management beneath it. All of these factors are expressed in, and some are caused by, visibility management, and poor management behavior will always affect the culture negatively. Organizational culture is built on the behaviors of the members of the culture, and poor management visibility and behavior at any level naturally affects the levels subordinate to it. An abusive or clueless top or middle manager can create a culture of negativism and poor performance that extends beneath them all the way to the bottom of the organizational pyramid, and even to supplier organizations. Anyone who has worked in more than a couple of bureaucracies has most likely experienced or witnessed this syndrome. At Microsoft one employee was quoted saying â€Å"If you just add up the time people spent sending angry e-mails about the towels disappearing †¦ I expect they lost a lot more money than the cost savings from the towels.† Even once the towels returned, the bitterness about cost-cutting didn’t end. What was management’s plan? Nobody seemed to know; there was no communication or visibility within the company. Even after that Microsoft abandoned its gold-plated health-insurance plan. That was the enticement that had brought some employees there in the first place. Whiteboards grew scarcer. It even became harder to find office supplies. Many of the problems from bureaucracy came down to a simple reality: The young hotshots from the 1980s, techies who had joined the company in their 20s and 30s, had become middle-aged managers in their 40s and 50s. And, some younger engineers said a good number of the bosses just didn’t understand the burgeoning class of computer users who had been children when Microsoft opened its doors. When younger employees tried to point out emerging trends among their friends, supervisors sometimes just waved them away. None of management’s procedures or systems seemed to make any sense to the rest of the subordinate company. Corporate policy at Microsoft gave some select few millions, while others got bare minimum pay. Too many employees were seeking management spots for the wrong reasons. Management should have been more humble, transparent, and outward gazing. Visibility management works with facts, not ego and corporate politics. Fix Causes Corporate politics lead to nothing else if not fear and prejudice within the organization. Current and former executives said that each year the intensity and destructiveness of the game playing grew worse as employees struggled to beat out their co-workers for promotions, bonuses, or just survival. Microsoft had, in an effort to motivate by competition, created a back-stabbing environment of brutal proportions in the corporate world. Management is supposed to be courageous and inspiring, â€Å"not pumped up the volume on the viciousness† as was the case at Microsoft. It is usually the leader with the most power who provokes the most fear. With leaders worried about outbursts and other nasty behavior from those with even more power than they have, imagine the toll the fear factor must take on the people who wield substantially less authority. At a place like Microsoft, those people make up the vast majority. Although Ballamer would espouse that they challenge their people, man y employees would argue those challenges feel threatening. The truth is most likely employees blossom when challenged and wither when threatened. There is no data showing that anxious, fearful employees are more creative and productive, but there is data proving that employees in a threatening environment are less engaged, less loyal and for the most part miserable. Civility is not a term we typically associate with corporate life or use to describe the everyday world in workplaces around the globe. But consider the potential impact on corporate culture, and society as a whole, if civility were not just expected, but championed by senior leadership. Microsoft had a forced bell curve of talent that doesn’t actually represent the production and innovation capabilities of the company. This creates achingly slow progress and in an atmosphere that has every unit declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, then good performers, then average, then below average, then poor, employees were focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies. Management needs to listen to the ideas of the young generation and implement a better system. An example of when this would have done Microsoft well was in 1997, when AOL introduced its instant-messenger program, called AIM, a precursor to the texting functions on cell phones. Two years later, Microsoft followed with a similar program, called MSN Messenger. In 2003, a young developer noticed that friends in college signed up for AIM exclusively and left it running most of the time. The developer concluded that no young person would switch from AIM to MSN Messenger, which did not have the short-message feature. He spoke about the problem to his boss, a middle-aged man. The supervisor dismissed the developer’s concerns as silly. Why would young people care about putting up a few words? Anyone who wanted to tell friends what they were doing could write it on their profile page, he said. Meaning users would have to open the profile pages, one friend at a time, and search for a status message, if it was there at all. Unfortunately because his manager didn’t know or didn’t believe how young people were using messenger programs, nothing was done. Management was instilling fear instead of developing for the long term and listing to employees about what customers really want. Know Your Customers As we have discussed, the culture at Microsoft was complacent. Managers were closed to criticism, arrogant about their roles of leadership, and obsessed with stock prices and short term goals. The very purpose for Microsoft’s existence was to provide new and wonderful technology to people; those people being the customers. Those people dictate the needs, not managers, and Microsoft lost touch with who they were serving. It’s something critical to ANY and EVERY business: knowing your customers and the products they want. You can learn a great deal about your customers by talking to them. Asking them why theyre buying or not buying, what they may want to buy in the future and asking what other needs they have can give a valuable picture of whats important to them. Despite a multi-year head start, the big profits on innovative new technologies would eventually go to Amazon and Apple. Why? Because they gave the customers the next new thing in technology. For example, Bill G ates gave the E-reader the thumbs down because he was focused on what the product did and looked like, not how his consumers would love it. Apparently â€Å"he didn’t like the interface because it didn’t look like windows.† The point on this invention was to have the book, alone, appear on the full screen. Putting it into an electronic book, Gates suggested, would do nothing but undermine the customers experience. Unfortunately what gates didn’t understand is that it’s not undermining them if that’s what they want! The death of the e-book effort was not simply the consequence of a desire for immediate profits, but also all kinds of personal prejudices at work. Management missed the beat repeatedly while â€Å"meeting† to pursue the next thing it would release. Microsoft was only hurting itself. As discussed earlier they were far too obsessed with revenues and stock prices of old products. Steve Stone, a founder of the technology group, said about Microsoft’s attention to customer wants: â€Å"We couldn’t be focused anymore on developing technology that was effective for consumers. Instead, all of a sudden we had to look at this and say, ‘How are we going to use this to make money?’ And it was impossible.† Indeed, executives said, Microsoft failed repeatedly to jump on emerging technologies because of the company’s fealty to Windows and Office. â€Å"Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,† said Stone. â€Å"Ideas about mobile computing with a user experience that was cleaner than with a P.C. were deemed unimportant by a few powerful people in that division, and they managed to kill the effort.† Indeed, executives said, Microsoft failed repeatedly to jump on emerging technologies because of the company’s fealty to Windows and Office. There was a feeling that â€Å"Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,† despite what the customer wanted. While Apple continues to gain market share in many products, Microsoft has lost share in Web browsers, high-end laptops and smartphones. Despite billions in investment, its Xbox line is still at best an equal contender in the game console business. It first ignored and then stumbled in personal music players until that business was locked up by Apple. Another problem with Microsoft delivering to the customer’s needs is whenever Microsoft spies yet another potential market which it thinks is ripe for taking over it generally announces its intention to move aggressively into that market. Microsoft frequently announces new products for these markets that they will ship soon regardless of whether or not they have any genuine interest in actually shipping said products. What this frequently leads to is that people stop buying software in this market because they want to wait for the Microsoft version. Unfortunately if Microsoft sees the market drying up they usually just walk away and never deliver their promised products. The end result is that the small software companies in these markets take a very big hit and frequently go under while consumers end up without their promised product. In the past, Microsoft has fueled amazing growth by leveraging its way into new markets in order to acquire new customers. The problem that Microsoft has been facing recently is that they tried to dominate so many different markets that there are not enough markets left that can be captured for the purpose of sustaining the growth that their shareholders require. Microsoft has turned its sights back on its existing customers. Microsoft is finding creative ways to draw more money out of its existing customers, often times with hostile results. One example of Microsofts hostility to its existing customers came in September, 2000. Microsoft demanded that the Virginia Beach government account for all copies of Microsoft software that were in use within the government and provide proof of purchase for each product. The reason? Nick Psyhogeos, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney for Microsoft, said the firm has found that government agencies sometimes inadvertently acquire counterfeit software. There was no mention of a reason why this particular city government was singled out they were not investigated because of something which they did to arouse suspicion, but simply because they were a large organization that Microsoft hoped they could frighten more money out of. The city was presumed guilty until proven innocent and this cost the tax payers a great deal of money as the city reassigned 25 percent of its technical work force to work specifically on the task of generating the information demanded by Microsoft. Microsoft is hunting down it’s customers, not providing for them. Know Your Competition In the competitive corporate world it is imperative that a company knows it’s competition so that you don’t get blindsided. It is crucial to know who they are and what their strengths/weaknesses are. It would also be smart to know what their primary products are that compete with yours and how they access talent that you might want as well. Recently Microsoft’s strategy has just been killing off competitors by either buying them or their technologies. Once again, a good example of this is shown with Microsofts jump into the web browser market. Microsoft was late to catch on to the fact that the web was going to revolutionize the way people used computers and once they finally woke up they were dangerously close to having their Windows monopoly destroyed by the greatly reduced importance of operating systems that a web based paradigm would produce. They needed to do something fast. They allegedly tried to carve up the market with Netscape by getting Netscape to ag ree to stop making Windows web browsers while Microsoft would only make Windows web browsers. Fortunately for consumers, Netscape did not agree to the deal and the web was saved from becoming a Microsoft only technology as surely would have happened. This made it even more urgent for Microsoft to lock up this new market right away while it was still time. Lacking any decent technology of their own, Microsoft licensed the Mosaic web browser from Spyglass which they turned into Internet Explorer. The weapon that Microsoft fashioned in their attempt to defeat Netscape wasnt even their own, but technology they bought from someone else. This was not a one time thing either. What this meant for Microsoft was that they got to keep their monopoly for a little bit longer, but it had much more dire consequences for consumers. It meant that consumers were now stuck with a very buggy browser and file system viewer because Internet Explorer wasn’t prepared to compete with competition. Who are Microsoft’s main competitors right now? According to CEO Steve Ballmer Google, Apple, and Oracle and the front runners. Google is a serious threat because not only does it have its hand in multiple markets, it has the ability to jump in and quickly grab significant market share. Gmail went public only about three years ago, but already it’s the third-largest webmail service behind Hotmail and Yahoo. Google Apps is up-and-coming, having won a few key contracts in the enterprise market. Microsoft’s release of Office Web Apps shows the company is worried about Google, which is touting apps as an easy-to-use-from-anywhere service with an easier and less expensive business model. Android has accomplished a heckuva feat, jumping from nearly no market share a year ago to being the platform of choice for about 10 percent of new smart phones sold. Chrome has been consistently eating away at Internet Explorer since its launch nearly two years ago. And with App Engine, Google has been making a push in the cloud-platform space to which Microsoft, with Windows Azure, just showed up this winter. And then there’s Chrome OS, the browser-based operating system that Google is expected to launch by late autumn. It’s unknown how successful the novel idea will be, especially with the incoming tablet market, but considering Google’s success in other sectors it could very well grab netbooks away from Windows. Apple was nearly dead 10 years ago and has surged back to pass up Microsoft in market capitalization, and Apple did it with consumers. When you’re talking competition between Microsoft and Apple, you’re mainly talking about hand-held devices. Windows is still on more than 90 percent of computers and Safari, Apple’s Web browser, essentially has the same market share as Macintosh computers. Apple is leading the charge for mobile computing. And as Google can attest, there’s plenty of room in the market to capitalize. Microsoft, for its part, has not been able to do that lately. As Apple and Android surge in popularity, Windows Mobile hemorrhages market share. Microsoft must deliver a knock-out hit with Windows Phone 7 this holiday season. Then there’s the iPad. Apple has succeeded where others, namely Microsoft, failed to recognize the need 10 years ago. Apple has opened the door for a potentially huge new market. What really agitates Microsoft is that PCs are no longer the only incarnation of personal computing. In the MicroNokia deal, Microsoft sees an opportunity to be a player in the new personal computing incarnation, a willful answer to its competition. Microsoft tried to ignore tablets and a â€Å"fad† but will soon need to recognize the potential and get on top of that if it wishes to once again dominate the industry. Total Quality Management It is absolutely necessary for Microsoft to base quality decisions on facts, not the ego’s and ideas of executives. The outputs that they wish to hold important must be measurable. Microsoft would also do well to empower its employees on the customer interaction level. These are the employees closest to the customer and will provide the most effective feedback for future innovation. These future innovations must also be of the highest quality as that is one of the key component to total quality control. The reason quality has gained such prominence is that organizations have gained an understanding of the high cost of poor quality. Quality affects all aspects of the organization and has dramatic cost implications. The most obvious consequence occurs when poor quality creates dissatisï ¬ ed customers and eventually leads to loss of business. However, quality has many other costs, which can be divided into two categories. The ï ¬ rst category consists of costs necessary for achieving high quality, which are called quality control costs. These are of two types: prevention costs and appraisal costs. The second category consists of the cost consequences of poor quality, which are called quality failure costs. Companies that consider quality important invest heavily in prevention and appraisal costs in order to prevent internal and external failure costs. The earlier defects are found, the less costly they are to correct. Another massively important factor of Total Quality Control is the quality and happiness of the employees. A good way to ensure that is to be encouraging to your employees and offer praise when appropriate. Thank employees for doing a good job and let them know that you value them. Should something go wrong or someone makes a mistake, don’t â€Å"punish† the person. That was a big fear at Microsoft that went on too long. Punishing people only makes things worse in that the employee may become angry and bitter and may want to sabotage their work to get back at the company, or leave to work for the competition. Too many meetings at Microsoft and the fear of a declining stock price did not create an atmosphere that created â€Å"quality†. Management needed to tolerate mistakes and be more outward gazing for innovations, customer needs, and new business models. Part 2: Recommendations Bad corporate culture happens, but it can be corrected. While it is natural for bad organizational culture to develop, this tendency can be countered and a more positive and productive organizational culture can be produced, though it requires savvy and introspective management. It is within the power of each of us to do the introspective work and be more savvy, as managers or regular employees. In doing so you will improve everyone, and give each individual increased capacity to influence the organizational culture in a more positive direction. The greatest threat to an organization’s success is not always the competition. Often, it is what a company does to itself. Because of fear, companies become plagued with barriers and bureaucracy that limit success, crush employees, and infuse frustration and a sense of futility across the enterprise. It starts with a narrowing of focus, which leads to the first level of bureaucracy: parochialism. Parochialism exists when managers and departments begin to view the world through the filter of their own little silo, and build walls make of rules and policies to protect their turf. This was definitely the case at Microsoft with the Stack ranking system. When looking at how Microsoft was handled by Bill Gates, there are undoubtedly some moments that suggest that the unity of purpose was not clearly defined and never adequately addressed to the degree that it needed. As I mentioned earlier, it is possible that Microsoft has its hands in too many things. There is no focus. Microsoft doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be. This is evident by the competition Microsoft is facing. Unity happens when leaders are committed to and engaged in the process of building a united, winning team. It requires focus, time, and energy. Unfortunately as we’ll discuss a little later on, focus may have been another contributing factor that hindered Microsoft from being the company Gates idealized in his head. Unity occurs when team members care more about the vision, purpose and health of the organization than they do their own personal agenda. Changing the mindset is essential. Unity happens when each person in the company can clearly see how their personal vision and effort contributes to the overall vision and success of the team. This involves meaningful conversations between the levels of management as well as between engineers and sales people. Unity of Purpose results when you weed out the negativity that sabotages far too many organizations. All of these things were issues at Microsoft that hindered it from having one united goal as a company. Having the right people in charge of making decisions can make a world of difference when trying to unite the group behind a cause, especially a business cause. Microsoft needs to invest in human resources to implement and maintain plans and policies. Strategically placed investments in human resources will develop a more skilled, innovative, productive and loyal workforce thus providing an organization with a competitive advantage over a less progressive competitor. Investmen t in human capital will offer Microsoft both short and long term gains to help produce not only skilled, productive employees, but also loyal and ethical employees for the long-term. Microsoft’s goal must now be to increase the ownership of employees work by providing the right incentives through HR. Especially when it comes to your employees, long-term thinking guides an organization. That’s where Microsoft missed the mark in the past and needs to focus now. Microsoft was focused on too many short term goals in the past. The vicious internal competitions need to be eliminated from Microsoft if they want to create a productive work environment. This was potentially the biggest issue in house for Microsoft. Companies can obtain a competitive advantage if they utilize strategic human resources investment practices. The real villain here was the wrongly implemented stack ranking system. Managers had a rest and vest mentality which bread ill feelings and jealousy all around. These factors were naturally at variance with team work and innovation. I recommend a better reward system that will focus on facilitating cooperation, enhancing long term thinking, tolerating mistakes because they are learning tools, and not let egos get involved. Whatever Microsoft determines it’s goals and purpose is going to be, it is important for the companies directors to remember that investing in the appropriate human resources is much more than making sure the new employees don’t impact your current paychecks and health insurance. Microsoft needs a better focus on what they are about and their position in the technology industry. These will come with a well taken care of their employee base first. I recommend they invest into a few basic human needs to help their organization stay productive, engaged and, happy during times of angst and uncertainty which inevitably come in the corporate world of today. The first focus with is to make a connection with the employees. Talking about emotions in the workplace can cause executives to get uneasy. Have you ever noticed that you never hear managers saying, Please dont get so excited or Please quit being so happy? The reality is that emotions are at the center of everything we do. The leadership challenge is not to avoid them, but instead to ignite the positive ones. The secret of getting people more engaged in their work is for their leaders to become more engaged with them. That means being willing to show up emotionally as well as intellectually. Human connection isnt a nice thing to have; its a must-have. Meaningful connections provide people with the internal fortitude they need to stay productive during tough times. Microsoft needs to be more connected to its people, and they also want them to be connected to one another. The way to do that is by talking, with real spoken words, not e-mail edicts, asking people how theyre doing and actually listening to their answers, and by providing them with opportunities to interact with one another. Corporate parties, public promotions etc will go a long was for the morale at Microsoft. Providing context and meaning to the tasks at hand will do a lot for the employees at Microsoft as well. Everyone wants to know that they make a difference in the world. When you put someones work into a meaningful context, you tap into the deepest yearning of his or her soul. The challenge for Microsoft is that most peoples days are so hectic and their jobs so compartmentalized that they often miss the larger story of how their work touches the work of others in the company, and the customers around the world. Leaders who reframe daily tasks by providing personal context quell the angst of uncertainty by giving their employees something more meaningful to think about. The best thing for Microsoft to do is to offer professional employees an incentive package that includes a bonus based on the firms gross revenue. When you bring in more, everyone gets rewarded. But dont make the mistake of tying bonus comp to practice profitability. Profit sharing seems like a good idea but it often c reates resentment by employees who dont have any control over profits. Every time an executive takes a vacation as a business trip or buys a new computer they dont really need, Microsoft employees will resent it. Bonuses based on revenues create a team environment where everyone gets rewarded for their contributions to growth. This is the ultimate motivator for many professional planner, young and old, regardless of business level. As businesses grow and become more complex, a second level of bureaucracy is reached: territorialism. While parochialism is about protecting a department from outsiders, territorialism is about controlling those inside the silo. The third and final level of bureaucracy is empire building, which is a response to perceived threats to a department’s ability to be self-sufficient. These barriers cost organizations a fortune in inefficiency, turnover, waste, and demoralization, and Microsoft is guilty of these on the highest level! Tearing down these barriers is difficult, but it can be done. I recommend resetting rules and policies, and refocusing on the ultimate mission of the organization. Territorialism can be eliminated by creating true empowerment, along with appropriate levels of accountability. Microsoft must also create a culture of courage, to enable employees to take advantage of these new freedoms and accountabilities. In the past managers definitely took advantage of their powers, and didn’t communicate to their employees appropriately. Leadership must refocus on mission success rather than just checking off their part of the process, manage reference points, and engage employees. I am confident that by doing all of these things, Microsoft can begin to become fearless, and unstoppable. Microsoft messed up internally, but also missed a number of opportunities. While Microsoft dreams of Apple-style successes with consumers, the truth is, with only one exception, consumers dont care about Microsoft in the slightest. Microsoft does, of course, make one successful consumer product, at least from a perception standpoint, and thats the Xbox 360. Today, Microsoft is being chipped away by competitors from all sides, like a mighty shark being taken down by a pack of hungry piranhas. Microsoft is just letting this happen because the company simply moves too slowly, whether its entering new markets, updating existing products, or something internal. I have read a number of recommendations in articles and online about Microsoft, and I happen to agree that Microsoft is so big that the very notion of there being a Microsoft is absurdly simplistic. This is instead a collection of often massive warring fiefdoms that dont just ignore each other but in some notable cases actually actively work against each other. Even more problematic, perhaps, Microsofts businesses are so diverse that many have nothing to do with each other. So my advice is to split up this company into two or three baby Microsofts, perhaps al ong consumer, business, and developer lines. None of these brands should have any influence from Steve Ballmer as well. Replacing Ballmer is no easy task, and while its not the epic problem that the software giant confronted when Bill Gates left, Microsofts need for new leadership will require a team, not an individual. It’s possible Microsoft doesnt need a business guy at the top, and I would recommend it needs another guy who understands technology. That way Microsoft’s managers will stop smothering good ideas. Microsoft needs to say â€Å"Yes† to good ideas more frequently. This can only happen within an organization that actually listens and rewards the forward thinkers, places like Apple and Google, who happen to be doing very well in the market right now. â€Å"Microsoft is now in the ironic position to brand itself as David to Apples Goliath, the counterculture to Apples mainstream†. I want Microsoft to turn the tables on the very upstart company that used to think different,† and I recommend Microsoft turn the page and begin this decade anew, learning from its own mistakes. Bibliography and Reference Links * Greer, Charles S. An Investment Perspective of Human Resources, Strategic Human Resources Management, (2001): 1. * Greer, Charles S. An Investment Perspective of Human Resources, Strategic HumanResources Management, (2001): 5 * http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57471170-75/microsofts-ballmer-challenges-vanity-fairs-lost-decade-claim/ * http://oneffectivemanagement.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/where-does-bad-corporate-culture-come-from-and-can-it-be-corrected/ * Civility: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-prefontaine/corporate-leaders-must-re_1_b_1437445.html * Not shipping said product: http://www.kmfms.com/whatsbad.html * Competiton: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2010/06/03/ballmer-and-microsofts-main-competitors-are/ * David to Apple Goliath: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/24/tech/innovation/fixing-microsoft/index.html

Important Challenges And Opportunities For The Police Criminology Essay

Important Challenges And Opportunities For The Police Criminology Essay Policing is an important practice which has been around for many eras. In England a system of sheriffs, reeves, and investigative juries had developed under the Anglo-Saxons to provide basic security and law enforcement. In 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act had been passed by Parliament, This promoted the preventive role of police as a deterrent to urban crime and disorder. Since then policing has become a vital part in society. As it is now the 21st century, the Police is faced with new important challenges and opportunities. This essay is going to look at what the most important challenges and opportunities of the police in the 21st century are. The main topics which will be focused on will be public perceptions and community relations of the police, police equality and diversity, the growth of technological surveillance, the impact of globalisation and the war on terror. These are the most important challenges and opportunities faced by the police and it is essential to see why they are important and this essay will seek to explore this. One of the most important challenges and opportunities for the police in the 21st century is the public perception of the police. It has been seen as a concern by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair who has voiced his concerns about the publics perception of the role of the police in todays society (Source: No Author, 2008 bbc.co.uk) The media plays a huge part in community relations as they have the power to enforce ideas in people through all types of media, e.g. films, news and TV programmes. The medias portrayal of policing is juxtaposed with both positive and negative representations. A complex relationship exists between media consumption and public attitudes towards the police. Police on routine foot patrol have been put in place so that it makes the public feel safe knowing that there are some authority to keep things in order should the need arise, and also allows the police an opportunity to be able to engage with the public by regaining trust from them. An experiment was conducted The Newark Foot Patrol Experiment and the results had shown that while foot patrol may not have reduced a huge number of crimes, however it did reduce citizens fear of crime, the residents felt safer and felt like it was a better place to live and were satisfied with police services. (Source: policefoundation.org) A hand-picked team from CO19, the Metropolitan Polices elite firearms unit, will walk in gun crime hotspots where armed gangs have turned entire estates into no go zones, this being a huge challenge for the police in order to cut down gang crime etc they have been placed there for routine foot patrol this being an important opportunity for the police to tackle this i ssue of gang crime and any other crimes on the streets in the 21st century. (Source: Moore M, 2009. www.telegraph.co.uk) As the public perception is vital and is an important challenge to tackle, it has been seen however, in 2009 a Policing Pledge was introduced by every police force. The Pledge is a set of promises made by the police where they reflect on what the public have said they most want from their policing services, a set of requests, for example this scheme has promised that emergency 999 calls will be answered within  ten seconds, and that help will be sent immediately (Source: homeoffice.gov.uk 2009). Also an independent Police Complaints Commission Police Reform Act 2002 had been put in place in case of police having done something which the public are not entirely satisfied with. The Home office states that Diversity is defined as difference, everyone is different in terms of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, faith and age, people have varied and equally valuable skills, knowledge and experience to put forward. Gender and race have been a challenge for the police in the 21st century, not only in terms of crime but also within the policing institute for example employment for the police. After the uproar of Stephen Lawrences injustice in 1993, police have found themselves with many opportunities to rectify their mistakes by tackling Racism as one of the police forces main priority. Quite a few members of the general public have lost all faith in the police, the police are challenged to change this and have the opportunity to help people when dealing with racist crimes. The human rights commission report highlighted that there was a disproportionate number of Black people and Asian people being stopped and searched. Figures in 2007/08 shows 1,035,43 8 stop and searches were carried out by the police and of the people that had been stopped and searched, figures indicate that 13% were Black, 8% were Asian and 3% mixed ethnicity. (Source: Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2007/8) Gender and racism within the policing institution are major challenges for the police as there is quite a difference between male and female police officers and also between white and ethnic minority police officers. One of the concerns that had been highlighted in the Equality and Human Rights Commission report showed high resignation rates and dismissals within ethnic minority individuals than white officers within the first 6 months of service, showing that there is an inequality here. 36,187 of the 144,274 officers in England and Wales were female, representing 25.1 per cent of the total, compared with 24.2 per cent in March 2008. Compared to male officers this is a small figure. The proportion of women in the more senior ranks of Chief Inspector and above was 13.0 per cent. As at 31 March 2009, there were 6,310 minority ethnic police officers in England and Wales, accounting for 4.4 per cent of all officers compared with 4.1 per cent in March 2008. (Source: Mulchandani Sigurdss on 2009 Pg. 5). Theres a sense of a canteen culture amongst the police force, this is where there are negative perceptions on the part of police against women and minorities, This term is generally applied to describe the attitudes of some of the lower ranks of the British police force who resist change and are comfortable with what the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence called the Metropolitan Polices institutional racism. As it is now the 21st century, the police have been trying to tackle this challenge. A huge recruitment campaign was carried out by the police to increase the diversity of the police force. There has been an increase on recruitment with ethnic minorities wanting to be recruited to the forces figure had risen to 12.3 Percent in 2007/08 compared to the 8.4 Percent in 2003/04. (Source: Police and Racism Report Pg 13) Globalisation has become an important challenge and also has made a huge impact for policing, The majority of police functions and practices pertain to local and regionally specific matters of crime and order, However a large number of globalisation developments have crossed the boundaries of national borders. As the nature of crime has become wide, it shows that crime has no limitations and the September 11th 2001 terrorist attack in the United States is a good example of this. September 11th attacks isnt simply the main occurrence to the globalisation of policing, it was well underway due to many other forces which had occurred before. However since the September 11th attacks, the globalisation of policing did change. Although these attacks happened in the United States it shocked the whole world making the United Kingdom also a prime target (Ritzer, G Pg 380). This fear further emerged even more so after the July 7th 2005 bombings in London. This didnt become just an issue for ind ividual nations but it became a Global issue. The policing agencies are facing these challenges with the criminal justice and policing systems which are made to police the citizens in a national context. Police institutions are legitimated in the national states context. As a result, there is a persistence of nationality in international policing in at least three ways. Police institutions rather engage unilaterally in international activities without assistance from police of other nations. The 20th century mostly focused on fugitives from justice who had committed violent and property crimes. Other periods later saw the important shift towards the policing of drugs crimes and the control of illegal immigration. From 21st century and with extreme force since the events of September 11, 2001, international terrorism and technologically advanced crimes, such as cyber crimes and international money laundering schemes, have become the leading focus in international policing. (Source: Deflem, M Pg 972) The need to deal with the global issues relating to terrorism has come into conflict with keeping open borders to facilitate international economic transactions. The national approach to t hese challenges faced in the UK had revolved around security services in policing, expanded the use of covert policing activities, setting up agreements like bi-lateral and international teams with the UK and USA. The challenge faced by the police would be assuring that international laws are abided to and being able to apply new laws that could help deal with other countries. The Home Office are responsive to the challenges the police have to meet in the 21st century and want to build our ability to fight global threats such as drugs, trafficking, illegal immigration and the growth of globalisation of crime and terrorism which produced a real security threat to its growth. Global crime control is improving to an extent in various ways, however one challenge that the police face is that there is a great fear of threats to civil and human rights posed by these policing methods such as more intrusive surveillance technologies. (Source: Ritzer, G Pg 380). Due to the growth of technological surveillance it has given the police an opportunity to combat crime and this has aided them to achieve this. Surveillance is the monitoring of the behaviour, activities, or other changing information. Its an observation of individuals or groups by government organizations. Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) is an example of this. CCTV is seen as a vital part of the policing toolkit. Its preventative power, allowing officers to pre-empt trouble, its use as an extra pair of eyes or for intelligence gathering and the deterrent effect were all seen as benefits by the police. Many officers spoke about the time-saving power of CCTV. The reported high number of arrests in CCTV-related incidents points to the efficiency in the use of CCTV, if police are able to make arrests quickly this saves time in investigating an incident. (Source: Levesley T Martin A 2005 Pg. 11) One of the challenges faced by the police is that CCTV cameras are a controversial issue, and that people feel as though they have no privacy as they are being constantly watched like big brother. The growth of technological surveillance is an important opportunity for the police in the 21st century as it has given them the chance to develop new ways to combat crime, for example terrorism, it is to help members of the public feel safer. CCTV isnt the only form of technological surveillance which has helped the police in combating crime. There are also audio surveillance technologies, these are used to monitor a room, an individual person, or a telephone conversation. Electronic eavesdropping may be defined as intercepting conversations without the knowledge or consent of the participants. The most commonly used form is wiretapping, the interception of telephone or telegraph messages this is a new form of surveillance technology used a lot in the 21st century which is a important opportunity for the police, audio surveillance technologies in 21st century are mainly used as a tool for counter terrorism. The War on Terror is the campaign that was launched by the United States of America, and was supported by United Kingdom, NATO and other countries. The campaign had started in reaction to the September 11th, 2001 attacks and had stated that the main objective was to abolish international terrorism. (Source: Deflem, M Pg 972). The war on terror is probably the most important challenge that the police have faced in the 21st century so far, especially after September 11th attacks and the July 7th bombings in London. These attacks shocked the nation by the significant number of controls, checks and regulations that were put in place. Terrorist activity can come from a range of sources and counter terrorist policing has been a huge priority. Terrorism involves extraordinary violence. It is intentional and it is to create massive fear which involves a planned attack for a purpose. That is why terrorism is one of the most important challenges for police as like September 11th which 2,973 victims and the 19 hijackers died as a result of the attacks. Also the July 7th bombing in London has made a huge priority for the police to ensure that people in the U.K are safe and to prevent such destruction from occurring again a counter terrorism strategy has been put in place. The globalisation of crime and terrorism has produced a growing threat. In order to respond to these threats, the UK came up with a Counter terrorism strategy known as CONTEST. CONTEST main focus over the next 5 years is about reducing all threats and vulnerability in the UK. What Global terrorism has demonstrated in the past few years is that it is unlikely to consider that all security efforts will deny every attack every time. Thus the most practical approach is to protect cities as far as possible in doing so by reducing safety and security threats, risks and vulnerabilities. If an incident were to occur, then the mission is to react effectively, this being a huge challenge for the police in 21st century. (Source: security.homeoffice.gov.uk) One of the future challenges the police will have to face is the 2012 Olympic Paralympic Games in London. Its a challenge of security whereby they need to protect London and its guests over the 90 or so days of the Games from all types of threats including potential terrorist attacks. To conclude it is clear to see that the police face many important challenges and opportunities in the 21st century. One of the prime aspects being the topic of terrorism and this is because it is a huge threat and has the ability to cause major destruction. It is a new challenge which has emerged in the 21st century for the police whereas the other factors mentioned in this essay have existed as challenges for the police industry before the 21st Century. From this essay it is evident to see that there is a growth of technological surveillance which has been put into practice in order to control threats like terrorism. Having said this, all the challenges and opportunities mentioned in this essay are important for the police in the 21st century and should be seen as opportunities in which to regain public favour and trust.

Older People With Strokes

Older People With Strokes An estimated 150,000 people have a stroke in the UK each year (Scottish Stroke Care Audit 2005/2006) with a mortality of over 67,000 (British Heart Foundation, 2005) . It is the third most common cause of death in England and Wales, after heart disease and cancer (NHS, 2001).This is in accordance with the report published by World Health Organization stating, stroke is the third highest cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed countries of the world, immediately following ischemic heart disease and malignant diseases(WHO, 2008).Because strokes are common and lead to substantial disability and ill-health, a large proportion of the NHS budget is spent on treating people who have suffered a stroke. The direct cost of stroke to the NHS is estimated to be  £2.8 billion. The cost to the wider economy is  £1.8 billion (NHS, 2001).Thus a needs assessment of this population group might help understand the intricacies of this issue. This assignment aims at giving a brief account of the factors influencing the health of people who have suffered stroke and further plan and justify a health needs assessment for the same. It will also attempt to provide a critical analysis of a relevant health policy and its impact on the affected population. Stroke: Definition and Risk Factors The World Health Organization defines stroke as a condition caused by the interruption of the blood supply to the brain, usually because a blood vessel bursts or is blocked by a clot. This cuts off the supply of oxygen and nutrients, causing damage to the brain tissue. The effects of a stroke depends on which part of the brain is injured and how severely it is affected. A very severe stroke can cause sudden death (WHO, 2008). Various physiologic and medical conditions can precipitate stroke. The risk factors can be categorised into biological, environmental, socioeconomic and behavioural. There is often an interplay of two or more factors that attribute to morbidity. Biological: These include age, gender and genetic predisposition. The single most important factor that increases the chances of stroke threefold is the age of the individual (Fisher, 2001). Age People most at risk for stroke are older adults, particularly those with high blood pressure, who are sedentary, overweight, smoke, or have diabetes. Incidence rises exponentially with age and majority of them occur in persons older than 65 years (Fisher, 2001). Wolfe, Rudd Beech (1996) states that the risk of stroke doubles with each successive decade over the age of 55. Older age is also linked with higher rates of post-stroke dementia. Gender In most age groups except older adults, stroke is more common in men than in women. However, it kills more women than men, regardless of ethnic groups (Fisher, 2001). This may be partly due to the fact that women tend to live longer than men, and stroke is more common among older adults. Women account for about 6 in 10 stroke deaths (NHS, 2001). Race and Ethnicity In as diverse a population in England and Wales, the minority population, especially those belonging to the African and South Asian origin, face a significantly higher risk for stroke and death from stroke than the English (Wolfe, 1996). They also have a higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension than other groups. However, studies suggest that socioeconomic factors also affect these differences. Lifestyle Factors Smoking: People who smoke a pack a day have almost two and a half times the risk for stroke as nonsmokers. Smoking increases both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke risk (Wolfe, 1996). The risk for stroke may remain elevated for as long as 14 years after quitting, hence an earlier quit is recommended (NHS, 2001). Diet: Unhealthy diet (saturated fat, high sodium) can contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity, which are all risk factors for stroke(Winter, 2001). Physical Inactivity: Lack of regular exercise can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and poor circulation, which increase the risk of stroke. Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Alcohol abuse, including binge drinking, increases the risk of stroke. Drug abuse, particularly with cocaine or methamphetamine, is a major factor of stroke in young adults. Anabolic steroids, used for body-building and sports enhancement, also increase stroke risk. Heart and Vascular Diseases Heart disease and stroke are closely tied for many reasons. People who have one heart or vascular condition (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, peripheral artery disease) are at increased risk for developing other related conditions (British Heart Foundation, 2005). High Blood Pressure. High blood pressure (hypertension) contributes to about 70% of all strokes. Hypertensive people have up to 10 times the normal risk of stroke, depending on the severity of the blood pressure in the presence of other risk factors. Hypertension is also an important cause of so-called silent cerebral infarcts, or blockages, in the blood vessels in the brain (mini-strokes) that may predict major stroke. Controlling blood pressure is extremely important for stroke prevention. A meta-analysis of nine prospective studies, including 420,000 individuals followed for 10 years, found that stroke risk increased by 46% for every 7.5-mm Hg increase in diastolic blood pressure (Fisher,2001). Atrial Fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation, a major risk factor for stroke, is a heart rhythm disorder in which the atria (the upper chambers in the heart) beat very quickly and nonrhythmically (British Heart Foundation, 2005). Between 2 4% of patients with atrial fibrillation without any history of TIA or stroke will have an ischemic stroke over the course of the year. Of those with atrial fibrillation, the risk generally is highest in those older than age 75, with heart failure or enlarged heart, coronary artery disease, history of clots, diabetes, or heart valve abnormalities (Winter, 2001). Diabetes Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death in people with diabetes. Diabetes is second only to high blood pressure as the main risk factor for stroke. The risk is highest for adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and patients with diabetes who are younger than age 55. African-Americans with diabetes are at even higher risk for stroke at a younger age (Wolfe, 1996). Diabetes is a particularly strong risk factor for ischemic stroke, perhaps because of accompanying risk factors, such as obesity and high blood pressure. Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome Obesity may increase the risk for both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke independently of other risk factors that often co-exist with excess weight, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and unhealthy cholesterol level (Winter, 2001). Weight that is centered around the abdomen (the so-called apple shape) has a particularly high association with stroke, as it does for heart disease, in comparison to weight distributed around hips (pear-shape). Stroke being a syndromic illness, the health needs of those at risk and post stroke survivors are varied and need due consideration. Health Needs Assessment in Stroke Survivors Health needs assessment according to the NHS health needs assessment workbook is a systematic review of the health issues facing a population leading to agreed priorities and resource allocation that will improve health and reduce inequalities. This ensures that any action taken minimises harm to health, and may improve it for those with the most to gain. In particular, stroke is a leading cause of adult disability (Raina, 1998). The trajectory of care for stroke is of sudden onset, acute hospital care followed by rehabilitation and return to community living. Of new stroke survivors, an estimated 56% go directly home after acute care, 32% go to inpatient rehabilitation, and 11% go to long-term care facilities (NHS, 2001). Stroke survivors returning to the community often have difficulties performing every day activities like dressing, eating, and mobility that can last well into the first year post-stroke (Mayo, 2002). It is also commonly associated with cognitive changes (e.g., 26. 3% of ischemic stroke survivors are diagnosed with dementia (Desmond, 2000)). Caregivers provide essential support to these individuals when they return home with varying levels of physical and cognitive difficulty. The assessment of health needs, involves a combination of epidemiological assessment of disease prevalence, the evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment and care options, and their relative costs and effectiveness, analysis of existing activity and resource data, and application of this knowledge to populations (Bowling, 2009). Thus according to pallant (2002) it is important to identify the needs not wants so as to achieve measurable improvement from an intervention. As this involves time and efforts and results in considerable long term benefits for those who undertake it and for the population assessed. Hence it has attracted the interest of policy makers, health economist and health professionals to satisfy individual and population needs to optimize resource utilization (Lari Gari, 2005). In the present context the aim of health needs assessment for stroke is to lower the incidence of stroke, directed at reducing smoking, reducing socio-economic deprivation, lowering blood pressure and encouraging healthy lifestyles (Stevens, et al., 2004) Thus the health needs of stroke survivors during various phases of their post stroke recovery period as discovered in the literature are summarized as follows Biological aspect Biological pathology of post-stroke is neuromuscular function impairment which hinge on the lesion area on the brain. Undoubtedly, sensory-motor assessment such as visual field defects, bladder in dysphasia, sensory impairment and muscle power weakness (Klara, 2006). Also, motor paralysis is still a major problem in stroke condition that presents a weakness on the affected side particularly upper and lower extremities, due to lack of muscle tone generation and imbalance of nerve impulse from cerebral cortex which leads to flaccidity and spasticity (Fawcus, 2000). Therefore in order to evaluate post stroke management and care, use of a variety of standardized tests before physical rehabilitation training can help to assess the general and specific needs of the patients. For example, the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) can assess muscle spasticity, the Medical Research Council Motor Power Score (MRC-MPS) can measure motor power and strength of isolated group of muscle and Likert-type scales use to count pain condition (Fasoli et al. 2004). In addition, the Barthel Index can evaluate functional skills of activity of daily living (Shah et al. 1989). These instruments and therapeutic modalities can assess the accurate physical condition and abilities of the stroke survivor and help perform strategic plan for his rehabilitation. Physical aspects After the stabilization of the patients medical condition the clinical emphasis is on preparing the patients to return home. The most important physical competency to be monitored in the stroke survivors by the health professionals at this stage are related to activity of daily living (ADL skills). As Gresham (1986) suggests independence in ADL will continue to be a suitable hallmark of physical restoration. Therefore the aspects that need consideration include education and training of stroke survivors and care givers to help them safely perform the activity of daily living and adapt the training received in the hospital to the home environment. For example, in the home environment bathrooms may be smaller, hallways may be narrower, carpets may be difficult to manage, and stairs may be difficult to negotiate. The sudden transition to the home with an absence of health professionals with whom to consult as needed may also make caregivers anxious. As a result, caregivers may need advi ce from peers and/or health care professionals on how to manage the care recipients various needs (Cameroon Gignac, 2008). They may require additional training, and they may need additional emotional support to address fears and anxiety associated with starting to provide care in the community. Emotional and needs Stroke survivors need continued practice and support in their activities of daily living and would benefit from the opportunity to test their skills in the home environment under the supervision of rehabilitation professionals and/or nurses (Pallant, 2002). These professionals could appraise and provide feedback about their functioning ability with the aim of enhancing stroke survivors skills and confidence. Emotionally, stroke survivors need support from social workers and/or family and friends to manage their mounting anxiety and uncertainty about their skills and competence in the community(Cameroon Gignac, 2008). The types of resources include access to community care agencies, on-going rehabilitation, and support groups. Behavioural needs The first and foremost priority in post stroke rehabilitation is to control the modifiable risk factors in stroke survivors. Several modifiable risk factors that contribute to development and progression of stroke include hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of physical activity, dietary and hyper-cholesterolaemia (Gariballa, 2004). Multidisciplinary team approach not only helps in prevention but also to identify the susceptible population at risk. It is the primary health care team including clinical governance who leads the team (Pallant, 2002). Studies have shown that hypertension is the single most attributable factor for stroke. Smokers are at three fold risk of stroke when compared with non- smokers and 10 fold risks when in combination with raised systolic blood pressure (Wolfe, Rudd Beech, 1996). Diabetes accounts for 10-20% of all strokes whereas epidemiological studies have confounded that alcohol consumption has direct do se dependent effect (Lindley,2008). Thus patients and care giver counselling in improving the lifestyle related factors and regular monitoring of the patients during post stroke rehabilitation is mandatory for long term benefits. However in order to make the life of the post stroke survivors and the care givers more comfortable appropriate policies and their implementation should be the highest priority of the government and the Department of Health. Policy analysis in post-stroke from National Stroke Strategy [version 2008] (Department of Health, 2008) From the information available, the national stroke strategy tried to give data, advice and support for clear and easy implementation of treatment plan. This policy provides opportunity for stroke survivors to participate and express their health needs. Also, this persuades all institutional services of stroke to prepare pertinent information and health support into the system service to help people access information and care easily. For instance, if stroke survivors need to change service and treatment, healthcare team should explain factual information and transfer them to the right modalities by finding an accurate therapy to support them. Furthermore, if there is a voluntary organization service to serve nearby stroke patients home, health professionals should advise them to encourage joint activity in their society. Conclusively, this guiding principle explores peoples need and open people to feed back information on stroke service attribute. The essence of involving people in developing service and treatment programme lies in the policy makers view to incorporate stroke survivors and carers in decision making for development of strategic plan, focus management, delivery and scrutiny of appropriate service, to provide special tools and assistive support in case of severity. The strength of this stroke policy is evident from the relevant points and emphasis on the step by step sequencing of services regarding important concerns. Besides, guideline pattern has highlighted the key words that refer to reading awareness including consistency of cartoon painting which is easy to capture in perceptual context and comprehension. However, there are a few weaknesses of informative system that cannot explain the details of further information if people need to read in-depth and cannot show the feature of voluntary organization for connection of services. Examine how to serve life after stroke, assessment and rehabilitation Having completed basic stroke treatment, the life after stroke needs to be evaluated with an objective for providing a good quality of life and design services for people who have had a stroke and are supported to live with independence with possible availability of resources at their home and environment. The policy aims at stroke survivors and relatives requirement of high-quality rehabilitation training and medical support in order to promote better movement/mobility in day-to- day life, self hygiene and cooking, adequate communicative skills, distress/depression management problem solving ability and sexual behavioural understanding. The outstanding Information can help many readers and healthcare providers to realize and understand the overview of stroke patients. All healthcare professionals should follow this guideline on rehabilitation by concentrating on individual patient needs and differing needs of some ethnic groups depending on their culture and belief in environmental society. In addition, the plan of strategy has underlined the end-of-life care by considering severe stroke survivors who seem not to get better and help them join the right service programme with the right caregiver such as special care and needs, choice of place of death and assessment of the satisfaction of patients relatives about the end-of-life care. Therefore, the life after stroke policy is to distinguish, to follow and depict the important roles of healthcare team but which cannot see the pitfalls of service process. If the action plan can be manipulated, according to the patient requirement from the hospital to strokes home and community, the end result will definitely be much better. Analyse the process of health service in long-term care support In order to analyse the policy service system of stroke, the stroke strategy has to be formulated to facilitate easy-to-access services and to receive concomitant service from interdisciplinary team for long-term needs of stroke survivors. Outstandingly, provision of long-term care is essential and has become a part of health promotion because post-stroke pathology is different in each patient that needs to be rehabilitated in different modality intervention programmes. Nevertheless, this policy of long-term care support is difficult to manage a range of different rehabilitations because the activity involves various dimensions and a combination of facilities for different stroke cases and hence difficult to meet the complex social care needs. Apart from this, the stroke policy provides only an overview of immediate management and does not explain how to set the long-term care and support for stroke survivors. Although the long- term care process can lead to a better quality of life after stroke, there are many factors that need to be planned, especially related to the individual stroke condition. The guidance should be planned and made elusive in terms of mild, moderate and severe stroke in long-term care and support which is necessary for reflection of different short and long term goals to be achieved in rehabilitation training. However, the policy services merely shows peoples needs assessment and do not describe the effective planning that meets individual needs particularly related to long term care and hence should be considered accordingly to the level of stroke condition to identify specific social care needs, including the purpose of longer-term follow-up with evaluation in multispectral collaborative services. Discuss home modification, return to work and community participation To improve the quality of life in post-stroke environment, the stroke policy makers provide only with a framework for adapting the home to be compatible with patients needs for him/her to be independent but do not give details of provisions for daily life activities. The conceptual strategy has illustrated general requirement of services for transportation and housing management by pondering over housing needs related to adaptation and modification but does not analyse specific factors that may have both positive and negative impact on the development of post-stroke skills as well as that may obstruct independence in functional ability at their homes. Nevertheless, there are no details of home modifications that are mandatory in sample such as slope area, stairway, toilet, bed room and kitchen. Conclusion From the above it is clear that the burden of disease due to stroke and the its impact during the recovery period deeply affects the life of the survivor. The high incidence and prevalence of disease make it necessary to implement appropriate measures to prevent first ever and recurrent strokes. Moreover a well planned rehabilitation of the stroke survivors is vital for improved prognosis. Conclusively an assessment of the health needs of this population group can be used to optimize health care services and facilities in the best interest of the survivors. This can also be used by the policymakers in improving the relevant provisions in meeting the health needs of the deprived. Word count : 3352