Apply Legal and Ethical Parameters to Nursing Practice Essay Example for Free

Apply Legal and Ethical Parameters to Nursing Practice Essay 1. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (The National Law 2009) has great importance on the governance of the conduct of registered and enrolled nurses. The National Law allows national boards to manage the development of health profession standards. The National Law has requirement for national boards to enterprise wide range consultation on registration standards, codes and guidelines. The National Law organise a national scheme which include registration arrangement, accreditation arrangement, complaints, conducts, health and performance arrangements, privacy and information-sharing arrangement and transitional arrangements. 2. (a). Two legislations that mandate nurses to report to nominated government authorities where elderly people and/or children in their care are at risk of harm from others are Australian Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (2009) Children and Community services amendment act 2008 (b). These acts are state act, which can vary state or territory wide in Australia. (c). These legislations make ENs aware to provide safe environment and keep away elderly people and children from any harm by reporting to nominated government. This legislation helps to reduce some professionals to be involved in some cases. It is legal requirement for ENs to report all reasonable beliefs of any risk of harm for elderly people and/or children. 3. Four domains of the National Competency Standards for Enrolled Nurse are: (a) Professional and Ethical practices: Enrolled Nurses work according to legislation, policies and procedures to demonstrate knowledge of legislation and common law, organizational policies and procedure, fulfill the duty of care, report practices that may breach legislations, polices and procedures. ENs performs in ethical way, respect the rights of individual and groups, and accept accountability and responsibility for own actions within enrolled nursing practices. (b) Critical thinking and analysis: Enrolled nurses establish critical thinking to perform enrolled  nursing practice by assessing own performance through nursing standards, by self professional development, by own care. (c) Management of care: Enrolled nurses participate to form care plans with RN through accurate data collection and report of health and functional status of individuals and groups, through identification of expected healthcare outcomes, through evaluation of progress of individuals and groups to achieve expected outcomes with RN. ENs manage nursing care of individuals and groups by implementing planned nursing care to get identified outcomes, by recognizing any change in health and functional status, report and document it accurately and on time. (d) Enabling: Enrolled nurses promote safety, security and personal integrity of individuals and groups, which include their actions of safety, create and maintain effective communication, applying strategies for promotion of self-esteem of individual and groups, actions to maintain dignity and integrity of individuals and groups. Enrolled nurses provide support and care to individuals and groups and participate with members of healthcare team to achieve effective healthcare outcomes. 4. The NMBA new Code of Ethics August 2008 define the nursing profession’s commitment to respect, promote, protect and support the fundamental rights od receiver and provider of nursing and healthcare. Its impact on practice of enrolled nurses is to: Provide quality nursing care, taking action on reasonable ground Respect the individual’s ethical values with gentleness Understand different culture and languages influence the nursing and healthcare Demonstrate the ability to reasonably and equitably provide services depends on needs, social standings, ethnicity, age, race, level of income, gender Support culture of safety because safety is everyone’s responsibility Document all information accurately, non-judgmentally and relevant to health, acre and treatment of a person and should be confidential Prevent, minimize and overcome the harmful effect of economic, social or ecological factors on health Promote and maintain the trust between nurse care receiver Perform ethically 5. The purpose of NMBA new code of Professional Conduct August 2008 for nurses is to: Specify a base to consumer, regulatory, employing and professional bodies for evaluating professional conduct of nurses Form a set of minimum national standards of conduct, nurses are supposed to support Inform the community of standards of professional conduct, it can sustain nurses in Australia References: 1. Nursing and midwifery board of Australia, 27 October 2009, consultation paper on registration standards and related matters, viewed 16 August 2014, www.ahpra.gov.au 2. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, 2010, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Law 2009, viewed 16 August 2014, www.ahpra.gov.au 3. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, 2014, Mandatory notification, viewed 15 August 2014, www.ahpra.gov.au 4. Australian Institute of Family Studies, 8 August 2014, What is mandatory reporting?, viewed 15 August 2014, www.aifs.gov.au 5. Hughson, J, 2013, ‘Nursing: Historical, present and future perspectives’, The Tabbner’s Nursing Care (6th edition), Kesteven S., Libby Houston, Chatswood, NSW, pp. 11-12 6. Australian Nursing Midwifery Council, 2008, Codes of professional conduct and ethics for nurses and midwives in Australia, viewed 17 August 2014, http://dlb.sa.edu.au/tsftfmoodle/pluginfile.php/998/mod_resource/content/0/COMMUNICAT E_AND_WORK_EFFECTIVELY_IN_HEALTH/element_1/ANMCwebsiteversion.pdf 7. Nursing and midwifery board of Australia, 2014, Codes of Professional conduct for nurses in Australia, viewed 17 August 2014, www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au 8. Nursing and midwifery board of Australia, 2014, Codes of Ethics for nurse august 2008, viewed 17 August 2014, www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au

The Criticism Of The Modigliani And Miller Hypothesis Finance Essay

The Criticism Of The Modigliani And Miller Hypothesis Finance Essay Capital structure has a major implication to the ability of firms to meet the various needs of stakeholders. There were various studies carried out on capital structure and major development on new theories for optimal debt to equity ratio. The first milestone on the issue was set by Modigliani and Miller(1958) through which they presented in their seminal work two important propositions that shaped the economic theory behind capital structure and its effect on firm value. The Modigliani and Miller hypothesis is identical with the net operating income approach. At its heart, the theorem is an irrelevance proposition, but the Modigliani-Miller Theorem provides conditions under which a firms financial decisions do not affect its value. They argue that in the absence of taxes, a firms market value and the cost of capital remain invariant to the capital structure changes. In their 1958 articles, they provide analytically and logically consistent behavioural justification in favour of their hypothesis and reject any other capital structure theory as incorrect. The Modigliani-Miller theorem states that, in the absence of taxes, bankruptcy costs, and asymmetric information, and in an efficient market, a companys value is unaffected by how it is financed, regardless of whether the companys capital consists of equities or debt, or a combination of these, or what the dividend policy is. Miller (1991) explains the intuition for the Theorem with a simple analogy. Think of the firm as a gigantic tub of whole milk. The farmer can sell the whole milk as it is. Or he can separate out the cream, and sell it at a considerably higher price than the whole milk would bring. He continues, The Modigliani-Miller proposition says that if there were no costs of separation, (and, of course, no government dairy support program), the cream plus the skim milk would bring the same price as the whole milk. The main content of the argument is that increasing the amount of debt (cream) lowers the value of outstanding equity (skim milk) and selling off safe cash flows to debt-holders leaves the firm with more lower valued equity,thus keeping the total value of the firm unchanged. Furthermore, any gain from using more of what might seem to be cheaper debt is offset by the higher cost of now riskier equity. Assumptions: The Modigliani-Miller theorem can be best explained in terms of their proposition 1 and proposition 2. However their proposition are base on certain assumption and particularly relate to the behaviour of investors, capital market, the actions of the firm and the tax environment. According to I.M Pandey(1999) the assumptions of the Modigliani Miller theorem is based on: Perfect capital markets These are securities (shares and debt instruments)which are traded in the perfect capital market situation and complete information is available to all investors with no cost to be paid. This also means that an investor is free to buy or sell securities, he can borrow without restriction at the same terms as the firm do and he behave rationally. It also implies that the transaction cost(cost of buying and selling securities) do not exist. Homogeneous risk classes Firms can be group into homogeneous risk classes. Firms would be considered to belong to a homogeneous risk class if their expected earnings have identical risk characteristics. It is generally implied under the M-M hypothesis that firms within same industry constitute a homogeneous class. Risk The risk of the investors is defined in terms of the variability of the net operating income(NOI). The risk of investors depends on both the random fluctuations of the expected NOI and the possibility that the actual value of the variable may turn out to be different than their best estimate. No taxes In the original formulation of their hypothesis, M-M assume that no corporate income taxes and personal tax exist. That is, they are both perfect substitute. Full payout Firms distribute all net earnings to the shareholders, which means a 100% payout. Proposition 1: the market value of any firms is independent of its capital structure. M-M(Modigliani and miller) argue that for firms in the same risk class the total market value is independent of the debt-equity mix and is given by capitalizing the expected net operating income by the rate appropriate to that risk class. This is their proposition 1 and can be expressed as follows: Value of firm= Market value of equity + Market value of debt = V= (S + D) = = Where V = the market value of the firm S = the market value of the firms ordinary equity D = the market value of debt = the expected net operating income on the assets of the firm = the capitalization rate appropriate to the risk class of the firm. Also, M-M extended proposition 1 by arguing that there is a linear relationship between cost the cost of equity and the financial leverage. Financial leverage is measured by the Debt to Equity ratio(D/E).The cost of equity capital can be denoted by the following relationship: = + ( ) DE Where denotes cost of equity capital; denotes overall cost of capital and denotes cost of debts of the firm L . Based on the assumption that there is no corporate tax then is equal to the rate of interest on financial leverage employed by the firm. The diagram below shows the cost of capital under the Modigliani and Miller proposition 1.http://htmlimg3.scribdassets.com/2vohdy2ptsw5n23/images/12-7ef603c995.jpg Example: Example 1 Example 2 DE 2/3 1 0.18 1.18 0.10 0.10 23.3% 26% It can be seen that due to an increase in financial leverage the risk premium of equity shareholders have increased from (23-18) = 5% to (26-18) = 8 %. We can also verify for the , which is given below: When debt equity ratio is 2:3 + = 18% The similar result is obtained when DE is 1. + = 18% It can be concluded that the overall cost of capital, which is the weighted average cost of debt and cost of equity, is unaffected even if the degree of financial leverage is increased. As per the M-M model, however , any benefits arising by substituting cheaper leverage for more expensive equity are offset by an increase in both the costs as reflected on the following graph. Arbitrage process: Arbitrage process is base on the principle that Proposition 1 is based on the assumption that 2 firms are identical except for their capital structure which cannot command different market value and have different cost of capital. Modigliani and Miller do not accept the net income approach on the fact that two identical firms except for the degree of leverage, have different market values. Arbitrage process will take place to enable investors to engage in personal leverage to offset the corporate leverage and thus restoring equilibrium in the market. Criticism of the Modigliani and Miller hypothesis: On the basis of the arbitrage process, M-M conclude that the market value of firms are not affected by leverage but due to the existence of imperfections in the capital market, arbitrage may fail to work and may give rise to differences between the market values of levered and unlevered firms. The arbitrage process may fail to bring equilibrium in the capital market for the following reasons: Lending and borrowing rates differences: Based on the assumption that firms and individuals can borrow and lend at the same rate of interest does not hold good in practice. This is so because firms which hold a substantial amount of fixed assets will have a higher credit standing, thus they will be able to borrow at a lower rate of interest than individuals. Non-substitutability of personal and corporate leverages: It is incorrect to say that personal leverage and corporate leverage are perfect substitute because of the existence of limited liability a firms hold compare to the unlimited liability of individuals hold. For examples, if a levered firm goes bankrupt, all investors will lose the amount of the purchase price of the shares. But if an investor creates personal leverage, in the event of a unlevered firms insolvency, he would lose not only his principal in the shares but also be liable to return the amount of his personal loan. Transaction costs: Transaction cost interfere with the working of the arbitrage. Due to the cost involved in the buying and selling of securities, it is necessary to invest a larger amount in order to earn the same return. As a result , the levered firm will have a higher market value. Institutional restrictions: Personal leverage are not feasible as a number of investors would not be able to substitute personal leverage for corporate leverage and thus affecting the work of arbitrage process. Corporate taxation and personal taxation: M-M theory is also criticize for the reason that it ignores the corporate taxation and personal taxation. Retained earnings: It also ignores personal aspect of financing through retained earnings. In real world , corporate will not pay out the entire earnings in the form of dividends. Investors willingness: Investors will not show much interest in purchasing low rated issued by highly geared firms.

An approach to historical analysis

An approach to historical analysis Introduction In Part III of ‘The Mediterranean (1949), Braudel, placed history of events low in his value hierarchy, while in his two biographies on Charles V and Philippe II (Braudel 1994 Exrits sur lhistoire II), he demonstrated his deep understanding of traditional history. Braudel departed from the commonly accepted views of traditional history and postulated the longue dur ´ee and conjoncture perspectives. With his understanding of existing theories Braudel was able to exposed structural images of important themes which were in it-self a landmark in historiography. Fernand Braudel (1902-1985) Braudel in ‘Capitalism was not interested in details from both archives and secondary literature rather he embarked on the premise of complex images within a chosen framework. This he was able to accomplish by classifying capitalism into three levels, that is, daily life market activities; production and exchange within the national market; international capital flow and trade at the world economy level. Braudels Historiography A main feature in understanding Braudels historiography is the assimilation of time and space in analyzing historical events. In addition to this methodology Braudel has elucidated new concepts which enable an understanding of time and space individually. To fully appreciate his contribution it becomes paramount to enter into discussion the way history was analyze in a conventional setting. Historical Concepts Longue Dur ´Ee, Conjuncture, Event-History, Economie-Monde And Total History Conventionally history was seen through the lens of a linear time frame or either emphasized historical changes in different geographic areas. Braudel on the other hand, applied a set of historical concepts for example, dur ´ee, conjoncture, event-history, economie-monde and total history to subjects such as the Mediterranean world and engender significant insights into history. In analyzing historical time Braudel has promulgated long-term (longue dur ´ee), mid-term (conjuncture) and short-term (event-history) views which simply demonstrates the possibility that several concepts of historical time can co-exist within a single particular subject which is being analyzed. When analyzing historical space Braudel emphasized the economie-monde and this concept he proceeded to analyze as the economic-world that is not defined by either politics or cultures but by the exchange of goods and services. Interestingly, Braudel considered both temporal and spatial elements and proceed on the premise that these four concepts are intermarried in such a way; culminating in what he termed ‘total history that is historie totale or histoire globale. Longue Dur ´ee In an even more positive vein Braudel concept of historical time relied on allotments. In other words, Braudel has taken a century or longer as a unit of analysis and calls this longue dur ´ee. Ten to fifty years he calls conjuncture whilst short calendar time is subsumed into another allotment. Capitalizing on calendar time which is no stranger to traditional history and utilizing conjuncture which is a term used in economics, but extended by Braudel to non-economic aspects of history such as social and cultural changes. Braudel then extended the concept of longue dur ´ee; thus claiming that longue dur ´ee is a most suitable tool when investigating the slow changing and structurally stable aspects of history. In so doing he has fundamentally permitted the advantages of each method to compliment each other and minimized their inadequacies. With an astute understanding of the existing historical theories Braudel in reviewing longue dur ´ee elucidated, â€Å"It was when I was constructing my book on the Mediterranean I was led to divide the times of history according to their different speeds, according to different temporalities. I think there are actually rapid times, longer times, and almost immobile times. But it was in the end of this course, not by a preliminary operation, that I arrived at this conception of time of history. Similarly, the longue dur ´ee of which I am the advocator, it was an artifice by which I was escaped from certain tangible difficulties. I did not think to longue dur ´ee before writing my book on the Mediterranean†, (Braudel, 1978, pp 244-5). Perhaps Braudel was so zealous about longue dur ´ee due to his sojourn in captivity during World War II. He wrote: â€Å"I myself, during a rather gloomy captivity, struggled a good deal to get away from a chronicle of those difficult years (1940-5). Rejecting events and the time in which events take place was a way of placing oneself to one side, sheltered, so as to get some sort of perspective, to be able to evaluate them better, and not wholly to believe in them. To go from the short time span, to one less short, and then to the long view (which, if it exists, must surely be the wise mans time span); and having got there, to think about everything afresh and to reconstruct everything around me: a historian could-hardly not be tempted by such a prospect†, (Braudel, 1969, pp 47-8, and p 77). Conjoncture Conjoncture is a French word and there is no English equivalent. It is in this vein that the Petit Robert French dictionary explains that conjuncture is a, â€Å"Situation resulting from an encounter of circumstances and which is considered as the point of departure of an evolution, an action†. â€Å"The study of conjuncture is to study an occasional situation as opposed to structure in view of a prevision†. This explanation swims in the same stream as Braudels since his theory is based on changes and mutations in economic factors, for example, population growth, production output, and price changes. According to Gemelli, and Braudel it is also used to describe social trends, for example, â€Å"conjuncture, paysanne, conjuncture seinneuriale†, (Gemelli, 1995 p 107 and Braudel, 1991 p 48). This economic perception of Braudel led him to proceed on the premise that, â€Å"†¦ the term conjoncture, †¦ suggest possible new directions for research and some te ntative explanatory hypotheses. †¦ Conjunctural analysis, †¦ is however one of the necessary means of historical explanation and as such, a useful formulation of the problem†, (Braudel â€Å"The Mediterranean† pp 892, 899). These converging lines of evidence enable the concept of conjuncture to develop since as he so succinctly stated, â€Å"Traditional history, with its concern for the short time span, for the individual and the event, has long accustomed us to the headlong, dramatic, breathless rush of it narrative. The new economic and social history puts cyclical movement in the forefront of its research and is committed to that time span side by side with traditional narrative history, there is an account of conjunctures which lays open large sections of the past, ten, twenty, fifty years at a stretch ready for examination†, (Braudel, 1969, p 27,and p 29). Event-History The structured way of writing history was the method of using exact dates, names, cause-consequences and places. Braudel interestedly rejected this approach since he wanted to analyze and by extension sound harmonies with the overall environment, structure and movement; so as to yield an impersonal and collective aspects of historical changes. Braudel later developed an even greater interest in specific events as can be evidenced from a passage from his notes and his conception about events. Quoting from his personal notebook (f*23), undated, entitled â€Å"LHistoire, mesure du temps (History, measure of time)†. The notebook belongs to the Archives Braudel and may still not be public. Braudel mentioned the State of Bahia (Brazil) in this passage and it is well known that he taught at Sao Paulo University during 1936-1937. It stands to reason therefore, that this idea was documented before he wrote â€Å"The Mediterranean†, â€Å"One evening, in the State of Bahia, I suddenly found myself being surrounded by a tremendous number of fireflies. They were lighting here and there, more or less in high place, countless, just like many too brief sparkles, but shed sufficient light to see the landscape. This is so with events†, (Gemelli, 1995:84 / Braudel, 1969:10). This metaphor aptly describes that events are like the light from fireflies which is often brief and weak. Many criticized Braudel, for example, Hargor in 1986, but for others he was truly the master of event-history. Fuelled by a changed attitude by the 1960s Braudel wrote, â€Å"Every event, however brief, has to be sure a contribution to make, to light up some dark corner or even some wide vista of history. I am by no means the sworn enemy of the event. In the first place, this kind of history tends to recognize only important events, building its hypotheses only on foundations which are solid or assumed to be so. Another is the event with far-reaching consequences and repercussions as Henri Pirenne was fond of remarking†, (Braudel, â€Å"The Mediterranean†, pp 901-902). Economie-Monde (Economic-World) Braudels concept of economie-monde was inspired by German geographers, that is, by the work of Friz Rorig Mittelalterliche Weltwirtschaft: Blute und Ende Einer Weltwirtschaftsperiode 1933, (Gemelli, 1995, p 125 / Capitalism III p 634 note 4). At the time of this conception Braudel was in the thinking process of â€Å"The Mediterranean†. During this period however, he perceived that the Mediterranean world was a kind of economie-monde, and this was later expressed in â€Å"The Mediterranean† at pp 418 419. Relative to this, Braudel made a clear dichotomy between economie-monde (economic-world, a huge network of economic exchanges) from economie mondiale (world economy, which refers to such as the global impacts of the Oil Shock of the 1970s). It is evident that Braudel embarked on the premise that the economic-world model was based on the Mediterranean economy. On the heels of this construction is the believed that models for other economie-mondels would no doubt have a similar construction when a comparison is made. This can best be illustrated from a section in â€Å"The Mediterranean† where Braudel stated, â€Å"Have we here enough material to measure the Mediterranean, to construct a comprehensive, quantitative ‘model of its economy? As a unit it could then be compared to other ‘world-economies [economic-worlds would be a better translation] either bordering on or connected to the Mediterranean†, (Braudel, â€Å"The Mediterranean†, pp 418-419). Braudel enables one to make greater sense of what a center means to an economie-monde when he provided a definition of it as it relates to the Mediterranean, â€Å"This world (the Mediterranean), sixty days long, was, indeed, broadly speaking a Weltwirtschaft, a world-economy ( ´economie-monde), a self- contained universe. All world-economies ( ´economie-monde) for instance recognize a center, some focal point that acts as a stimulus to other regions and is essential to the existence of the economic unit as a whole. Quite clearly in the Mediterranean in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that center was a narrow urban quadrilateral: Venice, Milan, Genoa, Florence, with conflicts and inter-town rivalries as the relative weight of each city changed. The center of gravity can gradually be seen to shift from Venice, where it still lay at the beginning of the century, to Genoa, where it was so brilliantly established between 1550 and 1575†. In line with this theoretical viewpoint, the center was not a single city, but comprised of four cities; and that with the center of gravity changing between them. Total History The term total history is a methodological claim of historical writing. Braudel is an advocate of this strain and using histoire globale and histoire totale interchangeably he states, â€Å"Similarly, the globalite, histoire globale that I defend, imposed on me little by little. That is something extremely simple, so simple that most of my colleagues in history do not understand me. On the contrary, this does not hinder them to attack me fiercely. . . . The globalite, is not an intention to write a total history of the world. It is not this kind of puerile, sympathetic and crazy pretension. It is simply the desire, when one approaches a problem, to go beyond the limits systematically. There is no historical problem, in my view, that is separated by walls, that is independent†, (Braudel, 1978, p 245). In short, Braudels advocated interdisciplinary studies, going beyond the limits of well-defined topical studies. Secondly, he postulated that history should be observed and studied from diverse angles, with it being beneficial to expand the duration of observation (longue dur ´ee) and to extend the geographic areas, such that extensive comparison will lead to significant results. Finally, and in line with this, he found it essential to combine the time dimension (three kinds of historical time) and the space dimension (geo-history, economie-monde) in order to investigate the complexity of the subject in question. (See Figure I for Braudels concept of Total History) A Century Other Century Source: Authors Adaption Diverging Views On Total History Contrary to this strain Furet, a member of the Annales School, wrote, â€Å"Yet the idea of ‘total history is elusive. ‘Total history merely expresses the ambition of providing a fuller perspective, a more exhaustive description, a more comprehensive explanation of a given object or problem than provided by the social sciences whose conceptual and methodological innovations it has borrowed†, (Furet, 1983, p 394). Swimming in the same stream was Stoianovick who interestingly argued that, â€Å"One major obstacle to histoire globale arises from the fact that histoire globale has been much more the product of individual genius than of systematic theory†, (Stoianovich, 1978, p 20). These views lends easily to Pierre Chaunu, a former student of Braudel, and a Membre de lInstitut whocategorically who categorically stated, â€Å"There cannot be a total history. All knowledge is necessarily selective, a rational choice. total history, in its basic meaning, is evidently a non- sense. It is a wish, it marks an direction, .†, (Coutau-B ´egarie, 1983, pp 96, 99). It is apparent that Braudels views came under scrutiny. However, it is necessary to understand that Braudels total history concept is not intended to describe everything, that is, every aspect of the subject but rather it is intended to ‘make it appear an organized structure rather that a ‘mere heap†, (Popper, 1961, pp 76-77). The Contribution Of Braudels Five Concepts Braudels five key concepts discussed above made in-roads or contributions to the historical analysis of time and space. With respect to historical time, he expanded the conventional single-speed, linear-movement of historical time into a set of historical times that can be separated into short-term, medium-team and long-term. These terms co-exist, and each has its own speed, life and function; they are inter-related and inter-acting. As to his contribution to historical space Braudels hypothesis was  ´economie-monde, a concept that some would say was not well presented in ‘The Mediterranean but finally clarified three decades later in ‘Capitalism. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Braudels Methodology Braudels concepts are flexible and this can be considered its major advantage, since Braudels believed that the use of his concept would generate historical insight rather than rigorous ones. The disadvantage however can be seen through the lens of misunderstandings on the one hand and on the other the challenge of a writer combining all the various disciplines, for example, geography, demography cultural studies, economics and so on which is required when applying Braudels notion of total history. This challenge may not be an easy one for the writer to overcome. Further, it has been said that his theories lack clear and / or strong interpretation and that he seldom attempted firsthand penetrating investigation on any specific topic. Conclusion Braudels historiography can be seen as one philosophical approach to historical analysis. While this approach is not global and eternal it can be used as a viable tool in the study of history. In essence his historiography is not a final dictum but rather can be seen as a contribution to historical studies and a foundation to be built upon. Bibliography Braudel, F. (1949): La Mediterranee et le monde mediterraneen a l ´epoque de Philippe II, Paris: Armand Colin (2 volumes), 9e edition (1990). Translated from the French by S. Reynolds in 1972, Fontana (1995, 15th impression): The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 volumes. Braudel, F. (1969): Ecrits sur lhistoire, Paris: Flammarion (Collection Champs No. 23). English translation by Sarah Mathews (1980): On History, University of Chicago Press. Braudel, F. (1977): Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism, Johns Hopkins University Press, translated from the French by Patricia Ranum. The French version: La dynamique du capitalism (1988), Paris: Flammarion (Champs No. 192). Braudel, F. (1977) ed.: La Mediterranee, lespace et lhistoire (volume 1); La M ´editerran ´ee, les hommes et lh ´eritage (volume 2), Paris: Arts et M ´etiers Graphiques; reprinted by  ´ Edition Flammarion, 1986, Collection Champs Nos. 156, 167. Braudels concepts and methodology reconsidered. The European Legacy, 2000, 5(1): 65-86 (Taylor Francis). Chaunu, Pierre (1992): La M ´editerrannee cest Braudel, LHistoire, juillet/ao.ut, pp. 71-3. Coutau-B ´egarie, H. (1989): Le phenomene â€Å"Nouvelle histoire†: strategie et ideologie des nouveaux historiens, Paris: Economica (Second Edition). Furet, Franc ¸ois (1983): Beyond the Annales, Journal of Modern History, 55:389-410. Gemelli, Giuliana (1995): Fernand Braudel, Paris: Editions Odile Jacob. Popper, Karl (1961): The Poverty of Historicism, London: Routledge. Stoianovich, Traian (1978): Social history: perspective of the Annales Paradigm, Review, 1(3/4):19-48.

Habitat Destruction :: essays research papers

Habitat Destruction Overview   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this new age of technology and advances in every possible field of study, many people forget about the environment. Some will just throw their trash all over the place with no concern for the possible consequences. Of course, there are many consequences, but only one comes to my mind. That is the demolition of species’ homes or habitat destruction. Habitat destruction or habitat loss is the altering or elimination of the conditions that plants and animals need to survive. â€Å"The primary threat to the world’s biodiversity is habitat destruction† (Okey p.1). Prairies have been greatly affected. The â€Å"loss of prairie habitat ranges from 20 to >99 percent depending on the region† (Benedict, Freeman, & Genoways, p.161). Habitat destruction can be caused by many things. These include: The introduction of alien (exotic) and domesticated species Pest and Predator control The collection of animals for pets and research Pollution Ecological factors Loss of keystone species Overexploitation Disease Limited distribution Many of these causes could be prevented fairly easily. If people today would just follow some simple rules, none of these would be as big as they are now. The Introduction of Alien (Exotic) and Domesticated Species   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introducing exotic species has been a highly debated issue. Why should we bring another animal or plant into a region to eradicate another species? That’s the question that people have been asking for ages. Of course, there are positives to bringing in another species, but many times, there are just as many negatives. Also, these species can be introduced accidentally or intentionally. The new organism may cause no obvious problems and eventually, it will be considered â€Å"native† to the area. For example, corals are â€Å"perhaps the oldest animals on the planet, and these long-lived corals have evolved in one of the Earth’s most stable environments† (Eichenberg, p.2). If a new type of fish were to be put into the ecosystem with the corals, the coral would be affected. First, the fish might eat the coral. Second, they could use the coral for shelter, and possibly damaging it that way. Third, the fish could bring predators that might also eat the coral. Introducing an exotic species has the â€Å"rippling affect† of dropping a stone into a pool of water. Everything outside the epicenter is affected. A study was done at Cornell University, and they estimated that $120 billion per year are spent fixing the problems caused by exotic species† (Chiras, p.

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Essay -- Harrison Bergeron Essays

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut In "Harrison Bergeron" Kurt Vonnegut depicts a society in which everyone is mentally, physically, and socially equal. Throughout the history of our country, Americans have sought racial, gender, and socio-economic equality. On paper such a society seems ideal. Through the story one might infer that Vonnegut views the concept of total equality as ludicrous. Equality can be interpreted many ways. One point of view is the American belief that everybody should be treated equally and another view is the one represented in the story that everybody is equal. I completely agree with Mr. Vonnegut's view of the perfect society as being absurd. Having everybody equal looks fantastic in planning but it would never work out that way. If the government was allowed to impose handicaps on the naturally gifted, how could civilization ever make advancements? The great thinkers would not be able to envision new ideas because of the mental handicap radios they had to wear in their ears. Technology would come to a stand still with the gifted not being able to finish a complete thought because of the sharp sounds produced by the mental handicaps. With the handicaps imposed there would not the breakthroughs that are needed to improve the population's way of life. Suppose someone did not have the ability to invent the automobile. It would be difficult to commute to school or work. Imagine if you had to walk to work every day no matter ho...

Links Between Hr Strategy/Policy and National/Organizational Culture

2. Explain the links between HR strategy/policy and national/organizational culture. Recent research suggests that the management of human resources has become increasingly important for business success. Employees are said to be one of the most valuable assets to an organization; as a result the effective management of these employees is essential. Management literature has had a tendency to associate human resource management (HRM) with firm performance. It is this link which has been the underlying cause for the abundance of research regarding HRM practices and their effects on a firm.However, there is a substantial debate within the literature that argues that HRM practices do not directly impact organizational performance (Boxall & Purcell, 2000), with claims that there is a missing link between the two. In regards to this ‘black box’ the concept of organizational culture has emerged. It is said that organizational culture is manifested in the behavior of its employ ees (Ngo & Loi, 2008), and is entrenched in the everyday working lives of cultural members (Martin, 2004).Culture is claimed to affect employee’s job attitudes, efficiency and productivity (Mahal, 2009), and can impact the ability to carry out an organizations plans and meet strategic goals (Chan, Shaffer & Snape, 2004). With these assertions, organizational culture could in fact influence a firm’s productivity and their overall performance. This paper examines the relationship between HRM, organizational culture and firm performance. The next section of this paper defines and explains the organizational culture concept.I then investigate the relationship between HRM and organizational culture by exploring the overarching themes which emerge from the literature regarding this link. Finally, I explore the relationship between HRM, organizational culture and firm performance. The Link between HRM and Organizational Culture Previous literature has identified and focused a round two common sources of organizational culture: (1) founders of the organization, and (2) national culture. Barney (1986) claimed that firms are historically bound. In line with Schein (2004) he argued that a firm’s culture reflects the unique personality of its founders.Along with these unique personalities a number of scholars have alleged that culture originates in the values and assumptions articulated by top management, which in turn, play an important role in shaping cultural views and employee’s behaviours (Chew & Sharma, 2005; Mahal, 2009). These values are then reinforced in a number of ways. Smircich (1983) articulated that top managers mould organizational cultures, and thus the values and beliefs held by employees, to suit their strategic ends; in turn the corporate culture should reflect the vision of the firm (Ngo & Loi, 2008).Values are also reiterated in hiring employees with similar priorities to top management as well as thoroughly socializing new employees to elicit those desired behaviours (Martin, 2004). Furthermore, national culture plays a prevailing role in shaping organizational culture. National culture refers to the culture specific to a national group (Chew & Sharma, 2005), and is entrenched deeply within individual’s everyday lives. These ingrained values will subconsciously affect how management practices are both carried out and received in an organization, and therefore how employee’s will behave within the firm (Chew & Sharma, 2005).Consequently, acompany’s culture is said to be linked to the founders of the organization and the values which they demonstrate, as well as the National culture in which the organization was first founded. A third relationship has begun to emerge out of management literature. There have been claims by a number of scholars (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Cabrera & Bonache, 1999; Lau & Ngo, 2004; Wilkins,1984) that organizational culture is related to HRM and the human r esource practices which are implemented by the organization.HRM has become an increasingly important activity within an organization. Its function is to attract, develop, motivate and retain employee’s who ensure the effective functioning of the organization (Jackson & Schuler, 1995). Relatively little is known about the link between organizational culture and HRM, as few empirical studies testing this relationship have been conducted (Platonova, 2005). However, a few overarching themes emerge from the literature regarding this HRM-culture relationship. HRM Practices Influence Organizational CultureWithin the HRM-organizational culture link lays a belief that firm’s HRM practices will motivate employees to adopt certain attitudes and behaviours, and will therefore elicit a certain corporate culture (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Cabrera & Bonache, 1999; Chow & Liu, 2009; Lau & Ngo, 2004; Ngo & Loi, 2008; Wilkins, 1984). One of the earliest views on this HRM-organizational cul ture link was from Peters (1978), who suggested that management systems (e. g. HRM systems) could be thought of as mechanisms to transmit values and beliefs of the organization which, as a result, help to shape its character.With organizational culture comprising a range of social phenomena there are certain situations in which organizational norms are not the result of shared values among employees; rather, they are determined by the rules and practices an organization implements (Cabrera & Bonache, 1999). Tichy (1983) thought that the way in which HRM systems are designed can communicate important and useful information about the organizations culture to employees. Schwartz & Davis (1981) also argued that HR practices provide information to employees.They convey standardized information to employees about expected patterns of activity and acceptable behaviours which allow the firm to achieve its objective. Lewicki (1981) argues that HRM practices answer three questions for employe es, providing information to staff about the acceptable behaviours: (1) what does the organization expect from its employees? (2) What kind of behaviour does the organization reward? And (3) what are the dos and don’ts of proper social conduct within the system? (p. 8). Ulrich (1984) iterates this view using an example of socialization programs.Her belief is that socialization and induction programs play a significant role in transmitting corporate culture to individuals entering into the organization. They ensure that acceptable behaviours and cultural norms are passed down to new employees, thus keeping organizational culture consistent. It is through this shared information as well as the experiences of employees that behavioural norms are established, thus becoming the means through which culture is created and sustained within the firm.Building on the HRM-organizational culture link, Ulrich (1984) advocates that procedures and practices implemented by HR executives becom e rituals within the company. Ulrich deems rituals to be customary and repeated actions within a firm. They take on a meaning within the organization. As we identified earlier, rituals are a symbolic tool in which values are manifested. These rituals, which include evaluation and reward procedures, help guide the behaviour of employee’s as they establish boundaries and behavioural norms within the firm.Wilkins (1984) asserts a different view; that HR systems can create career paths for employees as well as groupings of people who remain in the firm for a long enough time for a company culture to form. This outlook suggests that firms can implement HR practices that foster job security and internal career development in order to keep turnover low, and maintain those social phenomena that comprise organizational culture (values, beliefs, norms, assumptions) within the organization, and therefore forming a strong organizational culture.While a number of scholars claim that HRM p ractices lead to organizational culture, few studies have been conducted on the relationship. Lau and Ngo (2004) studied 332 firms HR and organizational development practices in Hong Kong. The board purpose of this study was to explore the link between culture, HR systems and outcomes. The research found that HR practices which emphasize training, performance based reward as well as team development help to create an organizational culture that promotes innovation.Organizational culture was said to play a mediation role between the HR system and the firm’s outcomes. That is, the HR practices implemented by the firm had an effect on the organizational culture, which in turn had a direct impact on employee’s behaviours and outcomes. This study demonstrated that a company’s culture was significant in affecting employee’s outcomes; regardless, the culture needs to be supported by an HR system that elicits those behaviours needed to achieve the desired outcome s.High Commitment Management Practices Influence Organizational Cultures Following on from the view that human resource practices can influence employee’s behaviour is an argument that only certain practices will be beneficial to an organization’s culture. Corporate culture will only be an advantage when it is seen as appropriate in order to achieve a certain objective or organizational goal (Chow & Liu, 2009); not all practices will elicit an appropriate culture.High Commitment Management (HCM), or best practice, is a theory that has outlined a number of HRM practices which are believed to help a firm achieve competitive success from its workforce (Pfeffer, 1995). It is a common held belief within the literature that â€Å"systems of high commitment HR practices increase organizational effectiveness by creating conditions where employees become highly involved in the organization and work hard to accomplish the organization’s goals (Whitener, 2001, p. 516).Pfe ffer (1998), the founder of best practice, believed that there were seven core practices which characterized the most successful organizations: employment security; selective hiring of new personnel; self managed teams; high compensation contingent on organizational performance; extensive training; reduced status distinction and barriers; and extensive sharing of information throughout the organization. When implemented these practices would lead to high levels of job satisfaction, retention and motivation of employee’s, which in turn influence a firm’s effectiveness and performance.It is thought that these HCM practices shape work force attitudes and values by framing employee’s perceptions of what the organization is like and help to influence their relationship with the organization. Employee behaviours and attitudes are said to reflect their perceptions and expectations about the organization; their behaviours respond to the treatment they receive from the f irm (Whitener, 2001). Accordingly, HCM practices are said to act as a culture embedding mechanism (Hartog & Verburg, 2004), playing an important role in reinforcing certain behaviours within employees and therefore shaping corporate culture.Kerr & Slocum (1987) demonstrate this relationship. They state that some organizations have cultures emphasizing the value of teamwork and security. These values foster loyalty to the organization and give employees a long term commitment. They iterate that other organizations consist of cultures which emphasize personal initiative and individual rewards. These values reinforce norms where organizational members do not promise loyalty and where the company does not provide job security. These authors point out that the practices, specifically HCM practices implemented by an organization, bring out certain behaviours from employees.For that reason, a firm can manipulate its culture by implementing practices which foster the behaviours they want to achieve from employees, and those behaviours that will help the company achieve their strategic goals. A small number of studies have been conducted exploring the relationship between certain best practices and organizational culture. In her study of 170 individuals views on compensation systems, Kuhn (2009) found that a bonus being rewarded on the basis of individual outcomes, compared to team or organizational performance led to the organizational culture being regarded as relatively more individualistic.Sheridan’s (1992) longitudinal study of 904 college graduates hired in six public accounting firms found that the firm’s organizational culture had a significant effect of the retention rates of these employees. Those firms that had a culture fostering the interpersonal relationship values of teams and respect for people stayed 14 months longer than those hired in firms whose culture emphasized the work task values of detail and stability. These two examples, in whi ch both show the implementation of HCM or best practice, illustrate that organizational culture is contingent upon the HRM practices implemented.Practices will elicit different behaviours from employees. In addition claims are made that these behaviours will facilitate or hinder performance and efficiency within a company. Strategy Shapes HRM Practices which in turn Shape Organizational Culture In accordance with the view that HRM/HCM practices influence organizational culture, employee’s behaviours are said to be indirectly affected through a company’s strategy (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Chow & Liu, 2009).The term Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has emerged within recent management literature to cover the relationship between a firm’s strategy and their HRM system. This perspective of HRM is commonly seen as comprising integrated functions which are linked to organizational strategy (Macky, 2008). The guiding logic behind this view is that a firmâ€℠¢s human resource practices must, â€Å"develop employees’ skills, knowledge and motivation such that employees behave in ways that are instrumental to the implementation of a particular strategy† (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004, p. 05). Given a certain strategic goal, a set of HRM practices should be implemented to help the organization attain these goals. Different business strategies will therefore require the implementation of a varied set of HRM practices in order to elicit certain behaviours from employees’. Attention should be paid to designing an HR system that is best able to link the desired culture and business strategy. For innovation-oriented firms, HR must implement innovation-enhancing practices to obtain the desired behaviours associated with innovation (Lau & Ngo, 2004).With strategy affecting HRM practices, culture is indirectly affected. This culture will be an asset for an organization if it encourages the behaviours that support the organizations int ended strategy (Cabrera & Bonache, 1999). Organizational Cultures Influence HRM Practices There is a belief, held by a small number of scholars, which challenges the previous, more widely accepted view that HRM practices (and HCM practices) influence organizational culture. While this view appears within some industrial psychology literature, it is a less common perspective among management scholars.These scholars find that prominent core values within an organizational culture have a strong influence on management practices and in shaping HRM systems (Ferris et al. , 1998; Aycan, Kanungo, & Sinha, 1999). This view asserts that firstly values and other social phenomena form within the organization, while HRM practices occur because of the organizational culture already entrenched within the firm. The social context model, developed by Ferris et al. (1998) claims that the attitudes, beliefs, and values which make up the corporate culture drive the development of HRM policies, practic es, and systems.These scholars profess that a well-defined culture within a firm should drive the development of consistent HRM policies, as employees values are reflected in the formation of these policies. Furthermore, these policies should drive the design of a set of mutually supporting and integrated HRM practices which form a cooperative system. Bowen and Ostroff (2004) expand on this view. They allege that organizational assumptions and values shape HRM practices, which, in turn reinforce cultural norms and routines which shape individuals performance. Aycan et al. (1999) as well as Aycan et al. (2000) advocate the model of culture fit.This model contends that managers implement HRM practices based of their assumption about the nature and behaviour of employees. There needs to be a rationale behind the practices which HR implements; they do not evolve within a vacuum. For this reason HR practices are there to reinforce the values, behaviours and assumptions which already exis t within the organization, and to further develop these social phenomena. The Link between HRM, Organizational Culture and Performance Scholars have long asserted that the way in which an organization manages its employees can influence its performance (Delaney & Huselid, 1996).HRM is therefore an organizational issue which firms cannot afford to ignore. Much of previous HRM and organizational culture literature is based on this assertion that human resource practices and corporate culture are linked to organizational performance (Platonova, 2005). The underlying assumption of the link between HRM, organizational culture and performance is that HRM practices lead to employee knowledge, skills, and abilities, which in turn are said to influence firm performance at the collective level (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004).While a small number of empirical studies have tested the relationship between HRM and organizational culture a copious amount of research exists on the HRM-firm performance link . In addition, a number of empirical studies have also focused on the organizational culture-performance relationship. The relationship between comprehensive sets of HR practices and firm performance has been frequently demonstrated within the literature. Becker and Gerhart (1996) explain that HR decisions can influence organizational performance through increased efficiency or revenue growth.Barney (1986) notes that increased firm performance is often attributed to higher profitability, while Bowen and Ostroff (2004) argue that increased motivation from employees leads to higher firm performance. A large number of empirical studies have been conducted on the relationship between HRM practices and firm profitability. Pfeffer (1995) identified a certain set of best practices which companies can implement to manage their employees. He argues that these practices are universal in nature, and will have a positive effect on organizational performance.The implementation of HRM practices c an contribute to firm performance by motivating employees to adopt desired attitudes and behaviours. They tend to unify people around shared goals which will shape and guide employee behaviour. In addition HCM practices are said to create an internal atmosphere where employees become highly involved in the organization and work hard to accomplish goals the firm sets. In his study of steel minimills, Arthur (1994) found that reward systems provided considerable motivation for employees, which in turn contributed to an increase in productivity.His study also found that higher rewards contribute to a decrease in turnover among staff. Merit or incentive pay systems provide rewards for meeting specific goals; in turn employees will be motivated to achieve these goals (Delaney & Huselid, 1996). Koch and McGrath (1996) found that investment in recruitment and selection procedures was positively related to labour productivity. Their findings suggest that labour productivity is related to th ose proactive firms, those firms who plan for their future labour needs, and those that make investments in getting the ‘right’ people for the job.In addition a number of claims have been made alleging that HRM practices can influence performance by impacting employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities. Practices fostering extensive training can be considered a source of competitive advantage, as they involve keeping employee’s skills and knowledge up to date. Training is said to have a positive impact on performance (Delaney & Huselid, 1996) by impacting dimensions such as product quality. In their study of 590 firms, Delaney and Huselid (1996) found positive associations between practices such as training and firm performance measures.Pfeffer (1998) also conveys a link between training of employee’s and profits. Some scholars assert that HRM practices will lead to increased performance when there is a high level of fit between the practices and the organization’s strategy. This is commonly known as the configurational perspective of SHRM. This perspective maintains that an organization should implement HRM practices that are congruent with the firm’s strategy, and are consistent with one another. Two practices can work together to enhance each other’s effectiveness; consequently a powerful connection is formed (Delery, 1998).The implementation of firm specific training programs combined with highly selective staffing practices can work together to generate a talented pool of employees with high productivity. It is therefore thought that HR practices which complement each other and the firm’s strategy will have a positive effect on organizational performance (Lengnick- Hall, Lengnick-Hall, Andrade, & Drake, 2009). Overall, there is a strong view in the literature that certain HRM practices lead to increased organizational performance.However, studies on this relationship often differ as to the exten t a practice is likely to be positively or negatively related to performance (Becker & Gerhart, 1996). Some scholars also express concern regarding the causality between this relationship; do empirical studies actually prove that HRM practices cause increased performance? It has been said that HRM practices are not the only factor which could affect a firm’s performance; many other organizational and environment factors could in fact be attributed to performance (Boxall & Purcell, 2000).Barney (1986) developed the Resource Based View of the firm (RBV). He argued that certain organizational resources and capabilities can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage for the firm, and therefore can increase organizational performance through superior financial performance. Barney (1986) affirmed that a firm’s organizational culture can in fact be one of these resources. However, he asserts that not just any culture will lead to a competitive advantage; corporate culture mu st be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and be of value to the entire organization.If a company’s organizational culture meets these four criteria it has a better opportunity to be a source of sustained competitive advantage. In addition an appropriate HRM system can create and develop organizational capabilities which themselves become sources of competitive advantage (Lau & Ngo, 2004). For example, one of America’s most successful retailers, Nordstrom, attributes their success to its culture of customer service. This culture is seen as a unique, valuable and hard to imitate resource and has become a source of competitive advantage for the company (Carmeli & Tishler, 2004).Since organizational cultures and HRM systems can be a valuable resource for companies they have a key role to play in the firm performance link. Conclusion This paper has focused around the concept of organizational culture. It has primarily explored the relationship and different views between HRM and culture. While a number of challenging views exist in regards to the HRM- culture link, it is commonly found that HRM practices influence organizational culture, by providing information to employee’s that impacts their assumptions, values and attitudes.In addition, certain HCM practices are said to shape work force attitudes by framing employee’s perceptions about the organization; in turn leading to higher levels of job satisfaction, retention and motivation; all of which influence a firm’s performance. Furthermore, an organization’s strategy has been alleged to influence corporate culture indirectly through the implementation of HRM practices that help the organization attain their goals. Organizational culture has been considered a valuable resource for companies and could in fact lead to a competitive advantage for the firm.While HRM has been argued to affect organizational culture, and in turn lead to firm performance we need to be wary of arguing that current evidence proves this relationship. There could, and probably are, a number of other organizational elements that provide a link between HRM and firm performance. More studies regarding the organizational culture and performance link need to be conducted before we can deduce this causality relationship. In saying this, organizational culture has been shown to be an important aspect of a firm, as it can, and does affect employee’s behaviours, motivation and value.

Personal Development and Lifelong Learning Sector

Personal Development and Lifelong Learning Sector sys cheesy unit 5 Continuing Professional and Personal Development In this assignment I will evaluate my own approaches to CUP, weigh up my strengths and developmental needs In relation to literacy, language and innumeracy needs. This will be continued to develop my knowledge by using my own reflection and the feedback I have received from others.The outcome will be to establish a plan to identify the opportunities I have and want to take to address my learning needs. During the second part of this assignment I will analyses and compare the relevant harries, principles and models of reflective practice how these theories and principles can be applied to my own development as an autonomous learner. Identify and engage In CUP opportunities and Identify previous CUP opportunities I have experienced, the good and the bad.To conclude in this part I will evaluate the impact to the CUP to my own professional practice and Identity any further developmental needs. In the final outcome I will analyses and compare the different teaching roles and contexts in the lifelong learning sector. I will go on to evaluate my own role and he responsibilities with reference to area of specialist and as part of a team. Finally analyses the impact of own professional, personal interpersonal skills on learners and others. Question one.Continuing Professional Development (CUP) is a process by which individuals take control to their own learning and development, by engaging In an on-going processor reflection and action (Whitaker, 2007) In critically analyzing my continuing professional and personal development I have used a number of sources as follows: * Terms of Reference * SOOT Analysis * Managing work self audit * Assertiveness audit * Intelligence test Time management tips * Stress management tips * Minimum core handbook * Lips with LULUS professional standards * Year one optional unit with my personal professional development plan i nitially started by looking what I add written on my Lips and reviewed what had written tort year one and in the summer in preparation for year two. I feel in just eighteen months my teaching knowledge has changed as I was never too sure what to write for these castles at the beginning, but with direction from my tutor and mentor I feel my year two LIP is more professional by using the LULUS professional standards. Annex M) Due to completing this course and the tact I have been on my own In the 1 Offs centre during the summer months, I nave completed majority to the teaching to complete the mandated hours for the course and self-development.This has played a major part in my main two developmental areas for year one's goals. They were confidence and experience; I feel I have improved a great deal in these areas and plan to carry on doing so in the future. Looking at my SOOT analysis (annex E) I feel I have gathered a good number of things and included them on my LIP update (annex D) I do feel I have improved on reflection and perhaps I try to over complicate this as I often do with other areas. The feedback I have received from my tutor on last year's reflections was positive so I think maybe trying too hard to create something and demanding too much from myself over this area. So overall I plan to continue keep attacking this area.One other area I would like to touch on my SOOT analysis in the threat column was I included my pregnancy. Now while this is something I am very happy about, it is something that will have a major impact on my career with possible skill fade while taking maternity. I plan on taking a year off work for maternity followed by leaving the Royal Air Force in the next couple of years and finally getting a new Job in the lifelong learning sector. In the skills audits (annex's F-L) I have completed, nothing really gave surprising results but they have identified areas which I thought I had achieved the right level but could work on to furth er e. G. CIT skills and time management.Again all of these things I have recognized and included on my updated LIP. Throughout my reflections as previously discussed I have felt under confident and lacked experience which I feel I have developed positively. In feedback I have received from my tutor and mentor in relation to the course has been positive on the whole. There were highlighted areas for development such as varying the techniques I use such as pair and group work. This I will try and do but it has been difficult to address as we have the students for a short about of time and a lot of work to complete. It is something I am trying to work on and will endeavourer to achieve these aspirations in the coming months.The second area of development was given to me by my mentor, it was that I talk very quickly while heading the class ND do not allocate enough time for students to answer my questions. This I think is down to nerves when being observed. Hopefully with the further ex perience I have achieved I have slowed myself down for the next observation I have. In planning appropriate opportunities to address these identified learning needs as been quite difficult as I only have approximately 9 weeks left at work before maternity but I will maintain to keep focused and improve in that time. Dependent on being a new mother I will endeavourer to complete online courses to ensure I do not develop skill fade. Question 2There are many different theories, principles and models designed around CUP. It has become an important aspect in and around teaching in recent years with the highlighted benefits of increased credibility, building professional confidence, providing career development and coping with change. These are the benefits for the individual without the numerous benefits for the organization. David Chon was known as being the first to introduce reflective practice, in his book The Reflective Practitioner in 1983. However the concepts underlying reflectiv e practice are much David Chon was born in 1 O and graduated Yale in 1951 tater studying hilltop's.His views on reflective theory stemmed from his study of John Dew's theory of inquiry. This became his pragmatist framework in his later work. The backbone of Scion's notion was reflection in action and reflection on action. While reflection in action was described as â€Å"thinking on your feet† This does seem to be the one theory most have taken and further develop into their own. Davis Kola's experimental learning cycle is also known as a reflective tool where you take your experimental learning gained through action and practice. The experience must somehow be transformed for the learning to occur. The model uses the experience first grasped and then transforms it into strategies that give guidance to future actions.Graham Gibbs published his reflective cycle in 1988 which is based on Kola's model of experimental learning, where many reflective models take the basic informat ion for example Boron's model on reflection 1970 chic was later developed by Roller 2001) asks three simple questions What? So what? Now what? Gibbs model goes into further detail and asks many different questions and breaks it down further. So in comparison of the two Barton asks three questions where Gibbs asks six. Overall in comparing the theories they all hold the basic fundamentals of learning after an experience. Most theories are derived from models associated with describing learning. Therefore it has been accepted that in context of theory reflective practice is an experimental process to identify developments and CUP is the act of improvement or modification.In my own opinion most recent theories have lust taken older ones and further developed them to work for themselves. Throughout my learning Journey regarding reflective practice it has been quite a struggle to find a model that I am comfortable with. Reflection to me is when I am having some quiet time such as walking the dogs and running things through my mind, looking at what happened and breaking it all down. Finally deciding what I should do differently next time. I do however find it difficult to put it into format, never too sure on what is required and what people are looking for. However with this uncertainty I have found the Gibbs model is far easier to use as it gives me plenty of pointers to discuss.Using theories, principles and models can be used as an autonomous learner once you have found one that you are comfortable with. When I first started completing my first year reflections I spoke to my mentor about the difficulties I was having, and the response is the only negative thing I have found with them. They responded with they used Boron's model as it was simple to use and I should give it a go. This was one I could not get to grips with, so after speaking to my tutor I did some further research and came up with the same model as she sent me, Gibbs. As we have discussed in other assignments, classes and work everyone learns/works differently and to work as an autonomous learner in reflection they have to find a model that suits.Throughout the year, the accreditation center staff are kept aware of upcoming CUP events in our specialist field. We regularly attend City and Guilds events, ‘FL and our Apprenticeship Management Team (MAT) CUP events. These are normally notified via email but we also check the websites to ensure we have not missed anything. We also conduct our own CUP events for the center star TTT and our workplace assessors as this is a requirement trot boot our awarding body and MAT. These are invaluable assets to all people in the teaching environment they give networking opportunities to others who teach in the same environment. Also attending generic events can have its benefits too as people can share views, opinions and methods.For the professional bodies putting on these events they can be one of the best ways to get their messages a cross. Keeping people up to date with current procedures as well as any up and coming changes that are being applied. The one CUP event I attended was an ‘FL event earlier in the year at Coventry University. I felt it was a fantastic event with lots of very interesting seminars throughout the day. It gave us an insight on the plans of ‘FL with the upcoming Linefeed report at first followed by different classes covering emerging technologies, dyslexia and SETS status. Speaking to other attendees and staff gave me a good insight t other roles and insights as I had not been in the world of teaching for even a year at that point.After a seminar about dyslexia I felt extremely energize over the subject of Spud's and felt I could listen to the lecturer all day. Another member who was from Birmingham University who had done a huge amount of research and created a presentation at her place of work gave us all further information. The whole event was a huge success in my eyes and I felt I took away so much from it. I was also keen to keep hold of my ‘FL membership no matter what'd planned to gain SETS status as soon as I could. But after eight months now and very little heard from ‘FL, the lack of CUP events since has dampened my enthusiasm for ‘FL and I now question my need for them. Bring back ‘FL CUP events!At this current stage of the year there is little being offered in regards to CUP which as a little bit of a problem throughout the year. ‘FL has had very little going on, certainly in my area of expertise and location. I think this has been due to the Linefeed report and their concentration has been geared towards the outcomes from that report. City and Guilds have only directed their CUP events at other sectors (IEEE Hair and Beauty) and Quality Assurance, both of which have not been beneficial to me. I recognize the need for CUP but with the upcoming birth of my daughter, it will be taking a back seat as work will be o ver the next 15 months. I hope to carry on CUP in that time but it will be individually activities.What are you trying to achieve by your teaching? This is a very demanding but when you can answer it, also a very illuminating question. Of course you want you students to learn successfully, but you may also have an overarching personal goal (Petty, 2009) My role in the lifelong learning sector is more of an instructional/facilitator role than a teaching one. In regards to the FEE sector this covers general FEE colleges, tertiary colleges, sixth form and independent and specialist colleges. Many colleges work in partnership with other members of the sector and are mainly associated with the delivery of education of 14-19 year olds, leaving school.There has been a great deal of change over recent years to adult learning due to recessions and redundancies over the last 3 years along with the changes to funding. The other I would like to touch on is offender learning. This Government ini tiative is designed to reduce refunding behavior. Often offenders are under achievers at school, with a lack of motivation. They put the age range of 10-18 but in adult institutions have got TTY to learn new skills and trades, tort example Gordon Ramsey doing workshops in Britton Prison for offenders to learn the trade of being a chef, on Channel 4. In this sector the teachers do struggle in the conditions, not only do they have to deal with dissatisfied learners with emotional and behavioral issues.They have to ensure they meet POSTED requirements as well as Home Office policy, all with minimal resources. This isn't Just a ‘let's go and cook along with Gordon in prison' thing. The idea came from the fact that there are approximately 80,000 inmates across the country now, which is a hell of a lot. It was about getting them doing something with their time, giving something back, and also getting Job-ready. The biggest problem is the re-offending percentages, people Just go roun d and round in the system. (Channel 4, 2012) So in comparison to my role to the others mentioned I find myself feeling a bit of a fraud in comparison at times with other sectors. FEE colleges have numerous challenges to contend with as does offender learning.