How Rational Choice Theory Applied In The Life Of Frank Lucas

Contents

The Life and Business Acumen of Frank Lucas. 1

Introduction

Rational choice theory is a method for understanding how human behaviors is influenced by the goals one seeks to achieve rather than the means used to achieve the goals. By making a rational choice, an individual looks at the most cost effective means to achieve a specific goal to maximize personal gain. In criminology, rational choice theory applies when analyzing the relationship between means and goals and between costs and benefits in the quest to arrive at the best possible choice. The life and times of the infamous drug lord, Frank Lucas, provides one of the best studies of the application of rational choice theory in crime.

The Life and Business Acumen of Frank Lucas

The motivations and exploits behind the success of Frank Lucas’ drug business can best be understood by examining his biography. He was born in 1930 in La Grange and grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. Growing up in the rural areas during the Great Depression Lucas lived in the same poor conditions like the other Africa-Americans. His childhood experiences provided the greatest motivation for his criminal life. For instance he remembers with clarity the day he witnessed the murder of his twelve year old cousin by the Ku Klux Klan for the crime of looking at a white woman flirtatiously.

Being the oldest boy in the family, Lucas was faced with a task of finding means of survival not only for himself but for his siblings too. Finding a job during the Great Depression was made even more difficult by his African-American status. The only alternative for survival was to steal food for family which later progressed to mugging intoxicated patrons of a local bar. These were the beginnings of his criminal career. Later he would get a job but would hardly hold on to the job long enough. In his first job, Lucas did not only sleep with his boss’ daughter but stole four hundred dollars before setting the company premises on fire. The incident forced him to seek refuge in Harlem for fear of being sent to prison (Biography.com).

Lucas arrived in Harlem in the year 1946 with a mind set on making money on the streets thorough illegal gambling and drugs. His zealousness and ambition to succeed led to a series of crimes ranging from robbing a local pub at gun point to stealing a tray of diamonds from a jewelry store and breaking into a high-stakes crap game at a local club to rob the players. Every move he made turned him into a more ruthless gangster. His reputation earned him recognition by a long time Harlem gangster Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. He joined the Johnson gang after shooting a fellow drug dealer over a business deal.

Though nobody can accurately tell how close Lucas became to Johnson, it is evident that he must have been his right hand man for he took over the helm of the drugs business in Harlem after the death of Johnson (Johnson 159). It is also probable that after Johnson’s death in 1968, a leadership vacuum was created in Harlem. Lucas, being the most streetwise gangster at the moment, seized the opportunity and gained control over the drugs business. The man whose dream was to be as rich as Donald Trump had arrived and he immediately set in motion his ambitious plans to control and improve the drug trade in a style he called “backtracking.”

Frank Lucas was industrious enough to take the drug industry to another level. He would lock himself in a hotel room for a month or two away from any distraction to come up with the best way to make money from the drug business. His backtracking style involved going back to his past experiences and linking it to the present and future conditions to come up with solutions for improving operations. This showed that Frank Lucas knew that to take over from Johnson’s operation he had to be brilliant enough to learn from past mistakes.

The biggest challenge to Lucas was in dealing with the Italian Mafia operatives who were the middlemen in the drug trade. He believed in being directly involved from the source of heroin in Thailand to the customers in Harlem as the best way of gaining total control of the trade. The Vietnam War was at its height by 1968. It provided a lucrative opportunity to many drug businessmen including Frank Lucas. Most of the U.S personnel in Vietnam had already become addicted to heroin and provided a steady market when they returned home. Lucas was not one to miss out on this opportunity and knew the best way of exploiting this market fully was by travelling to Thailand to make direct contact with the source of heroin.

The potential for risk is always present in every business venture but in the drug trade the risks were even higher. Lucas well understood the risks involved but could not let them, or anything else for that matter, stand in the way of his quest of controlling the drug empire in the streets of Harlem. With the help of his cousin’s husband, Leslie “Ike” Atkinson who ran a bar frequented by African American soldiers, Lucas was able to establish a way of transporting drugs from Thailand to the US using military transport.

The creation of what Lucas termed as army inside an army through bribing high ranking military officers facilitated the international trafficking of heroine. These officers were from both the American and the Vietnamese sides. The recruitment of all members in Lucas’ operation was conducted personally. This enabled him to oversee his operations from the poppy fields in Thailand to the streets of Harlem. In Harlem his brothers who were known as the “country boys” controlled the distribution.

Frank Lucas understood well enough that an affordable price would increase demand for his heroin and thus he sold his supply at relatively cheap price. His ability to source for heroine from the planters at a cheaper price made it possible for him to sell it at a relatively low price but to a large customer base. At the time a kilo of heroin in Thailand cost four thousand dollars while the street price in New York was fifty thousand dollars. With no middle men Frank found it easy to control the price in the streets. This is one of the key factors that facilitated his taking over and control of the drug business in Harlem. The business was performed in a strict code of operations that involved instilling fear and respect in all who were part of the international investment.

Rational Choice Theory in the Life of Frank Lucas

According to Siegel, a rational choice approach to crime causation is composed of several different concepts (14). According to this theory, criminal behavior is the product of careful thought and planning. Offenders choose crime after considering personal factors like money, revenge, thrills, entertainment and situational factors, such as target availability, security measures, and police presence. This entirely depends on the information available to them and how critically they analyze it.

Rational choice theory in environmental criminology is concerned with crime causation elements like availability of a suitable target, the motivation behind the intent to commit crime, and the lack of a figure of authority to prevent the crime from being committed (Keel). Frank Lucas must have critically analyzed the three elements crime causation and identified an opportunity to establish his empire.

From the beginning Lucas has been keen on looking for an available and suitable target. This attitude can be traced back to his early days in North Carolina where he used to prey on intoxicated customers outside a local bar. He understood well enough how intoxicated people were vulnerable and therefore easy victims for him. After the death of Johnson in 1968, Lucas understood well enough that the Vietnam War had increased the demand for heroin. This meant that there was an available market for heroin which he could capitalize on for his personal gain. The market was an available and suitable target which is one of the major elements of crime causation in rational choice theory.

Rational choice theory identifies motivation behind the intent to commit crime as another element responsible for commission of crime. The motivation behind Frank Lucas’ criminal life was to become what he called “Donald Trump rich.” This was his major motivation factor. The desire to be rich would not let anything stand on his way. The use of violence and infliction of fear were his tools of trade in fulfilling his desires. Johnson’s death which brought him the control of Harlem was also a motivation factor that drove Lucas to devise ways of overcoming competition in the trade. In rational choice theory, human motivation is a major factor in determining the social or economic related behavior.

The only highest cost of committing a crime is the risk of being caught. This idea makes up the third element in environmental criminology which holds that a crime will occur if there is no authority figure to prevent it from happening. Lucas took this argument a step further by finding the best way to keep the authority away from interfering with his criminal activities. He did it in a very sophisticated way, taking advantage of the corrupt of New York Police Department’s of Special Unit Investigation (SIU). It said that at one point Lucas was arrested but he negotiated for his release with an offer thirty thousand dollars and “two keys” of heroin.

On the Thailand connection which was his main source of heroin, Lucas used the military in Vietnam to help him in acquiring and transporting heroin to America. He did this by bribing the army officers to eliminate the obstacles presented by authorities. Transporting the heroin using the military was easier because the army planes were not subjected to frequent checks like other planes at the airports. The business environment was even made more conducive by the war since the government was too busy waging war in Iraq to concentrate on fighting drug dealers.

Rational choice theory played a bigger role in defining Lucas’ criminal activities. Prevention of Lucas criminal activities was a major task to the United States Government. Clarke states that crime prevention theories focus on reducing crime opportunities rather than on the characteristics of criminals (21). This means that increasing risks and barriers of committing a crime and reducing the gains of a criminal activity will reduce the possibility of the crime being committed. Specifically, the formation of Special Narcotics Task Force (SNTF) in 1971 was an example of Situational Crime Prevention strategy that the Justice Department formed to prevent the narcotics trade. This strategy was enforced by strong personnel who were well informed and of high integrity. An example is Richard Roberts who was made the head of SNTF. He was a man of integrity, having been a former U.S marine and a graduate of law. His presence in fighting narcotics increased the risk of being caught. He was instrumental in the famous raid of Lucas’ house in 1975. Though there was no direct evidence to link Lucas Directly to the heroin business in Harlem, the raid set in motion further investigations into the criminal activities of Lucas.

Roberts was brilliance in investigation and interrogation led to the arrest of one of Lucas’ “country boys” who gave names of the main participants in the Harlem heroin business and how the operations were conducted. This confession provided the basis of the evidence Roberts used to finally convict Lucas.

Conclusion

Frank Lucas biography is a testament of how he employed Rational Choice Theory in many instances to perfect his criminal activities. He was able to identify an available suitable target which was the source and market for heroin and use it to his advantage. He was motivated by his dreams to be as rich as Donald Trump and could not let anything stand in the way of his ambitions. To eliminate the threat of having a figure of authority preventing him from committing crimes, he bribed government officials from the military personnel to the local police. He made rational choices to build a drug empire with little regard to the means used in achieving this goal.

Works Cited

Biography.com. Frank Lucas Biography. 1996. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.biography.com/articles/Frank-Lucas-253710?part=0>

Clarke, R. V. “Situational crime prevention” in Building a Safer Society: Strategic Approaches to Crime Prevention. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995. Print.

Johnson, Mayme Hatcher. Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. New York: Oshun Publishing Company, Inc., 2008.

Keel, R. O. Rational Choice and Deterrence Theory. 1997. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/ratchoc.html>

Siegel, Larry. Criminology. New York, NY: West Publishing, 1992. Print.

August 26, 2020

How School Superintendents’ Effect Change

Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION.. 1

1.1. Overview of the Research Problem.. 1

1.2. Theoretical Framework. 1

1.3. Change in the Context of School Superintendents. 3

1.3.1. Superintendents as Communicators. 5

1.3.2. Superintendents as Managers. 5

1.3.3. Case Studies on How Superintendents Effect Change. 7

1.4. School Superintendents are not “Blobs”. 12

1.5. Deficiencies in the Studies. 14

1.6. Study Purpose and Research Questions. 15

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW… 16

2.1. Introduction. 16

2.2. Theoretical Framework. 18

2.2.1. The Three-Step Approach. 20

2.2. 1.1. Breaking the Existing Norms (Unfreezing) 21

2.2.1.3. Refreezing. 28

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.. 31

3.1 Sampling and Data Collection. 31

3.2. Data Analysis. 33

3.3 Study Limitations. 33

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Overview of the Research Problem

School district leadership has been the focus of a vast body of empirical research for decades as educators and policymakers have struggled to determine what these leaders can do to foster changes in school districts or reform aspects of educational programming (Bredeson & Kose, 2007; Cuban & Usdan, 2003; Klatt, 1996). These research studies have resulted into a rich bank of information about the school district superintendent profession (Kowalski, 2001). As a matter of fact, there is no dispute about the role(s) of superintendents as potential change agents in their respective school districts. According to Portis & Garcia (2007), change in academic realms assumes a number of facets that revolves round sound leadership practices. By fair terms, this postulation is too broad to give a precise account of how school district superintendents’ effect change. As such, this dissertation seeks to carry out an in-depth study on the profession of a school district superintendent with the view of unearthing how they go about imparting change. Ideally, this chapter attempts to dig into prior research studies on school superintendents with view of forming a “literature map” that will be give the entire dissertation a sense of focus and meaning.

1.2. Theoretical Framework

Basing on the fact that school leadership and management is a complex process that requires significant amounts of time, capital, and human resources (Katz & Khan, 1978; Kowalski, 2000), an investigation on how school district superintendents’ effect change can be better approached through a change theory lens. The hallmark of change theory rests on the postulation that change does not happen instantaneously, it is gradual, and that it comprises of significant amount of adaptations and adjustments (Schein, 1995, 1988; Kritsonis, 2004-2005). Precisely, according to Robbins (2003) change does not just occur – it only occurs when the forces sponsoring it are stronger than those that oppose it.

The process of imparting change is a complex one. It entails the transformation of individuals or groups from conditions generally believed to be redundant to more productive ones, and hence it can only be realized when the existing structures are convincingly perceived to be ineffective (Lorenzen, 2009). Perhaps this is the main reason as to why Robbins (2003) affirms that the process of achieving change is gradual and it is directly dependent on the nature of relationships between those at the helm and their subordinates. Based on Lippit, Watson and Wesley (1958) and Robbins (2003), change is a byproduct of concerted efforts meant to address looming issues that impede maximum realization of the envisaged goals and objectives. In the context of superintendents as change agents there are a number of frameworks that help to underscore their positions and/or positive intentions in realizing change in the form of the envisaged goals and objectives.

Again, Robbins (2003) clarifies that change does not just occur – it only occurs when the forces sponsoring it are stronger than those that oppose it. The nature and context of educational leadership and management at any level of jurisdiction involves a lot of processes and personnel (Orr, 2006; Melton, 2009). As such, imparting change in such a bureaucratic environment can be a daunting task. At the school district level for instance, superintendents work with several school boards, principals, teachers, parents, students, and in extension the members of public (Hentschke, Nayfack, & Wohlstetter, 2009). Consequently, so as to impart change superintendents need to work hand in hand with all these stakeholders. To achieve this however, superintendents should step-up the driving forces so as to steer the stakeholders toward the desired ends and to prevent them from reverting their old ways (Robbins, 2003).

1.3. Change in the Context of School Superintendents

In creating a “literature map” as to how school district superintendents it is wise to appreciate the range of challenges that engulf the profession as well as some of the advocated solutions to such challenges. Based on Baumann (1996) as well as Fullan (1996) change at the school level cannot be achieved without a significant overhaul of the existing organizational structures and processes. To this end the authors argue that one core area that should be addressed is the school culture. On the same vein (Kowalski, 2000; Kowalski, 2001; Hess, 1998) argues that meaningful academic achievements cannot be achieved on a silver platter: they need to be tirelessly earned, probably through dedication on the part of the school district leaders.

Moreover, basing their arguments on the educational challenges of the 21^st century theorist Murphy (1991) as well as Chance and Bjork (2004) assert that the contemporary education systems need to address the social part of the students needs. This opinion is galvanized by Schlechty (1997) when he asserts that school managers should appreciate that “the way social systems are put together has independent effects on the way people behave, what they learn, and how they learn what they learn” (p.134). As such, the human relations that school superintendents cultivate are directly responsible for bringing about new knowledge and skills. Analytically, change or lack of it is greatly determined by the nature of the social interactions among the leaders and their subjects (Kowalski, 2003b).

An extensive account on how school superintendents effect change is offered by Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003), when they opine that the school superintendent judicially handles all classroom related issues, gives timely and relevant responses to all concerns from stakeholders, solves conflicts among stakeholders in amicable ways, addresses political overtones related to education, and addresses school boards demands. Similar sentiments are shared by Portis and Garcia (2007), when they acknowledge that school environments are at times awash with all sorts of conflicts, with the superintendent acting as an impartial judge of the last resort.

The core responsibilities of imparting change among school superintendents is part and parcel of their job titles. This postulation is advised by the author’s hands-on experience in the education leadership realm that, school superintendents work in inherently bureaucratic and unpredictable environments. As a matter of fact, they are positioned at a very sensitive position along the overall education management ladder – between the school boards and the state and federal educational authorities. In this regard, their duties entail fulfilling the expectations of both ends which sometimes may be conflicting and unrealistic to achieve. For instance, the state and federal authorities normally issue demands that schools must meet to qualify for financial and other supports while on the other hand the school boards being the very people at the ground may have completely different expectations from the school superintendent (Firestone & Martinez, 2007).

1.3.1. Superintendents as Communicators

Perhaps to delineate in operational terms how school superintendents manage to successfully fulfill their core roles as agents of change it is wise to approach the subject in more operational terms by addressing each of these core elements of change/leadership independently. It has been echoed on several accounts that superintendents are leaders in their own right (Thomas & Moran, 1992; Carter & Cunningham, 1997; Reeves, 2002; Waters & Marzano, 2007). As leaders they are responsible for the day to day implementation of all policy matters as directed by the local, state, and federal educational requirements (Reeves, 2002). In extension, they earn the leadership status by making timely and bidirectional communications between those at the helm of education management and their local levels counterparts. Precisely, Waters and Marzano (2006) and Kowalski (2003b) further elucidate that in order to successfully leverage at the school district level, superintendents employ good communication tactics that help to create new and sustainable relations with their subordinates. Similar sentiments are echoed by Carter and Cunningham (1997) when they assert that superintendents overcome the highly unpredictable stakeholders’ demands by acting as “the communicator[s] to the public” (p.24). Similar opinions are shared by the findings of a survey conducted among nine Manitoba, Canada superintendents where it was revealed that superintendents acknowledged their responsibilities as communicators of new knowledge among the various school heads within their school districts (Wallin & Crippan, 2007).

1.3.2. Superintendents as Managers

Due to the inherent “crossroads” atmosphere within educational leadership realms superintendents roles have evolved over the years (Pristine, 2005; Myers, 2010). Thomas and Moran (1992), for instance assert that superintendents are managers in their own rights just like other conventional managers who “manage great business or industrial enterprise” (p. 42). Consequently, it is evident that to fulfill their changing roles superintendents should be professionals and not employees (Schein, 1985; Myers, 2010). In this regard it has been noted that they succeed in inducing change within their respective school districts by practicing sound planning and time management skills – what Thomas and Moran (1992) sums up as “planners and thinkers” of policy changes (p.42). Moreover, Reeves (2002) argues that superintendents as managers achieve the desired goals and objectives by acting as “the bridge[s] from chaos to clarity for every stakeholder so that students, teachers, parents, leaders, and the broad community know what success really means” (p. 77).

As a matter of fact, the management role of policy implementation has been noted among superintendents particularly as they struggle to make key decisions, coordinate students’ evaluation, and deliver measurable academic results as per the requirements of various educational policy legislations that have been constantly enacted over the years such as the popular No Child Left Behind of 2001(Pristine, 2005; Haglund, 2009). Moreover, the sheer increase in leadership responsibilities occasioned by the changing educational demands reflecting the 21^st century societal demands has impacted positively on superintendents into accepting their dynamic obligations that revolve around the initiation, sponsorship, and management of change (Klatt, 1996; Myers, 2010). In affirmation, Sergiovanni et al (2009) opine that the very nature of the contemporary superintendent roles underscores the need for a multifaceted manager who can comfortably handle immense pressure, address conflicting opinions, offer informed guidelines in a wide range of educational issues, and most importantly be seen to achieve the envisaged local, state, and federal educational goals and objectives.

1.3.3. Case Studies on How Superintendents Effect Change

Perhaps the best way to test the applicability highly touted postulation that that school superintendents are change agents is by using a personal case study. The case of Dale Carter who has been a school superintendent for Kenawee Public Schools since 1969 is the most suitable for this purpose given it offers a personalized account of some of the challenges the school district supervisor has to put up with (Jenkins, 2007). As a superintendent in a rural school district in Oklahoma, Carter attests that school superintendents fulfill their obligations in a virtually different manner when compared to their counterparts in urban areas. He singles out the unique sense of togetherness among the members of the community where almost everyone knows his residence, his church, and even how much he tithes. Carter singles out such instances as very difficult to impart changes which may have some inhumane ramifications. For instance, he singles out a case where he had to go out of the rule book and cover a teacher suffering from cancer who had exhausted her normal leaves. Such incidence would have attracted a lot of backlash if it were done in an urban setting. This instance leads to the conclusion that as change agents, school superintendents impart change by being realistic to the unique situations engulfing the communities within which they operate (Jenkins, 2007).

Superintendents manage change processes within their areas of operation through closely coordinating with the media people. By working with the media, superintendents get a chance to tap in on the benefits that comes with the “power of pen” (Jenkins, 2007, p.31). The media is capable of painting a good picture of the school system and its processes, in fact if coordinated well so that it does not portray the negative side of the school system it can go along way in creating a good rapport between the public and the school management systems in the school district. To achieve this nature of coordination Langlois (2004) offers that the school district superintendent maintains a close tab on the media so that quick actions can be taken to prevent any leaks of uncensored information to the media that might harm the credibility of the school district. In the example given above, Carter ensures that he deliver a weekly press briefing about upcoming activities as part of his responsibilities in ensuring the public is informed about the any school changes about to be effected. This way the school superintendent faces very little resistance in implementing seemingly sensitive reforms.

Bredeson and Kose (2007) set out to investigate the school superintendents have been transformed by their responsibilities over a period of ten years starting from 1993 to 2003. Their study singled out accountability as one of the prime movers of reform initiatives they argued were witnessed during this period of time. The study involved all public school superintendents (426) in one of the largest Midwestern states. In examination of a set of two structured questionnaires that were sent to the superintendents the two authors found out that the change agents in their respective school districts engaged in a number change imparting methods. Precisely, the study showed that acting on the pressure from the state and federal educational authorities as well as the demands from the local public school principals and teachers, superintendents achieve the desired ends (change) through careful planning and allocation of appropriate “curriculum priorities, budget increases to support these priorities, increased attention to data analysis, and priorities in hiring assistants to support their work” (p.15). In a nutshell, these complex work environments act as the precursor for change. Superintendents have been found to prioritize and act accordingly executes such priorities.

On his part, Haglund (2009) set out to investigate how large district school superintendents go about ensuring that high academic standards are realized as part of the contemporary public school reform programs. In doing this, he narrowed down his work on a single school superintendent with significant experience serving in the capacity of superintendents at least from 2006. The selected school district, Eastern Seaboard Public School District (ESPSD) was relatively large given it was position seventeen out of a national school district ranking. It was found out that school district superintendents particularly those in large school districts the size of ESPSD had a huge task to impart change. They fulfilled this critical task by effectively employing a barrage of reform strategies that harmonized all the goals meant for improving academic achievement in the school district with close emphasis to the set mission statement. In nutshell, the ESPSD mission statement entailed,

… [To] advance the achievement of its diverse student body through community engagement, sound policy governance, accountability, and fiscal responsibility… [Through] 1) Children are our business and they come first, 2) Parents are our partners, 3) Victory is in the classroom, 4) Continuous improvement in teaching, leadership, and accountability is the key to our success, and 5) Every member of this community shares the responsibility for successful schools (Haglund, 2009, pp.75-76).

This process entailed strategic planning where the school superintendent first embarked on a bonding and a fact finding tour with in the school district, initiated training sessions through a series of “executive retreats [that] kept team focused on the plan and clear about their roles”, drew clear plans and deliberated on the best ways to implement such plans, put in place effective evaluative measures, and employed efficient reward mechanisms to motivate efficiency among the school principals and teachers alike. Essentially, the ESPSD superintendents achieved change in a number of reforms strategies some of which were inherently radical such as the, redrafting of the “role of principal as instructional leader and minimized impact of operational issues on site administrators” the establishment of “a data-driven culture to emphasize the meaning of accountability at all levels…”, putting in place workable infrastructure to mitigate, “challenges of staffing at low performing and high-poverty schools, and low-performing students at all sites” as well as the initiation of a new “brand to focus attention on district master plan’s objective of improving achievement and closing achievement gaps” (Haglund, 2009, p.116).

Kowalski (2005) argues that change in both elementary and secondary schools’ has been realized not as a result of efforts by the educators but by external forces. In support of his assertion Kowalski contends that, “the impetus to refashion organizational structure or operations has been predominately external … [and that majority of] changes that have occurred in districts and schools have been imposed” (p.60). In essence, the school superintendents in their capacity as the link between the state/federal education authorities and the school boards, (Kowalski, 2004) it can be argued that they have been in the forefront of imparting this change. For instance, the implementation of key federal educational directives such as the No Child Left Behind Act as well as state legislations such as performance-based school programs are implemented by the superintendents. After all, it has been argued that school reforms emanating from state or federal levels needs to be locally coordinated for them to fully fit into the system (Henkin, 1993).

In fact, it is conventionally acknowledged that school district superintendents are the persons at the pivotal position for implementing any form of school reforms (Murphy, 1994). He supports these postulations by asserting that, “present-day superintendents across all types and sizes of school districts must wear several different hats if they are to be effective” (Kowalski, 2005, p.50). To achieve this, school superintendents need to be tactful and opportunistic by discerning the most appropriate moments to engage their juniors. Ideally, Kowalski (2003a; 2003b;2004) provides a barrage of strategies which range from “engaging others in open political dialogue, facilitating the creation of shared visions, building a positive school district image, gaining community support for change, providing an essential framework for information management, marketing programs, and keeping the public informed about education” (Kowalski, 2005, p.50).

Kowalski (2005) offers an extensive account of how school superintendents effect change in their respective areas of jurisdiction. In making this account he pays tribute to Callahan (1966) work that portrayed the school superintendent as applied social scientist. He acknowledges that deployment of a barrage of social sciences theories such as role theories, change theories, and social learning theories has enabled superintendents to engage in more result-driven endeavors of administration and leadership. However, so as to be in a position to juggle these social sciences theories, superintendents require intensive training and hands-on experiences. As a matter of fact, as applied social scientists, school superintendents employ empiricism, scientific inquiry methodologies, as well as the skills of drawing inferences from phenomenal happenings and using such inferences to plan for the future happenings. Most importantly, as Kowalski (2003a; 2004; 2005) and Johnson & Fusarelli (2003) asserts school superintendents fulfils their roles as change agents by incorporating the dynamics of behavioral sciences into the school system as well as deploying theory in discerning the behavioral changes exhibited by educational stakeholders in their areas of jurisdiction.

In extension on the applied social scientist methodology of imparting change, (Fusarelli & Fusarelli, 2003) contend that apart from the mere responsibility of discerning problems and formulating policy to ameliorate such problems, school superintendents also employ enculturation tactics. This entails the de-freezing process advanced by Kurt Lewin in his three-pronged theory of change (Robbins, 2003). Ideally, superintendents prepares the ground for change by highlighting on key shortcomings of existing processes and/or institutions then ensures that all the stakeholders are perfectly convinced that there is dire need for change. To achieve this they carryout institutional as well as procedural restructuring by way of inducing new and popular culture that bars subjects from reverting back to the old order. Opportunistically, they then move in with the intended reform packages which they rollout to the stakeholders in practical and operational ways. For example, by drawing out direct links between the new reforms packages and deep-seated social ills such as poverty, unemployment, insecurity, climate change, terrorism, etc.

The contemporary education demands are enormous. There is more accountability on the part of a school superintendent’s job than it has been witnessed ever before. In reference to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, the superintendents are expected to deliver convincing results or else risk their districts forfeiting important funds from the federal government. In bid to avoid such financial forfeiture the superintendents explore all ways of getting those under them to carryout their duties fully. Based on the findings of a research study commissioned by the Wallace Foundation and carried out by researchers from Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, school leaders have been noted to employ a range of methods in imparting the desired change. Among these methods is the conscious efforts made to improvement students academic performance through “the support and development of effective teachers and the implementation of effective organizational processes … preparation and licensing requirements, which generally subscribe to a set of common expectations for the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of school leaders (Davis, Darling-Hammond, La Pointe, & Meyerson, 2005, p.5).

1.4. School Superintendents are not “Blobs”

No doubt school superintendents are not “an amorphous blob that soaks up valuable resources without adding value to a district’s instructional program” as popularly referred to by former Secretary of Education, William Bennett (Waters, & Marzano, 2005, p.2). At least not when they engage in what Waters and Marzano (2006) found out in their meta-analysis of several studies on school superintendents. One of the outstanding findings of their meta-analysis was “collaborative goal-setting” (p.11). This entails the purposive inclusion of all the stakeholders in the schools in the process of identifying and delineating educational based on the unique school district student needs as well the set state and federal obligations. Collaboratively set goals will be easy to implement particularly when the implementers of such goals where involved in process of delineating such goals.

Again, it was found out that superintendents fulfill their obligations as change agents by employing wise and well coordinated distribution of critical resources to areas that they are needed. This is done in tandem with the set goals and it entails cutting down support in some sectors while increasing such support in other sectors. Again, this is done closely with the respective section heads so as to enhance acceptance. Though there may no clear cut restrictions as to what amount should be committed to what sectors, it has been noted that the superintendents have got the knack of identifying the most critical areas, which they go ahead to support. It is arguable that well supported school boards will more likely engage in constructive activities so as to build a strong for future support (Waters & Marzano, 2006).

Apart form the normal educational goals that can be formed under the guidance of the school superintendents during the collaborative goal-setting sessions, it has been advanced that wise school superintendents achieve change in the students performance by pushing for the establishment of “non-negotiable” goals particularly in the most critical areas of student performance and instruction (Waters, & Marzano, 2006, p.12). Such non-negotiable goals are very difficult to alter and school teachers are left with no alternative but to deliver good results or risks facing reprimands from the “federally-pressured” superintendents.

Another key finding was the “monitoring achievement & Instruction” (instruction (Waters, & Marzano, 2006, p.12). To impart change, school superintendents ensure close monitoring of the process of curriculum implementation. For instance, they ensure that the process of instructional giving is closely monitored to ensure uniformity. At the long run this ensures that teachers do not digress from the curriculum requirements. This is carried out in a series of continuous assessment tests on the part of the teachers. In practical terms this method of imparting change is more or less a need-analysis process as the superintendent is given the opportunity to identify which schools are performing poorly and which ones are not. Lastly, it was observed that school superintendents achieve change by aligning the local education board with the non-negotiable goals. This enhances efficiency by eliminating duplication of efforts and resources through the removal of detractors. By combining these two goals it becomes very easy for channel all its efforts in key activities that lead to improved academic performance instruction (Waters, & Marzano, 2006).

1.5. Deficiencies in the Studies

As evidenced by the preceding literature review a great deal has been written about superintendents as change agents. No doubt these are fairly broad statements that fall short of identifying specific behaviors employed by the school district superintendent to bring about real changes that have measurable outcomes and that can be evaluated against a specific standards or requirements. Ideally, the existing studies provide rich background information about the roles of school district superintendents but they fall short of addressing how these leaders impart change or even indulge other stakeholders in realizing change. This apparent lack of specificity is phenomenal given the changing educational trends characterized by accountability, transparency, performance-based management, and the use of empirical data to make critical educational decisions. Moreover, it is ironical to note that even after a wide range of empirical evidence advanced by various research studies across the wide spectrum of school leadership little efforts have been made to address how school district superintendents as change agents impart change in practical and/or operational terms. Furthermore, comparatively juxtaposing some of the salient findings advanced by a wide range of existing research studies against the prevailing educational trends shows glaring discrepancies between theoretical and practical happenings in educational leadership at the local levels. For instance, it is obvious that not all superintendents embrace or impart change in their respective school districts. This is partly because of the dynamic nature the socio-political and cultural environments within which school leadership operates. As such, there is an urgent need to investigate how the school district superintendents’ effect change. Using interviews as the main data collection tool, the research study will investigate this critical area of school leadership with emphasis given to leadership at the local level (school superintendents).

1.6. Study Purpose and Research Questions

The changing socio-political and cultural trends occasioned by technological advancements and globalization calls for a critical examination of the educational leadership realm. Precisely, it has been argued above that a grey area exists on how school superintendents effect change. Moreover, basing on the existing empirical evidence it is only fair to assert that the intense pressure that school district superintendents work under to bring about dramatic improvements in student test scores while simultaneously meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse and multicultural student population impacts directly on their overall performance (Childress, Elmore, & Grossman, 2006). Given that significant achievements have been realized courtesy of their relentless efforts to achieve efficiency at their respective school districts (Hentschke, Nayfack, & Wohlstetter, 2009), there is need to critically investigate how they succeed in doing this despite operating from potentially conflicting environments. This research study will lead to the realization of some of the strong and weak areas insofar as educational leadership is concerned. Such critical empirical data will advice policy formulation and implementation particularly in the areas of improving smooth coexistence between all educational stakeholders at the federal, state, and local levels and most importantly it will enhance quick and efficient service delivery. In this regard the overarching research question is simply “how do school district superintendents effect change.” Other supporting questions are:

As a long serving school district superintendent what do you do to get other people involved in the management of education at the local level change?
What do you perceive of superintendents as change agents and what type of preparation at the University and/or professional development is needed?
Do you feel that you have got all it takes (professional know-how and resources) to impart change at the local level?
Can you briefly describe substantive change that you as superintendent have helped to make in leading and learning in this or another school district.
Given your expertise as superintendent what advice would you have to a new superintendent to enhance their ability to reflect needed changes in teaching and learning.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction

The “nearly continuous turbulent …[bureaucratic, unpredictable and] inescapable” environment that the school superintendents function in makes the responsibilities of imparting change part and parcel of their job titles (Starratt, 2004, p.29). This turbulent environment is as a result of positioning the school superintendents at a very sensitive point along the education management ladder, between the school boards and the state/federal educational authorities making them the de facto “mediators” between these two sides. In this regard, their duties entail fulfilling the demands from members of both ends, which sometimes may be conflicting and unrealistic to achieve (Begley, 2004). For instance, the state and federal authorities normally issue demands that schools must meet to qualify for financial and other support while on the other hand the school boards representing the interests of the people at the ground may have completely different expectations from the school superintendent (Firestone & Martinez, 2007). In fact, superintendents who attempt to execute their duties “without [making] reference to the greater environmental context will quickly” meet resistance” (Begley, 2004, pp.8-9).

By fair terms, these postulations are too broad to give a precise account of how school district superintendents’ effect change. As such, this dissertation seeks to carry out an in-depth study on the profession of the school district superintendent with the view of unearthing how they go about imparting change. Ideally, this chapter attempts to dig into prior research studies on school superintendents with the view of forming a “literature map” that will give the entire dissertation a sense of focus and meaning. Essentially, the chapter is structured into a number of sections that help to address the salient knowledge claims regarding superintendents as change agents’ vis-à-vis the adopted change theory lens. These sections include:

Introduction – gives a general overview of the entire chapter by delineating important issues to be discussed in the chapter.
Theoretical framework – this describes the framework within which the study arguments will be channeled through.
The three-step approach as applied in the school superintendent context – this section is structured into three sub-sections, each representing a single step. Basically, this section utilizes the three-step framework to describe how superintendents go about achieving the actual change.

2.2. Theoretical Framework

School leadership and management are complex processes that require time, capital, and human resources (Katz & Khan, 1978; Kowalski, 2000). As a matter of fact, existing research work that attempts to address these processes does not provide sufficient grounds as to how some of the critical facets of leadership and management take place. Attempts to demonstrate in operational terms how school superintendents’ effect change have borne little empirical currency as the existing literary accounts have only succeeded in advancing the various roles played by school superintendents as change agents and not how they go about achieving the actual change. As such, there is need for carrying out a focused and impartial research work to investigate how these administrative officers effect change in their respective school districts. To this end, this dissertation adopts the “three-step” change theory lens of, “unfreezing, changing, and refreezing” as advanced by Kurt Lewin (Schein, 1995, p.2).

Conceivably, the wisdom behind this decision is advised by the theory’s central premise that, change does not happen instantaneously, it is gradual, it comprises of significant amount of adaptations and adjustments, and that it can only occur when the forces sponsoring it are stronger than those opposing it (Schein, 1995, 1988; Kritsonis, 2004-2005, Robbins, 2003). Most importantly, change whether from an individual or collective perspective is phenomenal, in that, it entails, “a profound psychological dynamic process that involved painful unlearning without loss of ego identity and difficult relearning as one cognitively attempted to restructure one’s thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and attitudes” (p.2). In the same way, the process of effecting change among school district superintendents is gradual and that it is influenced by a number of forces (Kowalski, 2005). In this regard, the dissertation will seek to describe the gradual process of effecting change as well as the forces behind this gradual process. In essence, it will serve as the blueprint that will model course of the entire dissertation. Perhaps as Chinn and Kramer (1999) postulate, it will serve to express “knowledge … [in] a creative and rigorous … [manner, so as to] project a tentative, purposeful, and systematic view of” the study topic (p.258).

Ideally, the process of imparting change is a complex one. It entails the transformation of individuals and/or groups from conditions generally believed to be redundant to more productive ones (Robbins, 2003). In this regard, change can only be realized when the existing structures are convincingly perceived to be ineffective (Lorenzen, 2009). Perhaps this is the main reason why Robbins (2003) affirms that the process of achieving change is gradual and it is directly dependent on the nature of relationships between those at the helm and their subordinates. Based on Lippit, Watson and Wesley (1958) as well as on Robbins (2003), change is a byproduct of concerted efforts meant to address looming issues that impede maximum realization of the envisaged goals and objectives. In the context of superintendents as change agents there are a number of frameworks that underscore their positions and/or positive intentions in realizing change. Essentially, superintendents are guided by clearly delineated goals and objectives that channel their actions toward a certain point (Kowalski, 2005). These goals and objectives are the equivalent of the change theory framework envisaged in this dissertation.

2.2.1. The Three-Step Approach

Lewin envisaged that for change to take place three basic steps must be fulfilled (Schein, 1993, 1995; Robbins, 2003). Firstly, change entails the opportunistic engagement of concerned elements by creating an appropriate mood for bidirectional dialogue. Such a move leads to the breaking of the existing norms and practices and therefore preparing the ground for change. Essentially, this breaking existing norms and practices requires significant wit in the form of creating an atmosphere of trust and confidence among the members of the group. It is such atmospheres that play the role of incentivizing individuals to develop positive attitudes toward change. Again, the change agent should apply preventive forces that in this case serve as impediments toward any potential slip-backs to the existing behaviors. Lastly, the change agent should closely monitor the overall reception of the change so as to make timely decisions whether to step-up or even reduce either of the driving or the restrictive forces applied (Robins, 2003). On his part Schein (1988), asserts that for real change to be realized organizations must build strong capacities capable of managing immediate and perpetual change. Most importantly, organizations must be willing to “learn how to learn” from emerging issues within their area of operation.

In his second step, Lewin postulates that substantial efforts should be invested in the overall process of behavior change. He acknowledges that the process should be gradual and methodical lest it draws out bad feelings among the stakeholders (Schein, 1995). To this end, Lewin advances three distinct sub-steps whose hallmark is creating a clear distinction between the existing and the envisaged behavior so as to achieve a consensus among the stakeholders. For easy change realization efforts should be made to enhance teamwork among the stakeholders. Lastly, so as to enhance smooth and quick acceptance of the envisaged behavior changes the change agent should cleverly create visible links showing true success stories or even prominent personalities behind the envisaged change (Robbins, 2003). Similar postulations are shared by Schein (1985) when he asserts that organizations should formulate malleable structures that allow emerging issues as well as new ideas to be effectively entrenched.

The third step involves the complete entrenchment of the acquired change into the systems or simply refreezing (Schein, 1995). Ideally, this step is meant to cement the new change into the existing systems and therefore can only be applicable in situations when the envisaged change has been realized (Robbins, 2003). This is necessary to prevent any potential slip-backs to the old ways after a short time of realizing the new change. Essentially, this step involves the active entrenchment of new values, practices, and policies that are responsible for sustaining the new change at the long term. To achieve this, the change agent needs to maintain a state of equilibrium between the driving and restrictive forces through the creation of new institutions, positions, as well as the engagement of additional personnel (Robbins, 2003; Kritsonis, 2004-2005). Schein (1988) strengthens these sentiments by opining that organizations should come up with policies, processes, events, and tasks that allow the optimization of the set goals and objectives while still allowing the participants to freely interact and form strong interpersonal bonds.

2.2. 1.1. Breaking the Existing Norms (Unfreezing)

Schein (1995) asserts the desire to learn and/or change is brought about by “some form of dissatisfaction or frustration generated by data that disconfirm our expectations or hopes” (p.3). In the same way in creating a “literature map” as to how school district superintendents effect change, it is wise to appreciate that the range of challenges that engulf the profession of the school district superintendent are in one way or the other dissatisfying and frustrating, at least going what well as some of the advocated solutions to such challenges. Based on Baumann (1996) as well as Fullan (1996) change at the school level cannot be achieved without a significant overhaul of the existing organizational structures and processes. To this end the authors argue that one core area that should be addressed is the school culture. On the same vein (Kowalski, 2000; Kowalski, 2001; Hess, 1998) argues that meaningful academic achievements cannot be achieved on a silver platter – they need to be tirelessly earned, most probably through dedication on the part of the school district leaders. Moreover, basing their arguments on the educational challenges of the 21^st century theorists Murphy (1991) as well as Chance and Bjork (2004) assert that the contemporary education systems need to address the social part of the students needs. This opinion is galvanized by Schlechty (1997) when he asserts that school managers should appreciate that “the way social systems are put together has independent effects on the way people behave, what they learn, and how they learn what they learn” (p.134). As such, the human relations that school superintendents cultivate are directly responsible for bringing about new knowledge and skills. Analytically, change or lack of it is greatly determined by the nature of the social interactions among the leaders and their subjects (Kowalski, 2003b).

The responsibilities of a school superintendent are multifaceted (Firestone & Martinez, 2007). They entail directly working with the school boards, principals, teachers, students, on one side and the state and federal representatives’ on the other (Sergiovanni, et al 2009). An extensive account on how school superintendents effect change is offered by Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003), when they opine that the school superintendent judicially handles all classroom related issues, gives timely and relevant responses to all concerns from stakeholders, solves conflicts among stakeholders in amicable ways, addresses political overtones related to education, and addresses school boards demands. Similar sentiments are shared by Portis and Garcia (2007), when they acknowledge that school environments are at times awash with all sorts of conflicts, with the superintendent acting as an impartial judge of the last resort. In a nutshell, the work of a school superintendent entails the process of absorbing pressure, cracking complex organizational puzzles, formulating workable policies to address challenges, and most importantly fulfilling the demands and expectations of all the educational stakeholders within and beyond the school district cannot be made a reality without first embracing and pursuing the concepts of change (Schein, 1995; Robbins, 2003; Begley, 2004; Starratt, 2004).

The contemporary education demands are enormous. There is more accountability on the part of a school superintendent’s job than it has been witnessed before (Hentschke, Nayfack, & Wohlstetter, 2009). In reference to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act for instance, the superintendents are expected to deliver convincing results or else their districts forfeit important funds from the state and/or federal governments (Orr, 2006; Melton, 2009). In bid to avoid such financial forfeiture the superintendents explore all ways of getting those under them to carryout their duties fully (Portis & Garcia, 2007). Based on the findings of a research study commissioned by the Wallace Foundation and carried out by researchers from Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, school leaders have been noted to employ a range of methods in imparting the desired change (Davis, Darling-Hammond, La Pointe, & Meyerson, 2005). Among these methods are the conscious efforts made towards the improvement of students academic performance through “the support and development of effective teachers and the implementation of effective organizational processes … preparation and licensing requirements, which generally subscribe to a set of common expectations for the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of school leaders (p.5).

Basing on Schein (1993, 1995) postulations these inherently turbulent, bureaucratic, and highly unpredictable environments are chiefly responsible for creating the “survival anxiety” complex among school superintendents, or simply the “…feeling that if [they] do not change [they] will fail to meet [their] needs or fail to achieve some goals or ideals that [they] have set for” themselves (Schein, 1995, p.4). Drawing from what Robbins (2003) asserts this survival anxiety complex is an enough opportunistic engagement among the school superintendents that helps to create appropriate mood for bidirectional dialogue with other educational stakeholders within their areas of jurisdiction. As a matter of fact, such a move leads to the breaking of the existing norms and practices and therefore preparing the ground for change.

The personal experiences from a long serving school superintendent, serving a rural school district helps to explain this argument better. Dale Carter has been a school superintendent for Kenawee Public Schools, Oklahoma since 1969 (Jenkins, 2007). Though he attests that superintendents in rural school districts fulfill their obligations in virtually different ways when compared to their counterparts in urban areas, Carter asserts that it is usually very difficult to impart changes which may have some inhumane ramifications to the community. For instance, he singles out the unique sense of togetherness among the members of the community where almost every resident of the school district one knows his lifestyle – his family, his residence, his church, and even how much he tithes. This unique sense of togetherness may heighten the “learning anxiety” or the feeling that by accepting change one will be indirectly acknowledging that they are inadequate in the current situation and therefore ineffective (Schein, 1995, p.4). As such, so as to mitigate this learning anxiety, school superintendents endeavor to impart the “psychological safety” to their subordinates as well as superiors (p.5). It is this psychological safety that helps to assure others that a change is the only way to address the weaknesses presented thereof by the survival anxiety while reducing the potential learning anxiety that might crop up in defiance to the survival anxiety (Schein, 1993).

For example, Carter singles out a case where he had to go out of the rule book to award extra leave days to a teacher who had exhausted her normal leave days due to her long sickness and did the unexpected in covering the whole matter from the public knowledge. He clarifies that such incidence would have attracted a lot of backlash (learning anxiety) if it were done in an urban setting where the members of public are more enlightened as well high levels of transparency and accountability. Most tellingly, the quiet rural setting acted as a source of strong psychological safety that mitigated any fears of public reprisal (learning anxiety) while emboldening the survival anxiety on the part of Carter and perhaps other few Kenawee School District senior officers (Schein, 1995). This is a critical discrepancy between change among the highly bureaucratic educational systems employed by urban school districts against the personalized and humane systems that addresses all pertinent issues affecting all the stakeholders from a case-by-case approach. In essence, basing this real-life situation to what Lewin hypothesized in the first step of his change theory, it is clear that as change agents, school superintendents unfreeze the existing norms through creation of their own informal “parallel systems” … [to] allow some relief from day to day work pressures, [and hence] providing practice fields in which errors are embraced rather than feared” (p.6).

2.2.1.2. Changing

Step two of Lewin three-step change process entails the creation of clear lines between the old habits and the new ones by creating clear “images” of envisaged change (Robbins 2003). This postulation is in harmony with Schein (1995) and Robbins (2003) clarification that, change does not just occur – it only occurs when the forces sponsoring it are stronger than those opposing it. While alluding to the notion that superintendents are change agents, Waters and Marzano (2006) and Kowalski (2003b) elucidate that, superintendents achieve change goals by employing good communication tactics that help to create new and sustainable relations with their subordinates. Similar sentiments are echoed by Carter and Cunningham (1997) when they assert that superintendents overcome the highly unpredictable stakeholders’ demands by acting as “the communicator[s] to the public” (p.24). Consequently, by communicating policy changes in all the time, superintendents draw clear lines between the past and the future – between old/existing policies and the envisaged ones (Schein, 1988). For instance, a survey conducted among nine Manitoba, Canada superintendents concluded that superintendents acknowledges their responsibilities as communicators of new knowledge among the various school heads within their school districts (Wallin & Crippan, 2007).

Even so, in acknowledgement of the large number of stakeholders involved (Pristine, 2005; Myers, 2010). In this regard, superintendents need to work hand in hand with all these stakeholders. Precisely, they should step-up the driving forces so as to steer the stakeholders toward the desired ends hence preventing them from reverting to their old ways (Robbins, 2003). In affirmation to this postulation, Kowalski (2005) argues that change in both elementary and secondary schools’ is realized not as a result of efforts by the educators but by external forces. In support of this assertion he contends that, “the impetus to refashion organizational structure or operations has been predominately external … [and that majority of] changes that have occurred in districts and schools have been imposed” (p.60). In this regard, and as Kowalski (2004) argues, it can be asserted that, in their capacity as the link between the state/federal education authorities and the school boards, the school superintendents have been in the forefront of imparting this change. For instance, the implementation of key federal educational directives such as the No Child Left Behind Act as well as state legislations such as performance-based school programs is wholly the responsibilities of the superintendents (Kowalski, 2005). After all, it has been argued that school reforms emanating from state or federal levels need to be locally coordinated for them to fully fit into the system (Henkin, 1993). In fact, it is conventionally acknowledged that school district superintendents are the persons at the pivotal position for implementing any form of school reforms (Murphy, 1994).

Again, Kowalski (2005) supports these postulations by asserting that, “present-day superintendents across all types and sizes of school districts must wear several different hats if they are to be effective” (p.50). To achieve this, school superintendents need to be tactful and opportunistic by discerning the most appropriate moments to engage their juniors. It is these appropriate moments that helps to re-define key policy indicators and therefore enlarges their overall understanding and in extension their acceptance of the change process. As Schein (1995), redefining and enlarging the overall understanding of the change indicators helps to deconstruct attitudes such as “negative images of ‘group think,’ [and] lynch mobs” (p.6). Ideally, Kowalski (2003a; 2003b;2004) provides a barrage of strategies which can be applied in redefining, enlarging and changing the rewarding standards for change, these are, “engaging others in open political dialogue, facilitating the creation of shared visions, building a positive school district image, gaining community support for change, providing an essential framework for information management, marketing programs, and keeping the public informed about education” (Kowalski, 2005, p.50).

In a nutshell, and in fulfillment of the second step of the three-step change theory espoused by Lewin (Robbins, 2003), superintendent need to exhibit high levels of “people skills” so as to effectively deal with the conflicting opinions from the stakeholders while ensuring that their interests are adequately catered for (Kowalski, 2004). In his study, Haglund (2009) found out that, school superintendents achieve change by pursuing a number of reform strategies, some of which may be considered inherently radical. They include, redrafting of the “role of [the school] principal as instructional leader [as well as playing down the] impact of operational issues on site administrators…”, establishing “a data-driven culture to emphasize the meaning of accountability at all levels…”, putting in place workable infrastructure to mitigate, “challenges of staffing at low performing and high-poverty schools, and low-performing students at all sites” as well as the initiation of a new “brand to focus attention on district master plan’s objective of improving achievement and closing achievement gaps” (Haglund, 2009, p.116).

2.2.1.3. Refreezing

The third step of the three-step change theory involves refreezing (Robbins, 2003). Basically, this step entails the complete entrenchment of the already realized change into the system. Among the school superintendents there are a number methods used to achieve this end, among them the media. As a matter of fact, it has been advanced that school superintendents utilize the services of the media people to pass out critical information that impart the much needed psychological safety among the members of public. Working with the media, superintendents get a chance to tap on the benefits that comes with the “power of pen” (Jenkins, 2007, p.31). In essence, the media is capable of painting a good picture of the school system and its processes by creating fresh and multiple outlooks that the public can adopt for deeper cognitive redefinition (Schein, 1995).

Tellingly, if coordinated well so that it does not portray the negative side of the school system it can go along way in creating a good rapport between the public and the school management systems in the school district (Jenkins, 2007). To achieve this nature of coordination Langlois (2004) offers that the school district superintendent maintains a close tab on the media so that quick actions can be taken to prevent any leaks of uncensored information to the media that might harm the credibility of the school district. In the example given above, Carter ensures that he deliver a weekly press briefing about upcoming activities as part of his responsibilities in ensuring the public is informed about any school changes about to be effected. This way the school superintendent faces very little resistance in implementing seemingly sensitive reforms. Again, by holding weekly press conference, Carter ensures that the Kenawee School District residents develops new semantic and cognitive standpoints as well as fresh judgmental lenses which enable them to adopts broad analytical capabilities particularly to matters of education administration (Schein, 1995).

On the other hand, superintendents solidify the already realized change by exhibiting worthwhile moral values. Schein (1968, 1995) asserts that initiators of change should exhibit high moral values given that they are by default the role models that subjects can look upon for development of strong psychological safety. As the overall bosses in their respective school districts superintendents are by default, role models – as Reeves (2002) argues they act as “the bridge[s] from chaos to clarity for every stakeholder so that students, teachers, parents, leaders, and the broad community know what success really means” (p.77). This postulation is affirmed by Bredeson and Kose (2007) in their study to investigate the extent which school superintendents have been transformed by their responsibilities over a period of ten years starting from 1993 to 2003. Precisely, they singled out accountability as one of the most important moral value that enhanced the processes of instituting reforms witnessed during this period of time. The study involved all public school superintendents (426) in one of the largest Midwestern states. In examination of a set of two structured questionnaires that were sent to the superintendents, the two authors found out that superintendents engage in a number of change imparting methods courtesy of the sound moral values they exhibit – change takes the direction of the “salient and powerful role models” (Schein, 1995, p.9). Moreover, Thomas and Moran (1992), assert that superintendents are managers in their own rights just like other conventional managers who “manage great business or industrial enterprise” (p. 42). Thus, in fulfillment of the second step of the three-step change theory, superintendents should be professionals and not employees (Schein, 1985; Myers, 2010). In this regard, Thomas and Moran (1992) conclude that, superintendents succeed in inducing change within their respective school districts by practicing sound planning and time management skills and by assuming the roles of “planners and thinkers” of policy changes (p.42).

As concerns the salient role model postulation made by Schein (1995), it is a fact that step three of the three-step change theory as envisaged by Lewin can be made a reality if the acquired change is linked to a salient role model that fits into the cultural identity of the subjects. In this case if the role models are not culturally compatible with the cultural personalities of the subjects then such change may last for a short duration of time. The same way with teaching housewives how to eat new types of meat such as liver and kidney from a community that despises such poor meat – they will definitely end up dropping the habit as a result of cultural incompatibility. Role model acts as the source of psychological safety that makes change to have a permanent impact on the subjects (Schein, 1968). Drawing from the findings of Bredeson and Kose (2007) study described above, the pressure from the state and federal educational authorities as well as the demands from the local public school principals and teachers from are the salient cultural expectations that school superintendent have to fulfill. As such, superintendents must strive to bring about new policies that are realistic to these demands. Such culturally compatible policies include appropriate “curriculum priorities, budget increases to support these priorities, increased attention to data analysis, and priorities in hiring assistants to support their work” (p.15).

Collectively, these worthwhile professional behaviors codes demonstrated by the school superintendents as well as other educational stakeholders within and beyond the school districts leverage the process of imparting change. Apparently, they cannot be achieved if there is no goodwill on the part of the school superintendents’ and most importantly, their subordinates.

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Babbie (2004) opines that a number of research models of studying superintendents as change agents exist – exploratory as well as explanatory methodologies can be used. Ideally, exploratory methodology can only take a qualitative tone while explanatory can take either qualitative or quantitative overtones. For purposes of this proposed study a qualitative research will be the most appropriate given its capabilities to identify the superintendents’ effect on change in operational terms. Precisely, a qualitative methodology ensures that all key issues that affect a particular phenomenon such as superintendents’ role as change agents are clearly outlined. Moreover, basing on Creswell (2003) postulations on interviews and case studies it can be argued that a qualitative research offers the best option for the proposed research given the underlying research problem centers on how school district superintendents go about achieving the desired educational changes.

3.1 Sampling and Data Collection

The sampling and data collection processes of the study will be based on a number of existing social research theories. Owing to the large number of superintendents in the state of Illinois only a small fraction of this population will be considered for the study – between eight and twelve superintendents. Apparently, this is in accordance with Ader, Mellenbergh, and Hand (2008) postulations that a study sample should enhance easy data collection, low costs, and most importantly should be a complete representation of the targeted demographic. Essentially, the superintendents will be selected on the basis of their experience in the field of education leadership, with five years of service being the minimum qualification. Given the small size of the study sample there will be no coercion for participation – school superintendents will be approached and their voluntary consent of participation sought. To avoid cases of mortality during the study, superintendents’ personal information will not be revealed – only information relevant to the research problem will be collected from the participants. The study will be restricted within an area of about 100 mile radius in the state of Illinois. Based on Pedhazur and Schmelkin (1991) method of sampling the proposed study will employ a stratified sampling method the 100 mile radius region will be divided into six strata. Each stratum will be sampled independently. Only two superintendents will be selected from each stratum. To ensure that the selected participants fulfill the study sampling criteria the state’s public school records will be consulted and personal contacts for qualifying candidates (Superintendents) taken. Then the individual superintendents will be contacted through internet, telephone, or even by visiting them in work stations (Creswell, 2003).

The structured interviews and questionnaires will borrow samples from Creswell (2003) and Kvale and Britmann (2008). The process of data collection will involve two levels as postulated by (Babbie, 2004). Firstly, the superintendents will be sent the structured questionnaires to fill accordingly. The questionnaires will be studied, transcribed, coded and analyzed. Secondly, highly structured physical interviews will be conducted in venues convenient with the busy superintendents’ daily schedules. Similarly, data collected from these interviews will be subjected to the same process of analysis (Creswell, 2003).

3.2. Data Analysis

Due to the intensive nature of the proposed research problem collected through the structured interviews will be analyzed using a continuous method (memoing) (Trochim, 2006). First, data from the structured interviews and questionnaires will be subjected to a purposive scrutiny to check accuracy. Then it will be closely studied and all important information (main points) in regards to the research problem will be jotted down in a memo in form of short notes. These short notes will be transcribed for easy analysis using qualitative data analysis method. The transcribed data will then be subjected to further scrutiny and coded into meaningful units for easy analysis (Maxfield & Babbie, 1995). For instance, likely codes in the study may include: conflict solving, communication, mentoring, coercion, in-servicing, role modeling, etc.

3.3 Study Limitations

Some of this proposed research study limitations include the selection-mortality threat that may be more pronounced especially when there is a higher propensity to withdraw on the part of the study participants. To some extent social interaction threats such as compensatory rivalry, resentful demoralization, compensation equalization threat, and imitation threat may pose some substantial amount of validity doubts to this qualitative research given it will rely on the end results of the interpersonal interactions (interviews and observation) between the participants and the researcher(s) (Trochim, 2006). Even so, there is a higher predisposition for avoiding these seemingly glaring validity snags given that the randomly selected participants will be fetched from state of Illinois public schools and therefore there is a lesser probability for them to have prior awareness about each other, a thing that will work positively towards mitigating any potential social interactions threats.

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August 26, 2020

How Railway Stations Operations Can Be Improved: A Case Study For UK

Introduction

Railway is a very popular mode of transport not only in the UK but also world over. The reason behind this can be attributed to affordability, safety, fast and reliability. This has made tremendous growth of the railway transport for the last decade. Therefore there is a need for scholars to closely study this sector and come up with suggestions on how best it can be improved to enhance service delivery. This is an attempt to not only better this sector, but also to reduce the constraints on our road networks. This will lead to reduced man hours lost in traffic, fuel and even accidents on our roads. This is the major rationale behind this research.

Background information

The rail transport system is one of the old methods of transport systems in the UK. It started as earlier as before independence i.e. 1922. In UK the development of the railway system developed independently in both islands namely Great Britain and Ireland. UK is a bonafide member of the UIC (international union of railways). Despite underdevelopments in the recent past, the railway system in UK is one of the most decent and well developed in Europe. It covers approximately 34,000 km from the mainland through the island. There is high speed 1 which connects mainland Europe to London and the beautiful sceneries of Scotland highlands. In the recent past there has been an attempt by the various regimes to privatize the rail system albeit heartedly to improve service delivery. Generally speaking it his not a bad move since service delivery has improved. The major shareholder however remains the government through Network rail. Train operating companies are the major providers of trains in the UK. They are also mandated with train servicing and maintenance (wikitravel). They lease their trains to passenger rail companies all over UK. Some of the leading companies include:

Cross country
Euro star
First hull trains
Heathrow express
London underground
South west trans
Virgin trains

Areas that need improvement

Despite the fact that rail system in the UK is one of the most well developed in Europe, there are still a few areas that need to be improved. Such issues have been hampered by the government’s ignorance and under investment in the rail system. According to the taskforce that did a similar research in 2010 the following are some of the areas that the y suggested need s improvement. This, at least according to the taskforce, will make the rail system in the UK to be the best not only in Europe, but also world over. Some of those areas are as follows:

Invest in new trains
Increase rail mileage

Amendment of policies regulating train transport

Promote rail transportation as a form of tourism and
Invest more on human resources

Now all this intervention is pretty reasonable and achievable. It will be unfair for the stakeholders to fail to implement the recommendations of this report. In this particular research, am going to focus on the last recommendation i.e. the human resources. This is because with the right political will, the other aspects can be easily implemented with pumping of more resources into the system. This is unlike with the human resources. For people to work well in a challenging organization like railway station, you need more than just paying them well. This is the major focus of this research.

Human resources improvement in UK railway system

For you to succeed in improving the service delivery in a firm like railway transport, human resource is very vital. Unlike with the other resources which can be easily acquired and run, human resources are different. You need to start by hiring the right people with the right skills and passion to work in railway transport. Secondly you need to train them well because no two situations are exactly the same. Even if some may be experienced they will obviously be exposed to different challenges that will require a little training. Next you have to continuously motivate, empower and develop your human resources to be able to meet new challenges. These are some of the issues I will like to explore in this research.

Camilleri (215) argues that most of the literature on the importance of employee empowerment in ensuring organisation success also shows that there is a positive correlation between employee perception of being cared for and valued by the organisation and conscientiousness in doing their duties within the organisation. Jones & Kato (2003) had the same opinion, however, they went on to explain that there is a positive relationship between the employee work performance and organizational successes because if employees realize that they are cared for by the organization, they will bring out their best in their respective duties.

Research has also shown that there exists a positive correlation between the employee’s perception of being cared for by the organisation and the expressed speculative and effective involvement in decision making within the organisation. However, According to Jones & Kato (103), major decision making in the organisation requires the total support of the stakeholders concerned. The employees must be included in the process as they are the people on the receiving end. Dufficy (199) also argues that involving the employees in such functions within the organisation makes them part of the overall organisation management and motivates them to put more effort in serving the organisation.

Additionally a recent survey carried out by Fernandez & Moldogaziev, (211) discusses that this involvement creates a sense of belonging and unity within the organisation and collaboration amongst all the level of the organisation’s management from the top level to the bottom level. The same study also shows that there exists a relationship between innovation on the part of the employees on behalf of the organisation’s success systems even in the total absence of the personal recognition and total reward. Productivity emanates from better choice of career paths, high retention rates of employees due to high consistency originating from job Satisfaction. This is especially true for a sector like the UK railway system that has suffered high rates of employee turn over.

As most organisations are strategizing on how they can fully address the concern of the employees in the work place, they implement very innovative strategies geared towards improving the overall organisational performance while at the same time offering job satisfaction to the employees (Dufficy, 209). Thus the railway system should not be left behind, after all their job is even more challenging.

How to empower employees

In the current labour market, organisational performance is greatly hinged on the contribution of the employee attitude and job satisfaction. Most companies have realised great success thanks to the employee empowerment practices and company’s performance management practices. The major focus on performance management emanates from the view that business pressures are always on the increase and organisations are required to be more efficient and effective in their operations, make financial plans and execute the plans according to the business strategy, and to remain competitive and maintain the competitive advantage (Jones and Kato, 253).

If your goal as a manager is to create a work environment whereby staff is productive, empowered, contributing and happy, just empower them. Give them the right tools and information and then leave them alone to deliver. The following are some of the ways you can empower them.

Employee engagement and involvement

Michael (179) holds that the most vital strategic role of any human resource manager in any organisation intending to factor in the contribution of employees in ensuring the success of an organisation includes employee motivation, involvement and work delegation with commensurate compensation. The human resource manager must recruit competent employee, train, retain, motivate and reward those that prove successful in delivering their duties

Kuo et al (110) concludes that it is the involvement of the employees in designing how they do their work; the people charged with carrying out assignment in the company must be allowed to work out their work schedules in manner that is suitable to them. The employees should be allowed to move freely within the organisation. Employees should be updated regularly on their performance. The less personal control a culture of creativity and innovation is bred within the company, in this the employee’s will be free to interact and come up with new ideas, strategy and synergy all geared at improving the performance of the organisation.

Kuo and his colleagues go further to note that people were born productive; the intrinsic efficiency is usually limited by the rules and regulation that confines the employee to their place of work and control the level of interaction. This limitation of the social nature of the employee makes it hard for employees to fully exploit their potential in their places of work if people are inspired with proper vision and prepared with the right set of tools they contribute to the success of their organisation. If proper information is imparted to these employees, they can make decisions that are critical to success of the organisation.

Tap their potential

The management must realise that it is actually very important to exploit the potential of the employees. Employee involvement, excellent work tools, employee commitment and simplicity are some of the important themes that must be nurtured in organisations in order to retain loyal employees. The vision of the company should be all inclusive and should benefit the whole society, employees are always energized by the feeling of being a part of a bigger achievement, and the organisation’s daily activities should not be focused at controlling the people but at tracking useful information. Freedom and fun at work help the employees to participate at ensuring that the organisation is successful in achieving its goals (Michael, 224).

Employee involvement in continuous improvement

Jones and Kato (291) recommends that for employee to participate in ensuring organisational success through development of simple rules that determine the kind of groups that should be formed within the organisation, teams within the organisation have contributed towards organisational success through analysis and diagnosis of organisational problems besides exploitation of organisational opportunities. You can also achieve this by providing frequent feedback so that individuals know how well or bad they are doing. At times, the purpose of feedback is recognition and reward as well as improvement coaching. Employees deserve your constructive feedback too, so that they can continue to develop their skills, experiences and knowledge.

Reward management

The implication of using reward as a way to empower people is based on the idea that; there are things that are valued by the employees in consideration of employment relationship. Several of the classic disciplines in human resources are integrated in reward with additional disciplines which are not necessarily classical. For the purpose of creating a distinction between reputable organisations to the others, there is a good deal of resulting from offering good salary as well as pensions. In the recent past, companies have started adopting the concept of reward programs. The importance of this development has been based on the occurrence of an era that has been associated with a critical shortage in skills, the potential recruits as well as the already present employees who continuously become more and more sophisticated in trying to access a work-life balance that is more congenial (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 231).

It is the responsibility of potential employers to create a significant difference from the rest of the crowd so that they are perceived as employers of choice. A clear fact remains that all the existing organisations should adopt a system that are tailor-made for the sake of addressing the needs that are inherent in their organisation with an understanding of the fact that a ‘one size fits all’ can never be successful!

The assertion of the importance behind the non-financial factors for the purpose of people motivation is not a new concept. The organisations that have experienced significant constraints in funds have in the past opted to implement reward packages that are creative as well as broadly based that are meant at retaining along with attracting employees who have a brighter future in other places. The provision of generous, expensive compensations as well as benefit packages does not result to satisfaction on condition that they have been given in a manner that is uniform in the workplace (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 241).

It is therefore important for the management to learn the trick behind the maximisation of perceived value in as far as rewards are concerned at the cost that is equivalent as well as acceptable to the employer. It is however unfortunate that only a few of the existing employers have left the traditional scheme of payment in favour of their reward system. The reason behind the slow pace is possibly associated with the daunting task that is associated with implementing the wholesale change. A small number of organisations have accepted the change but this has been as a result of some pressure from outside. A good example of such a pressure is the harmonization of the benefits as a result of a merger or even a take-over (IMF, 23).

There are some important benefits that are associated with the adoption of total reward approach. The management is in a position of experiencing an easier recruitment leading to achieving staff member of higher quality. The wastage arising from the turnover of the staff is drastically reduced. The performance of the business is also greatly enhanced and the reputation of the employer is also enhanced. The shifts towards total reward approach, some results that are wholly beneficial have been reported by the concerned organisations. However, it is important to account for the fact that great efforts are required to implement the changes but on the other side, the benefits that are associated with the success of the same are preferred (Thompson, 142).

Improvement of the designs and structures of Middleborough rail station

Middlebrough is a railway line that serves the residents of Middlebrough as well as the county of North Yorkshire in England and other parts of UK. Its design is structured in two platforms. The station is also built in a manner that provides protection of adequate weather to the users of the station. Zetland house which is constructed in the middle of Middlebrough station straddles the main entrance of the doorway (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 231). This design was said to have discouraged some of the people from using this station due to enormous blight. Some of the buildings of the station are built with a design of square boxes which is liked by most of its users(Thompson, 142). The buildings of the square boxes should be replaced with buildings of the old design of Victorian buildings that was in existence in 1960s. This will help in restoring good image of the station to many of its users.

Footbridges are not adequately provided at Middleborough station and this may lead to lack of safety in some places of the station. Footbridges should be developed along level crossing to allow passage of the public over the lines. Lattice footbridge of the Middleborough used by the public as well as its two platforms which lack creative and innovative structures that other rail stations in UK do enjoy. The platforms should have structures that have level crossing. The station also has got two avoiding freight lines situated to the north of the Middlebrough station. The railway station has few platforms there is a need to be replaced with platforms that have several tracks. This will lead to attracting the public in using the station. It is also advisable for designs that are of modern techniques to be applied to the station. This will improve the efficiency of the station as well as encouraging majority of UK residents and foreigners to use the station.

In developing designs of the Middlebrough railway station, engineering tools of high quality need to be used. Old structures of the railway should be replaced with modern structures of high quality technology to compete with other railway stations in UK. Automated machines should also be developed since they will provide the station users with fast and efficient services that may create attraction of the station over other stations in UK.

The control room of the station was should also be fitted with alarm systems of the SER design and be of high technology. The footbridges of the station should also be interlinked with platforms and lines that are under cover as well as with platforms that are not under cover (Jones and Kato, 253). This will provide services that are more efficient to the public compared to most of other UK rail stations.

An ornate and gothic style of frontage is the main design of the building and it is better to use advanced styles of this designs in improving the appearance of the station. The main roof is made up with design of elliptical covering. This design is not that bad but there is a need for extension of the roof with structures made from wrought iron and be developed with lattice design. There are some glasses that cover the middle half of the outer edges but more glasses should be added to the outer quarters that do not have. The structures made from timber that clads from outer edges should be replaced with metal end screens. The roof of the whole structures of the station should also be high. This will improve effectiveness of the rail station and therefore create a feeling of satisfaction to the users of the station. The design of the cross rail of Middlebrough in England should provide direct links of the railway to all directions that connect major towns of United Kingdom.

Works cited

Booker, Frank (1985). The Great Western Railway: A New History (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 112–113.

Camilleri, S.J. (2005). An Analysis of the Profitability, Risk and Growth Indicators of Banks Operating in Malta, Bank of Valletta Review London: Prentice Hall.

Dufficy, M. (1998). The empowerment audit – measured improvement, Industrial and

Commercial Training. London, OUP.

Evidence from an Econometric (Working Paper No. 612). New York: William Davidson Institute.

Fernandez, S., and Moldogaziev, T. (2011) Empowering Public Sector Employees to Improve

Performance: Does It Work? The American Review of Public Administration

International Monetary Fund. (2003). Malta: Financial System Stability Assessment including

Reports on the Observation of Standards and Codes on the following topics: Monetary and Financial Policy Transparency, Banking Supervision, Securities Regulation, Insurance Regulation, Corporate Governance, and Payment Systems (IMF Country Report No. 03/264) Washington D.C.: International Monetary Fund.

Jones, D.C., and Kato, T. (2003). The Effects of Employee Involvement on Firm Performance:

Kuo, T-H, Ho, L-A, Lin, C. & Lai, K-K. (2010). Employee empowerment in a technology advanced work environment, Industrial Management & Data Systems.

Michael, J. M., (1999). Developing human resources in the global economy 2^nd edition. London: Oxford University Press.

Moss, John (2007). Manchester Railway stations. Manchester UK. Papillon. Retrieved 13 March 2008.

The UK tourism travel guide travel in the UK available at:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Rail_

Thomas & Kilmann (2004). Conflict Mode Instrument 2^nd edition. New York: Xicom Inc.

Thompson, P. (2002). Total reward: Executive briefing 2^nd edition. London: CIPD.

August 26, 2020

How Shift-Work Leads to Medication Errors among New Graduate Nurses

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. 3

Introduction. 3

1.1 Background of Study. 4

1.2 Purpose of Study. 5

1.3 Research Questions. 5

1.4 Objectives of Study. 5

1.5 Significance of Study. 5

Chapter 2. 7

2.1 Literature Review.. 7

2.2 Medication Administration. 8

2.3 Type of medication errors. 8

Chapter 3. 10

3.1 Research methodology. 10

3.2 Research Design. 11

3.3 Population of Research. 11

3.4 Data collection Method. 12

3.5 Data analysis. 14

3.6 Research Rigor 14

3.7 Ethical consideration. 15

3.8 Research Plan. 16

References. 18

Chapter 1

1. Introduction

Working in shifts is a reality for about 15% of United States working population. In the United Kingdom, 10% of the population have fixed hours out of the standard range, and 30% have uneven working hours, 5% work on shift schedules (Camiré, Moyen & Stelfox, 2009). The amount of all employees who work uneven working hours or night shift hours mainly allocated at night has doubled by more than thrice over the past ten years hence the number of medication errors has increased especially to new graduates. In various countries, an eight-hour shift program or system has been implemented on collective and legislative bargaining. This has led to various problems in the administration such as medication errors

A trend towards working longer shifts of more than eight hours has also been adopted by these nations. Health care service is one of the industries that offer a continuous service, for the benefit of all the citizens in any nation (Camiré, Moyen & Stelfox, 2009). It is, therefore, anticipated that experienced and knowledgably workforce offer healthcare. United States nurses offer health services in clinics, hospitals, and other health centres in meeting health or medical demand of people. Nurses are bound to work shift-work as a health demand for several people in all countries.

Nurses are mandated to work during the day and at night to ensure the needs of the patients are met. This can be possible if the nurses work during the twenty-four hours a day. For several nurses, changes evident to nightshifts are unwelcome burden on ordinary life, yet they have no control over managing or avoiding the burden. Night shift has social, psychological, and physical effects on the life of a person including a nurse hence leading to medication errors. The long hours they work interfere with medication administration. Medication errors is even worse for female nurses who have household responsibility like child rearing and pregnancy. To the new nurses, these effects or medication errors are not only individual but are also could endanger patients’ lives.

1.1 Background of Study

The emphasis of this paper will be concentrating towards getting the most-affordable recommendations that will reduce the risk nurses pose to patients because due to stress arising from shift stress and how it affects medication management leading to medication errors. The study will be conducted in two public hospitals. The two hospitals will be located in the province of Queensland. The hospitals tailor for the population within the city, including the neighboring suburbs (Campanelli, 2012). The major study will involve one hospital in which nursing personnel will be required to respond to a questionnaire that will be directed to the nurses working on both day and night shifts. The second hospital will be included to explore the macro-ergonomic of this study since both the hospitals have identical administrative structures and procedures.

The new graduate nurses’ work in varied units of the hospitals, as allocated based on the hospital needs as well as their qualifications (Hansen et al., 2010). Nurses’ roles involve fulfilling of the nursing and medical demands of the patients, assigned to work on night and day shifts as per work plan. Some of the nurses in both the hospitals are permanently deployed to work on night shifts, a few of them on a rotational basis, and others work night shifts for a specified duration (usually 2 to three months).

With respect to the above workforce and the level of assignment designed to different shift schedules within the health care service, it will be important to conduct this study to determine the effects of night shift to medication errors among new graduate nurses. The study should be able to offer directions as to the steps to be considered in order to reduce medication error caused by long working shift (Suh et al., 2012).

1.2 Purpose of Study

The general purpose of the study will be to identify the impact of night shift on new graduate nurses cause of medication errors and to determine the effects of this to the wellbeing and health of the patients, with the intention of creating a most-credible method of reducing such medication errors in the future.

1.3 Research Questions

What are the factors that have both direct and indirect impacts on new graduate nurses’ lead to medication errors?
Are there any recommended solutions to reduce the medical management causes of medication errors among new nursing graduates?

1.4 Objectives of Study

To identify those factors that have both direct and indirect impacts on new graduate nurses’ lead to medication errors.
To acclaim any recommended solutions to reduce the medical management causes of medication errors among new nursing graduates.

1.5 Significance of Study

The study will be important to the following organizations and individuals:

The Nursing profession and Nurses

The nurses will benefit from this research since their reporting and perceptions regarding medication errors would be addressed, therefore, their concerns will be addressed. The findings from the study will also be vital in addressing new guidelines to avoid medication errors and accelerate reporting procedures.

Future Researchers

This research will also act as a reference for future scholars and researchers who will ever conduct a research on medication errors.

Other Health Facilities Administrators

The administrators will also benefit from the study since they will be able to know the types of medication errors that new graduate nurses are prone to due to the extensive shift work. Based on the results, they can revise their policies concerning shift work and medication errors.

Chapter 2

2.1 Literature Review

The issues of medication errors stated many years ago, and patients due suffer/die without good nursing care. The approach of this study is based in the belief that less experience and education lead to increased medication errors especially to new graduates. This is supported by proof that there is an increase in the number of medication errors causing individuals’ lives (Campanelli, 2012). Based on the above information, is it significant to determine or evaluate new nurse’s medication errors and the reasons why they make them and the preventative steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of making more mistakes. There is limited research published correlating between experiences with the number of medication errors among new graduates.

Despite the fact that there are varies layers involved in medication administration, it the obligation of a nurse such as the new graduates who are responsible for medication errors. Advancement in medical science is noted to lead to an increase in both the potency and numbers of medications that are prescribed (Hansen et al., 2010). According to Suh et al., (2012) study done in a twelve-month duration in England, he did a study whereby he used self-administered questionnaires about incident reports and medication errors. The sample size used was seventy-three. The study indicated that more than half of the medication errors intravenous drug dosage related.

Medication errors accounted for 10,000 deaths in 2012 as compared to 8,000 deaths in 2013 (Jones & Treiber, 2010). In this study, the researchers wanted to determine how the understanding of how nursing experience were able to use Heideggerian method to identify how newly graduate nurses handled medication errors. The researcher was able to interview 20 new graduate nurses in Australia. The data stated that three key concepts. These incorporated medication errors involving the five right contexts of medication management and over-dependence on medication management systems such as medication management computer reports and sheets. The five right of medication safety states that the right of a patient, right route, right drug, right time, and the right dosage. The findings from the study show that new graduate nurses viewed the system as dependable and a break from the heavily attributed duty of systematic checking against medication errors while in practice. It is worth to understand that an analysis of the medication errors can assist healthcare professionals to make advancements reduce or prevent errors of taking effect (Bahrani et al., 2011).

2.2 Medication Administration

Nurses play a vital role in administration of, knowledge or education about and evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of prescribing medication. The role of nurse’s changes with the setting of the patient. At home or in a community setting commonly noted as primary care, patients take their medication as prescribed by a medical practitioner. They are also responsible for education the patient on about the possible side effects of his/her medication and evaluating the impacts of the prescribed therapy in maintaining and restoring patient health (Bahrani et al., 2011). These roles come with medication errors hence the need to contemplate on the most-possible solution to reduce effects that come with this medication hitch.

2.3 Type of medication errors

Types	Causal factors	Causes
Extra dose	Job distraction	Performance problems
Inappropriate dosage	Increase of workload	Procedure not followed
Omission error	Inexperienced nurse	Knowledge issues deficiency
Prescribing error	Change of shift work	Poor documentation
Technique	Limited Staff	Computer problems such as date entry
Wrong administration	Limited pharmacy time	Omitted transcription
Wrong time	Data and information
Preparation of wrong drug	Cross coverage	Poor system safeguard
Wrong route	Limited access to patients
Wrong patient	Problem with code situation	Unclear handwriting

Chapter 3

3.1 Research methodology

In order to get the correct and accurate results the study employed quantitative research methodology because of various reasons such as, his use of the methodology is in its usefulness in generating reliable and factual results or outcome of data. After the effects of the medication errors have been evaluated or tested on a sample population, the statics will be recorded. The methodology will offer objective results that will be generalized to the larger population. The statistical method related with quantitative research used in this study is well-suited for figuring out ways to maximize variable based on both dependent and independent variables. This will translate into a capacity for applying and identifying the intervention that will maximize the quantity and quality of life for the patient. This chosen methodology is known to offer such information hence it reliability for the study.

In addition, the method is used to avoid most-frequent problems that are related to reductionism; this offers me to take complex phenomenon ad to reduce them to limited numbers thereby reducing a nuance of the process. The methodology will be helping reduce health cases to their essentials, very good of the finding will be used in the consideration for a given study. Larger statistically representative sample that will be unfeasible in the study will be usefully analyzed using quantitative methodology. The other advantage of using the methodology is that It offers reliable understanding of a given research topic since the information will be analyzed with ease to assist future researchers to improve on the same.

3.2 Research Design

The study will use a quantitative non-experimental correlation design to examine the relationship between the yeas of nursing experience and medication error among new nursing graduates. A survey consisting of ten questions regarding medication management or administration will be used to collect information and data. Excel will be used in the analysis of the results as well as its presentation. The purpose of the research design is to determine the variables as well as to determine the relationships among the variable; both independent and dependent. Not attempt will be considered to manipulate or control the situation. An anonymous or self-report method survey will be used using a questionnaire to collecting the needed data for the study. Various benefits come with the implementation of the above research design especially for the case of medication errors:

One of the benefits or reasons for using the above research design is that if allows the researcher to undertake the survey data collection procedures without his/her presence. This will offer me a chance to just print the survey questions and hand them to the participants or respondents. Despite the fact that some of the respondents may not understand the questions well, the design will give me a chance to analyze other information and data from participants hence the design can be considered time-saving research design for the study at hand. The other reason is that the design offers the participant to give information without duress or fear of the researcher hence it will reduce data or information biases.

3.3 Population of Research

The target population will be Registered Nurses and Bachelor of Science in nursing new graduates in the United States who are staff of the chosen hospitals in California City. All the new graduates who meet the above specifications will be given a questionnaire to fill and will be instructed to return it to the researcher as soon as they complete them. Convenience sampling will be used to offer a questionnaire to every nursing station and to leave them to be completed within a week. The study intends to use a smaller sample in order to ensure that it meets an accurate result from the study hence will on only 200 participants to get the expected information and data (Reid‐Searl, Moxham & Happell, 2010). Among the participants, the study will consider all ethical concerns hence would have equal numbers of male and female participants in the study (100 male and 100 female).

The other essence for the small samples it to easily manage the data offered and to elaborate the results with ease. The population that will be used in the study is considered as a specific one since it only includes nurses from two hospitals in and to only those who have only worked less than a year. This is to ensure that the study meets the needed purpose of the study that only denotes new graduate nurses. In addition, the population will be specifically to all new graduate nurses ranging from critical care nurses to general nursing duties such as medical administration.

3.4 Data collection Method

Since the methodology of the study will be a quantitative one, it is important to consider the best data collection methods that will be used in the study. The study used survey method of data collection that mainly relayed on questionnaire. There are various benefits as to why the researcher will use this data collection method: the study will have a framework of determining information from more than 100 people (Westbrook, Rob, Woods & Parry, 2011). Hence, can be considered as a larger population based on the nature of expected data hence the use of this data collection method is that it can be able to accommodate a larger number of respondents such as the one the study has (200). The other reason or coming up with this data collection method is that it will offer a representative sample. The other reason is that the questions in the questionnaire can be easily restructured if the respondent does not understand the question yet the information from the participant is vital. Using a survey as a method of data collection also allows statistical tests to be undertaken as compared to others that do not offer reliable data for analysis.

In addition, based on the nature of the research, it will be wise to use the survey method as a data collection method since other respondents have different work shifts hence it could not be able to get them directly to get information needed for research. On the other hand, this method offers them with a chance of expressing themselves without pressure from the research hence able to explain how shift work has led to medication error among them and to connect this with their level of experience if any. The other advantage to the study by using the questionnaire is that respondents will have the time to consider the questions before answering them.

This will ensure that all the information offered in the study is based on reliable data from the participants hence increase the chances of accuracy and reliability of the information that the study will offer. The method is cost friendly since it allows coverage of large geographical as the study is covered in two large hospitals in United States. The merit of using questionnaires is that they could be used in later studies and if proper piloted it could be reliable. Since the questionnaire that will be used in the study is a standard questionnaire, it is already validated hence can be compared directly with other studies.

3.5 Data analysis

A data analysis tool that the study will use is Microsoft Excel. The reason for using the tool is that the study aims at determining the correlation between experience of the new graduate nurses and medication errors that they bring. The program is easy to use, and entry of data is more friendly than others statistical packages. The other reason for coming to a decision of using the above tool is that it has the ability of creating graphical ad visual representation of the data that I will use in the study. One of the limitations of various previous studies under the same topic is that they failed to address the issues of visual aid of information and data, hence failed to inform the audience the intended goals and results of the study. Thus, I opted to use excel to offer this missing guide to my research and to make it appealing to the reader especially nurses and other health professional. In addition, visual presentation of data increases the level of understanding of the findings and the results offered.

The other reason for using Excel is that it allows working and analyzing large amounts of data such as those that will be submitted by the 200 respondents. It is also easy to integrate excel with other statistical applications hence future researchers will be able this as they undertake their research in the same field or similar ones. In addition, Excel offers a platform for analyzing and decision-making hence vital when determining recommendations to reduce medication errors caused by long shift hours. With the ease of using and manipulating data in excel, the study will use it for analysis.

3.6 Research Rigor

In order to validate and approve a quantitative like this, it is important to consider the reliability and validity of information, research instruments, and statistical tools. There are various sources of validity and reliability errors in research such as poor statistical conclusions as well as structural errors. Therefore, the will ensure that this not the case by, adopting excel analysis tests that will be able to give reliable information that even tested with other research instruments it will give the same results or similar results (Day et al., 2010). The study will be subjected to various research instruments to ensure the information obtained meets the methodological approach used in the study. For example, the study should be able to meet all thresholds in testing and analysis to ensure that the results and findings can be determined in all the other instruments. This means that reliability and validity will be considered fully met if the results are consistent.

The other way that the study will use to ensure this is by ensuring that the participants offer feedback to the study. This will ensure that the data and information used has offered the right conclusions and recommendations. The other way that the study will employ to ensure reliability is data triangulation; to avoid information and data that is irrelevant, it will be certain that the study is accurate and reliable. There are other ways such as ensuring that the participants fill the questionnaire in the right way such as answering the questions in the right structure and sorting of data in specific grounds will help reduce errors that decrease data reliability.

3.7 Ethical consideration

The research will be conducted in a manner to ensure all the information presented meets the ethical standards in place. Every research conducted on the 21st century should meet social and medical value if done in the nursing profession. Therefore, to ensure this is met, I developed questionnaire questions that are valuable and important as well as justifiable to ask people such as the respondents (Maiden, Georges & Connelly, 2011). The answers to such questions will contribute to scientific understanding of health. The study is also designed in a way that it will meet and answer valuable questions. I ensured that the research questions are answerable hence able to test the research questions that the study presents. The study will also ensure that fair subject selection is in place before coming to a research conclusion and recommendations.

The researcher will inform the participants either prior to the study to ensure that they offer reliable information and to allow them to take part or not. The information offered by the participants will be private and confidential. The participants will also be given the right to change their mind if the research does not match their interests. The participants will also be informed of what the research findings will be (Wright, 2010). The researcher will also consider meeting the code of ethics for a nursing profession in undertaking such studies in order to ensure that the new graduate nurses are in their right terms to undertake a study and to ensure they do not risk their jobs because of sharing information.

3.8 Research Plan

References

Camiré, E., Moyen, E., & Stelfox, H. T. (2009). Medication errors in critical care: risk factors, prevention and disclosure. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 180(9), 936-943.

Campanelli, C. M. (2012). American Geriatrics Society Updated Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults: The American Geriatrics Society 2012 Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60(4), 616.

Crespin, D. J., Modi, A. V., Wei, D., Williams, C. E., Greene, S. B., Pierson, S., & Hansen, R. A. (2010). Repeat medication errors in nursing homes: Contributing factors and their association with patient harm. The American journal of geriatric pharmacotherapy, 8(3), 258-270.

Flynn, L., Liang, Y., Dickson, G. L., Xie, M., & Suh, D. C. (2012). Nurses’ practice environments, error interception practices, and inpatient medication errors. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 44(2), 180-186.

Jones, J. H., & Treiber, L. (2010). When the 5 rights go wrong: medication errors from the nursing perspective. Journal of nursing care quality, 25(3), 240-247.

Joolaee, S., Hajibabaee, F., Peyrovi, H., Haghani, H., & Bahrani, N. (2011). The relationship between incidence and report of medication errors and working conditions. International nursing review, 58(1), 37-44.

Maiden, J., Georges, J. M., & Connelly, C. D. (2011). Moral distress, compassion fatigue, and perceptions about medication errors in certified critical care nurses. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 30(6), 339-345.

Petrova, E., Baldacchino, D., & Camilleri, M. (2010). Nurses’ perceptions of medication errors in Malta. Nursing standard, 24(33), 41-48.

Poon, E. G., Keohane, C. A., Yoon, C. S., Ditmore, M., Bane, A., Levtzion-Korach, O., … & Gandhi, T. K. (2010). Effect of bar-code technology on the safety of medication administration. New England Journal of Medicine, 362(18), 1698-1707.

Reid‐Searl, K., Moxham, L., & Happell, B. (2010). Enhancing patient safety: the importance of direct supervision for avoiding medication errors and near misses by undergraduate nursing students. International journal of nursing practice,16(3), 225-232.

Rothschild, J. M., Churchill, W., Erickson, A., Munz, K., Schuur, J. D., Salzberg, C. A., … & Bates, D. W. (2010). Medication errors recovered by emergency department pharmacists. Annals of emergency medicine, 55(6), 513-521.

Westbrook, J. I., Rob, M. I., Woods, A., & Parry, D. (2011). Errors in the administration of intravenous medications in hospital and the role of correct procedures and nurse experience. BMJ quality & safety, bmjqs-2011.

Westbrook, J. I., Woods, A., Rob, M. I., Dunsmuir, W. T., & Day, R. O. (2010). Association of interruptions with an increased risk and severity of medication administration errors. Archives of Internal medicine, 170(8), 683-690.

Wright, K. (2010). Do calculation errors by nurses cause medication errors in clinical practice? A literature review. Nurse education today, 30(1), 85-97.

August 26, 2020

How Social Entrepreneurship Can Contribute To Society

Terms of reference

For a very long time not enough attention has been paid to the importance of social entrepreneurship in bringing about development in our societies. Despite half hearted efforts by the protagonists of this phenomenal to bring into attention of everyone about the importance of this aspect in enhancing our social economic lives, nothing much has really been achieved. The reason for this can be attributed to the slow pace that governments and other stake holders are taking in recognizing the important role that this entities play in our society. This is the major content of this report.

The report begins with a short description of the problem at hand. It gives a brief summary of the history of social entrepreneurship, its recent developments and the possible way forward. This is then followed by an in depth analysis of all the available literature as far as this important subject is concerned. The answer to the problem question (how can social entrepreneurship contribute to society?) is well dealt with in this section. Last but not least I conclude my report with a summary and recommendations of the major findings of the report. It is my hope that this report will form a solid basis for the concerned stakeholders to act so as to full tap the potential of social entrepreneurship in our societies.

Before introducing what we mean by social entrepreneurship, let’s define who is a social entrepreneur. There are many ways in which a social entrepreneur has been defined but nevertheless a common agreement exists. Munoz (13) defines a social entrepreneur as an individual who takes his/her time, spirit, and energy to build better communities as opposed to personal businesses for personal gain. On the same note Bornstein (11) also defines a social entrepreneur as someone who look to the world, recognize a problem then uses the principles of entrepreneurship to organize, build and manage such a venture to realize positive social change. A critical look at these two definitions simply shows more or less the same thing. It is only approach that differs. Generally speaking a social entrepreneur is an individual who is set out to bring positive change in the society through the various programs he has decided to undertake. A social entrepreneur is different from a normal entrepreneur in that whereas a normal entrepreneur calculates his success in term of how much profit he has made, a social entrepreneur calculates his success in terms of how much social returns he has achieved. So then what is social entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship is simply the collective work of social entrepreneurs. When done within a country’s borders it is referred to as social entrepreneurship whereas when done outside a country’s borders it is called international social entrepreneurship Bornstein (12). Some of the word’s most recognized social entrepreneurs include the following:

Raul Oscar Abasolo: he operates in Chile and is mostly involved with alleviating youth poverty.

Rafael Alvarez: he is the founder of Genesysworks in America that is involved in expanding youth horizons after high school and college.

Istvan Aba-Horvath: this Hungarian based social entrepreneur involved with promoting child education in his backyard.

Manish Sankila: based in India and also involved with empowering the youth towards self employment for the better of their future life. Manish strongly believes that when the youth are empowered the rest of the society is also empowered because they not only form the majority but also the future of a society.

History of the term social entrepreneurship can be traced back to 1950s and 60s when it first appeared in print literature. This continued to 1980s and 90s with the works of people like Bill Drayton. Bill together with Charles Leadbeater popularized the social movement in Europe, USA and some parts of Asia. They were joined by Michael Young in their endeavors. In fact Harvard professor Daniel Bell describes Michael as “’the world’s most successful entrepreneur of social enterprises’. This was undoubtedly due to his immense work in building about 60 social institutions worldwide (Munoz, 21). The famous among them include school of social entrepreneurs that has branches in Australia, UK, and Canada.

In the contemporary world, whenever the term social entrepreneurship is mentioned, people like Muhammad Yunus come into our mind. He is the founder and proprietor of Grameen Bank and Nobel peace laureate of 2006. Yunus is most recognized for his revolutionary method of making it possible for the word’s poorest people to access credit from banks. Thus he saw a social problem and came up with a strategy to assist his people while at the same time making profits. To some extent also in the contemporary world social entrepreneurship has evolved into organizations like foundations, NGO’s, social enterprise and etc. generally social entrepreneurship remains relevant and appreciated by many societies today as it was in the last century.

The importance of social entrepreneurship

According to modern social entrepreneurship website the first and obvious importance of social entrepreneurship is employment creation. A close look at the objectives of some of the most famous entrepreneurs supports this conclusion. This is why most of them target the society’s most vulnerable groups i.e. the children, the youth, disabled and women. This can be in the form of empowering individuals to start their own businesses or better still starting business ventures and employ them. No human being is totally unemployable, provided one is alive; there is one or two things that he/she can engage in to assist him/her become productive. For instance a cripple can be a shoe shiner in the same way a blind can be a singer. The only thing that such individuals need is empowerment. Thus social entrepreneurship has been seen to be one surest way to end abject poverty especially in less developed economies of the world.

Secondly another direct importance of social entrepreneurship is the ability to bring forth new goods and services in societies. This is due to the innovative nature of social entrepreneurship. The fact that social entrepreneurs target where individuals at the grass root level gives them an upper hand to come with innovative ways to tackle a society’s most pressing problems. A good example is Veronica Khossa; a Brazilian based social entrepreneur who came up a home based care model for people living with aids. It was so innovative and effective that the Brazilian government (through the ministry of health) decided to use it as a government policy!

Next, social entrepreneurship has proved to be a strong pillar in building social capital. Social capital is the communal holding, sharing and managing of a society’s resources. This was historically promoted by the communist ideologies of the eastern block (Bornstein, 33). The protagonist of such ideologies argues that it is better for a society to share the little available resources and every one feels satisfied than just enrich a few individuals while the rest are suffering. Examples of economies that have embraced this model are Japan, Germany and china. Judging from the way such societies have developed, we can comfortably say that social entrepreneurship is the way of the future. With the right approach and tools, social entrepreneurship can easily turn a third word country to be middle earner in a very short time.

Last but not least, the topic of importance of social entrepreneurship can not be complete without mentioning how it promotes societies and individuals achieve (or almost achieve) equality. This point is closely related to the previous one that talked about social capitalism. We can say this is the ultimate achievement of social entrepreneurship. A dream that is dear to almost all protagonists of social entrepreneurship – society where each and every individual is productive and economically able to sustain himself. For instance by supporting the disabled to support themselves is not only beneficial to them but also to the whole society because there will be no need to be looking after them like little children. A good example is professor Yunus’s case of economically empowering disadvantaged women in society. The American social entrepreneur J.B. Schramm’s case of helping financially unable students to attend school also deserves a special mention in such a case (Muhammad, 63).

How social entrepreneurship can contribute to society

The benefits that social entrepreneurship can bring to society are immense and can not be over emphasized if the case of Nobel laureate Yunus is anything to go by. It has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that is a strong change agent in societies. Below are some of the contributions that social entrepreneurship can bring to society as supported by (Munoz, 101).

Charitable institutions
Donations
Welfare program
New products
Sponsorship
Government advisors

Starting with charitable institutions, it can be said that most social entrepreneurs set up institutions that target to improve the living standards of the downtrodden. Such institutions include schools, hospitals, vocational training institutions and etc. All this is meant to serve the societies they are operating in. this is an immense contribution to societies especially where poverty levels are high.

On the same note social entrepreneurs have been known to contribute to society in terms of direct donations they give for various purposes. All these are just aimed at improving the living standards of the less privileged people in society. For instance an entrepreneur like Istvan Aba-Horvath in Hungary donates a lot of funds towards promoting the education of Gypsy children. Therefore this is a great contribution that social enterprises have towards societies in which they are operating (Munoz, 12).

Welfare programs are yet another contribution that social entrepreneurship has to societies. Each and every society has its own unique welfare programs that are aimed at improving the lives of all people. Social entrepreneurship contributes to such programs through funding such organizations, empowering communities or even providing the welfares by themselves. Such welfares programs include helping the disabled, taking care of orphans, feeding the elderly among others.

Social enterprises have earned themselves the tag of being the most innovative and in touch with society’s most pressing needs. Due to this they are able to come up with new products and services that are aimed at addressing the society’s challenges. This is a very great achievement as far as contributions of social enterprises are concerned. The great philosophers once said that necessity is the mother of inventions and this as been demonstrated by man’s endeavor to survive on this planet called earth.

Social entrepreneurship has also demonstrated that it can contribute to the society through sponsorships. Such arrangements are common in educational circles where an entrepreneur can sponsor individuals who have excelled in their academics but are not able to continue with their academic dreams due to their financial inability. In fact there are some social enterprises that have set up foundations and trust funds specifically for this purpose. This is a great way to bring about social quality through empowering individuals using knowledge (Muhammad, 52).

Finally we can say that social enterprises have contributed to society through advising the governments on various issues that affect the society. This is because they have close contact with the people on the ground. A good example is that case of Brazil where a social enterprise devised a model of treating and managing people living with HIV/Aids that was adopted by the government on national scale. What started as a small experimentation on local level became something of national importance. Social enterprises have also been closely working with governments on various social issues affecting societies worldwide.

It is important to note here that whereas I have tried to explore the contributions of social enterprises on society, this is not exhaustive. There are many other contributions that are indirect but equally important. For example we can say that through empowering individuals to fend for themselves, they bring about reduced crime rate in society. Thus providing security to society though in an indirect manner. Thus this is a crucial part of society that should not be overlooked at all costs (social entrepreneurship website).

Expected future developments

Going by the recent developments, we can comfortably say that social entrepreneurship is going to be the thing of the future. For instance there is this instance on international level whereby the wealthy of countries of the world will be measured by how much they contribute to assist the poor nations of the world. This in itself is a great step towards achieving an equal society and even if it is not social entrepreneurship directly, its targets or objectives are the same as those of social entrepreneurship. Going to the future there is likelihood that more states of the world will recognize the role of social entrepreneurship in society and national development and thus support and appreciate it fully (Bornstein, 71).

There is also a likelihood that social entrepreneurship scope will enlarge to involve such entities as community based organizations (CBO), trust funds, governments’ stipends, foundations among others. This is because whereas it is true that all this entities are formed for special objectives, there ultimate aim is societal development which is also the same goal for social entrepreneurship.

Additionally most of the business entrepreneurs that we know today may turn to social entrepreneurship as a way to return to society. This can be seen by the likes of bill gates and bill Clinton. These two individuals have formed foundations that are meant to alleviate human suffering in some of the world’s poorest places on the world like Africa (Bornstein, 73). There is likely hood that more will follow suit and the ultimate result will be an equal society – a good dream indeed or isn’t it?

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that social enterprises remain to be a positive force, change agent and above all an empowerment tool. Social enterprises remain the most effective way to come up with leading edge innovations to meet society’s most challenging needs. The fact that social entrepreneurship emanates from the grass root level should not make it be overlooked as a panacea. This is because it works within the frameworks of economy and society. Therefore it deserves special attention from policy makers, entrepreneurs, scholars and academic theorists. This is very vital to all countries of the world especially those facing high incidence of abject poverty.

Social entrepreneurship should not be looked as fighting the governments and other stakeholders in the provision of services and goods that societies need, but rather they should be seen as contributing to the already existing efforts for the better of society in general. Therefore all the government needs is to regulate them so as to work within the prevailing framework in the most efficient way possible. Wherever possible there is no harm to work hand in hand after all we are all serving the same society.

Summary and Recommendations

From the foregoing discussion, it is very clear that social enterprises have a very critical role to play towards the welfare of societies. In fact it can not be emphasized more than this. Therefore the ball remains on policy makers, entrepreneurs and all of us to fully embrace and appreciate the role it plays in our lives. We can’t ignore it any more. With good policies and right approach to application of social entrepreneurship, societal development and well being is guaranteed. The following are some of the recommendations I have come about in my research.

There is need for all governments of the world to fully recognize the role that social entrepreneurship plays in developments of society. This then will also be recognized by the state laws.
Secondly there is urgent need for all entrepreneurs to also set apart some of their resources towards social entrepreneurship. There is no need to focus on enriching oneself while the majority of people are languishing in poverty.
There is also a need to come up with sound policies to regulate, enhance and develop the works of social entrepreneurship. After all in most if not all the cases they play the same roles that are supposed to be played by governments.
Third and lastly, the fight against abject poverty and suffering starts with you and me. This is a great war that can not be left to governments and entrepreneurs alone; we should all play our part no matter how small it is to make a difference. Even just sharing information with some one can bring a big difference.

Works cited

Munoz, J.M. (2010). International Social Entrepreneurship: Pathways to Personal and Corporate Impact. New York: Business Expert Press. Available at: http://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/international-social-entrepreneurship .

David Bornstein, (2009). How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Oxford University Press.

Yunus, Muhammad; Jolis, Alan. (2007). Banker to the poor: micro-lending and the battle against world poverty. New York: Public Affairs hc. pp. 46–49.

The modern social entrepreneurship available at: http://www.business4good.org/2007/04/importance-of-social-entrepreneurship.html

August 26, 2020

How Quercetin chemical Works

Sports

Introduction

Quercetin is a chemical obtained from foods such as berries, red wine, teas, apples and also onions. It is also present in herbs like balboa plant and St. John’s wort (Cheuvront, Ely, & Kenefick, 2009). Quercetin performs as an antioxidant since it interferes with the cell membranes and harm DNA (Janisch, 2004). As a diet supplement, it also contain anti inflammatory chattels and antihistamine. However, it has been known to prevent numerous diseases and illnesses by preventing lipid perodixication but this chemicals’ degree of intake and absorption is yet to be determined (Davis , Murphy, & Carmichael, n.d.).

The chemical’s performance as antioxidant is a factor of how it is made as well as the study of its metabolites. According to young investigators’ journal, an undergraduate science journal, several studies presented the option view that better engrossed antioxidants, like vitamin C, are exerting the antioxidant result witnessed after consumption of certain foods such as apples (Machlin and Bendich 1987). The purpose of this study is to know whether Quercentin is good for athletes. It has become a trend for athletes to take supplements instead of the real foods forgetting the side effects of some supplements.

How Quercetin chemical Works

Instead of using a lot of caffeine and sugar to provide your body a lift, Quercetin activates your own energy producing mechanisms that less pain receptive (Machlin and Bendich 1987). Quercetin performs in the body as a super fuel that imitates the effects of working out and exercise by improving the production of the body cell mitochondria, the energy production units. Traditionally, exercise training has been the only realistic mode to increase the quantity of mitochondrion cells (Davis , Murphy, & Carmichael, n.d.).

Free radicals are spontaneous molecular species with unpaired electrons that corrode other molecules to add electrons and steady themselves. The result produces an extra free reaction of stabilization and configuration (Machlin and Bendich 1987). These radicals can oxidize macromolecules e.g. DNA, carbohydrates and proteins (Uddin and Ahmad 1995) and damage them to lose fluidity when peroxidised and proteins to deform them from their natural state (Machlin and Bendich 1987).

Effects of Quercetin to Athlete’s body composition

According to research, quercetin is considered to stop the discharge of histamine from some specific cells in the immune. Histamine, an inflammatory chemical, is normally involved in sensitive symptoms such as itching and sneezing. Though experiments in the laboratory suggest that quercetin may help in fighting allergies, a 2002 report cautions that there isn’t any good clinical research data quercetin use for patients suffering allergic rhinitis (McAnulty, McAnulty, & Nieman, 2008).A study of 41 adults was done in 2007, researchers discovered that taking 730mg of quercetin every day for 28 days minimizes blood pressure in persons with hypertension. Blood pressure is nevertheless not reformed in study members with pre-hypertension, a condition which is marked by somewhat raised blood pressure (McAnulty, McAnulty, & Nieman, 2008).

Effects of Quercentin on exercise performance in athletes

Quercetin may be worse than placebo in enhancing athletic act, rendering to a study of 2009 of thirty healthy men. Athletics requires extreme exercise that involves alot of oxidation in the muscles. This oxidation produces some effects and some of them can be inflammatory in the event that one uses quercentin (Preedy, 2007). Some participants for the study were given an energy drink that contained 250mg of quercetin 4 times in a day for up to 16 days, while the others were given a placebo drink without quercetin. Results proved that the supplementation of short term quercetin failed to advance cycling routine and the muscles ability to synthesize energy (Macrae & Merfferd, 2006).

Effects of Quercentin on muscle damage indices in athletes

Studies of cell structures have revealed that quercetin can slow development of some kinds of cells of cancer and even according to some research based on animal 1uercetin may defend against definite cancer such as colon cancer. Due to lack of enough studies on quercetin cancer rebellious effects for lack of human specimen, we may have to wait longer before we know its true abilities in fighting and curing cancer (Machlin and Bendich 1987). According to the American cancer society, it is sensible to include foods that comprise quercetin as portion of the balanced diet stressing on fruits, legumes, vegetable and whole grains.

Also when ingesting quercetin as a supplement, please be sure to chose plant-derived enzymes shown to surge the absorption of intestine of the chemical

Another disease that the chemical is known to relieve is chronic pelvic pain syndrome, that a placebo controlled trial indicates that use of quercetin supplements may improve the symptoms in most men with severe chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

LIMITATIONS OF QUERCETIN

There is rise of demand for drugs that enhance mental procedure including attention, producing memory and understanding. Quercetin is one among many other supplementary drugs that have this capability. It is a bioflavonoid found in vegetables, highly in onions, broccoli, green tea and fruits especially red apples, red grapes and berries. It can be used as a beverage, food or supplement (Bosetti & Spertini et.al, 2005). This supplement is also used for treating blood vessels such as hardening of the arteries, heart conditions and high cholesterol. It is mainly used by athletes to improve on their performance when it comes to athletics and also increase endurance in as little as seven days.

Athletes are not advised to take this supplement because it has bad effects on their bodies. It damages their muscles and the muscles are one most important requirement during exercises. With injured muscles, athletes cannot be able to exercise and compete. One limitation that is seen is that this supplementary drug does not undergo any kind of testing like ordinary drugs(Machlin and Bendich 1987). This is risky as it is released to the public for consumption without going through the Administration of Food and Drug. Therefore there is no proof that Quercetin is actually safe or effective to its wide market. The supplement is also not tested to find out if it can interact with certain types of foods, medicines or other supplements. The labels of the supplement may not show the actual amount of substance that is used in its manufacture.

Some of Quercetin’s side effects include; upset stomach, heartburn, and headache. It is also not friendly to people with kidney complications and pregnant women. It may cause genetic mutation in an unborn child if consumed by a pregnant mother. According to cytology (study of cells), it shows negative effects of Quercetin. This is due to the fact that it has low oral bioavailability hence low percentage of the compound is absorbed and put to use (Shokes et.al, 1999).Quercetine, like caffeine can cause lack of sleep as it can block adenosine receptors.

Justification of Quercetin

Though Quercetine has its limitations it is still highly recommended and advised to those seeking cognition. This is supported by the fact that it is the best researched compared to other Bioflavonoids. Quercetine is seen to have anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidant and anti-artherogenic properties (Kim & lee, 2007). The benefit of the anti-oxidant is that it plays a very important role in protecting the cells from oxidative stress. Oxidative DNA damage may cause neck and head cancer. It is also seen that quercetin has GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) label on it and so far no side effects have been noted in small amounts of doses. It is advised that one should take 200 to 500 mg of the supplement twice to thrice a day. This will enhance treatment of conditions such as gout, hay fever, peptic ulcer, flu, edema, asthma, allergies, prostates, atherosclerosis, diabetes, retinopathy, capillary fragility and others.

Scientists have carried out their research and found out that Quercetin actually interacts with following medications; Estradiol, is a hormone that is injected to treat menopause and osteoporosis.Quercetin taken with estradiol is thought of increasing estrogen in the body and may cause hormonal imbalance.Cyclosporine, a drug that prevents rejection of transplanted organs by the immune system (Hubbadrd et.al, 2006). Cyclosporine taken with Quercetin may increase blood levels. Felodipine, is used to treat congestive heart failure, high blood pressure and Raynaud’s syndrome. Quercetin is known to break down felodipine into inactive pieces. Therefore,though these drugs may interact with each other, it is not recommended to mix them because of such speculations (Davis , Murphy, & Carmichael, n.d.).

In conclusion, it is seen that Quercetin enhances general health and is accompanied by very few side effects. It has also been scientifically proven that Quercetin can be used to heal various ailments. According to the journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders, type two diabetes is a comples metabolic disorder that is connected with developing insulin resistance in the body. This metabolic disorder leads to long periods of oxidative stress and long term complications, and a decrease in quality of life and an increase of rate of mortality (Shoskes, 2012).

About quercetin interactions with other drugs, it is indicated with some antibiotics where it may interact with flouroquinolones as quercetin competitively binds to bacterial DNA gyrase. Whether this inhibits or improves the effect of flouroquinolones is not certainly guaranteed. When considering intake of quercetin, it is important to know that there is not enough evidence to recommend quercetin for children, but the recommended adult dosages of quercetin depend on the condition that is being treated.

Quercetin is considered generally safe but may have side effects such as headache and stomach upsets that may be mild. Preliminary evidence shows that a byproduct of quercetin can lead to protein function loss (Dana Laake, 2013). High doses of this chemical compound may damage the kidneys. One should take periodic breaks from using quercetin.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women and people with kidney disease should avoid quercetin because at high doses, that is, more than 1g daily, there is some damage reports of the kidneys (Machlin and Bendich 1987). When taking quercetin in supplement form it may be very beneficial to choose a product that also has bromelain which is a plant derived enzymes shown to increase the intestine’s absorption of the chemical compound quercetin.

Adding more quercetin to your diet is easy as the antioxidant is partly responsible for the red glow in apple skin(Hubbadrd et.al, 2006)It is also present in many other foods as mentioned earlier and many that are high in quercetin are also high in vitamins A, C and E, calcium, magnesium, and lycopene. You may want to buy organically grown fruits and vegetables when looking to make the best of your vegetables and fruits in terms of quercetin intak (McAnulty, McAnulty, & Nieman, 2008)e. A recent study showed that tomatoes which had been organically grown had more quercetin than their conventional counterparts, although green peppers had no difference in quercetin levels. Often different parts of the fruit or vegetable has different levels of quercetin such apple skin and the uppermost layer of the onion (Davis , Murphy, & Carmichael, Effects of the dietary flavonoid quercetin upon performance and health.)

Conclusion

Quercetin and other chemicals of its class have the structure to act as powerful antioxidants and have proven to do exactly that in vitro. Quercetin, being a major constituent of the flavonoid intake, could be the key to eradicating major chronic degenerative and terminal diseases (Bouktaib et al. 2002). However, the level to which this chemical is absorbed and thus its bioavailability creates doubts in regards to whether quercetin can exert an antioxidant effect in vivo. A lot more research and studies are needed to determine the effects of quercetin within the body and the level and velocity of absorption, but in particular, the major forms of quercetin found in the human plasma, its metabolites need to be used in the study (Janisch 2004). The antioxidant activity of quercetin’s metabolites and the way they are converted need to be identified and evaluated to accurately help to find out the effect of quercetin and its effectiveness in preventing diseases arising from oxidative damage.

Reference List

Aherne,SA and N.M O’Brien (2002) Dietary flavonols: chemistry, food content, and metabolism. Nutrition 18: 75-81

Bosetti C, Spertini L, Parpinel M, et al. Flavonoids and breast cancer risk in Italy. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005;14:805-808.

Bouktaib, M et al. (2002) Regio- and stereoselective synthesis of the major metabolite of quercetin, quercetin-3-0-b-D-glucuronide. Tetrahedron letters 43: 6263-6266

Cheuvront, S. N., Ely, B. R., & Kenefick, H. W. (2009). No effect of nutritional adenosine receptor antagonists on exercise performance in the heat. In S. N. Cheuvront, B. R. Ely, & H. W. Kenefick, adenosine receptor antagonists on exercise performance in the heat. (p. 296). New York: Sage

Dana Laake, P. C. (2013). The ADHD and Autism Nutritional Supplement Handbook: The Cutting-Edge . In D. Laake, & P. Compart, The ADHD and Autism Nutritional Supplement Handbook: The Cutting-Edge (p. 35). Fair Winds. Nieman, D. C. (2008). Immunonutrition support for athletes. In D. C. Nieman, Immunonutrition support for athletes (pp. 66:310-20). London: Nutr. Rev.

Hubbard GP, Wolffram S, de Vos R, Bovy A, Gibbins JM, Lovegrove JA. Ingestion of onion soup high in quercetin inhibits platelet aggregation and essential components of the collagen-stimulated platelet activation pathway in man: a pilot study. British Journal of Nutrition 2006;96:482-488.

Jaber R.”rRespiratory and allergic Disease: From Upper respiratory tract infections to asthma.” Prim care. 2002 29(2)

Kim YH. Lee YJ. TRAIL apoptosis is enhanced by quercetin through Akt dephosphorylation. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry.2007;100:998-1009

Machlin, LJ and A Bendich (1987) Free radical tissue damage: protective role of Antioxidants nutrients. The Faseb Journal 1: 441-445

Nieman, D. C., Henson, D. A., & Gross, S. J. (2007). Quercetin reduces illness but not immune perturbations after intensive exercise. In D. C. Nieman, D. A. Henson, & S. J. Gross, Quercetin reduces illness but not immune perturbations after intensive exercise (pp. 1561-9). New York: Med. Sd. Sports.

Nieman, L., Henson, D. A., & Davis, J. M. (2007). Quercetin ingestion does not alter cytokine changes in atbletes competing in tbe Western States. In L. Nieman, D. A. Henson, & J. M. Davis, Quercetin ingestion does not alter cytokine changes in atbletes competing in tbe Western States (pp. 1003-1007). New Yok: Sage.

Preedy, V. R. (2007). Beer in Health and Disease Prevention. In V. R. Preedy, Beer in Health and Disease Prevention (p. 885). New York: Academic Press.

Shoskes DA, Zeitlin SI, Shahed A, Rajfer J. Quercetin in men with category III chronic prostatitis: A preliminary prospective double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Urology. 1999; 54:960-963.

Shoskes DA, ZEitlin SL, Shahed A, RaiferJ. “Quercetin in men with category III chronic prostatitis: a pleriminary prospective, double blind, placebo- controlled trial” Urology .

Shoskes, D. A. (2012). Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome. In D. A. Shoskes, Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (p. 107). New york: Springer.

August 26, 2020

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University Fall 2012

Abstract

The rationale of the investigative study is to explore how social media impacts innovation and revenues for organizations in today’s market. Data will be obtained through 20 interviews with business executives and social media authorities. Initially the researcher will find 60 references to assist in the research. The scope of the study will be focused in Alberta.

Table of Contents

Abstract 2

Introduction. 3

Background of the Problem.. 4

Problem Statement 5

Purpose Statement 6

Research methods. 6

Definition and Terms. 6

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework. 7

Implications for Social Change. 7

Research methodology. 9

Introduction. 9

Secondary research. 9

Quantitative and qualitative data. 9

Questionnaires. 10

Interviews. 10

Research Validity and Reliability. 11

Ethical consideration. 11

Limitations of the research. 12

Data collection methods. 12

Conclusion. 13

Introduction

The rationale of the degree of Doctor of Business Administration at Walden University is to introduce scholars to Walden University and to the necessities for effective participation in online curricular. Ethical issues associated to management and businesses are taught in this course. It offers a foundation for academic as well as professional success from the approach of a practitioner as well as an agent of social change. Course assignments center on handy application of critical-thinking and writing skills. The course assignments also uphold academic excellence and professional practice. Major assignments consist of the designing of a Professional Development Plan and curriculum of study (Walden University, 2011).

Background of the Problem

This dissertation proposal posits to provide a platform for further exploration on how social media impacts innovation and revenues for organizations in contemporary market. Data will be obtained through 20 interviews with business executives and social media experts. Initially I will find 60 references to assist in my research. The coverage of the study will be focused in Alberta. The paper shall execute an applied research in regard to the problem. Applied research is a type of systematic inquiry that entails the practical appliance of science. It employs and accesses some sections of the research communities’ accrued theories, knowledge, approaches, and techniques, for specific, business, state, or clientele driven purpose (Francis, 1996). Applied research entails finding solutions to practical problems and usually utilizes empirical methodologies. Since applied research involves the real world, austere research protocols would require being relaxed (Conroy, 2010). For instance, it may be impracticable to employ a random sample. Accordingly, precision in the methodology is critical (Best, 2008). Implications for interpretation of the results caused by relaxing an otherwise austere canon of methodology ought to be considered (Bayraktar, 2005).

In the precedent times, Information technology development and infrastructures have facilitated and enabled growth as well as globalization of numerous organizations (Lusoli & Gibson, 2008). In the contemporary market we are at the juncture of innovative developments in information technology and business in the nature of social media and social software applications (Fisher & Barak, 2006). A lot of organizations as well as and researchers have started experimentation with the internal utilization of social software in workplaces (Brzozowski, 2010). The employment of these technologies is rapidly maturing and shifting to enterprise-level platforms and projects (Arthur, 2006). Consequently, the social software market is now beginning to attract big vendors in the likes of IBM, Microsoft, and Google (Gartner, 2009). In the perspective of these developments in the contemporary market, the intent of the study would be to provide a platform for further exploration on how social media impacts innovation and revenues for organizations in contemporary market (Wattenberg, 2007). The alignment of business and information technology strategies in organizations assists in the realization of more successful investments (Henderson, 2005).

However, the consequences of the new developments in social media on the business policy of organizations, and the manner in which an organization may manage the alignment are not fully known (Macbeth & Purchase, 2007). This stresses the necessity for strategic hypothesis for organizations to manage as well as coordinate these new systems and social technologies within the organization and with their pertinent environment (Frost, 2009). Since social media is currently shifting into the enterprise environment, business and information technology frameworks as well as theories ought to be developed to ease management decisions (Massey, 2009).

Problem Statement

Organizations trying to utilize and adopt social media applications in the business, introduces the problem of how organizations may employ these applications in extend to their business policies (Schneider & Valacich, 2009).

How should social media be approached and how would organizations align these new social media developments with the organization strategy?

In answering this question the subsequent sub questions require to be answered:

What is social media and what is the appropriate definition?
How should social media be approached and employed by organizations?
How would social media align with organizations’ business strategy?

The focus will be to investigate how social media impacts innovation and revenues for organizations in today’s market.

Purpose Statement

The research intends to explore how social media impacts innovation and revenues for organizations in today’s market. Data will be obtained through 20 interviews with business executives and social media experts. Initially the researcher will obtain 60 references to assist in the research. The scope of the study will be focused in Alberta.

Research methods

The research methods that will be applied in the research will qualitative as well as quantitative methods.

Definition and Terms

Social media may be defined as collective commodities created through computer-interceded collective action. According to Haenlein and Kaplan (2009), social media refers to Internet-based applications that facilitate consumers share views, experiences, insights and perspectives. The Social media platforms provide important high quality content that is implanted in socially constructed repositories (Smith, 2009). Social media utilizes the potential of the web 2.0 structures to facilitate the social aspects of communication, collaboration, as well as media sharing (Bolter & Grusin, 2006).

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework

There are two theories that would emerge in exploring the impact of social media on innovation and revenues for organizations in contemporary market (Handfield, 2009). There is the social capital theory and dramaturgical theories. According to Bourdieu’s social capital theory, social networks generate a source of prosperity (Portes, 2006). While, Goffman’s dramaturgical theory posits that the interactions of social actors results in a demonstration of diverse roles. The theory illustrates that, social media forces individuals to play a multiplicity of roles simultaneously (Sandefur, 2008).

Implications for Social Change

There is a superfluity of stylish business press but incomplete academic research in the subject of social media. There is necessity for further research in this subject in order to grant marketing managers with a focus as to how best to incorporate this media into the organization’s Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) (Papacharissi, 2007).Research in the subject of digital and online communications is comparatively well established (Luxton, 2007). However, only a few of the insights may be superimposed onto the relatively new, raw concept of social media. This concept is in its formative years in regard to conceptual development (Shakeel, 2009). While numerous conflicting ideas have come up with regard to distinctions and similarities between Web 2.0, social media and user generated content (Calder, 2009). The research will adopt Haenlein and Kaplan (2010), definition of social media. The authors propose that social media refers to internet-based applications that facilitate consumers share views, perspectives, experiences, and insights. These applications may comprise collaborative projects, content communities, blogs, social networking sites, virtual social worlds, and virtual game worlds (Forrester Research, 2009).

The research on electronic strategies and business varieties indicate that organizations may have an external or internal focus. Rust (2007) argues that the conventional path of e-commerce has basically failed following the dot-com crash. He also posits that organizations must embrace e-service paradigm that would provide innovative types of competitive advantage.

The conventional path focuses on automation and effectiveness to decrease costs (Crane & Matten, 2006). While the e-service path is focuses on improving service and building beneficial customer relationships to enhance revenues (Inglehart, 2006). There is a move form focus on systems and technology towards focus on understanding the clientele. The social media environment facilitates outward and inward-looking perspective of e-commerce (Nezu, 2006). The e-service paradigm exploits the nature the social media environment with its flow of information relating to clientele, communication and engagement in long-term interaction to create customer equity (Sudweeks, 2006).

Research methodology

Introduction

This section illustrates the methods and procedures that the researcher will utilize in accomplishing the objectives of the project as highlighted in the abstract section of this paper. Primary Research

Primary research refers to assemblage of data that are non existent (Barney & Hesterly, 2005). This will be achieved through the application of a several approaches such as the use of questionnaires, surveys, and interviews. As is appropriate to this project, the primary sources will likely to be found in organizations in Alberta. The foremost advantage with carrying out primary research is that it will be precise. However, the demerit of primary research is that it is lengthy and time consuming (Russell & Taylor, 2006).

Secondary research

Secondary research is the assemblage of accessible data. For instance, research on specific subjects or experiments. Its merit is that it is not time consuming. However, a demerit would be that the information retrieved may be extraneous (Keller, 2008).

Quantitative and qualitative data

There are two major ways investigated in the execution of the activities of any research, Qualitative research’ and ‘Quantitative research’. Qualitative data refers to data based on verbal implications or individual expressions from research respondents. Qualitative study of data is a major method for data collection and this may involve administration of interpersonal interviews (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Borodzicz, (2007), explains qualitative research as a positioned activity that places the researcher in the world. Barbour (2009) recognizes that qualitative method of research provides answers to dissimilar questions from those tackled by quantitative research method. However, Albrecht, (2006) supposes that qualitative research method is useful in bringing up hypotheses, which can be tested more thoroughly by quantitative research method. Quantitative analysis of data is a method that is based on the quantity of data composed from the recognized materials or sources such as business (Liedtka, 2006).

Questionnaires

This research will be undertaken by the use of a questionnaire. The questionnaire will facilitate the data collection from various respondents in organizations located in Alberta. Utilizing a questionnaire is a quantitative method for gathering information from the sources is the most suitable method of gathering mass responses and as such, offering an excellent method of comparative analysis (Lowe, 2007). The questionnaires that will be utilized will cover a number of information sources to find out views and opinions regarding how social media impacts innovation and revenues for organizations in today’s market. Designing excellent questionnaires requires considerable experience and skills (Grunig & Hunt, 2006). The researcher will embark on the study by drawing survey questionnaires that tackles issues pertinent to the interviews carried out. It will be imperative to pilot the questionnaire as fully as feasible prior to distributing them to the participants.

Interviews

Interviews will also be employed in this study to harmonize the questionnaires. In order to realize the rationale of the investigation, the central focus will lie on deciding which methods ought to be applied. Interviews will be the most suitable method for comprehending this research. The three types of interviews namely; structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and unstructured interviews (Infante & Womack, 2007). Structured interviews comprise of closed-ended questions, whereby the structure of the questions, responses and the interview itself was predetermined prior to the interview (Chess, 2008). The interviewer holds more control over the responses and directs the interview in the predetermined direction. However, the responses obtained are limited (Holladay, 2010). Semi-structured interviews comprise of open-ended as well as closed questions, permitting the interviewer to hold some level of control in regard to the responses and the interview in general (Pearson, 2007). However, the open-ended questions permit the interviewee to express themselves fully and encourage them to give their views and opinions.

On the other hand, unstructured interviews comprise of open-ended questions that do not confine the interviewee’s reactions, consequently gathering a wide variety of information (Brown, 2008). This type of interview is more elastic in relation to the questions asked and their ordering, all reliant on the interviewees’ responses (Swann, 2006).

Research Validity and Reliability

This research process requires being accurate in collecting, analyzing and sampling data; hence the validity of result should be satisfactory. There are several diverse aspects of validity, which persuade the validity of research in general (Armstrong, 2006).

Ethical consideration

The research participants will be supplied with dissimilar questionnaires based on definite areas of interest. The approval or disapproval of participation will be based on its advantages and disadvantages as determined after carrying out the research. All the participants should be offered their respectively informed consent on the intention of participation in any research (Taylor, 2009). They will be informed before the research, the rationale and the probable benefits as well any risks that might be linked with their participation.

Limitations of the research

Every research has its limitations and these limitations tarnish the outcomes of the research (DeCarlo, 2009). Certain limitations are also linked with research (Daniel, 2009). One of the major limitations of this research is a small budget and lack of adequate time. In addition, there are other limitations like the noncommittal attitudes of some of the respondents which might interfere with the entire outcomes research (Scholes & Johnson, 2006). The interviews that will be conducted and the questionnaire cannot be fully utilized in this scenario because the most of the research respondents are usually not committed in their attitude when they were filling out the questionnaires or even when they are giving their responses to the researcher. The limited time given by the respondents is also another limitation in this research.

Data collection methods

Observation will be the foremost method employed in the research. This will involve visiting organizations that employ social media platforms in their business. Through the data gathering process, interviews will be conducted in different organizations. For a successful interviewing process in this project, relevant people will be contacted to guarantee that questions pertaining to the main area of the study are understood in order to make certain that relevant data is collected throughout the research process (Atkinson, 1991).

Dissemination of the research findings

Despite of the nature of the study, all research findings should evidently point out to what the actual research study has identified, dealing with the central message and its significance and also make proposal for actions (Lincoln, & Guba, 1985).

Conclusion

The applied use of the social media for business applications offers innovative opportunities. One of the innovative opportunities is customer service that may be an objective of businesses in social media. Fast development in social media means that the domain characterizes a key arena for new corporate practices.

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Arthur, W. B. (2006). Complexity & the Economy. Science 84 (2), 10.

Atkinson, T. (1991). Qualitative research & legitimization of knowledge. Marital & Family Therapy Journal, 17(2), 180.

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Best, M. (2008). Competitive advantage: renewal of American markets. Oxford University Press.

Bolter, P. & Grusin, R. (2006). Understanding contemporary media. Cambridge:

MIT Press.

Borodzicz, G. (2007). Crisis & security management. Sussex: Wiley & Sons.

Brown, M. (2008). Fifty main thinkers in global relations. Manchester: Routledge.

Brzozowski. (2010). Effects of feedback on contributions to business social media. Florida: Arawak Press.

Calder, B. (2009). An investigational study of the correlation between advertising effectiveness& online engagement. Interactive Marketing Journal, 23 (5), 21.

Chess, K. (2008). Organizational theory & stages of hazard communication, Risk Analysis: International Journal, 20(1), 5.

Conroy, M. (2010). Branded. How certification revolution transforms global conglomerates. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers

Crane &Matten. (2006). Business ethics: the European perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Daniel, H. (2009). The S corporation financial adjustment. Handbook of business appraisal & intellectual property evaluation. New York, McGraw Hill.

DeCarlo, H. (2009). Fair trade: Starters guide. Oxford, England: Oneworld Press.

Fisher, A., & Barak, G. (2006). Commitment versus Anonymity: The Hazard of Education on the Internet. Information and Ethics 1(2), 21.

Forrester Research, 2009. Introducing innovative social techno-graphics. Kingston: Arawak Press.

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Haenlein, M. & Kaplan, P. (2010). Virtual social worlds & how to Utilize Social Media. Business Horizons 5(6), 72.

Handfield, F. (2009). CPFR: The Genesis of Collaboration, Journal of Supply Chain Management, 10 (3), 82.

Henderson, F. (2005). Strategic alignments: Leveraging IT for transforming organizations. IBM Journal, 28 (3). 472.

Holladay, M. (2010). Assisting crisis managers safeguard reputational assets. Management Communication Journal, 16(2), 165.

Infante, E., & Womack, H. (2007). Building communication theories. Sussex: Waveland Press

Inglehart, R. (2006). Culture Shift in Sophisticated Industrial World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Keller, K.L. (2008). Strategic Trademark Management: Measuring, Building, & Managing Brand Equity. Prentice- Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

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August 26, 2020

How Poverty is Related to Nursing

Introduction

In the recent past, poverty is an issue that has gained importance within the medical sphere. Indeed, the medical personnel and increasingly being compelled to review their approaches in order to ensure that poor populations have access to important medical services that are essential for enhancement of their quality of life. This is inclined within the relative moral obligations that require the medical personnel to not only save lives but to also enhance the quality of the same. The societal value system also demands that the rich in society assist the poor to address their challenges with ease. Seemingly, various authors have addressed diverse issues pertaining to poverty and the role of medical personnel in alleviating the relative negative impacts. Most of the information is based on the assumption that medical care is vitally important in enhancing the quality of life of populations.

Notably, emergent information within the literary circles revolves around how poverty is related to nursing. The main aim of the selected bibliography is to inform the audience about the intrinsic relationship between poverty and nursing. To begin with, the bibliography provides a brief history of the concept of poverty and the role of nurses based on past statistics. In detail, it provides a concise overview about the respective activities that nurses engage in as an effort to address and or alleviate poverty. Moreover, annotations regarding the specific areas that are worst hit by poverty and factual accounts of the experience of nurses while working with the affected populations are provided. Further, focus has also been placed on the related institutions that play an instrumental role in mobilizing the efforts of the muses towards this noble cause. Perhaps the most important information is about the impact of poverty and the rationale for nurses’ involvement in alleviation efforts.

Annotated Bibliography: How Poverty is related to Nursing

Dames, Danielle. “Nursing: Nursing challenges in poverty stricken areas – by Danielle Dames – Helium.” Helium – Where Knowledge Rules. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2010. <http://www.helium.com/items/1293352-nursing-challenges-in-poverty-stricken-areas>.

In this article, Danielle Dames elaborated the challenges that Nurses face when working in poverty struck areas. Dames begins by describing the challenges that nurses face when caring for the ill and how working in a poverty stricken area, all the problems faced by a nurse escalate. Next, the author describes some of the challenges such as their being limited services, reduced hygiene, reduced patient mobility, increased infection rates, and mistrust of the healthcare system. Notably, this article makes significant contributions to the subject under review by providing credible information regarding the diverse challenges nurses encounter in poverty stricken regions. It is for this reason that the article was considered imperative for the study.

Rothwell, Kristin. ” Nursing Celebrated ‘Round the Globe on May 12 – NurseZone.” Nursing News, Nursing Jobs, Nursing Journals & Travel Nursing Resources at NurseZone.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2010. <http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/more-features/Nursing-Celebrated-%E2%80%98Round-the-Globe-on-May-12_21512.aspx>.

In this article, Kristin Rothwell writes about how Nurses celebrate International Nurses’ Day. The International Nurses Day is themed and this year the theme was “NURSES: Working with the Poor; Against Poverty.” The content of this article is very informational with some statistics regarding poverty concerns and how nurses can approach the issue in a strategic manner for optimal results. The only limitation for this study was that the information was relatively outdated and would therefore not be important for current decision making. Nevertheless, Rothwell’s information provided a credible historical background that accredited the rationale for the study.

AdvantageRN. ” AdvantageRN.com | Travel Nurses | Travel Nursing Agency. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2010. <http://www.advantagern.com/living-our-mission.html>.

This website explores how Registered Nurses travelled to Guatemala to help aid in construction projects on site as well as with other activities needed by the school. The author of this article starts with a chilling fact that nearly 75% of Guatemala’s 12 million residents live in poverty. The author goes on with more facts about Guatemala’s poverty. Thus the source provides important statistical information regarding the Guatemala poverty as well as specific areas of concern that nurses address. The information was considered vital for this study because of the factual information regarding poverty issues that nurses address that is contained therein.

Nurse Together. “NurseTogether: Volunteer Opportunities And Information.” NurseTogether: Empowering Nurses Globally. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://www.nursetogether.com/VolunteerInformation/tabid/157/Default.aspx>.

Nurses together appreciates the fact that poverty is a challenging issue in the medical field and hence provides a gold mine of opportunities for nurses to volunteer their time to help people. It contains articles about nurses volunteering, also links where you can look in to volunteering in poverty struck environments. The site has various links that provide resourceful information regarding specific regions that are worst affected by incidences of poverty and the interventions that nurses can make to counter the scenario. It was considered a credible source for this study because of the rich and factual information contained therein.

Sheard, Mattew. “Matthew Sheard: A Day In Haiti’s Hospitals.” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-sheard/post_590_b_550116.html>.

In this article, Sheard provides a comprehensive account of his volunteer opportunity in Haiti. He starts by describing the environment on which they have to work with to provide medical care to injured residents of Haiti. Next, he goes on to talk about some of the encounters he had with patients. He ends this article talking about a premature newborn that did not make it and he stated “He died from poverty and lack of medical care. Not because he was premature. The source was considered important for the study because it provides first hand information about the role of the nurses in addressing poverty.

Moore, Carrie. “Clinic staffed by volunteers helps poor get health care | Deseret News.” . N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700037916/Clinic-staffed-by-volunteers-helps-poor-get-health-care.html?s_cid=rss-30>.

This article written by Carrie A. Moore talks about Maliheh Free Clinic that is located in Salk Lake City, Utah. Moore starts with describing a patient and how she does not have any medical insurance she is young and has no money but needs medical attention. Next Moore goes into more detail about the Maliheh Free Clinic. The author offers useful information regarding the impact of poverty and the role of nurses in addressing this. It is for this reason that it was considered vital for this study.

Ondash, E’Louise. “Nursing Articles: Free Nursing News.” Nursing Community and Nurse Forum – NurseConnect.com – Your Nursing Career Resource. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://www.nurseconnect.com/Resources/ArticleProfile.aspx?Id=396790>

This article evaluates a volunteer project HOPE, which is a volunteer mission by the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship one of two hospital ships that exists. The author starts by talking the volunteer and describing her role on the mission. Next the author goes into more detail on the events that took place in Haiti. In particular, the source addresses specific poverty concerns and highlights how volunteer nurses were instrumental in countering the negative implications. The article was considered imperative for the study because of the fact that it provides a distinct documentation of vital activities that constitute volunteer nursing.

“Haiti Volunteer Network. Work Together for a Better Future.” Haiti Volunteer Network | Work Together for a Better Future. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://www.haitivolunteer.org/>

This web site was set up for people to volunteer their time in the efforts to help out in the relief of Haiti. This web site is an information exchange service to help people find volunteer opportunities in different global regions. The information provides useful insights regarding the unique needs of poor populations across the globes and the services that volunteer nurses are expected to render in order to bridge the gap. This site was considered important for this study because of the rich information regarding the diverse medical needs of the poor populations and the role of nurses in addressing the needs that it provides to the audience.

KTVU. “Call For Nurses to Volunteer in Haiti – News Story – KTVU San Francisco.” San Francisco, Oakland & San Jose: Bay Area News, Weather & Traffic – KTVU California. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://www.ktvu.com/news/22224296/detail.html>.

This article calls out for nurses throughout the U.S. to join in this critical effort to assist residents of earthquake devastated Haiti. It details the ways in which nurses can respond to this noble cause. From the outset, the article provides useful information regarding the concerns of poor populations and the need for nurses to volunteer to help. It is for this reason that the study was deemed imperative for the subject under review.

Merion Publications. ” 5,000 Nurses Volunteer for Haitian Relief Effort in Under 72 Hours on ADVANCE for Nurses.” ADVANCE for Nurses. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2010. <http://nursing.advanceweb.com/News/National-News/5000-Nurses-Volunteer-for-Haitian-Relief-Effort-in-Under-72-Hours.aspx>.

This article talks about how 5000 nurses volunteered the efforts for the relief in Haiti after the devastating earthquakes. The author of this article just emphasizes the fact that we need not only people but money donated to help in our relief efforts. Essentially, it informs the audience about the various ways through which nurses address emergency concerns and assist poor populations. The article informed the study under review of the forms of mobilizations that nurses employ in enhancing the quality of support that they provide to the populations in need.

Obama, Barrack. What America Must Do in Haiti and Why – Newsweek.” Newsweek – National News, World News, Business, Health, Technology, Entertainment and more – Newsweek. N.p., n.d, Retrieved 29^th, June 2010 from: <http://www.newsweek.com/2010/01/14/why-haiti-matters.html>

The author explains to the audience the reasons for the involvement of America in helping devastated populations in Haiti after the earthquake. He implies that besides being a moral responsibility, America’s involvement in this mission would strengthen its leadership position and enhance a positive perception from other global nations. He ascertains the type of help that this nation would offer to the affected population and indicates that doctors, nurses and paramedics would also participate actively in offering the needed help. The article was considered vital for this study because it highlights one of the most common factors that increase the vulnerability of poor populations and the intervention measures that nurses take to counter the relative negative effects.

August 26, 2020

How Social Skills Are Lost During Online Learning

Introduction

Technology has come has a blessing to the current generation in many ways. However the social skills that are very much needed in a society are likely to be ignored in the process of going online to get educational and social needs. With the fast paced technology more people are getting techno savvy and this has proved to do some harm while at the same time societies are left helpless because they truly need the internet and this online classes to be specific.

Children learn to interact and socialize in mainly three ways. They observe what goes on around them, learn from adults and get what is deemed as right and also get to know what constitutes a wrong move or action and practice with the social environment. The later mode of interaction mainly involves trying in their own to adjust and adapt to the environment they grow up in. this means the environment under which children grow in also plays a significant role in molding children. The internet and online learning thus are some of the components of the current environment under which today’s children and students grow. Questions have been raised on whether this is the right environment to bring up and educated these learners. This paper thus seeks to understand this problem and come up with the situation as it is with advises of how technology can be embraced and still at the same time bring up and educate children who are socially stable yet well educated.

Literature review

Introduction

It is obvious technology has reduced the contact of human being to the extent that the adult life’s of children who grew up and socialized mainly through the internet has been messed up. Ironically these learners and students interact with more friends and people and make a lot of friends through the net than one would make through normal physical contact and through normal classrooms in the case of students. Their social skills become weakened and they become socially uncomfortable in social settings or situations.

The reason this is the case is because there are some covert messages which accompany speech and actions during a typical physical interaction or communication with others. This unfortunately is not possible in an online class environment. This added to the fact that children have been known to learn more through observation and social environments makes the situation even worse. In typical physical social surroundings children watch their friends, siblings, classmates, parents or teachers perform their duties or carry out activities. Studies have proved that over 75% of learning by children takes place through observations. Parents, teachers and others around them do not have to tell them much for a normal child to learn and discern what is wrong or right. Technology therefore comes to a high degree as a social interaction hindrance.

The study aims at finding more details on how online learning is likely to yield to members in society who are social perverts and give recommendation on how technology can be best utilized to strike a balance between the much needed technology and the equally important social skills.

The literature review will look at studies earlier done on the subject with an object of sampling some of the best outcomes of this studies, pick out the cases of online learning that have been integrated with social interaction and analyze how best this can be enhanced. The research methodology will focus on the means through which the paper got the information and give an analysis of the collected information. The research will also analyze the various technological innovations through which learners’ access information or studies look at their various benefits and also the limitations of this media eventually.

It is no contest that the recent technological innovations have played a big role in changing how people communicate with each other. The way people form and maintain relationships is gradually changing courtesy of internet based technologies, and the most recently developed, social networking websites. These sites have altered the beliefs that were held previously in relation to formation and maintenance of identity where by one can include as little personal information as possible, whether true or fabricated. These changes in social identity and interpersonal communication have impacted the offline world relationships both negatively and positively. In this thesis, we will shed light on the evident impacts that have been caused by online learning. Students learning in this world of fast passed technology are communicating more with very many people compared to the past generations and hence missing the crucial social skills. The question arises, how does this happen?

Students acquire social skills in three ways; observing social interactions, learning of what is right or wrong from adults and interacting with the social environment. Technological advances have reduced human contact and interaction hence hindering learners’ adequate social skills necessary for their growth to adult hood as well as future lives. Through human interactions, students are able to learn how to covert their message in both their actions and speeches. Reduced human contact leads to weakening of social skills; this makes students to become socially awkward and hence shrinking away from social situation. Psychologists and educators are beginning to get concerned about internet addiction and the impact it has on students psychological well being and social skills.

The facts

Online use of computer is widespread and steadily growing. The current estimates have indicated that more than 148 million people worldwide are online and the number is steadily increasing at an alarming rate of 12% every month (Suler, 1996). According to a census carried out in the US, by the US Census Bureau reported that, 22.2% of the 76.5 million computer users in America aged 3 and above uses the internet and more that one fifth of the students with home computers use them for accessing the internet (U.S Census Bureau, 1997). It also documented that more that 55 million enrolled students/children uses computers at their schools and that schools are the most common places where students can have access to internet. With these overwhelming numbers, it is impossible to dought the popularity and proliferation of internet usage.

The question arises

While most cultures heralds the use of internet as wonder of technology, there have emerged suggestions that it has a negative impact on the social skills of students and individuals in general. According to a recent study carried out by Carnegie Mellon University, it documented that, internet usage leads to significant increase in loneliness and misery as well as a decline in the psychological well being of individuals (American Psychological Association, 1998). In Pittsburg, the Homenetprojects conducted a study on a sample of 169 people during their first and second year of using the internet. The results showed that, as the individuals in the sample continued to use the internet, they were reported to disassociate with the aspect of socialization and hence kept up with fewer friends as time went by. They were also reported to spend even less time with their families and relatives. This heightened their levels of daily stress, loneliness and depression. This happened even though their main reason for using the internet was to increase their interpersonal communication.

In another survey conducted by the Washington’s Annenberg Public Centre, it was documented that most parents in computer households have a fear that the use of internet will have a negative influence on their children mainly due to its interactivity and its wide open nature. Nevertheless, they still accept as true that their kids need the internet in their learning life. They described the major benefits of using internet as the abilities to discover relevant things and benefits in helping in school work. All the same, the disadvantages of using the internet do not stop at the high school level. In some of the major universities is the world, the rate of drop out by first years students has dramatically rose due to their increase in investment in computer as well as access to internet. What is the reason for this? The administrators discovered that more that 43% of drop outs stayed up all night on internet (Wallace, 1998). In reaction to the college survey on the effects of technology on communication and interpersonal skills, the potential problem mentioned dealt with electronic communications in form chat rooms, e-mails and discussion groups. Several respondents’ spar of the feeling of isolation that develops from using the internet as well as lack of facial contact as a factor contributing to feelings of loneliness and alienation (Wade, 1999). Some people have blamed the excessive use of internet have caused break ups in their marriages (Eykyn, 1999).

Is internet addictive?

With the increasing internet information, psychologists have debated the prevalence of psychological disorders caused by online use. Some have labeled it as internet addiction disorder. Various studies have indicated the existence of addictive behaviors among those people who use the internet (Goldberg, 1997). Based on the criteria’s that psychologists apply in defining the types of addictions, online surveys have estimated the incidences of addictive patterns behavior among frequent internet users range from 6% to a high of 80% (Greenfield & Young, 1998). The symptoms that have been identified include: (a) usage of computers for gratification, relief from stress or pleasure; (b) feeling out of control or depressed when one is not using it; (c) spending amounts of money and time purchasing soft wares, hardware, online magazines or other activities related to computers; (d) neglecting school, family obligations and work (Gawel, 1998). On the contrary, some argued that some of these symptoms are more oriented towards disorders of general personality rather than computer addiction (Davis, 1999). Some have continued to challenge the findings on the basis that online survey studies are not accurate due to demographic inequalities and sampling problems. Maressa Orzack Hecht, the director of computer addiction services at Harvard medical school stated that this addiction revolves around the individuals who work the computers but not the computer. She indicates that people use computers as toll for evading, procrastinating and escaping and the most venerable are the students who are mostly bored and lonely or are from those families where they do not find anybody to interact with after school (Valenza, 1999). Lightly, some psychologists have taken humorous approaches to identify the characteristics of those people who are addicted to internet.

All the same, psychiatric or an official psychological diagnosis of computer addiction does not exist. The diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders (recent edition) which set standards of determining the mental illness types does not include internet addiction category. The ones who have conducted studies in this subject have agreed that the heavy internet users have many similar characteristics and they all relate to general addition disorder. The evidence that is developing regarding internet addiction has created a increasing quest for more information regarding the psychological characteristics of internet addicts. This information can play a big role in identifying and developing effective prevention and intervention programs.

Effects on the students

In reference to HomeNetstudy, it has been documented that teenagers are heavier users of internet than the adults. Most of the adults use the internet as part of their jobs or for getting information related to employment, whereas teenagers tend to mostly use the internet to meet new people, listen to music or play internet games. This specific appeal has caused concern among teachers and other educators. Some of them like Archie Bunkerian have believed that internet users will loose the skills, savvy and the patience for conducting social relations in the corporal world and at the same time internet will deepen the negative effects that television has already inflicted on our social skills (Weinstein, 1995). Considering this view then, we assume that we are encouraging the students to turn into social nitwits.

In today’s students’ dealings with technology, they are most often portrayed as criminals or victims. The press has released a warning on internet stalkers, together with other internet tragedies like the Columbine H.S, it have raised concerns and safety measures when it comes to dealing with internet. Like Weinstein, the press has viewed technology and media including motion pictures, CD recordings and television as a major contributor of the deteriorating social functioning and values of our young generation. They have viewed the internet as culprit of these afflictions with its capabilities to play innate games (Fainaru, 1998), of beckoning sexually overt temptations and alleged addictive tendencies. The debate as to the harmful technological effects on the students will most likely linger because of the hesitant nature of the study on this matter.

The effects of internet have been felt transversely in all social spheres, influencing the society and individuals on structural, personal and global levels. The issues that have been raised by the introduction of internet into the community include problems of ethics, morals, logistics, rights, social utility statecraft and interpersonal relationships. The effects of these technologies will most likely influence the society at its roots, by putting into play the issues that are related to all constitutive social qualities that have remained undisturbed during other paradigmatic technological shift (McNair et al, 1981).

Ever since internet was incorporated in our education systems as a pedagogical device, its potential impacts have continuously been felt. We can say with confidence that nevertheless, the education system will significantly be changed by internet as a consequence. All the same, what ever changes that will be initiated by this technology, teachers and other educators should not abandon the face to face communication with their students because it is imperative to education. Accordingly, the most appropriate approach will be employment of a hybrid strategy to mix the traditional pedagogical and technologically mediated techniques (Greenfield & Scherlis, 1997).

The lavishness of emailing messages in preference to charging up the telephone bills has become more and more appealing. Checking sports, weather and news via the internet is a privilege that many people are taking advantage of. The lives of the children have already been influenced by this technology as well while this is just a beginning. Internet and computers will never disappear and software titles which target the young people continue to be developed. Computer science has turned out to be a compulsory subject in almost all schools in many parts of the world. Nowadays we find the computers being used in all aspects of our lives be it printing of train tickets or making bank transactions. This is due to the fact that computers have a limited or zero chance of making an error or a mistake. For this reason, parents too have incorporated this technology and have realized the importance of instilling computer knowledge and knowledge in their children’s education. Computer or online education gives the students a chance to work on a computer in completing assignments as well as taking exams. The students spend more than an hour in an online class each day. In an average school, students requires at list six hours of online work rather than class instruction. Online educators hold very few classes in virtual classrooms. Reclusive students are not able to develop personal interrelationships with their fellow students and teachers over the webcams in the virtual classes. Personal interactions are not allowed by the webcast instruction. Since there no outside dialogues which take place, interpersonal social skills do not develop. The students may feel a sense of loneliness and isolation (Riggio, 1986)

. A research that explores the effects of different digital multi tasking and social media devices on students today has indicated that continuous and consistent use of these devices can be a major cause of the students developing social problems. Internet applications like the apple video chat program, face times as well as the social network sites like MySpace and face book can never be a replacement for interactions with real human beings (the study, Stanford University). Analysts have suggested that students who spend most of their time relentlessly switching between Facebook, YouTube, text messaging and television have very high chances of developing social problems (Mark Millan, CNN).

Another conclusion that have been made after a survey of more than 3,461 American female students age between 8 to 12 years has shown that young girls who spend a lopsided amount of hours using internet facilities and devices later struggles to build up usual social tendencies. Mr. Clifford Nass, a professor of communications in Stanford University who is one of the people who worked in the survey, believes that the study only focused on young female students but this applies even to male students of the same age. “It is very vital for kids to learn about emotions and the only way of doing that is through paying attention to supplementary people. It is a must that they look them in the eyes,” (Nass, 1997). The study denoted a thriving antidote to this phenomenon which simply ensuring that students spend most of their time interacting face to face with other people. “If a student avoids face to face communications, their chance of learning critical things they ought to learn becomes very minimal” Nass said. For one to learn about the social skills, they should first learn about emotions. The analysts were not able to calculate the number of hours that students should spend in face to face interactions, but social skills are normally are normally achieved when the students are having eye to eye contact with other people. Swindling with an iPod during a dialogue or chatting with people on face to face webcams on Skype cannot replace actual face time. Nass discovered that, those people who heavily multi task undergo cognitive issues like recalling and focusing on information from the top of their heads. Heavy multi taskers are bad at making judgments of specific activities which is a very crucial skill in the life line of working people- than those people who spend minimum o their time multitasking (Nass, 1999).

Depending on the different outcomes that are caused by internet usage, models of social compensation indicates that students/ individuals who do not have sufficient offline social skills most a times benefits from interacting through the internet, while the rich gets richer, the models suggests that this people might suffer from increased negative outcomes. In the first model of hypothesis, it can be presumed as the latter, since it assumes that people who are lonely and most of the times seeks to have friends online for compensating their deficient social skills eventually ends up experiencing negative outcomes in life (E.g. harming other important activities like significant relationships, school or work) rather than relieving their problems which already exists. It is suggested that students who are unhealthy psychologically are lonely and they usually have difficulties in maintaining hale and hearty social interactions with the people in their lives and also regulating the amount of time spent online. Nevertheless, on top of loneliness, this people end up adding more problems to their lives. The augmented problems might lead them to relying on their much loved internet activities as a way of diminishing or escaping from their increased troubles; this could lead to isolation and augmented loneliness. This proposition has been tested with various hypothesized models that had seclusion as endogenous patchy following negative outcomes and was supported. The pattern suggests a possible malicious cycle of unfettered internet usage if not controlled. From a multigroup analysis that compared more than three internet activities in a hypothesized model with isolation as a result, downloading turned out to be a major problem contributor in that its outcomes are only associated with loneliness. Entertainment applications of the internet are the ones that cause more damage to the emotional wellbeing of the users than social applications. We can say that some social internet applications may be harmless even though they have an influence on the real world activities (McNair et al, 1981).

Research methodology

Introduction

This section spells out the procedures and the methods that the researcher employed in achieving the objectives of the project so highlighted in the abstract of this paper. It defines location of the study, research procedures and analysis plan that were addressed in the course of the study consideration when carrying out this particular research. The research was supposed to start with the clear understanding of the research objectives as well as the hypothesis. Success of the project was a factor of the provision of satisfying information in line with the objectives and hypothesis in the determination of how social skills are lost during online learning. The objective of the research just as a recap is to identify how social skills are lost during online learning. It is important to note here that this research was mainly based on the interviews even though other research methodologies were briefly discussed.

Primary research

Primary research refers to collection of statistics that is non existent. This was considered to be achieved through numerous forms: including the use of questionnaires, making telephone conversations, surveys, etc. The major merit with conducting primary research is that it was accurate. However, the disadvantage of primary research was that it was time consuming, as it involved dealing with people from various regions, the human sources may only become resourceful out of their own willingness, and this took them quit sometimes before making up their minds to tell what they knew or give their side stories about how social skills are lost during online learning.

Secondary research

Secondary research on the other hand is the collection of existing data, that is, in contrast to primary research. For example: research on experiments or specific subjects. The merit of secondary research is that it’s not time consuming however a disadvantage is that the information retrieved may not be relevant.

Choice of research philosophy

Another aspect that is of great significance in this research was the research strategy. It’s the research strategy that indicated which methods a researcher adapted to answer the research objectives or questions on how social skills are lost during online learning.
Survey is one of the most important research strategies that have popularity in conducting this research. The use of surveys facilitated for the collection of a large amount of data from a large population. This implies that the researcher conducted surveys and question specific groups of people to obtain large amount of information relevant to the subject of the survey. This was on respect to how social skills are lost during online learning.

The data was collected from the people either via questionnaire or orally. The purpose of the survey was to establish and analyze views of respondents in order to find what they think about how social skills are lost during online learning. However, despite the fact that the views from a large number of respondents was gathered through the survey strategy, the data obtained did not all reflect to the objective of the research at depth.

Case study was considered in the determination of how social skills are lost during online learning. This was a research strategy that was considered for the sake of this study which involved investigation due to its applicability in any particular contemporary phenomenon in the real life situation using multiple sources of evidence such as this case. Grounded theory represents a strategy which posits that the data is collected through observations and compared to various theoretical frameworks in order to discover which of the data is the most appropriate. This leads the researcher into making predictions about the studied phenomena prior to putting the findings into test. However, the aim of grounded theory is to make studied data records well-industrialized and understood and to verify relationships between the findings and the case study in question.

Questionnaires

This research was mainly carried out by the use of a questionnaire. The questionnaire enabled the information to be gathered from many respondents who were directly involved in how social skills are lost during online learning. Use of a questionnaire as a quantitative method for collecting data from the sources was found to be the most appropriate method of collecting mass responses and as such, providing a good method of comparative analysis. The questionnaires that were used covered a number of data sources to find out opinions and views regarding how social skills are lost during online learning. Designing good questionnaires required significant skills and experience. The researcher embarked on the study by setting up survey questionnaires that addressed issues relevant to the interviews conducted. It was important to pilot or test the questionnaire as fully as possible before distributing them to the interviewees to fill them.

Interviews

Interviews were also used in this study to complement questionnaires. In order to achieve the purpose of the investigation, the key focus lied on finding out which techniques should be applied. Interviews were the best method for understanding this research.

In order to analyze the psychological and behavioral reasons for decisions of the sources, the primary data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires. They however emphasized it is very important to note that questionnaires should reach the right people, to allow for an appropriate amount of information to be collected. Different types of interviews that the researchers may opt to apply to their studies. The three are inclusive of structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and unstructured interviews.

Structured interviews consisted of closed-ended questions, where the structure of the questions, responses and the interview itself was decided prior to the interview. The interviewer had more control over the responses, and led the interview into the direction they wanted. However, the responses received are limited. Semi-structured interviews consisted of closed and/or open-ended questions, allowing the interviewer to have some control over the responses and the interview. However, the open-ended questions allowed the interviewee to express themselves and encourage them to present their views and opinions.

Unstructured interviews consisted of open-ended questions that did not restrict the interviewee’s responses, therefore collecting a wide range of information. This kind of interview was more supple in-terms of the questions being asked and their ordering, all depending upon the interviewees responses. After considering these different types of interviews, Questionnaires were considered more useful for this study. This was necessary, as it allowed gaining a deeper understanding of the participants’ views. In the usage of the interview the management of organizations in evaluating how social skills are lost during online learning

Research validity and reliability

A debate about the findings of the preceding literatures on how social skills are lost during online learning includes the discussion of the ‘research’, more often than not referring to the manner in which the statistics were collected”. This research being a phenomenological, all questions are related to theoretical characteristics discussed in literature preview. The process would therefore be accurate in collecting, analyzing and sampling data; hence the validity of result would be quite high. Considering that there are many different aspects of validity, which influence the validity of the research in general.

Ethical consideration

The participants were supplied with different questionnaires based on specific areas of interests. The approval or the disapproval of participation was based on its merits and demerits as determined after conducting the research. All the participants were given their respectively informed consent for the purpose of participation in the research. They were informed prior to the research, the purposes, the potential benefits as well as the risks that might be associated with their participation. Ethical standards shall be considered in the process of the procedures of the research.

If the participants chose not to answer any part of the question/s, their right to not answer were acknowledged and it was ensured that the privacy of any person was not compromised upon. Two attempts were made and no further again to respect the privacy of any individual. Besides, the proposals for a general announcement of the ruling for agreeing to contribute to no other involvement incentive were offered. Whilst conducting interviews with the sources, researcher stayed cognitive of the selected interview time and made no efforts to intentionally lengthen the interview. Moreover, as an important part of the ethical considerations, all the sources of secondary data were given complete recognition for their input to this study. The composed data was characterized truthfully and the investigation was to the finest of the researcher’s knowledge and capability.

Appropriateness of triangulation to research

The essence of applying triangulation is for the sake of indications of applicability of several methods (excess of two) in the course of the study in consideration of checking double or even triples results checking otherwise known as cross examination. The idea behind the concept is for the researcher to express a high degree of confidence in consideration of the results of diverse methods that give similar results. In case a single method was applied by the researcher, there is a higher tendency of believing that the results are valid. Application of more than one method may result in a clash of the results. The application of about three methods attempting to derive an answer may lead to a similarity of answers from two out of the three methods used. In case of an occurrence of a crash there is then a need of reframing the question.

Limitations of the research

Limitations are usually present in every research and these limitations actually tarnish the results of the research. Certain limitations are also associated with this research. One of the biggest limitations of this research is lack of budget and lack of time. Besides that there are certain other limitations like the non-serious attitude of the respondents which might tamper the entire results of the research. The interviews that will be conducted and the questionnaire cannot be fully utilized in this scenario because the respondents are not serious in their attitude when they are filling out the questionnaires or when they are giving the responses to the researcher. The lack of time given by the respondents can also be another limitation of this research. If the respondents have lesser time than it is highly probable that they might not take the research properly and ultimately the final results of the research would be affected in this scenario. Finally, certain chunks or sources of secondary research can also be treated as a limitation of the research. This is because of the fact that these sources are not valid or they are not updated therefore the data that is attained from these sources might affect the entire results of the research. Therefore, the researcher should take utmost care about all these constraints and try to minimize it.

Data collection methods

The first information gathering process that was used in this research was observation. In order to address the prevalence and predictors of psychosocial outcomes amongst socioeconomically deprived primary school children in a rural setting in South Africa, some primary school were examined. This involved visiting the school to monitor the daily operations and evaluate documents and reports. Direct observation of work presentation is an outstanding means of data collection for this project; this was usually done with any data collection method that helps in filling of gaps and answer questions. In using this method also it was necessary to ensure that the observations were well arranged in advance and always get permission from the schools management. Moreover, the workers knew the reasons for observing them, and in cases where videotaping was permitted, it worked well with the method of data collection.

Through the information gathering process, interviews were contacted in different primary schools. This involved interviews on the ability to receive and share data. It also involved interviews to staff officials in these primary schools on the relationship among these primary school and on the kind of software they use in disseminating data. Adequate question preparation time was used in interviews, to ensure that clear and brief communication is used in each interview, this also facilitated that time and dates were documented precisely. The interviews were documented with as many notes as possible to ensure that all the information was captured. Interviews were used throughout the data collection process, but they were most useful at some point in the performance study point, when one is trying to establish the actual performance insufficiency. Though time consuming, this process was useful because specific questions were asked and one could ask follow-up questions to get more details on a particular area of interest. For a successful interviewing process in this project, relevant people were contacted and ensure that on questions pertaining prevalence and predictors of psychosocial outcomes amongst socioeconomically deprived primary school children systems were asked i.e. there was need to stick to the main area of study to ensure relevant data is collected throughout the process.

Review of performance data is another method that could be used to gather data from this company. Since Riordan maintains data on its day to day activities such as records on time and attendance, production rates, and cost of goods sold, a review of these records can offer important information to authenticate the performance shortages under contemplation and lead to possible causes. When using this method of analysis, it is important to make sure that the data collected is current because outdated data is as harmful as no data at all. Compliance to restrictions put by the client is also very significant because illegal use of confidential data is illegitimate and detrimental to the organization. This method of data collection will be vital for this project because Riordan being a large business enterprise, it keeps records on daily inputs and outputs procedures, storage methods and regular information. Documentation on its hardware, security, OS, and networking components is necessary since such information will help in major components of the new information system.

Panel method was also used to collect data, by which data is gathered from the same sample respondent at intervals by either mail or through personal interview. This is normally applicable for longitudinal studies. The period over which panel representatives were contacted for information varied from months to several years and the time interval at which they were contacted over and over again may be 10 to 15 days, or one or two months depending on the type of study and memory length of respondents. This method was successful on collection of data on the same item from the same source over a period of time. The numbers of items were as few as possible in order to be delivered within a few minutes, especially where mail survey was employed. This method required careful selection of well and skilled field workers and effective supervision over their work. This method proved inadequate as a means of data collection for this project because it was very much involving and time consuming. It also required training of field personnel—which was costly and time consuming.

Projective technique is another method of data collection that can be used in this project. It is applicable in cases where direct methods of data collection such as personal, telephone, and mail interviews that rely on respondent’s behavior, mind-set etc fails. In cases where respondents are reluctant to converse contentious issues, reluctant to express their true views because of fear of victimization, this indirect method comes in hand as the best solution. It involves motivating respondents for interpretation and in doing so the respondents reveal their inner characters. The basic postulation of this method is that a person gives his own views, ideas and responds to indistinct questions or unstructured incentive resources. Thus, the respondent’s insensible operations of the mind are brought to a cognizant level in a hidden and projected manner; therefore, the person is able to project his inner character.

References

American Psychiatrict Association, 1994. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.) Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association, 1998. Internet paradox — a social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being, American Psychologist,53, 1017-1031
Annenberg Public Policy Center,1999. Parent’s fear internet’s influence on children.Washington, DC.
Davis R, 1999. Is internet addiction real? Available:

http://www.victoriapoint.com/Addiction%20or%20not.htm
Eykyn, G. (1999). Internet ‘harms marriage’ Available: http://www.victoriapoint.com/marriages.htm
Fainaru S, 1998. Experts fear video games breed violence. Available: http://www.adn.com/stories/T98110984.html
Goldberg I, 1997. Diagnostic criteria. Internet Addiction Disorder Available[On-line].

http://www.cog.brown.edu/brochure/people/duchon/humor/internet.addiction.html

Greenfield & Scherlis W, 1997. Why people use the internet. Pittsburg, PA: Carnegie Mellon University, Available [On-line]. http://homenet.andrew.cmu.edu/progress/purpose.html

Suler J, 1996. Review of the internet aggression by Norman Holland. The Psychology of Cyberspace. Available [On-line]. http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/holland_rev.html
U.S. Census Bureau,1997. Computer use in the United States. Washington, DC:
Valenza J. K, 1996. Lonely and bored children may use computer as escape. [On-line]. Available: http://crossings.phillynews.com/archive/k12/SKUL25.htm
Wallace A, 1999. The psychology of the internet. Cambridge University Press. New York:
Nass, 1999. How internet is affecting our lives. Stanford University Press. US

Appendix

Figure 1 …………………………………………computer presence in homes and uses by year

Appendix B:

Examples of Instruments that were used in the Study

Social skills inventory (Riggio, 1986)

http://www.mindgarden.com/docs/ssisample.pdf

Profile of Mood State (POMS) (McNair et al, 1981)

https://www.mhs.com/ecom/(o5cqx2.55po3stm3nv123n155)/techbochures/POMSTechBrochure.pdf

August 26, 2020

How people are living longer

Introduction

After the end of the Great Famine and the Black Death in 1350, the world experienced a steady growth in population. It is has been predicted by the United Nations Population Division that the world population will hit 9.1 billion mark in 2050 (Dettman, 2007). This prediction in the growth of human population has raised concern over the planet’s ability to withstand that great amount of people. A century ago, the standard life span of people lied between 40 and 45 years but, this has changed with many people now living to the old age of 77 years and even more (Information Resources Management Association, 2011). People mostly from the developed world are currently living longer and healthier with some staying alive for more than a decade than their parents. This is not because of the retardation in aging or changes in other factors but due to the fact that people have become more conscious of living health.

Advancements in healthcare and technology

Global demographic, currently shows that people are staying alive for a longer period than it was previously. Some of the reasons behind this are the improvement in healthcare and availability of better nutrition for everyone. People from the developed nations live in good health and this makes them to live a decade longer than their parents, the reason being that they are staying health. The drastic progress in the field of science and improvement in the people’s daily and working life have significantly helped in the extension of life spans. More children now grow past the child birth stage and develop faster than before because of the great miles achieved in the field of medicine (Keese, 2006). Nowadays, pregnant women are taken to give birth in hospitals endowed with emergency equipment as well as having qualified doctors and nurses that are able to handle any situation in case things go wrong.

In the past, the cases of epidemic diseases were very high because of the open sewages that characterized larger cities. The coming of flush toilets and construction of proper sewerage systems have controlled the disposal of waste and garbage that used to spill all over the streets. The wastes and garbage are now channeled to secured underground pipes thus preventing epidemics from attacking and killing people. There are no cases of the outbreak of cholera in America and Europe because of the presence of flushing toilets and disinfected tap water in these countries unlike, in developing nations where these things are inadequate.

The past period, medical therapy and technology were not so much developed as today. Diseases like smallpox and malaria claimed the lives of so many people. These days, the diseases are no longer a threat to the lives of people thanks to the advancement of medical treatment. In addition, we have seen invention of sophisticated technology in medical treatment. An example for this is the laser technology which is worldwide used nowadays when conducting surgery. Patients are enjoying the benefits of this technology as it is efficient and precise. The surgeries conducted in past used to fill people with anxiety because of the uncertainties but, with this new surgical technology people undergoing surgery are more comfortable (Dettman, 2007). This advancement in technology has indeed saved the lives of people greatly.

The contemporary people have good knowledge about health care than the people of the past; this is attributed to education and mass media. Many media companies have launched campaigns that are very beneficial and entail informing people of the dangers of using drugs and smoking. In addition, people nowadays have knowledge of which food to take that is good to their health. To illustrate this, people that are having some diseases know which food to take and not take hence, avoiding one that can be harmful to their health.

Baby boomer generation

The return of young males to U.S., Australia, and Canada after the end of the Second World War caused the introduction of new children into the world, as most of the young males started their own families. This scenario brought about a rapid and significant increase in the amount of births between 1946 and 1964. During the baby boom, more than 79 million babies were born in the U.S. alone. In 2012, the first of the Baby Boom clocked the age of 66 years. The population of the Baby Boom generation is quite significant and has characteristic of uniqueness. This people are highly educated and majority of them are in management positions and are diverse in terms of race and ethnic than their predecessors (Pruchno, 2012). The Baby Boom generation is healthier and their life expectancy is 65 years. This generation has experienced various work histories and work mostly when they are in their adult stage than the previous generations. The Baby Boomers from Europe and North America had a lot of opportunities and majority grew up during the time when the government was giving subsidies to post-war housing and education and wealthy was also immense. This generation is therefore, the wealthiest, very active, and physically fit, making them to live longer than the previous generation.

Problems associated with living longer

In our previous discussion we have seen that good health care and technological advancement have make people to live longer. However, there are problems that are linked with living longer. It results in the increase in procreation causing the population to increase. Increase in population has negative impact to any given country and to the world at large. It is from high population that we experience problems like food shortages, global warming, and pollution. The increased population would increase the healthcare cost of a country making it hard for poor people to afford it. The inability of a country to sustain rising population would impact the growth of the economy this is because the increase in demand for goods and services would cause inflation making the prices of commodities to increase. Besides, there would be increase in the population of old people and therefore, the country would be forced to allocate social welfare funds to cater for the old (Louie, 2010). This means that people would have to pay for this social welfare program through taxes on their salaries. This would pose a big burden to the people for they would be forced to part with a portion of their salary that would otherwise been allocated to individual development projects. Another issue of concern about living longer is that, the pension scheme that caters for the employees after retirement would cost a company millions. Many big companies in UK are struggling to fill holes in their finances in the process of keeping pace with pension promises.

Conclusion

Today, people are living longer than it was previously because of good health care, nutrition, and advancement in technology. Diseases that killed previously killed people have been able to be contained because of advancement in medicine. Technological advancement has made it possible the inventions of equipment that are very efficient and reliable like laser that is used in surgery.

Nonetheless, living longer is linked with various problems which if not taken care of would have negative impact to the governments. The pension schemes that cater for employees after retiring cost companies huge sums of money. Increase in the population brought about by the living longer, cause inflation because of increase in the demand for commodities. The increase in taxes by the government charged on people’s incomes to cater for the upkeep of the old people denies individuals money for personal development leading to increase in poverty.

Reference

Dettman, D. (2007). Balance the World. Indiana: AuthorHouse.

Information Resources Management Association, (2011).Clinical Technologies. Pennsylvania: Idea Group Inc.

Keese, M. (2006). Live Longer, Work Longer. New York: OECD Publishing.

Louie, D. (2010).Problems with living longer – and the growing demand for aged care housing. Retrieved on 25th April 2012 from: http://www.zenithfinance.com.au/_blog/Zenith_Finance_Blog/post/Problems_with_living_longer_%E2%80%93_and_the_growing_demand_for_aged_care_housing/

Pruchno, R (2012). Not Your Mother’s Old Age: Baby Boomers at Age 65. Retrieved on 25th April 2012 from: http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/03/05/geront.gns038.full