To What Extent Is Scientific Management an Appropriate Way to Manage Essay

To What Extent Is Scientific Management an Appropriate Way to Manage In the 21st Century - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the evolution of management has been termed as a continuous process that changes and adapts according to the need for the scenario. Schaltegger and Burritt observed that managerial theories and concepts have been developed by scholars mainly by observing the nature of work being conducted and managed at an operational level in the companies. However, Levin observed that most of the theories were developed with a single focus on improving employee management and resource utilization process of the firms. Cash et al. stated that Taylor’s theory of scientific management was among the first managerial concepts to widen the scope of management approach for the business houses and also develop a national focus on the aspect of efficiency. The theory of scientific management was praised and criticised for its principles and policies by the contemporary researchers of management. Considering the contemporary scenario of management practic es, it can be stated that with the changes in the market and customer response, organizations have also initiated numerous alterations in their operational practices. One of the most crucial aspects of the business management processes, as stated by Waddell, is the power enjoyed by the workforce of the firms which was almost ignorable during the time of scientific management. Carrying forward these arguments and statements, the essay will focus on evaluating the validity of the scientific management process in the contemporary scenario. According to Schaltegger and Burritt, scientific management primarily focuses on the aspect of discipline for developing better employee management processes. The features of the scientific management can be assessed by evaluating the principles and guidelines of the managerial processes. Although many changes have taken place in the aspect of business management processes, discipline has always remained one of the core variables. The first feature o f the scientific management system can be thus reflected as the systematic approach which allows managers to control their workforce and direct them in the desired manner. This systematic approach is designed by observing the behavioral pattern of the employees and the needs of the organization. Managing the employees in a controlled atmosphere helps the company to achieve employee loyalty.

International Business Course work 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Business Course work 2 - Coursework Example Ethnocentricity is defined as the belief in the superiority of ones ethnic group (Thefreedictionary). This quality is very common in a lot of cultures does marketers have to come up with strategies to persuade the population of a specific cultural group to purchase the products and services your company offers. A way to differentiate a company’s product in new marketplace is to create specific branding strategies that are geared towards the purchasing behavior or the target population. The values and beliefs of a country are characteristics that must be analyzed to determine the buyer behaviors of a country and to be able to send out messages that are clear to avoid miscommunications. Colors have different means across cultural boundaries. For example the color red in Europe is a sign of danger, while the same color in Japan means life (Halman). The customs and attitudes of a group of people determine the preferences of the customers of a region. Environmental scanning of the socio-cultural factor is a technique that can allow a firm to determine the existence of subcultures that can create further segmentation of the market that allows for marketing campaigns for specific customer profiles within a culture (Kotler). There are many elements of a culture that a company must be aware in order to operate a successful and profitable operation in an international location. Some of these elements are: local business hours, the existence of consumerism tendencies, society’s view about the importance of tangible possessions, and governmental intervention in local commerce among other elements. The culture of a region is composed of many different elements. The attitude towards work between nations varies considerably. For example American workers are workaholics who on the average work nearly 50 hours a week, while in

Principles and practice of Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Principles and practice of Human Resource Management Essay In 21st century, the organization which considers its employees as an asset rather than cost has competitive advantage. The term suggested for employees is human capital. It refers to productive potential of ones knowledge and actions. In todays knowledge economy, efficient management of human capital ensures success for the organization. This tells the importance of human resource management. It is about managing human capital in the same way as asset management or financial management. Actually human resource management acts as a medium of exchange between employees and organization. Employees offer knowledge, abilities, skills, efforts, time, motivation, commitment and performance to the organization in return for job security, empowerment, generous pay for performance, training, promotion and trustful relationship. Thus human resource management is considered as a matching process that is matching organizational goals with employees needs in order to satisfy both optimally. The more formal definition of human resource management is the activities undertaken by the organization to attract, develop and maintain an effective workforce within an organization. (Daft, 1982) Thus attracting an effective workforce for an organization, developing it to its potential and finally maintaining it are the three main goals of the human resource management. And all the strategies are developed by the human resource department for attaining these three goals and these strategies tend to be organizational wide in order to support the overall corporate strategy. The skills required for attracting the workforce includes human resource planning, job analysis, forecasting, recruiting and selecting; skills for developing the workforce includes training and performance appraisal; and skills for maintaining the workforce includes wages, salaries, benefits and termination. Organizations especially perform human resource management in order to tackle the issues related to human resource proactively rather than reactively. ( Price , 2007). Having developed the concept of human resource management, we will now talk about the different approaches taken by the organization for pursing HRM. Read more:Â  Managing The Human Resources The first approach is hard HRM developed by Michigan business school and the second one is soft HRM developed by Harvard business school. (Fombrun, Tichy and Devanna, 1984) Both approaches are opposite as they are based on different sets of assumptions. (Storey 1992) Soft HRM has humanistic edge in managing employees while hard HRM considers employees as resources which have to be managed in the same way as capital equipments and raw materials. That is hard HRM is bit more technical and mechanical in its approach which involves in obtaining as cheap labor as possible that should be fully exploited. Soft HRM advocates unitary perspective which means employees and organization needs and interest are coherent which leads to mutual goals, influence, respect, rewards and responsibility. The outcome is therefore employee commitment and organizational success (Walton 1985). On contrary, pluralist perspective sees differences in employee and organization goals as a cause for conflicts and problems. Management’s task is to induce the appropriate behavior in workers so that their actions accomplish the company’s goals, not their own. This paves the way for showing direction and coercion by management. This perspective underlies hard HRM. .( Price , 2007) Mc Gregor in 1960 gave Theory X and Theory Y about the nature of employees. Theory X depicted employees who dislike work and try to avoid it when they can. People have to be coerced to work and have to be closely directed and regulated thus leading to tight managerial control. On the other hand theory Y depicted employees who like to work and exercise self direction and self control if they are committed to the goals and objectives. In this case there is loose managerial control and managements function is to foster individual growth and development. Apparently soft HRM is associated with theory Y which emphasizes employees commitment through trust, open communication, training and development and autonomous work environment. This will produce employee behavior which is self directed and this is the main reason for organizations competitive advantage. Whereas hard HRM contingent to theory X, focuses on quantitative, calculative and strategic aspects of managing HR as for any other factor of production. The practices of hard HRM consist of strict performance appraisal, supervision and external control over individuals activities. Now we will examine how soft and hard HRM approaches lead to different kinds of activities and outcomes at different stages of human resource lifecycle. The first stage is of attracting the potential employees. This requires human resource planning by forecasting HR needs and matching the individuals with expected job vacancies. The soft HRM will seek to forecast needed employees in order to complete a work unit or finding the best mix of employees for the team in order to elicit commitment from team members by setting of good team norms and strong cohesiveness. Whereas hard HRM will look to minimize the need for additional employees and will try to reduce the head count. This will lead to incomplete work unit. The job vacancies will not be fully matched with potential employees, which will lead to incomplete work outcomes or delays in achieving goals deadlines. However hard HRM is best suited in condition of financial crisis and economic recession. In these conditions companies are incurring losses and they cannot afford hiring of new employees. Hard HRM is helpful in minimizing external hiring and shifting and relocating existing employees within organization. This will make existing employees loyal because they were not laid off by the organization when downsizing is the only option that remains during financial crisis. (Fombrun, 1984). The recruitment and selection is the most important process in hiring of employees. It requires analysis of both job applicants and job itself. We have to look for desired characteristics in applicants so that he must make a good match with particular job requirements. If his skills, education and experience are not adequate for the specific job then it will lead to frustration and confusion. The result will be poor performance, job dissatisfaction and high turnover. Both soft and hard HRM approach will provide realistic job preview and job description so that employees can judge their potential for a specific job. However soft HRM approach will be more insightful as it will look into the hidden personality traits, attitudes and beliefs of the applicants so that they can be better integrated into overall corporate culture, norms and values. Whereas hard HRM will only look to match the applicants skills with the technical specification of the job. Soft HRM give more attention to the human processes such as communication, sharing of knowledge, cohesiveness and trust among employees. Interviews, paper pencil test etc are the most common selection devices and are used by both approaches. However soft HRM approach has additional selection devices such as personality test, psychological test, case studies and different types of surveys. The second stage in HR lifecycle is development of effective workforce which includes training and performance appraisal as the two most important activities. Soft HRM approach will be more inclined towards training for individual advancement and career development. Soft HRM will go for various types of training techniques such as on the job training, class room training, computer assisted instructions, conferences and case discussion groups. Employees will be made to learn multiple skills so that they can be rotated among various jobs in order to reduce monotony and introduce variety. Hard HRM will see training as an expense. It will usually design job which leaves little room for showing discretion and creativity. The job is monotonous and set rules and procedures are there to perform the job. So training is limited to learning those specific job procedures which limits career advancement. This reduces employee motivation and cause job dissatisfaction and high turnover rate because of increase in monotony. The practice of hard HRM is most suitable in assembly line work. However it will fail in work demanding creativity and originality and whose environment is more unstable and uncertain, for example, film industry. While considering the activity of performance appraisal, hard HRM is more stringent in its appraisal process. The poor performance is mostly attributed to individuals lack of ability and no consideration is given to various external factors influencing the individuals performance. External factors are outside individual control and includes pathetic work environment, work place conflicts, distrust, no sharing of information and resources, bad relations and poor communication with top management. (Drucker , 1954 ) On the other hand soft HRM gives objective feedback on employees performance. It also uses the technique of 360 degree feedback that uses multiple raters and self rating to enhance the reliability and credibility of feedback in the eyes of employees. Multiple raters can include customers, co workers, supervisors and subordinates. Employee is also given a chance to explain his point of view and give explanation if his performance is not up to the standard. At the end of the appraisal top performances are also rewarded with bonuses, recognition and promotion. The feedback style of soft HRM is such that employees are motivated to improve their performance further. It enhances employees self efficacy by making clear role expectations and removing role conflicts and role ambiguity. This approach is therefore best suited for organizations whose culture encompasses total quality management. TQM stresses for customer satisfaction by providing better quality product or services through dedication to training, continuous improvement and teamwork. The third and last stage in HR life cycle is maintaining of workforce so that they continue to work for the organization over the long run. This stage consists of four activities such as rewards management, industrial relation, occupational health and safety and termination. In soft HRM approach rewards are such that it recognizes individual’s accomplishment as well as teamwork. Rewards are administered in such a way that it promotes collaboration and cooperation among employees so that they work as a unit for the overall goals of the organization. The focus is on creating the synergy so that different department of organization works coherently and in alignment of corporate strategy. Ivancevich, 2003). Soft HRM approach also gives rewards which increases intrinsic motivation of employees. Intrinsic motivation to work comes from the internal satisfaction and honor one feels when he completes some meaningful work which makes the difference for the organization. These types of rewards increase employees’ sense of meaningfulness, competence, progress and choice. Intrinsic rewards which increase intrinsic motivation are important for increasing employees’ commitment to organization’s goals and mission. The hard HRM has tight control over rewards. Apart from basic salary, less effort is made to recognize individual performance. However calculated yearly bonuses are given when year end profit target is achieved. In other words no effort is made in hard HRM’s reward system to increase employees’ commitment to work. The main problem is that hard HRM follows corporate strategy in rewarding employees and no analysis is done about employee’s needs and desires. Soft HRM is good enough as its rewards system makes a best fit between employees’ needs and rewards. Moreover the other organization dynamics which affects rewards system is employees’ perceived equity of rewards. If the distribution of rewards is not considered equitable by employees then motivating effects of rewards will vanish. There will be feeling of cognitive dissonance in employees and to remove this feeling, he will either alter his inputs to the work or will demand changes in rewards. The soft HRM approach dealing with human processes designs reward system to improve employees’ perceived equity while hard HRM fails to do so. According to Herzberg, working conditions, pay, good company policy and interpersonal relationships are called hygiene factors and their presence removes job dissatisfaction. The hygiene factors are well cared by soft HRM approach. The hard one fails to provide hygiene factors because its main objective is to accomplish a task in most economical terms as possible. It is only the soft HRM approach that has clear and functional policies and procedures about occupational health and safety. (Noe, 2003). Soft HRM approach looks to build long term relationship with employees. It opens all channels of communication such as upward, downward and lateral. Moreover grapevine and management by objective techniques are also used by managers to delve deeper into employees’ problems and requirements. Hard HRM only uses formal and hierarchical communication channel. This is also the cause for many communication breakdown and distortion. The most important feature of soft HRM is of mentoring and socialization which greatly helps in building cooperative and trustful corporate culture and environment.

Liberalism, Civic Reformism and Democracy Essay -- Argumentative Argum

Liberalism, Civic Reformism and Democracy This paper argues that liberalism provides democracy with the experience of civic reformism. Without it, democracy loses any tie-argumentative or practical-to a coherent design of public policy endeavoring to provide the resources for the realization of democratic citizenship. The case for liberalism rests on an argumentative reconstruction of the function it performs before the rise of a world economic order and, more specifically, in the creation of the welfare state after the Second World War. Accordingly, liberalism defines a reformist political program: it is an emancipatory political project by virtue of its struggle for an egalitarian and universalist extension of citizenship rights. This is but a formulation of the modern idea of citizenship, conceived of as a universalizable contract of rights. At the same time, liberalism embraces a socioeconomic emancipatory project that endeavors to provide the conditions, within the institutional framework of modern societies, for the ac complishment of citizenship rights. The origins of liberalism in the seventeenth century tell the story of the struggle for recognition of religious tolerance. This early form of pluralism provided the antecedent for the constitutional recognition of civil rights, interpreted in terms of universal adscription. A further step of constitution-building in liberal polities was taken when the universal principles of equality and liberty assumed the status of fundamental rights. That happened under the form of a constitutional program aimed at the improvement of the civil condition. Liberalism as a revolution of rights not only meant the conquest of civil rights by society, but also their extension by constitut... ... Studies, 1, pp. 73-86. Rawls, J. 1993: Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press. Rosales, J. M. and J. Rubio-carracedo 1997: "To Govern Pluralism: towards a Concept of Complex Citizenship", in W. Krawietz, E. Pattaro and A. Erh-Soon Tay, eds., Rule of Law. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Sen, A. 1992: Inequality Reexamined. Oxford: Clarendon. Turner, B. S. 1986: Citizenship and Capitalism. London: Allen & Unwin. ____ 1997: "Citizenship Studies: a General Theory", Citizenship Studies, 1, pp. 5-18. Van steenbergen, Bart 1994: "Global Modelling in the 1990s. A Critical Evaluation of a New Wave", Futures, 26, pp. 44-56. Vogel, U. 1991: "Is Citizenship Gender-Specific?", in U. Vogel and M. Moran, eds., The Frontiers of Citizenship. Houndmills and London: Macmillan, pp. 58-85. Walzer, M. 1983: Spheres of Justice. New York: Basic Books.

Friedrich Engels Essays -- Biography Communism engels Essays

Friedrich Engels During the time of the industrial era, there were many people upset over the manner in which the nations were being run. They were upset with the idea of capitol gain and how it was affecting people’s actions. They saw this era causing people to exploit each other with the intent of monetary gain. Those that were already part of the higher ranking class, the richer, would see reason to force the lower class, the working man, to spend his life in the new factories. He would be bullied into risking life and limb at the monstrous machines while hardly earning a penny. The working man suffered because the richer man owned the factory and consumed all the profits himself. Some men, however, saw a solution as well as the problem. They thought that if the power could be taken out of the hands of the strong and power hungry, then the working class would realize the rights they had all along. The constant struggle for power would be eliminated and so society would become better . Two of these men were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marx had received all the recognition while Engels has been shunted off the pages of history. He did, however, still have an impact on the development of communism. Friedrich Engels was born on November 28, 1820 in Barmen, Germany. Engels began to learn the family business rather early, being the oldest son of an auspicious industrialist.1 Engels studied commerce and worked for his father as an office clerk from 1837 to 1841. But this was not his only focus. He also tried his hand at poetry as did his future friend Marx. Like Marx, his attempts did not gain him any recognition in the literary world. By his eighteenth year he had sworn off poetry all together. This was... ...e story of his life. Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1962. 3. Mehring, Franz. Karl Marx: The story of his life. Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1962. 4. Modern History Sourcebook: Friederich Engels: Industrial Manchester, 1844 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1844engels.html 5. Anderson, Thornton. Masters of Russian Marxism. New York: Appelton-Century- Crofts, 1963. 6. BIOGRAPHICAL ARTICLE ON ENGELS, Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon. Vol. 6, 14th ed., Leipzig and Vienna, 1893. Translated into English by Progress Publishers 7. BIOGRAPHICAL ARTICLE ON ENGELS, Brockhaus' Konversations-Lexikon. Vol. 6, 14th ed., Leipzig and Vienna, 1893. Translated into English by Progress Publishers 8. Marx and Engels. Reminiscences of Marx and Engels. Moscow: Foreign Lauguages Publishing House.

Matters of Life and Death Essay

This case surrounds the controversy brought about by the Arizona state legislature defunding life-saving organ transplant operations. In 1987, the Arizona state legislature voted to eliminate funding for most organ transplants for the indigent through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). At the same time of this decision, the legislature voted to extend health coverage to pregnant women and children in a â€Å"notch group.† The public controversy began when Dianna Brown died after being denied coverage for a liver transplant that would have saved her life. After her death, there was wide spread coverage of the issue that brought the defunding of certain organ transplants into the national spotlight. The decision to move funds for the poor to mothers and children rather than to life-saving transplant services put the legislature under scrutiny. This case presents that scrutiny and the legislature’s reasoning behind their decision. III. Required Methods In order to complete this analysis, I will have to deal with issues dealing with cost/benefit thinking in a context of fairness dealing with medical procedures. I will need to look at whether or not moving funding from transplants to mothers and children did something financially astute for the state of Arizona or if this is a case of mismanagement by the government. I will also have to deal with the issues of limited public resources, growing costs of medical technology, and diminished control of medical services. IV. Analysis Question 1: Was the Arizona legislature right in deciding not to fund certain kinds of organ transplants for indigents under the state’s indigent health care program? I believe that the Arizona legislature was not right in their decision to not fund certain kinds of organ transplants. In this case, there are several issues that arise including the concepts of distributive justice, cost-benefit analyses, and the role of government in society. The fact that the legislature looked at the increased number of organ transplants and the growing costs associated with them and compared them to another development in the state’s health care system does not seem fair. By defunding the organ transplantation services, they took away the right to choose from individuals in life threatening situations. With costs being a driving factor behind this decision, it was questioned whether the state should be spending so much on high risk, high cost procedures. In the case, there was an excerpt that explained the money-making aspect of the health care system. â€Å"If it was a pure concern about the medical needs out there, we’d have far more burn units than we have transplant units. The reality is they make money on those units.† I do not believe this is how the health care system sh ould be run. Whether it is political or judicial pressure, there is too much political influence in the health industry. There is the argument of transplantation services being more readily available to those with money and political connections, but I feel that policy should be able to set specific guidelines by which all of this can be overridden. I understand the fact that if you are to make exceptions in certain cases you are starting down a slippery slope and that initially, the decision to either have transplant services or to do away with them completely was somewhat justified. Further, the decision to fund only the most cost-effective services was also justified. Everyone had a fair shot at services if they needed them. When services began being compared to each other is where I have a problem. There is no way to justify comparing deliveries to transplants. In one analysis, Shaller compared the costs on society from a bad child to a transplant. In the end he came up with the fact that the cost of 8 heart transplants would cover 700 deliveries. He said â€Å"in public program, that has the widest range of responsibilities, and limited resources to handle those responsibilities, I think it’s unacceptable to use those limited resources in a way that really doesn’t further the public good.† I can agree with this statement but still do not feel that the personal health choices that can save an individual’s life should be left in the hand of a capitalistic government. In rebuttal to the governmental policies and financial analysis, Dr. Copeland argued that even if the AHCCCS were to deny funding to transplants, the health care system would still end up incurring costs associated with hospital costs till death as well as social security benefits to the families of patients who die without receiving a transplant. Also, he mentioned that Medicare would soon approve his transplant center as one of the 10 in the country to be covered. This came under much scrutiny and in the end a compromise was reached to look at each by a case-to-case basis. After the drama surrounding Diana Brown’s death, it was the opinion of the Arizona legislature that it would make the decision that would most benefit the residents of Arizona. In the end, â€Å"the public generally is not willing to, say, double the taxes in this state to insurance that everyone got the maximum possible health care.† While the decision may have had justifications by the state legislature, completely defunding organ transplantation services takes away the rights of patients and makes it so that health care is a privilege. I do not believe this is how health care should be. With so many changes being discussed simultaneously, this issue seems to have slipped through the cracks and caused unnecessary deaths to patients who had their right to life-prolonging health coverage denied in order to fund a â€Å"notch group† that had household incomes higher than the AHCCCS maximum but were below the official federal poverty line. This does not seem ‘fair’. In the end this case asks many ethical questions dealing with fairness and equality as well as whether access to health care is a right or a privilege. Question 2: On what principles do you position in the answer to question 1? (As an example, do you consider health care a right, and if so, why?) I believe that health care is indeed a right. Especially in a country like the United States where health providers and insurance companies are big business and make huge profits each year while millions may suffer from their lack of coverage or inability to pay. In the US, healthcare providers charge premiums on insurance. Whether or not they chose to cover a condition is largely up to them and in the past few years, insurance companies have tripled their profits. â€Å"According to the World Health Organization and the Physicians for a National Health Program, the United States spends twice as much per capita on healthcare compared to other countries such as Canada, Britain & Germany, who have universal healthcare.† According to statistics, in other countries with universal healthcare, there is less bankruptcy and better economies. I believe that there is too much political and outside influence in health care and that the industry is more of a money machine than anything. With the economy in a slump and an exceedingly large population not being able to afford health insurance, I believe that those individuals have a constitutional right to receive care that will prolong life. Laws regulating health care serve to benefit the population, not punish it. With so many gaps in the system nowadays, the ACA being upheld shows that the government believes that everyone should have equal access to healthcare. Providing health care to all benefits society by providing those with an opportunity to normally operate in society and benefit society through work, social, or economic aspects. Question 3: What roles do economic and financial analyses play in your position on the state’s responsibilities? While the state has a job to provide care to its citizens, it is also obligated to maintain financial stability within the state and contribute to its infrastructure. A cost-benefit analyses of moving funding from organ transplantation services to the â€Å"notch group† of pregnant women and children shows that while looking at services offered, the state will be able to control their overall costs. In situations like this where the healthcare system is often viewed as a money machine, it is almost impossible to overlook the exceedingly high costs of transplants. In one analysis, Shaller compared the costs on society from a bad child to a transplant. In the end he came up with the fact that the cost of 8 heart transplants would cover 700 deliveries. He said â€Å"in public program, that has the widest range of responsibilities, and limited resources to handle those responsibilities, I think it’s unacceptable to use those limited resources in a way that really doesnâ₠¬â„¢t further the public good.† While this analysis has many problems with it, the financial and economic implications are exactly what a business would want. By cutting, the high-risk, high-cost procedures, the state would be able to begin making money from the health care system. While I can understand the business aspect of health care and understand that economic and financial analyses play a large role in allocating resources and money towards services, I still feel strongly that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. The state has a responsibility to maintain financial stability. In this case, stability was enhanced by cutting services to transplants and focusing on individuals that would be able to give back to society over a longer period of time. Question 4: How does the analysis of this case inform your position in the current debate about health care reform? This case has made me think of the question can medical services ever be rationed fairly. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which was recently passes should accomplish a lot of good for the greater portion of the population. It will not only reduce the number of uninsured but also protect those at risk of losing coverage. Additionally, the ACA aims to reduce health care spending and reduce costs for patients. This plan will not only extend coverage to those that may not be able to afford coverage, but will also aim to try and cut costs for the health care industry. This is a fusion of two of the debated points in this case. In the case, we looked at cutting funding from one service in order to provide services for another set of the population. The ACA aims to try and provide services and coverage for all. Overall, there are many questions that this c ase made me think of regarding the Affordable Care Act. I was not fully aware of the health industry being a big money business and how much of a part politics played in it. Additionally, the case opened my eyes to the fact that no matter what is done, not everyone is going to be satisfied or comply with the new policies. There are always specific cases that will cause questions to be asked, but if exceptions are made, then there will have to be exceptions in every similar case. The current debate about health reform addressed these questions and now that the ACA will remain in effect, it is still to be seen the impact that this makes on not only the economy, but also how it affects the rights of Americans to utilize healthcare. V. Recommendations After reading through this case and thinking about the financial issues presented in the case, I understand the financial and economic issues that have to be addressed while also considering providing the best care for the greatest number of people. In order to decide cutting services, this case addressed governmental policy that may cause unfavorable health decisions to pass in order to remain financially stable. In the end, I believe that health care is a right, not a privilege and the decision to life or death should never be put in the hands of a third party or up to money. The right to decisions about life and death should not come down to how much money you have, but should be a human right that is extended to those in need. VI. References HHS Gov. â€Å"Through the Affordable Care Act, Americans with Medicare will save $5,000 through 2022.† United States Department of Health and Human Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. â€Å"The Health Care Law & You | HealthCare.gov.† Home | HealthCare.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. < http://www.healthcare.gov/law/index.html> Houseman, Michael . â€Å"The Health Care Law & You | HealthCare.gov.† Home | HealthCare.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. VII. Lessons Learned I enjoyed doing this case report as it dealt with many issues outside of finance as well as important financial issues. In order to complete this analysis, I had to deal with issues dealing with cost/benefit thinking in a context of fairness dealing with medical procedures. I looked at whether or not moving funding from transplants to mothers and children did something financially astute for the state of Arizona or if this is a case of mismanagement by the government. I also dealt with the issues of limited public resources, growing costs of medical technology, and diminished control of medical services. In the end it was a decision that would have to either be based on financial considerations, ethical considerations, or a mix of both. A lot of the issues in this case have also been discussed in my public health ethics class this semester, so this case allowed me to utilize knowledge from other classes along with new financial concepts in order to do my analysis. Whether it is fairness or equality or even cost-effectiveness, there are problems that arise with each approach when used alone. From a financial standpoint, using cost effectiveness analysis is very important in determining social policy matters even with its downfall that it cannot suggest how priorities are set. I would have liked to deal with some numbers associated with cost-benefit analysis just to see how they were done but I was able to understand the basic principles behind the theory through my analysis on this case.

Factors That Influence Food Habits and Culture Essay

How do you choose your food? This is a very simple question for most people,but we may get a hundred of different answers. Therefore,What factors actually influence our food habit and culture ? During the long history of human, food habits and culture are influenced by many factors. I want to discuss how food habits and culture influenced by geographical factors, religions factors,social factors and economic factors. First of all, climate is a very important factor of geography that affects our eating habits. â€Å"Climate affect local food habits by determining how long a growing season is and how many growing seasons there are per year. â€Å"(lisabeth hughes, 2011) The different weather in different region make the produce different. In warm region, most produces are up to three to four crop cycles per year. But in some cold region, the growing season will be short and crop cultivation is limited to one cycle. Compare to food in cold region, food in temperate regions can be more various. At the same time, season also have effect on our eating habits and culture. People will choose different food between summer and winter. This may not so common in California, but it is a very common phenomenon in my hometown. Chinese people like to eat hot pot in winter, because hot pot can make us feel warm. However, less of Chinese will like hot pot in summer. In addition, the living position is also a main element that impact on our food habits and culture. People who live around sea would like to eat more seafood than people live in inland city. Like people live in California are easy to get fresh seafood than people live in Colorado. That’s why I believe geographical factors affecting food habits and culture. Secondly, religions factor influence our food habits and culture. Religious proscriptions range from a few to many, from relaxed to highly restrictive. This will affect a follow’s food choices and behaviors. Much of religions have their unique food habits and culture. Fro instance, Muslims and Jewish do not eat pork. They believe that Pork is not a clean food. Also, Within Christianity, the Seventy-day Adventists discourage â€Å"stimulating† beverages such as alcohol,which is not forbidden among Catholics. As religions are have big effect on people, the rule in religions for the food also influence our eating habits and culture. Thirdly, social factors which include family and peer pressure play a important role in our food habits and culture. In the article, Eating Habits, the author shows us that people in a social group will influence each other’s behaviors and values. They also share a common culture. A person’s membership in particular peer, work, or community group impacts food behaviors. For example, we live with our family since we born. It is easy for us to follow our family’s food habits and culture when we were small. So, it is difficult for us to change our habits even it is bad. That’s why our food habits and culture can not easily change. It’s a heritage we inherit from our ancestor. Finally, economic factors influence our food habits and culture as well. Population studies show that it is obviously to see the food difference in different social classes. Money,values, and consumer skills all affect what a person purchases. If we wish to choose some healthy food, we have to pay much than some unbalanced diets. For this reason, Low-income group have a greater tendency to consume unbalanced diets and have low intakes of fruit and vegetables. It is clearly to see how economic factors affect on food habits and culture in our daily life. To sum up, I hold the view that geographical factors, religions factors,social factors and economic factors are the most important factor influence our food habits and culture. Reference Hughes, L. (2011). Geographical factors affecting food habits. http://www. ehow. co. uk/info_8210829_geographical-factors-affecting-food-habits. html Yvonne,M. (2010). What influence the eating habits of the American people? http://voices. yahoo. com/what-influences-eating-habits-american-5588233. html? ca t=5 Food today(2004). Why we eat what we eat:social and economic determinants of food choice. http://www. eufic. org/article/en/health-and-lifestyle/food-choice/artid/social-economic-determinants-food-choice/.