Art and Photography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art and Photography - Essay Example Her photographs are a visual testament to her creations which are not subject to the viewers interpretation. One does not have to prefer the work of Laurie Simmons to realize that she is conveying a message. Indeed, "Walking, Talking Lying" exposes her comments on what is happening in society today. Her manipulations are sarcastic and are a haunting reminder of where the world is headed. Her photographs tell the story of interplay between people and objects. For example, in "Walking Talking Lying" there is a black and white photograph of a woman's lower body with a gun as its' head (Simmons 1-160). The gun is a small revolver - one which can be easily be handled by a woman of any size and body is covered by a thin black slip. Even the harshest of critics cannot say that this piece is a mere photograph. It is a statement that is offered by Ms. Simmons which compels the looker to reflect on the state of women today, based upon her recollections of Oftentimes, a viewer may consider artwork to bring pleasurable feelings and that is not necessarily one that emanates from the depictions of Ms. Simmons. I regard art to be a form of communication. It is not an intellectual article, or frothy novella. It is not limited to Monet's pond scenes and Chaucer's prose. Art is something that compels reflection. The photographs of Ms.

Look below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Look below - Essay Example The determination of the five important skills that the forensic accountants must posses It is important to know that the field of forensic accounting is a special arena of accountancy that deals with engagements with the outcomes from real as well as anticipated disputes. The word forensic means suitable for use in law court and it is referred to that standard that the potential result that the forensic accountants’ personnel have to work. The forensic accountants are also known as forensic auditors and they often have to engage themselves in providing expert advice at the eventual trial. The accountants require some type of skills in order to perform effectively in the market. The most important skills that the accountant requires are analytical characteristics, ethical, investigative, auditing skills, communication, interpersonal as well as specific credential requirements. The forensic services contribute an important part in the client services list and with the view to b ecome a productive accountant it may not gets transformed into productive accountant. The effective forensic accountant should have some professionalism to define the broad spectrum comprising of knowledge and skills. The services of forensic accounting comprises of the following: The application and the implementation of the knowledge as well as investigative skills acquired by the certified public accountant Collecting, analyzing as well as evaluating the evidential matter Interpretation and the outcomes in the courtroom or some other administrative venues The next tabulation will show the forensic knowledge required in the process The professional responsibilities and the practice in management Resolution to dispute, laws and courts Preparation and planning of the business process Collection of information and documentation of important information Invention of new techniques Reporting, experts and testimony The core skills of the CPA comprises of forensic accountants knowledge a nd some special forensic knowledge. The core skills in the arena of education, training and the accounting principles along with some attested services conclude the skills from the traditional accounting perspectives. However on the ideas of forensic accountant the same set of skills may not be adhered to these basic skills. Some of the areas explored and relevant to the forensic account and accounting are mentioned below. The characteristics and the traits The niche skills The advanced skills The specialties required and the certifications The arenas for advancement It should be noted that there must be some gap between conceiving the skills and the requisite knowledge along with the ability to transfer the skills into implementation of forensic accounting practices. The skills and the traits point out to the necessity for the accountant to search for the related information and the implementation of the information in the process to solve the problem accrued in the business (Rick, 2010). Then necessity to use analytical practices in forensic accounting engagement may be in the initial processes but it is the most important overall characteristics. The analytical proficiencies are important are important attributes for the forensic accountant (Charles, Ramona & Suzanne, n.d.). The results of different studies show that analytical characteristics are very important in forensic accountant’s ability to opt for the value added services and calls

Heritage assessment Essay Example for Free

Heritage assessment Essay Kizlik [2014] argues that the purpose of a learning objective is to communicate, and that a well-constructed behavioral learning objective should have little room for doubt about what is intended. Health professionals in designing educational programs to engage both patients as well as families, should be able to taper the task or objective to the specific patient and their family; for them to be able to explain what you taught them and for them to be able to demonstrate it. On the Euromed Info website, on Developing Learning Objectives. Retrieved from http://www.euromedinfo.eu/developing-learning-objectives.html/ [n.d.] state that â€Å"a simple and practical way of developing learning objectives is to start with the words, WHO, DOES WHAT, HOW and WHEN.† For the purpose of this exercise the learning objective will be for the patient and the family to be able to change an ostomy bag in a patient with a newly formed colostomy. It is important to find out from the patient and the family which learning styles work for them, example whether reading of pamphlets, one on one teaching or visual aids. Also the condition or ability of the patient to perform the task, e.g. is the patient strong and well enough to perform the task or are they too weak from being ill. In using the learning objectives cited above, WHO- will be the patient and family DOES- list the components needed WHAT-changing a stoma bag HOW – by performing task or stating how to WHEN- by discharge The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations [JCAHO] as cited on the Euromed Info website on Family Structure and Style, retrieved from [http://www.euromedinfo.eu/family-structure-and-style.html/] defines the family as â€Å"the person or persons who play a significant role in the individual’s life including persons not legally related to the individual. â€Å"How a family functions influences the health of its members as well as how the individual reacts to illness† retrieved from http://www.euromedinfo.eu/family-structure-and-style.html . In the light of this , having the family understand the rationale behind the treatment and steps on how to help the patient change this stoma bag will assist the  patient to be more confident in changing their stoma bag and also in dealing and coping with this new health change. REFERENCES http://www.adprima.com/objectives.htm http://www.euromedinfo.eu/developing-learning-objectives.html/ http://www.euromedinfo.eu/family-structure-and-style.htm

Introduction to E-learning: Types, Benefits and Strategies

Introduction to E-learning: Types, Benefits and Strategies Chapter 2. Background and Related Work Introduction During the last decade the amount of literature published in the field of eLearning has grown noticeably, as has the diversity in attitudes and viewpoints of people who work on this subject. The general background presented here with regard to eLearning includes the definition, details of different types and the concept of quality. Information quality within information systems (IS), web mining and information extracting techniques are the main areas on which supporting literature is primarily focused. However, an in-depth explanation of each branch of these research fields is outside the scope of this literature review. The literature presented here is particularly focused on the subtopics of these large research areas which are directly applicable to this research. The structure of this chapter is divided into three main parts: a general view of eLearning including definitions of eLearning, an overview of eLearning types and the concept of quality in eLearning; information quality (IQ) within ISs; and information extraction methods. Each section includes a number of subsections which address the factors that are relevant to this research. ELearning In this part of the literature review, we focus on eLearning by providing a discussion about the definitions of eLearning, eLearning types and the concept of quality in eLearning. Moreover, in this section we lay the foundation for the general concept of quality in eLearning upon which the research will be based. This section also presents a discussion about the relationships between technology, users and content in an eLearning context. ELearning Definition The term eLearning is used in the literature and in business to describe many fields, such as online learning, web-based training, distance learning, distributed learning, virtual learning, or technology-based training. During recent decades, eLearning has been defined in several instances in different ways. In any publication in the field of eLearning, it is important to ensure that the authors understanding exactly matches that of the majority of the readers, therefore, the specific definition used should be stated first. Moreover, to reach a clearer understanding of what eLearning is, in this part of the thesis we present numerous definitions of eLearning as mentioned in the literature. In general, most of the definitions of the term eLearning are used to express the exploitation of technologies which can be used to deliver learning (or learning materials) in an electronic format, most likely via the World Wide Web (WWW). Psaromiligkos and Retalis consider eLearning to be the systems which utilise the WWW as a delivery medium for static learning resources, such as instructional files, or as an interface onto interactive The previous definitions look at eLearning in general; in more detail, eLearning can be in the form of courses or in the form of modules and smaller learning materials it also could take various forms. Romiszowski takes these details into account and summarises the definitions encountered in the literature in a way that emphasises that eLearning can be a solitary, individual activity, or a collaborative group activity. It also suggests that both synchronous and asynchronous interactive forms can be engaged. Naidu also takes into consideration the differences in the forms of interaction when trying to formulate a general definition of eLearning: educational processes that utilize information and communications technology to mediate asynchronous as well as synchronous learning and teaching activities. The position adopted in this research is that eLearning entails the technology used to distribute the learning materials, the quality of these materials, and the interaction with learners. The definition of eLearning used in this research addresses these dimensions in terms of: the use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services as well as remote exchange and collaborations ELearning Types As mention earlier, eLearning takes many different forms and includes numerous types of systems. In the extant literature eLearning types are defined following two main axes: the user context (individuals, groups or a community of users) and users engagement and interactivity. Romiszowski takes these details into account and summarises the definitions encountered in the following table, which emphasises that eLearning can be a solitary, individual activity, or a collaborative group activity. It also suggests that both synchronous and asynchronous interactive forms can be engaged. Looking more deeply at the division of the forms of interactivity used in eLearning systems, there are two main types of eLearning: asynchronous and synchronous, depending on learning and teaching activities. Synchronous eLearning environments require tutors and learners, or the online classmates, to be online at the same time, where live interactions take place between them. In this context, Doherty describes an Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN) as a variety of eLearning systems which distribute learning materials and concepts in one direction at a time. Moreover, Spencer and Hiltz express ALN as a place where learners can interact with learning materials, tutors and other learners, through the WWW at different times and from different places. The focus of this research will be on a case where students log-in to and use the system independently of other students and staff members, as well as using asynchronous methods regarding learning content, quality management and delivery which fit firmly into the general definition of the asynchronous eLearning environment. Quality Concept in ELearning The definition of eLearning adopted in this thesis represents three fundamental dimensions: technology, access and quality. The focus in this research will be on quality, which is considered a crucial issue for education in general, and for eLearning in particular. This section of the literature review will discuss concepts of quality in eLearning generally, and highlight the importance of content as the most critical factor for the overall quality. Currently, there are two recognised challenges in eLearning: the demand for overall interoperability and the request for (high) quality. However, quality cannot be expressed and set by a simple definition, since in itself quality is a very abstract notion. In fact, it is much easier to notice the absence of quality than its presence. Despite efforts to reach a comprehensive, universal definition of quality in eLearning, there is still a fundamental ambiguity surrounding the issue. One position is to consider quality as an evaluation of excellence, a stance which is primarily adopted by universities and education institutions. For example, in universities quality teaching and learning are promoted as the top priority, giving less attention to criteria or measurements regarding teaching input into courses, the learning outcomes, and the interactivity with the system. Another trend is to consider the improvement in quality, where quality is improved by moving beyond the set conceptions applied, and generally moving in the direction of a flexible process of negotiation, which needs a very high level of quality capability from those involved. Furthermore, quality can be viewed and considered from different aspects. Here, the SunTrust Equitable report illustrates what they perceive to be the value chain in eLearning in the form of a pyramid. The content is the most critical factor of eLearning. Indeed, to be able to use the internet as a tool to improve learning, the content should not distract learners, but increase their interest for learning. Learning tools and enablers are also important in the learning procedure. In reality, providers of learning platforms and knowledge management systems are key in the successful delivery of content. These companies provide the necessary infrastructure to deliver learning content. Moreover, learning service providers (LSP) are the distribution channels for content providers. One of the challenges facing these knowledge hubs and LSPs is to ensure that the learners are receiving fresh content. Companies focused on educational e-tailing then complete the value pyramid of eLearning. Looking at the pyramid it can be clearly observed that content is the most critical component of learning through the internet. In a similar manner, Henry stated that eLearning is composed of three main aspects: content, technology and services, he also emphasised that content is the most significant factor. Although this thesis will focus on the quality of content delivered by eLearning as the most important criteria and the most influential in the overall level of learning quality, the specified context and the perspectives of users also need to be taken into account when defining quality in eLearning. It is also essential to classify suitable criteria to address this quality. ELearning Technology, Users and Content Although most eLearning explanations focus on the technology and not on the learning, it is important to keep the people eLearning is designed for in mind. Moreover, individual learning styles and required learning materials should be addressed first. Then a suitable electronic delivery method can be adopted. On their website (agelesslearner.com), Karl and Marcia Conner commented, in this regard, that Maybe the e should actually follow the word learning'. Henry describes the content in a way that includes all delivered materials, including the materials which are usually offered in classroom-based learning and that are tailored for eLearning, in addition to any other knowledge the developer might offer. In fact, eLearning systems are considered to be user-adaptive systems, where systems are designed to react with user performance and choices. Webber, Pesty and Balacheff express user modelling as a central issue in the development of user-adaptive systems, whose behaviour is usually based on the users preferences, goals, interests and knowledge. Moreover, they declare that a system can be considered user-adaptive when changes in its functionality, structure or interface can be monitored, in order to consider the different needs of users and, ultimately, their changing needs. In the area of eLearning Heift and Nicholson believe that eLearning systems as adaptive systems are designed to meet the diverse requirements of students who have different levels of knowledge and backgrounds [19]. There is a significant base of literature and research in the area of adaptive systems, which usually base their behaviour on user models. In more detail, Kobsa explained that the user model often depends on one user or a group of users sharing the same profile and it characterises users preferences, goals, interests and knowledge. Webber, Pesty and Balacheff notice that with regard to this point there are two main problems relating to user modelling: to identify the relevant information to be modelled and to decide which method is more suitable to apply in order to determine the relevant information about the user. In fact, personalisation plays an important role in all areas of the e-era, especially in eLearning, as stated by Esposito, Licchelli and Semeraro, where the main issue is student modelling. This is the analysis of student behaviour and the prediction of future activities and learning performance . Furthermore, Ong and Ramachandran perceive that the literature on adaptive systems shows that by modelling the learner, the human tutor and the knowledge domain of instructional content, powerful pedagogical outcomes can be obtained. Although eLearning systems are considered types of adaptive systems, the difference between the concept of the user and the concept of the student creates a fundamental problem in the eLearning area. In this context, Esposito, Licchelli and Semeraro believe that in a general web system the user is free to surf and the system attempts to predict future user steps using the user model in order to improve the interaction between the user and the system, while in the eLearning system the modelling has to improve the educational route, adapting it to the model of the student. As a result it is essential to control and to assess student browsing. The systems should not give the students absolute freedom to decide their way through the content and learning materials, rather, the system should provide a specific educational path and offer a continuous evaluation activity of student performance, towards a defined pedagogical goal. Although delivering web-based educational materials can be very useful as the same content is distributed to a number of students and can be accessed regardless of time and place, this delivery would not be beneficial from a pedagogical point of view if the students, their level of knowledge and their learning style was not known. In fact, Sanatally and Senteni observe that the widely held principle of using the web simply as a form of distributed medium for learning materials does not add significant value to the learning process. This argument leads to the conviction of the importance of developing adaptive eLearning systems. Even if adaptive systems are focused on the interaction with users and changing the course and the content dynamically with their needs, and not on controlling the set sequence of a course, eLearning can exploit adaptive technologies to build learning environments that form user-specific sequencing. Tang and McCalla use the example of the Paper Recommender Sys tem as a good example of this exploitation: the system was designed to give recommendations to students about what conference or journal papers to read, based on their level of understanding and knowledge. We can see more clearly, as suggested by Conati and VanLehn, that the aim of adaptive systems is to build precise, interactively changing models of individual student learning, in order to use them as representations of how learners are progressing within the content of the course. Moreover, Papanikolaou et al. describe adaptivity as being system-controlled and in most cases assists in: planning the content, planning the delivery and presentation of the learning materials, supporting student navigation throughout the field of knowledge and problem solving. From this, it can be deduced that learner models generally characterise learner knowledge levels on the concepts of domain knowledge, pedagogical goals and learning preferences towards diverse styles of learning materials. In this context, they suggest that the domain model should be used in parallel with the learner model to provide a structure for the representation of learner knowledge of the defined domain. Using this procedure , tailored learning materials can be distributed to specific learners to be consistent with their requirements. This corresponds with the vision of Mittal et al., who realised that by creating several broad groups into which it is possible to segment target learners, it can be ensured that the content of learning materials for an absolute beginner student is not the same for that of a student getting ready for an exam. Nowadays, most student modelling systems follow the same method, in which the systems starting point is to create a reference template for a student, thus, the expertise or intelligence encoded into the system can adapt the course organisation and content to the individual student. The use of this method to decide the style and level of content that a student should be offered, according to how students interact with the system, will lead to a more personalised learning experience. In the case of this research, the student and domain model did not entail the complexity of those built in adaptive systems; however, several of the underlying principles of available student and domain modelling techniques proved to be useful. The key issue in most adaptive systems that feature student and domain modelling is a sequence of complex data repositories that give highly precise values about student performance and completion against learning materials. The focus in this research will be on measuring the quality of the content of learning materials distributed via eLearning systems, and establishing how the student will interact with the materials, how they will be able to extract the relevant information from the content and how the context of the online materials will help students to recognise the underlying structure of the content and easily access the parts in which they are interested. This research will gather empirical evidence using online questionnaires, which can be used to directly ask students about their preferences and perspectives. Summary This part of the literature review provided a general overview of eLearning, including definitions of eLearning, a note of eLearning types and consideration of the concept of quality in eLearning. It also identified the definition adopted for eLearning in this study and considered the type upon which this research will focus. Moreover, in this section we laid the foundation for the general concept of quality in eLearning upon which the research will be based. Finally, it presented a brief discussion about the relationships between technology, users and content in an eLearning context. The next part of this chapter will discuss the concept of IQ within ISs; this will be used later on to set standards for IQ in the context of eLearning systems. Information Quality in Information Systems In this part of the literature review we will start with a brief discussion of the terms data quality and information quality, and will shed some light on the concept of IQ within ISs and how it could be defined. We will also provide a comprehensive review of the major historical developments of IQ frameworks. Data Quality(DQ) vs. Information Quality During recent years, much work has been done to build quality frameworks for IQ dimensions. In the past, research focused on DQ, but due to the recent development of internet technologies, ISs today are providing users with information, not only data. Therefore, research attention has shifted to focus on IQ frameworks. While, some researchers explicitly distinguish between the terms data and information and explain information as data which has been processed in some way, sometimes, it may be difficult to discriminate between them in practice . Still, in some studies the term information is interchangeable with data. Likewise, the term data quality is often used synonymously with information quality. Consequently, in this study, the concept of information will be used in a broad sense, which covers the concept of data. Before reviewing the researches that were conducted to formulate (data/information) quality frameworks within ISs, first we will discuss the meaning of IQ and how it could be defined. How Information Quality Could be Defined Although it is important to set standards for IQ, it is a difficult and complex issue, particularly in the area of ISs, because there is no formal definition of IQ, as quality is dependent on the criteria applied to it. Furthermore, it is dependent on the targets, the environment and from which viewpoint we look at the IQ, that is, from the provider or the consumer perspective. Moreover, IQ is both a task-dependent and a subjective concept. Juran summarises these aspects of quality in his quality definition as fitness for use. Similarly, Wang described DQ (which could apply to IQ) as data that is fit-for-use. This description has been adopted by researchers because it brings to light the fact that IQ cannot be defined and evaluated without knowing its context. Defining IQ in a contextual approach seems to be logical because quality criteria, which could be used to assess IQ, can differ according to the context. In fact, IQ is expressed in the literature to be a multi-dimensional concept with varying attributed characteristics depending on the context of the information. However, taking into account the complexity of the IQ concept and that its measurement is expected to be multi-dimensional in nature, the prime issue in defining the quality of any IS is identifying the criteria by which the quality is determined. The criteria result from the multi-dimensional and interdependent nature of quality in ISs, and are dependent on the objectives and the context of the system. Thus, it is common to define IQ on the internet by identifying the main dimensions of the quality, for that purpose IQ fr ameworks are widely used to identify the important quality dimensions in a specific context, these dimensions can be used as benchmark to improve the effectiveness of information systems, as described by Porter. Information Quality Frameworks Today, for any IS to be judged successfully it has first to satisfy additional predefined quality criteria. An eLearning system is a special type of IS so it is important to examine the literature relating to the traditional IS success models and the proposed quality frameworks, in order to test the possibility of extending these success models to identify eLearning content quality criteria in an eLearning context. Much of the work done in IS success has its origins in the well-known DeLone and McLean (DM) IS Success Model.This model provided a comprehensive taxonomy on IS success based on the analysis of more than 180 studies on IS success and it identified over 100 IS success measures during the analysis. It established that system quality, IQ, use, user satisfaction, individual and organisational impact were the most distinct elements of the IS success equation. In a later work, the authors confirmed the original taxonomy and their conclusion, namely that IS success was a multidimensional and interdependent construct. Their model makes two important contributions to the understanding of IS success. First, it provides a scheme for categorising the multitude of IS success measures that have been used in the literature. Second, it suggests a model of temporal and causal interdependencies between the categories. The updated model, which was proposed in 2003, consists of six dimensions: Information quality, which concerns the system content issue. Web content should be personalised, complete, relevant, easy to understand and secure. System quality, which measures the desired characteristics of a web based system such as usability, availability, reliability and adaptability. Service quality Usage, which measures visits to a website, navigation within the site and information retrieval. User satisfaction, which measures users opinions of the system and should cover the entire user experience cycle. Net benefits, which capture the balance of positive and negative impacts of the system on the users. Although this success measure is very important, it cannot be analysed and understood without system quality and IQ measurements. In their model, DeLone and McLean defined three main dimensions for the quality: IQ, systems quality and service quality. Each one has to be measured separately, because singularly or jointly, they will affect subsequent system usage and user satisfaction. In 1996, Wang and Strong proposed their DQ framework, which will be discussed in more detail in the following section. In their framework they categorised characteristics/attributes in to four main types/factors: intrinsic, accessibility, contextual and representational. This method of categorising IQ factors and attributes proved to be a valuable methodology for defining IQ. Lately, several quality management projects in business and government have successfully used this framework. After Wang Strong DQ framework, diverse research efforts were spent in order to identify IQ dimensions in deference contexts. Although these frameworks varied in their approach and application, they shared some of the same characteristics concerning their classifications of the dimensions of quality. In 1996, Gertz focused on finding possible solutions for the problems regarding modeling and managing data quality and integrity of integrated data. H proposed a taxonomy of data quality characteristics that includes important attributes such as timeliness and completeness of local information sources. While Redmans work aimed to set up practical guidelines to analyze and improve information quality within business processes, h proposed a number of quality attributes grouped into six categories: Privacy, Content, Quality of Values, Presentation, Improvement and Commitment. In the same year, Zeist Hendricks identified 32 IQ sub-characteristics grouped in 6 main IQ characteristics which covered functionality, reliability, efficiency, usability, maintainability and portability. Unlike general purpose IQ framework, in 1997 Jarke proposed a special purpose framework where he used the same hierarchical design established by Wang Strong. He defined IQ criteria depending on the context and requirements for specific application; Data Warehouse Quality (DWQ). In his framework, Jarke linked each operational quality goals for data warehouses to the criteria which describe this goal. The main defined criteria are accessibility, interpretability, usefulness, believability, and validation. In 1998, Chen gave a list of IQ criteria with no special taxonomy. He, however, proposed a goal-oriented framework focusing mainly on time-oriented criteria such as response time and network delay. One year later, Alexander Tate proposed their framework for IQ IN Web environment. This framework consisted of 6 main criteria; authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, orientation and navigation. In the same year, Katerattanakul Siau adapted Wang Strong DQ framework to propose their four categories IQ framework of individual websites. Furthermore, Shanks Corbitt recommended a semiotic-based quality framework for information on the Web. This framework includes four semiotic levels. Syntactic level to insure that information is consistent whiles the Semantic level focuses on the information completion and accuracy. Pragmatic level is the third level which covers the usability and the usefulness of the information. The forth level is the social level ensures information understandabil ity. Within their framework there are 11 quality dimension distributed within the identified levels. Dedeke in 2000 developed a conceptual IS quality framework that includes 5 categories; ergonomic, accessible, transactional, contextual and representational quality. Each category consists of number of quality dimensions such as; availability, relevancy and conciseness. Whilst Zhu Gauch described 6 quality metrics for information retrieval on the web; these are availability, authority, currency, information-to-noise ratio and cohesiveness. Leung adapted Zeist Hendrickss quality framework in 2001 and applied it to Intranet applications. He defined 6 main IQ characteristics; functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability and portability. Each quality characteristic in the proposed framework includes numbers of sub-characteristics. Several research in IS quality were undertaken in 2002, Eppler Muenzenmayer suggested two main manifestations for their proposed framework; content quality and media quality. The content quality is focused on the quality of the presented information and it consists of two categories; relevant information and sound information. Whereas media quality is focused on the quality of the medium used to deliver the information and it includes optimized process category and reliable infrastructure category. Each category in the framework contains number of quality dimensions. Khan categorised IQ depending on the context of the system. The framework divided IQ into two main quality types; product and service quality. Moreover, it divided these two types into 4 quality classifications and each classification into number of quality dimensions. The quality classifications are sound information, useful information, dependable information and usable information. In addition, Klein conducted a research in the same year to identify five IQ dimensions chosen Wang Strongs DQ framework to measure IQ in Web context; accuracy, completeness, relevance, timeliness and amount of data. Mecella also proposed an initial framework for quality management in Cooperative Information System (CIS). This framework includes a model for quality data exported by cooperating organizations and the design of an infrastructure service and improving quality. More recent, in 2005 Liu Huang mentioned 6 key dimensions for IQ; source (focused on information availability), content (focused on information completeness), format and presentation (focused on information consistency), currency (focused on information currency and timeliness), accuracy (focused on information accuracy and reliability) and speed (focused on how easily information is downloadable). Besiki et all introduced in 2007 a general framework for IQ assessment. This framework consists of a comprehensive taxonomy of IQ dimensions, and provides a straightforward and powerful predictive method to study IQ problems and reason through them in a systematic and meaningful way. Lately, Kimberly et all presented in 2009 a model for how to think about IQ depending on the application context; they identified number of common IQ metrics. Kargar Azimzadeh also presented an original experimental framework for ranking IQ on the Web log. The results of their research revealed 7 IQ dimensions for IQ in Web log. For each quality dimension, quality variables associated coefficients were calculated and used so that the proposed framework is able to automatically assess IQ of Web logs. In the same year Thi Helfert conducted a research aimed to propose a quality framework based on IS architecture. In their research they identified quality factors for different construct levels of IS architecture. Moreover, they also presented impacts amongst different quality factors which help to analyze the cause of IS defects. In this part we gave a brief review of the researches conducted to formulate (data/information) quality frameworks within ISs. However in the next section we will focus on Wang and Strongs DQ framework as we will use it as a base for this research to measure IQ in eLearning systems along the dimensions of the framework. Wang and Strongs Data Quality Framework Wang Strongs DQ framework, one of the most comprehensive, popular, remarkable and cited DQ frameworks, was established by Richard Wang and Diana Strong in 1996. Their framework was designed empirically by asking users to give their viewpoints about the relevance of the IQ dimensions to capture the most important aspects of DQ to the data consumer. In their framework, Wang and Strong classified quality dimensions into four groups: Intrinsic DQ: refers to the quality dimensions originating from the data on its own. This aspect of quality is independent of the users perspective and context. Contextual DQ: focuses on the aspect of IQ within the context of the task at hand. In this group, the quality dimensions are subjective preferences of the user. Contrary to the first group, DQ dimensions cannot be assessed without considering the users viewpoint about their use of provided information. Representational DQ: is related to the representation of information within the systems. Accessibility DQ: refers

Being A Millionare Isnt For Me :: essays research papers

â€Å"You have just won a million dollars!† shouted Regis on the most popular show that has ever hit television. A fifty-one year old retired, high school teacher sat on the hot seat in absolute amazement. In seconds his life changed from being an ordinary, retired father of two, and living with his wife in a small Manhattan home to becoming a millionaire. I sat in my living room wishing that it was me who had answered that last question correctly in that seat, instead of sitting in my favorite black leather chair that faces the television at a perfect angle. I would have done anything to be that man at that moment. I couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind. There I was, sitting at home, watching all the excitement on television, dreaming for my life to be different. How easily I had forgotten all of the good things in my life. Indeed there was a million things for me to be happy about. I had a wonderful handsome husband, a bright young nine-year-old daughter, a son in his pre-teenage years and so much more. My life wasn’t bad at all, â€Å"money isn’t everything,† I thought to myself. â€Å"Knock†¦. Knock†¦knock.† sounded the door to wake me out of my short daydream. Remembering that I had lent our bag of sugar to a friendly neighbor, I walked towards the door, unlatched the top latch and then the bottom. I was shocked to see two men standing at the door. They stood in full uniform, with stern faces, both tall and well built. I didn’t know what to think, my eyes began to sting and I could feel them fill with tears. Something within me said that bad news was upon me. â€Å"Ma’am, we are very sorry to inform you that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"NO, STOP RIGHT THERE† I screeched. The taller of the two stepped forth and drew me towards him as the other man continued. â€Å"We are very sorry ma’am, but there has been a terrible accident, your children and your husband were killed this evening†¦ there was nothing anybody could do.† I could not believe it; all three of them were perfect. My husband worked with the church, he was always faithful to our religion and, both of the kids were following his footsteps. It was as if someone had taken a million knives and pierced them into my heart.

Media Influence On Public Policy Essay -- politics, government

Policymaking is a political process which is affected by various social and economic factors (Hofferbert, 1974) and media systems play an integral role in shaping the social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs. Media systems act as the primary channels between those who might want to influence policy and the policymakers '' controlling the scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of information. Textbook policymaking follows an orderly sequence where problems are identified, solutions devised, policies adopted, implemented, and lastly evaluated (Mazamanian & Sabatier, 1989). In reality, the policy process is more fluid, where policies are formed through the struggle of ideas of various advocacy coalitions (Sabatier, 1991) in what has been described as a policy primeval soup (Kingdon, 1995). The policies, on which the media focuses can, and often does, play an important part in determining the focal issues for policymakers. One of the fundamental roles of the media in a liberal democracy is to critically scrutinise governmental affairs: that is to act as a watchdog of government to ensure that the government can be held accountable by the public. However, the systematic deregulation of media systems worldwide is diminishing the ability of citizens to meaningfully participate in policymaking process governing the media (McChesney, 2003, p. 126). The relaxation of ownership rules and control, has resulted in a move away from diversity of production to a situation where media ownership is becoming increasing concentrated by just a few predominantly western global conglomerates (M... ... small media reforms (like public journalism) will be enough to reduce the commercial and corporate imperatives driving our existing media systems (Hackett and Zhao, 1998, p. 235). Instead, a fundamental reform of the entire system is needed, together with a wider institutional reform of the very structures the media systems work within, our democracies. This will be a difficult task, due to powerful vested interests benefiting from the status quo, including media, political and economic elites. Reforms will need to be driven by campaigns mobilising public support across the political spectrum, to enable the citizens of the world to have a media system that works to strengthen democratic principles as opposed to undermining them. This task is challenging, but it will become easier once people begin to understand the media’s role in policymaking within our democracies.

A Winless Battle :: essays papers

A Winless Battle Sometimes in life, there are times when you are faced with a struggle and often times, no matter how hard you try to get yourself out of this struggle, you just can’t and you end up feeling as though you have lost the battle. In â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† by Tennessee Williams, there are four characters that really display this situation. Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch are the four characters that display this situation. In Tennessee Williams play, â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† there are no victors, only victims. In this play, Blanche is the older sister of Stella and she comes to Elysian Fields to live with her sister because she has nowhere else to live because she was asked to leave the last town that she was living in because of the life that she was choosing to live there. Blanche also lost her family’s estate, Belle Reve. Therefore, she had to go to the last place that she could think of and that was the house of her sister, Stella. From the start of the play, it is imminent that Blanche is the victim of her own life, and not a victor. She first lost her husband when she was a very young girl because of the fact that she found out that he was gay. She was in love with this man and when she found out, she was just heartbroken. However, she didn’t want to tell him that she knew about his secret so she kept it a secret for a while. But then, one night while they were dancing, she all of sudden just came out and told him what she knew. He was so embarrassed by this tha t he ran out of the room and shot and killed himself. That is one of the battles that she was the victim of. Then when she loses Belle Reve and is forced to live in a town called Laurel, she chooses to live a life that she doesn’t want to. She forces herself into prostitution because she has no other way of making money to help support herself. During this time, she is living in a hotel called the Flamingo and many men are coming up to her room every night. This disturbs the peace within the hotel and when the hotel and the town of Laurel figure out what she is doing in the hotel, they tell her to leave the hotel and also the town because they don’t want anyone like her to be there.

Karl Marx and Weber

Choi, Sang Hyun History of Sociology Professor Denis Kim November 1, 2012 Karl Marx and Max Weber on Religion: Which one came first, the Chicken or the Egg? A strong discrepancy in interpretation of religions exists between the two great thinkers, Marx and Weber, in that Marx saw religions as â€Å"the opiate of the masses† (Marx, 1843:42) meaning that religions justify believers’ bitter lives and make them passive whereas Weber saw religions as having power to bring about not just social but economic changes (Jong Seo, 2005:231).On top of that, Marx believed that the religion is a dependent variable determined by the substructure- materialistic and economic conditions. Weber, in contrast, assumed that the religion played a role in enlightening or changing people’s thoughts and behaviors unconsciously, causing them to embrace a new way of living such as capitalism. These contrasts derive from the fact that these two intellectuals approached the religions from dif ferent perspectives.Most of Marx’s reasoning reveals the characteristics of methodological holism while Weber focused more on individuals and held on to the idea that individuals’ motives and philosophy are the source of changes and revolutions- methodological individualism. To begin with, it is critical to understand Marx and Weber’s sociological perspectives beforehand in order to grasp a comprehensive understanding with regard to the two thinkers’ ideas on religion. I believe that Marx revealed methodological holistic characteristics more from his study rather than methodological individualism. The opposite goes with the Weber’s perspective toward society.Marx’s approach tries to accept that fact that there are unseen things that are present such as relationships between individuals. The thing is that society enables itself to have control over individuals and tries to govern them with the unseen things. It is clear how Marx was on the me thodological holistic stance in terms of his emphasis on economic determinism. Marx believed that society is composed of two dominant structures-sub and super. He explained that the upper-super structure such as religions is determined by the substructure which is mainly about economic elements such as relation of production and force of production.Mark concluded that materials are the ones that bring about social changes (Turner, 2005:17). We can argue that his ideas were mainly centered on methodological holism because he put more emphasis on the role (power) of economy and substructure than individuals and superstructure. Under the given interpretation, religion has almost nothing to do with social or economic changes because it belongs to the super structure. Religion seems to be reduced to a mere dependent variable or by-product caused by the substructure in accordance with Marx (M. Argyle & B. Beit-Hallahmi, 1975:174-177).In contrast, methodological individualism was introduce d as a methodological precept for the social sciences by Max Weber, most importantly in the first chapter of â€Å"Economy and Society† (Weber, 1968 [1922]). It amounts to the claim that social phenomena must be explained by showing how they result from individual actions, which in turn must be explained through reference to the intentional states that motivate the individual actors. In other words, it can be described as the claim that explanations of â€Å"macro† social phenomena must be supplied with â€Å"micro† foundations, ones that specify an action-theoretic mechanism (Alexander, 1987).With this approach, Weber was able to value individuals as their own and tried to decipher what constituted people in terms of intangible elements such as ideas, motives, values, and beliefs. What strikes is that he had a great opportunity to go through the process of development of capitalism with the help of this approach. His most well-known and intuitive book, The Prot estant Ethic and the Spirit Capitalism, is a great culmination of his approach and shedded new light on the importance of spiritual and moral values, with providing remarkable insights on how humans’ abstract ideas and values can affect the society in a massive way.These two different ways of ‘making sense of society’ led them to conclude what religions could do in their contemporary societies. As stated above, Marx perceived economic factors or issues to be central and primary rather than marginal. It was inevitable that he saw religions as being marginal and of lesser importance. In his contemporary society, workers-proletariats were treated less than as they were supposed to be and exploited enormously. The workers had no choice but to succumb to the haves’-bourgeoisies- order or demands with the floods of workers when there were a few jobs available for them.They were, as Marx reasoned, about to take action to take over the capitalism in which they wer e subordinated. He asserted and hoped that communism would take over the capitalism’s place and people would live in a society where alienation and private ownership are nowhere to be seen. It was only possible with the combined power of proletariat. However, religion played a role in soothing the wrath of the exploited class and made it almost impossible to accumulate certain level of collective behavior. Religion acted as a refuge from a suffering life for the proletariat.There comes Marx’ view on religion that the religion was a refuge from a suffering life. It is famously quoted that â€Å"Religion is the opiate of the masses† (Marx, 1843:42). In other words, religion teaches people to give up materialistic conditions and procrastinate worldly happiness and rewards to spiritual world (Giddens, 2011:580). Even though it is tough to live in the society, one is encouraged that the post-life would be much promising according to Marx’s view. People have an imaginary refugee to which they would escape from their harsh real life.They are more likely to succumb to the social pressures or injustice because it will be okay in the spiritual world. They would endure socially and morally wrong actions and stick with their life no matter how hard it is. As these people take part in religious activities or listen to the preaching, they are unconsciously justified that their bitter lives might be what they were supposed to be, which led to class-in-itself being unable to reach the next step-class-for-itself with class consciousness. As stated above, no-communist revolution would be accomplished in terms of religions’ impacts on the exploited.According to Marx, this process must be changed or stopped since it has a negative influence on people’s awakening or realizing their real situation in which they are exploited (Swatos, 1998:499). Weber, on the other hand, pursued answers of how the pivotal spirit ‘ethos’ in the c ontemporary western societies emerged and where the western the societies were heading in terms of religion. His initial interest was sparked by the fact that most of the highly achieved and skilled superior workers are from protestant background (Weber, 2006:233). Weber considered that there was an apparent relationship etween certain religious affiliations (particularly Protestantism) and business success, and suggests that this association might indicate an elective affinity between the two. In his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit Capitalism, he asserted that there are two determining factors that contributed to the development of capitalism in western societies. First, Calvin’s doctrine of predestination played a significant role in upbringing people’s ascetic attitude or way of life. According to Calvin’s doctrine, one’s possibility (destination) of salvation is beyond the reach of humans’ knowing.Not only the ordinary, but also the p riests are excluded in the ‘knowing’ process. Furthermore, humans are not able to change their pre-destined salvation acceptance or rejection. No one but God knows who will be redeemed. Humans are powerless before God and expect or hope to be chosen as one of the ‘lucky’ ones. It is possible that we can conclude humans in that era were too hopeless and powerless to advance their lives with enthusiasm. But it isn’t. The thing was that humans were not aware of their pre-destined salvation but can be aware of signs of salvation in the pursuit of worldly success only with frugal and ascetic attitude.That is to say that they are justifying their material success and imposing responsibility at the same time (Jong Seo, 2005). Under the given circumstance, people are always in the pursuit of ‘working hard’, ‘not wasting money’, and ‘accumulation of wealth’ in order to know if they are to be redeemed or not. Even with ex cessive amount of money, they would not stop themselves from working hard and ascetic life because that’s what they were striving for: proof of salvation. Second, Calvin’s religious calling played an important role in making people set the attitude stated above.Every vocation is valued and by all means worthy of God’s calling. The thing is that not only sacred priests but other menial workers are also valued and sacred under the Calvin’s religious calling. It encourages people to accept the idea that â€Å"no matter what you do, you should make an effort in your job because it’s valuable, divine, and godly†. Also, as people were more aware of the notion or values, they were more likely to be committed to their jobs and lives (Weber, 2006:120). These two characteristics of protestant ethics led to more accumulation of ealth and rational management and work ethics (Weber, 2006). This is noteworthy that even with the enormous capital, one is no t tempted to taste his or her rewards which is highly unimaginable in modern societies. This goes further that these protestants participated in their daily and worldly activities with ascetic attitude which in turn boosted capitalism in western societies. In other words, protestants’ ethics, Weber argued, have a positive influence on building the spirit of capitalism.Although society has improved and developed the way never witnessed before with firm establishment of capitalism, it is unlikely to find this kind of protestant ethics sustaining in the modern society because a row of inherited property without the essence of spirits and ethics gifted the sons and daughters of the protestants with no responsibility, making them ‘fat pigs’ rather than ‘dissatisfied Socrates’, figuratively speaking. John Wesley, the founder of Methodist church, was also concerned with the likeliness of ‘earning more money with less religious spirit’ (Weber, 2 006:189).From my point of view, I personally believe that Weber’s idea on religion is more suitable compared to that of Marx in explaining the modern society. First, I agree with Weber’s main argument on religion that religious (Protestant) ethics are one of core factors bringing out changes in our lives. This is because Protestant ethics such as ‘diligent, hard-working, and ascetic’ are related to the idea of merit system which is, in our modern lives, believed to be ‘the way’ for equality and fairness. We live in a society where unfairness flourishes and hope to diminish whatever exists between the reality and the ideal world.The reason why this unfair world is justified is that we believe that the world values and approves those who try really hard in their field with diligence (Sang Jin, 2011:3). The protestant ethics, I believe, played a role in leading the meritocratic ideas to our lives. Those protestants proved the fact that people wit h hard-work and abstinence were surely able to achieve ‘success’ in lives, and looked up to as ‘worthy of praise’. It’s likely that people have gradually believed that the society where these protestant people are successful is just and fair because they try harder than the majority of people.This leads to the idea of merit system through which humans can justify their world. In other words, by proving success with hard-work, protestant ethics paved the way for meritocracy. Second of all, the abstract religious spirits can play an important role in maintaining the society. The religions have a tendency to lead to people’s voluntary and active participation in social and political issues which is different from Marx’s expectation. Marx believed that religion has an influence on making people submissive and obedient. However, we now see that religions are spread out massively to help out those who need attention, care, and assist.When one is involved in any activities in religion, they are more likely to act and behave than people with no religions. As they take part in the religious activities voluntarily, their community or religious area in bound to be more strongly integrated because they have something in common: religious spirit and altruistic mindset. We can infer from Durkheim’s study on suicide that those with religions have less likeliness to commit suicide than those without because they are more integrated and associated in society which leads to a more sustainable society (Durkheim, 1952[1897]).Finally, despite the fact that the original spirit of capitalism might have been diminished or in decline, it already provided an ‘image’ of religious people and acts as a criterion for those. Some say that the religious or protestant ethics are already faded away, but it’s still true that we have a some sort of image towards religious people that they would be more ‘uprightâ€⠄¢ and ‘ascetic’ than non-religious people. For example, when Koreans hang out nowadays, they often ask one another if they drink alcohol or not. And we usually take it for granted that the people believing in God do not drink alcohol.Likewise, these people mainly Christian-Protestant are expected not to drink ‘alcohol’ or do ‘drugs’. This is because we know by experiencing a bunch of these people that â€Å"These guys are not (mostly) bad guys†. Even if they do not possess the mindset as their ancestors did, the society already formed some sort of ‘image’ toward these religious people throughout the history. Therefore, the society enables and enforces the religious people to act and behave in accordance with ‘the protestant’. In other words, â€Å"their ancestors’ image still lives within us and affects our lives†.Even though I believe that Weber’s idea on religion is more proper when it co mes to explanations of modern world, it would be more reasonable and wise to make a leap with both of the great thinkers’ explanations. This is because these so-called sociologists seem to lag behind the other in some field and some not. For example, Weber’s reasoning was not sufficient in explaining Eastern countries huge development even with the religion- Confucianism which considered to be negative in capitalism’s improvement (Weber, 2006:243).And Marx’s reasoning would require additional explanations of modern religions in that religions are diversified and playing roles as many. These two dominant thinkers’ ideas are not contradictory but supplementary to some extent because both of the arguments can replace and be replaced by the other (Giddens, 2011:584). In conclusion, these great thinkers had different approaches on religion and elicited their unique conclusions based on their observations.Marx saw religions as â€Å"the opiate of the ma sses† and perceived it as a ‘negative thing’ for humans’ freedom from alienation and revolutions through workers’ collective angers whereas Weber saw religions as somewhat ‘positive influencer’ in that flourish of capitalism in western countries was based on protestant ethics which was the direct movement of ‘religion’(Calvinism, to be exact). In their analysis of religions, they showed the ways they regard religions as somewhat dependent variables-Marx and somewhat independent variables-Weber (Jong Seo, 2005).Controversy exists over whether who provided more reasonable and relevant insights to our world because both of the reasoning has some weak points and strong points. However, I believe that Weber’s idea on religion is more suitable in order to explain the modern society due to, social maintenance, and religious criteria, and the rise of meritocracy. No matter what one says, we are not certain which one came firs t between the chicken and the egg due to uncertainty. There is no absolute answer for this question.Marx and Weber’s observations of religions as dependent or independent variables are reminiscent of this never-solving causality dilemma. A circular cause and consequence like ‘seeing religion as the starter’ and ‘seeing religion as the result’ make us wonder the question of â€Å"Which came first, X that can't come without Y, or Y that can't come without X? † We would be trapped in an endless process of logics and pursuant of definite answer. Maybe it’s not the answer that matters but the understanding in the process that matters.The understanding that the somewhat contradictory views can, in actuality, be used as a supplement to the other so that it can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of not just religion but society in general, which as learners of sociology should pursue. All in all, the comparison of Marx and Weber on reli gion tells us that there is no categorical answer but understanding through which we gain our own perspectives of life. Works Cited Amanda, Review on Marx and Weber on Religion http://web. grinnell. edu/courses/soc/f01/soc295-02/marx_weber. html Giddens Anthony, Sociology. , 2011Jong Seo Kim, Sociology of Religion, , 2005 Marx Karl, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, CambridgeUniversity Press, 1977 M. Argyle ; B. Beit-Hallahmi, The Social Psychology of Religion, London: Routledge ; Kegan Paul, 1975 Sang Jin Jeon, , , 2011 Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy, definition, http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/methodological-individualism/ Swatos William H, Peter Kivisto, Encyclopedia of religion and society, Rowman Altamira, 1998 Turner Jonathan H. , Sociology. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005 Weber Max, Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism, Ed, , , 2006

Bed Bathing a Patient Essay

Introduction In this assignment I will be exploring the legal, professional and ethical issues involved in bed bathing a patient/client in a hospital setting. I will be reflecting on a personal experience, experience during a seven week placement on a diabetic ward. I have decided to use a reflective cycle which is an adaptation from Gibbs’ (1988) model.This reflection has provided a systematic approach to my learning and to my nursing practice. Within this essay I intend to discuss approaches to assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating care. Heron (1977) refers to the process of reflecting as a ‘conscious use of the self’. Once one becomes consciously aware of their actions, it is easer to recognise the reason for doing them in the first instance. The first stage of this process is to acknowledge our actions by reflecting we reveal to our selves how we act, such actions are spontaneous and without forethought attention. To maintain my clients autonomy I am unable to disclose any client information, accordingly I have given my client the name Mrs Jones this is to protect and respect my client’s confidentiality as stated by the NMC Code of Professional Conduct. Gibbs’ model of reflection (1988)DescriptionDuring any client’s admission stage an assessment on the client’s skin care regime is made, this takes into account the clients personal preferences, the level of function the client may have to provide self-care and the amount of assistance required to promote optimal hygiene procedures in the form of bed baths, in respect of encouraging independence. The reason why we bed bath clients is to promote personal hygiene and to give them a sense of well-being it also maintain intact skin i.e. prevention of pressure sours. Bed bathing allows the caregivers to monitor changes in the client’s skin condition. (Staff Nurse, during placement)It was approximately 07:45 Friday morning of mid June, three weeks into my placement. After handover I was given the task of bed bathing a female client. Mrs Jones, what I learned about Mrs Jones in handover was very brief. She was admitted to hospital as she was suffering shortness of breath, she had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for ten  years, she also had a catheter instituted, she had very little control of the lower half of her body, her right shoulder was dislocated and she was MRSA+. Mrs Jones took part in a trial drug many years ago this was to help her control her Parkinson’s disease coming off the drug became impossible and as a result Mr Jones is reliant on this drug, this drug was referred to as apple morphine on the ward. The basic bed bathing equipment I required was one bath towel, one hand towel, several disposable swipes, clean bed linen, (2 x sheets) laundry bags, (in this case red bags as the client is MRSA+) a slide sheet, small yellow bag for clinical waste, pad and incontinence sheet, bowl of warm water and a set of pyjamas and or gown all provided by the hospital. The client had acquired her own personal toiletries before admission this consisted of a bar of soap, shower gel, talcum powder, perfume, two flannels, (one for the upper part of the torso and the other for the lower half) moisturiser, a comb, dentures pot, tooth brush and tooth past. In addition to this the client required saline solution, disposable wipes, new dressing cut to size and tape and a yellow clinical waste bag for the disposal of old dressings. Myself and Claire the Auxiliary Nurse who I was paired with to work alongside put on our protective disposable gloves and red aprons on after collection the supplies from the linen room. I greeted Mrs Jones and introduced myself and Claire. â€Å"Morning Mrs Jones, how are you this morning?† She replied â€Å"Oh, hello, I could be better† I continued â€Å"my name is Sharon (as this was easier for people to pronounce, after consulting Sister) I’m a student nurse and I’m going to be looking after you today†, â€Å"and I’m Claire, and I’m also going to be looking after you today too†. I continued â€Å"can we help you to get ready for breakfast?† Yes please,† Replied Mrs Jones. Before we began we asked if Mrs Jones if she had any objections to either me or Claire giving her a bed bath, as she looked apprehensive, she replied that this would be fine. We also asked if she had any pain and how her night was, she stated that she was in pain quite a bit but that it was normal for her at this time in the morning. She also stated that her night was awful, as patients in the  next bay kept her awake most of the night. Myself and Claire consulted the staff nurse about Mrs Jones’ pain, the staff nurse spoke to Mrs Jones about her medication and said that it was not due until 8:30 and so we were asked to continue as long as the Mrs Jones was happy for us to do so. Mrs Jones replied if that was the case there was nothing she could do other than for me and Claire to continue. We explained the procedure to Mrs Jones and gain her consent she allowed us to obtain any necessary toiletries from her draws whilst I did this Claire prepared a bowl of warm water. I removed Mrs Jones’s personal belongings from the table and placed them in the draws for safe keeping. I wipe over the table with an alcohol wipe to sanitize the surface and place on there the necessary items we would need to give Mrs Jones a bed bath. We draw the curtains closed to maintain Mrs Jones’s privacy and dignity at all times. Before we began I asked Mrs Jones if she would like to use a bed pan before we continued any further. She informed us that it was probably too late and she felt she had already made a mess. We reassured her that everything was alright and we would help to get her cleaned up as quickly as possible. Mrs Jones apologised a number of time and started to get upset. We again tried to reassure her again and clam her down, we in forced the reason that we were there and that was to help her in any way to see that she is alright. She agreed with us and asked us to continue. We raised the bed to the appropriate height to avoid putting undue strain on our backs, whilst I did this Claire emptied Mr Jones Catheter and placed the bag on the bed. We decided to place a sliding sheet under the client to assist us in rolling the client. I took the liberty of explaining the procedure to Mr Jones as we carried out the task. I asked if it was possible for her to roll on her right side as I was aware the Mrs Jones right shoulder was dislocated, she insisted that this was fine as it had been seen by the doctors and nothing could be done about it and insisted that she had rolled on it sever times before. We assisted Mrs Jones in removing her night gown, we freed her left arm first then her over her head and then gently freeing her right arm avoiding injuring her arm any further, to maintain Mrs Jones dignity we placed a large bath towel over her covering her private  areas. I helped Mrs Jones to bend her left leg and asked her to hold on to the cot side with her lef t hand. I placed my right hand on the left side of Mrs Jones’s waist and my arm across her left leg to provide added support. I placed my left hand on her left upper back. Claire had prepared the slide sheet, clean linen sheet and an incontinence sheet to go under her. On the instruction ready steady (then the manoeuvre intended, in this case it was) roll, we all assisted in rolling. Claire placed one of her hands on Mrs Jones’s back to provide added support and prevent her from rolling back. Claire folded the old linen in to its self, to as far as it would go until it reached Mrs Jones. Claire placed the clean slide sheet, linen sheet and incontinence sheet already folded in preparation under the old linen sheet. On Claire say so we rolled Mrs Jones on to her back, Claire â€Å"we’re rolling you over a slight bump now, ready steady roll†. To roll Mrs Jones on to her other side me and Claire switched roles and this time Mrs Jones was holding on to right side of the cot side but with her left hand. I removed the old linen and placed it inside the red linen bags. I took the liberty of cleaning Mrs Jones with her permission. I used a damp disposable wipe which Clair handed over to me and wiped away from the genital area, I placed the soiled wipe on the soiled incontinence sheet I continued doing this until the are was clean, once this was clean I washed the area with soap and water. I folded the soiled incontinence sheet into its self and disposed of it in the yellow clinical waste bag. I took this opportunity to wash Mr Jones’s back, neck and the backs of her legs with soap and water, I then wash off the soap and dried. I straightened out the clean slide sheet, linen sheet and the incontinence sheet and then Mrs Jones lied on her back. After a few minute, I placed the hand towel over the client’s chest and with her permission began to wash her face at the clients request I used water only on the face. I used separate wipes for each eye to prevent any cross contamination and a separate wipe for the rest of the face and then dried. Whilst I was doing this Claire began to wash Mrs Jones’s hands with soup and water after gaining permission to do so, Claire continued down the arms and rinsed off, whilst I dried the hands and arms Claire continued to wash the client’s chest. Claire removed the dressing from around the tube of the catheter and disposed of it and her gloves in the clinical waste bag, she  then went to wash her hands. When Claire retuned she had a fresh pair of gloves on she began to cleanse the skin from the tube outwards and then dried the area, she decided not to reapply another dressing as she felt it was not required but did tape down the tube to Mrs Jones’s stomach to pre vent it from dislodging. Claire carried on washing and rinsing Mrs Jones (Underarms, stomach, waste, genital area, (working outward to prevent infection) legs and feet) and I dried following Claire as she washed. The water that we used was kept clean at all times, as the used deposable wipes were not re-entered into the bowl. Whilst carrying out the bed bath myself and Claire assessed the Mrs Jones’s skin condition for any sours or broken skin. We applied talc to those areas Mrs Jones requested and then helped her to dress. We put the right arm in the nightgown first as this was her bad arm then subsequently her neck and left arm, there was no need to lower the nightgown much as this was a hospital nightgown with an open lower half, we then placed a linen sheet and blanket over her to keep her warm at Mrs Jones’s request. We raised the head of the bed to a seated position so that Mrs Jones was sitting upright. As I attended to Mrs Jones’s oral hygiene Claire combed Mr Jones hear to her particular style. I then started to tidy and clean the area and Claire began to document and update the care plan. Once I had cleaned and sanitised the table I replace Mrs Jones’s belonging on the table and placed the table close to her so everything she may need was of reach. FeelingsIn reflection to the incident at the time I felt as though everything went fine, but as I have had the opportunity to reflect on my experience in much more depth and detail I in writing this essay I felt as though I took the lead but only because I was given the opportunity to do so. Claire was fairly new to working as an Auxiliary Nurse and was somewhat inexperienced as this was the only ward she had worked on she had more knowledge of the ward setting and the type of conditions people are admitted with on the ward. I was quite confident in assisting in a bed bath of a client as I have worked in providing personal care to all type of client for a good few years now and believe that my experience as a Health Care Assistance helped me immensely. My uncertainty was of the client’s abilities and reactions to what we were actually doing it, that’s when I decided to talk to the client  and guild her through what we were doing. The thoughts in my head at the time were that the client may not have experience the type of bed bath that we were performing and may have not been something she was used to. I felt calm but a little apprehensive due to this but could find the words at the time to ask her if this was the way her carers would normally perform a bed bath. It is important to remain professional at all times and make sure the client didn’t feel too uncomfortable. I remember feeling somewhat responsible for the client as I was looking after her. I believe I acted in the best interest of my client and have acted in such a manner set out by the NMC Code of Professional Conduct. I felt that it would have been better for the staff nurse on duty to explain to the client in much more depth, why it was not possible to administer the drugs at the time of the clients request rather than just to say it’s not the right time and the drug round starts at 8:30. Although my client had told me the truth about her dislocated shoulder had been seen by the doctors and that it was safe to manoeuvre on as long as it was comfortable it was my responsibility to seek professional advice because of my uncertainty at the time. If for any reason had this not have been the truth there may have been serious repercussions. I don’t think I would have known what to do if her condition had worsened due to the manoeuvre. â€Å"The steps forward build on the steps backwards or sideways. They are also the steps necessary for self-reflecting† from this statement emphasised by Tschudin (1999) I able to understand that â€Å"confidence in the self† is quite an important quality to be have in order to acknowledge setbacks and mistakes, your should be able to learn from them and even see them as part of the overall picture. EvaluationI have grater knowledge of such issues that can arise if set guideline, policies and procedures are not followed. There are very few bad points that had taken place during this reflective experience. I believe it is important to involve the client in decision making which I failed to illustrate wherever possible this was when we redressed the client after bed bathing without involving the client and allowing the client to choose. We  all have a professional responsibility to provide care to all patients/clients to the highest possible standards of care that will not be compromised by infections standard set out by the NMC Code of Professional Conduct. I acknowledged limitations set out by the NMC Code of Professional Conduct, in that my knowledge and experience of the drugs on the ward was very limited and therefore I acquired help from a qualified member of staff. â€Å"You must behave in a way that upholds the reputation of the professions† outlined by the NMC Code of Professional Conduct this was maintain throughout the whole experience as I never spoke over the client nor did I ignore the client I showed the client up most respect. I was able to build a level of trust with theMy experience of working as a Health Care Assistance for and agency has enabled me to perform better in such conditions. By planning and discussing with the care team during handover and then with the patient about what our intentions are, what we are going to do and why, I was able to identify and minimise risks to the client. Seeing the way in which others behave or make mistakes allowed me to reflect on the point of view of others and to learn form them help me build on my knowledge. AnalysisI chose this experience as it is a procedure that I am quite confident with performing. Thiroux (1995) created his own set of principles of ethics, which can be applied to any situation. 1) The value of life, 2) Goodness or rightness, 3) Justice or fairness, 4) truth telling or honesty and 5) individual freedom. Ethical acts are executed in every day life even if we acknowledge it or not, the way we greet colleagues and clients even in the way in which we say ‘good morning. Tschudin (1999) p175. As a training professional we are accountable for our actions and therefore must be able to backup any decision making with evidence I could see from my  client’s facial expressions that she was uncomfortable and was experiencing some sort of upset, during which in actual fact she was in a fair amount of pain. ConclusionI felt that the approach I took was in the right way and with the right intentions set out by the NMC Code of Professional Conduct. My reflective experience was very basic I felt and did not allow for much discussion, although a lot of the experience was preparation, planning and assessing which prevented the experience to go bad in anyway. I feel that as I am a first year nursing student I am very limited in what I can do and because of this little opportunity is given to me to experience other than what I have preformed as a Health Care Assistant. I felt that myself and the Auxiliary Nurse worked well together and were able to share the responsibility equally. Overall I found reflection on my experience interesting as it allowed me to look at legal, ethical and professional issues surrounding nursing practice. Action PlanIf a situation like this was to arise again I think I would like to try to take out more time to talk to the client about how they are feeling, at time I felt like I was prying too much as I felt like I was doing most of the talking. I also feel that it is important for me to work along side more experienced members of staff or qualified member of staff to be able to learn more whilst on my placements. Although I experienced in providing personal care to client I am not too familiar with ward setting. I do not think I have learnt an awful lot on the practical side of my experience but by reflecting on my experience in this assignment has allowed me to understand professional, legal and ethical issues of providing care and the dilemmas surrounding health care professionals. In the future I would not always go on the clients say so and seek professional advice and not just take the patient word. Bibliography Bartter. K, (2001) Ethical Issues in Advanced Nursing Practice. London: Reed Elsevier Plc GroupBurnard. P, Chapman. C, (2004) Professional  and Ethical Issues in Nursing. 3rd Edition. London: Elsevier LimitedGlasper. A, Grandis. S, Jackson. P, and Long. G, (2003) Foundation Studies for Nurses: using Enquiry Based Learning. New York: Palgrave MacmillamThe NMC Code of Professional Conduct Standards for Conduct, Performance and Ethics. Standards 07-04. London: Nursing Midwifery CouncilTschudin. V, (1999) Nurses Matter: Reclaiming Our Professional Identity. London:Macmillan

In What Ways Did Sport Reflect Amercian Society in the 19th Century

In what ways did sport reflect American society? This essay will concentrate on looking at the ethnic and class divide within the sports subculture of American society, and how it reflects American Society as a whole. When examining any society there is a always a broad area to cover, while looking at America’s society I will be looking at the arguments that it is the ‘land of the free’ a ‘new nation’ which immigrants flocked to start a new life in a country of much ‘opportunity’. I will be using the sport in the 19th century to examine just how much America was a land of opportunity and of the free, and whether it differed from the attitudes in countries from around the rest of the world. When looking at sport in American society in the 19th century, first we must look at the origins of the sport and games that were played, to see how they were seen within a new growing society. Before the birth of the American colonies, it has been argued that sport in America was a cultural practice for the most part associated with Native American ceremonies and religion, colonisation brought the idea of sport and games for leisure. The English brought with them recreational ideologies, it was not just the particular games and sports but the attitudes and practices in which leisure activities were rooted. The Native Americans had many sports/games similar to that of Europeans before colonisation but they had independent cultural contexts that gave them different meanings. Often the activities accompanied fertility ceremonies, burial rites, healing practices, and attempts to control the weather. It was reported in the American Anthropologist (1890) by James Mooney that Cherokees who played stickball (Also known as Lacrosse) must not engage in intercourse for a month before a game. Also, prior to games they would build fires and dance to the sound of drums, rattles and sacred chants. Players were prepared before games with prayer’s, pipe smoking, body painting and many other rituals designed more to enhance spirituality rather than to ensure them victory. Participation in these games was not voluntary as the reasons they were played were for crucial tribal concerns. Indeed, the English who came and colonised America also played games for similar cultural reasons, though these reasons were not as crucial of a concern for the whole nation, but for smaller areas of society. In general, the British played for leisure, in Europe this formed the counterpoint to the necessity of daily labour, and the ideal of playing sport for leisure is still very strong today all over the world. The English leisure ethic more so than its work ethic became idealised by Virginian plantation owners. They acted like English gentlemen, followed English press, fashion and played English sports such as Cricket, they did this in search of a class distinction. It was mainly for this reason that sporting displays became a big preoccupation among the Virginian gentry; they were some of the few that had the time and money to occupy themselves with such tasks. Due to this, leisure became a very class restricting custom, and the English educated gentry endeavoured to keep it this way. One such example of the class distinctions at this time within American society is that of James Bullocke who was a tailor, he defeated Mathew Slader a ‘gentleman’ in a 1674 horse race on which each man had placed a bet of two thousand pounds of tobacco. However, after this victory the county court told the men that it was â€Å"contrary to law for a labourer to make a race being a sport for Gentlemen†, and fined him one hundred pounds of tobacco. The court also confined Slader (the gentleman) to the stocks for an hour for his loss to a working man. A leading factor in the pursuit of leisure for whites was that slavery made it difficult for them to value hard work, and easy for them to appreciate sport and games. The logic of this was simple, if enslaved blacks had to work; play was proof of freedom and elevated social status. Labour was a burden of blackness, leisure was the prerogative of whiteness. The institution of slavery, in fact, compelled the vast majority of African Americans to â€Å"steal† time for leisure and recreation, just as they stole a certain kind of knowledge when they learned to read and write. The civil war however painful it was, had a good side to it as well, this being that it helped to bring a stop to slavery. This meant freedom, citizenship, and constitutional protections from the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, however this did not mean too much to America’s black population. The good that came from the end of slavery was overshadowed by institutionalised racial segregation and repression that treated African American’s as second-class citizens. Many African Americans turned to sport and leisure to help cope with the racial discrimination, however this was not as easy as one may think it to be. Sport was used as a point of interest that brought many blacks together, Baseball was one of the most unifying of sports for African Americans with many early Black baseball teams, one of the earliest being the Pythian Baseball Club of Philadelphia, they consisted of four teams with players coming from the higher ranks of Black society. The Pythian's played other black teams from around Philadelphia, including one of the most famous, the Excelsiors (the oldest black team in the city). The Pythian’s played for the unofficial â€Å"Colored Championship of the United States† in 1871, they carried a race’s pride when they played all be it separating themselves from the lower and middle classes in the African American society. This showing that although it became more acceptable for black players to play white sports, they were separated out from the white’s and class was still a divisive factor amongst players. So, ‘land of the free’ of ‘opportunity’ it does not look like it, when we see the divide between the players of this sport. Black athletes were involved in almost every sport by the end of the nineteenth century, however, boxing was one they had a larger representation and became most prominent in. Black athletes were more acceptable in boxing as it was believed that it was more suitable to the black athlete’s abilities and there was also a negative stigma attached to the sport. While in baseball black players were cultivating themselves a separate coloured league, boxing was a predominantly white organised sport and black boxers suffered the wrath of much of the white population as well as some from the black population too. A successful and controversial figure in boxing was Jack Johnson, the first American black heavyweight boxing champion, from a white point of view he showed many of the personal qualities disliked of blacks, Johnson was defiant, ill-mannered and incorrigible. Also, he married three white women and he was successful capturing the symbolism of Anglo-Saxon white superiority, the heavyweight boxing crown. Johnson was not just disliked by the whites for his behaviour, many in the black community thought that his actions hindered the progress of the race. He was a hero to many, but also was considered an embarrassment as he refused to act subservient. The way Johnson lived his life could be argued that he was a true pioneer of the ‘American dream’, an operator in the ‘land of the free’ that has taken the opportunity given to him and made it work. His boxing career was a quest for freedom, he formed his own unique style of fighting and his success gained him many of the material things many blacks craved but they would never achieve. Examining boxing, one could argue that this sport showed a truer interpretation of American Society than any of the others, America was supposed to be a ‘land of opportunity’ where people could emigrate, to achieve things that they would not be able to do in their homeland. However, was this sport mirroring American society or one of very few things that actually fell in line with the belief of the ‘American dream’? This being the story of one man, who ac hieved his own dream, at the cost of being disliked by many, surely a ‘land of the free’ would encourage his success. In conclusion, it is hard to fully understand American society from how it affected sport, whether it be racism, gender or class distinctions. One thing that is obvious to any historian looking at this subject, it is that these problems, however much people believe them to no longer be a problem in society, they still are. Class is no longer much of a problem within sport anymore, unless it is stopping you from joining the prestigious tennis of golf club, though these days money will buy you whatever class status you want. However, whether it is gender arguments such as prize funds at competitions such as Wimbledon, or the racism provided by fans to players of all different sports around the world, these problems will never go away. So is it wrong to judge America for its sporting/sociological crimes of the past? When looking at American society now it is still divided between sports which are seen as black and white, white sports such as ice hockey played in the northern states, and NASCAR in the southern states, black players are few and far between while Basketball is predominantly filled with black players. The truth is sport will always divide, the most recent divide in sport has come with homosexuality, David Kopay, was one of the only American Footballers to come out as gay in 1975. After he retired he was considered for many top coaching roles though he believes he never landed one because of his sexuality. Kopay is now on the board of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Association, an organisation whose purpose is to increase acceptance and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes in the professional, amateur, and recreational athletics communities. You could use this argument to show that sport does not reflect society as whole but more secular groupings. Modern day racism, homophobia, sexism are all hot topics but society overall is not reflected as any of these things, yet sport still is. To say that trends in sport reflect overall society can be strongly refuted, such as in the army, police force and many working environments these problems have become institutionalised and are a representation of a few minds, not a whole society. However much sport in American society separated and segregated people, the fact is that it has eventually brought everyone together to provide a more sturdy society. America proved itself for a small period of time to be a ‘land of the free’ a ‘new nation’ in which if an athlete was good at a sport it didn’t matter if he was different, the opportunity was still there. It may have taken over a hundred years but the class divide has gone and the divide between race and gender is being depleted. Sport is a catalyst for cohesiveness, and it has helped in the development and the creation of American society as we see it today. Bibliography Books Jable, J. Thomas. Sport in Philadelphia’s African American Community, 1865-1900. Eisen, G. ; Wiggins, D. (1994) Ethnicity and Sport in North American History and Culture. Praeger Publishers. Gorn, E. ; Goldstein, W. (1993) A Brief History of American Sports. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. Wiggins, D. ; Miller, P. (2003) The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary of the African American Experience in Sport. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. Vincent, T. (1981) The Rise ; Fall of American Sport: Mudville’s Revenge. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. Wiggins, D. (1995) Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession. Websites http://www. glaf. org ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Pg6. Gorn [ 2 ]. Pg5. Gorn [ 3 ]. Pg5. Gorn [ 4 ]. Pg22. Gorn [ 5 ]. Pg21. Gorn [ 6 ]. Pg 7 Wiggins and Miller [ 7 ]. Pg157 Eisen and Wiggins [ 8 ]. Wiggins and Miller pg 34 [ 9 ]. Eisen, G & Wiggins, K. Pg 134 [ 10 ]. Eisen, G & Wiggins, K. Pg140 [ 11 ]. Eisen, G & Wiggins, K. Pg141 [ 12 ]. http://glaf. org/team_bios. html

Microsoft Team Dynamics and Ethics

Microsoft Team Dynamics and Ethics Free Online Research Papers The stresses of knowledge transfer and knowledge management are especially prevalent in the software industry. The time and increasing cost pressures of global software development amplify and make more challenging the issues of globalization affecting every high technology business today. The need for real-time process, system and knowledge management integration across globally-based development teams is critically important if software applications are to be launched on schedule and seen as relevant to the changing computer user’s needs (Gibbs, 2009). Compounding the data, knowledge and process management aspects of a globalized development strategy that many companies including Microsoft has long relied on (Cusumano, Selby, 1997) are the cultural constraints as well as defined by Hofstede as cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1998). Simply put, the formation of a global development team is very difficult. Its complexity is compounded by the ethical considerations of shari ng knowledge globally to ensure equality of opportunity for all geographies and all programmers, making sure ethnocentrism does not take hold (Tekleab, Quigley, Tesluk, 2009). The intent of this paper is to analyze how global software development teams can be formed to ensure the highest performance possible while also taking into account the ethical considerations of globalization. Microsoft’s Approach to Programming Team Development Microsoft’s legacy is based on small, tightly integrated software development teams that concentrate on solving highly complex and therefore, difficult problems in close coordination with each other. This requires a more loosely defined organizational structure that gives those engineers with exceptional talent the freedom to grow professionally at their own pace while enriching others in their teams at the same time (Cusumano, Selby, 1997). Promotions and status within the Microsoft culture are more driven by expertise and knowledge than by seniority, which fuels a highly competitive environment in terms of new approaches to solving complex, difficult programming problems (Lysenko, 2006). As would be suspected, traditional approaches to creating teams that are from the more chain-of-command era do not work at all in the Microsoft environment, yet transformational leadership and leadership based on technical expertise leads to teams accomplishing exceptional amounts of wor k ahead of schedule as a result (Cusumano, Selby, 1997). Transformational leadership within Microsoft is unique to the organization, as its culture highly values technological expertise, yet also has a sizeable bureaucracy within which to operate. The challenge in creating teams within Microsoft is to have team leaders who can continually manage to objectives while providing exceptionally strong technical expertise, while also mitigating or minimizing conflicts between team member’s altogether (Somech, Desivilya, Lidogoster, 2009). The role of team leader within Microsoft is considered to be one that requires exceptional levels of technical expertise and credibility as a result (Lysecki, 2006). There are also the generation gaps between and within teams across all of high technology (Birkinshaw, Crainer, 2008) with this being particularly evident in the Microsoft culture as well. That’s why it is so critical that the culture continually adopt team dynamics that concentrate on expert power over any other, especially legit imate or position power (Humphreys, Pryor, Haden, Oyler, 2009). For Microsoft, the concentration on creating transformational leaders through the use of expert power also makes it possible to get entire teams more efficiently to accomplish shared goals (Mathieu, Rapp, 2009). The Ethics of Globalization and Microsoft As Microsoft have development centers in many nations, the need for close coordination of development processes, systems and schedules is critically important to the success of development programs. Internally the company struggles daily with the ethics of ethnocetricism, which in other words is the tendency to keep the most career-enhancing projects in Redmond, Washington and send the secondary projects to other nations. This has been seen as one of the ethical lapses Microsoft has made in terms of managing its development (Lysecki, 2006). Externally, there are just as many ethical challenges including the alignment of Microsoft applications and operating systems to unique requirements in foreign nations that vary from data encoding, multilingual interfaces, localization and scalability testing. Microsoft relies on its developers in these other nations to ensure their applications are aligned with the needs of these markets. What Microsoft has learned over the last three years about keeping their development teams aligned globally are the benefits of social networking (Hossain, Zhu, 2009). These include collaborative platforms including Facebook private pages, Wikis and enterprise content management (ECM) portals used for managing content so it is available on a 24/7 basis. Microsoft has an inherently difficult problem to solve internally about ensuring more opportunities for their talented off-shore programmers to participate in the most challenging and professionally rewarding projects based in the U.S. This ethnocentric attitude has been viewed at times as unethical by programmers located outside the United States. Another aspect of Microsoft’s ethical dilemmas is the pricing of software specifically developed in Redmond, Washington where development expenses are at their greatest, yet sold at very aggressive prices in 3rd world nations. Microsoft’s pervasive use of bundling which began in response to Netscape’s competitive thre at (Clements, 2002) continues today in 3rd world nations and is a frequently used strategy for ensuring operating systems and server products are competitive in these nations. Microsoft however, has paid development expenses for many of these products in the U.S., and uses their development centers for localization. The ethical aspects of this on team dynamics are obvious (Lysecki, 2006) with many developers in these other nations insisting that they should be given the opportunity to create these applications, operating systems, and server-based applications entirely in their native nations. Microsoft counters that their quality management of coding in Redmond, Washington is superior (Cusumano, Selby, 1997) and that it is essential for team dynamics that core areas of applications be developed and tested in Redmond. The effects of this from a team dynamics perspective continue to be felt in how global teams are managed and motivated. The fact that the Chinese market is by far the most promising from an operating system standpoint has the 5,000 member development and RD Center in Beijing (Buderi, 2005) focused on how they can earn credibility and ascend in the Microsoft corporate culture. Conclusion In developing high performance teams within high technology companies such as Microsoft, credibility and technical expertise, or expert power, are far more important than position power or legitimate power. The catalyst of what keeps these companies competitive is the extent to which they can continually grow new leaders who have a strong depth of technological ability, yet also have the ability to motivate through example. The globalization aspects of development teams can often fall into the trap of being ethnocentric in nature, with the majority of development going to staff in headquarters. Externally there is the challenge of managing products’ pricing in foreign countries so they are competitive yet also ethically priced and not deliberately low-priced just to gain market share. Microsoft has the many challenges of managing global development teams ethically for their globally based employees while also ensuring their pricing is ethical and not deliberately low to j ust drive smaller, less financially viable competitors from the market. Research Papers on Microsoft Team Dynamics and EthicsThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfResearch Process Part OneInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalBringing Democracy to AfricaStandardized TestingMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product