Closure of a large amount of mental hospitals

Closure of a large amount of mental hospitals There are many reasons as to why such a large amount of mental hospitals closed down, but to explore the reasons why they closed, we must look at the rise of the large institutions between the 19th century and the 1980s to understand its demise, why so many were built and why, for a small time period, they were successful. The mental hospital is defined as a hospital for the care and treatment of patients affected with acute or chronic mental illness. Between the 19th century and the 1980s, the mental hospital has been defined as the carer for mental illness. But after this golden age of care for mental illness, it has become a victim of decareration ever since leading to a decrease in mental hospitals and its admissions, but why? The discharge of a patient was once known as a good thing as it symbolised the success of that hospital through moral treatment (later replaced by psychiatric treatment) but even before this there was a much harsher system with the use of chains and straightjackets being the norm. As in the case of King George III who himself suffered from mental illness; patients were not seen as human beings, he was encaged, starved and beaten. The philosophy that therefore developed was the goal of a cure, to treat the patient in a therapeutic environment, To remove the patient from the midst of those circumstances under which insanity has been produced must be the first aim of treatmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦An entire change in the surroundings will sometimes of itself lead to recovery (Bean and Mounser 1993, 4 quoting Busfield, 1986) The mental hospital really began in Victorian times; hospitals were intentionally structured to be different from ordinary hospitals in terms of therapy, structure and location. (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 190). As where the general hospitals in the vicinity of a highly populated area, a mental hospital would have been deliberately built in a place that is not so populated. The mental hospital (or asylum as it was once known) is seen as a conventional and humane way with dealing with the mentally ill; one of the first legal acts to recognise this was the Lunacy Act of 1845 which made local counties build asylums and gave the authority to detain lunatics, idiots and persons of unsound mind. (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 190). It was enforced and regulated by the Lunacy Commission. At the time the only place for the mentally ill to go to were workhouses and private madhouses. As mentioned before this moral treatment was in reaction of the harsh treatment normally given. One of the first inst itutions to use moral treatment was the York Retreat, The York Retreat was opened in 1796 by the English Quaker community as a reaction against the harsh treatment used by other asylums. The belief at the time was that the mad were wild beasts. The retreat was opened from The consciousness felt by a small group of citizens of an overwhelming social evil in their midst (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,198 quoting Jones 1960:40), although state-run asylums did not pick up this form of treatment for a while. Andrew Scull, an American sociologist argued that the mass amount of people detained in asylums was a product of urbanization, industrialisation and professional forces during the first half of the 19th century and that detainment in asylums was a way to control social deviance.(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,190) The increase in wage labour meant that services were not good enough to deal with this new form of social deviance meaning that the mentally ill could not be looked after by the family or local community, and around this time the stigma of how mental illness was a loss of humanity changed to the loss of self -control among the public. Meanwhile the French sociologist Michel Foucault sees that this new found market economy promotes rationality, surveillance and discipline'(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,190) But with this change of direction in the treatment of the mentally ill, many institutions began to fill up with patients rapidly overfilling local magistrates estimates, which lead to several extensions to a mental hospital. An example of this is the Conley Hatch mental hospital in London which opened in 1851 and shut down in 1993 and at its peak it held 3,500 patients. Many institutions promoted that they had the cure for mental illness, which led to a great surge in patients. In 1998, Gittens produced research into a mental hospital in Essex and followed the lives of staff and patients in the hospital and found many contradictions about mental hospitals. He found In relation to women patients it is clear for example that the hospital, based as it was on men-only and women-only wards constituted a women-only space and true asylum in a social context in which there was little such space in external community life (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 191) He also found that there needs to be a restriction against outside forces such as social, economic and political conditions as they affect peoples abilities to deal with such material. As mentioned, its primary ideals were to treat patients with moral treatment yet this was forgotten about early on in its life, with the exaggerated numbers which local magistrates didnt expect and such serious illnesses, political bodies were urging to keep costs down. Legal acts such as The Mental Treatment Act 1930 which allowed voluntary admissions to mental hospitals, it was also the act that got rid of the term asylum, and many mental hospitals found that it was not necessary to keep voluntary patients institutionalised. This led to a slight decrease in patients but it wasnt until the 1950s that its fall became apparent. Goffman (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 192) found that there were four types of institutions because of this: Nursing homes, where the incapable are cared for Sanatoriums for those who have who have an unwanted threat to the community. Prisons, where the welfare of the inmate is not of paramount importance Monasteries and convents for those who volunteer to be away from the world In 1948 the NHS was created, this led to all mental institutions being free for everyone, psychiatrists wanted this to broaden their field of study. The Mental Health Act of 1959 aimed to provide informal treatment for mentally ill patients with the possibility of detaining a patient against his/her will One of the starting points of the crisis was in 1961, Enoch Powell, the minster of Health at the time, believed that mental hospitals were doomed institutions, so in 1961 he drafted The Hospital Plan where he planned to build thousands more hospitals and abolish certain mental institutes. The discharge of patients had become the policy of the demise of the asylum, subsequently the Community care blue book was published which offered an alternative system to the mental hospital; where mentally ill patients would see a specialist for an appointment just like a regular doctor, the patient could then carry on with their lives and live at home. The patient could live a fairly regular life and would stop the segregation from normal society; it would entail the patient receiving treatment in a non-asylum setting such as in a district general hospital psychiatric unit. However it is argued that it is society that made the patient mentally ill in the first place, within the institutions there is a guaranteed market for experts services where specialists could hone their skills, yet the asylum grew out of a need to establish a social order. The asylum had many problems as Goffman points out, he believes in the mortification of self when being admitted to a mental hospital, with self being defined as being constructed by the pattern of social control which exists in an institution.(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,192) The persons past identity is completely stripped, their movement is restricted, hospital issue clothes are given and any personal belongings are taken away, they are then obliged to disown their former selves through confessions with the staff, there is no such thing as privacy and freedom of choice is extremely limited with all activities on a schedule. Wings (1962) research shows that feelings of withdrawal and apathy in patients was caused by their length of stay in a ward and the lack of a stimulating environment, good medical leadership is not enough to reduce these feelings in patients, as he says it is unlikely that the functions of am energetic reformer can be built in to the social structure of an institution. As John Connolly points out once confined, the very confinement is admitted as the strongest of all proofs that man must be mad. by 1990 the average asylum held 961 compared to in 1930 which held 1221. Once the asylum had reached its peak size, it realised that the patient was losing their individuality through being guided by the institutions rules; this resulted in a problematized re-entry into society. Originally the asylums were urged to be built by humanitarians, today the opposite is true, community care is now seen to be therapeutic and humanitarian, their return to the community legitimised community care as it deflected attention away from the demise of state responsibility for the seriously mentally ill and the current crisis of abandonment. (Bean and Mounser 1993, 8) During the time where many large institutions were on the brink of collapse Martin (1985) conducted research into what they were failing, he found that many of the failures were with the nursing staff whom participated in inhumane, brutal and threatening behaviour and committed mass negligence on their patients. He asked two questions. How do trained carers become to behave contrary to professional standards? And how have hospitals been arranged in such a way that abuse and neglect have not been prevented? To answer he found 6 points: Large institutions were situated outside mass populated areas meaning they were cut off from the community Wards were isolated from each other, and were almost their own little world Un trained and un experienced staff were left to deal will large amounts of unruly patients, The worst wards were the ones rarely visited by a specialist, leaving the junior staff to do the work leading to a lack of leadership There was a lack of staff development through staff training courses etc There was a huge lack of privacy for the patients (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 194) These factors led scholars to doubt that the large asylums could be put right and doubted that they could be reformed. They believe that there is a huge corruption of care. Ultimately every single patient will leave a mental institute whether they are ready to return into society or not and the goal is to cease contact with the hospital afterwards, scholars believe that the hospital, now in a community based system, has less of an importance it once had and is only one institution among others. The community based system is where the patient makes their first and last contact with treatment, they will enter the hospital for a short time and continue their treatment in the community as their treatment does not require hospital admission. This process is known as deinstitutionalisation as patients will not be treated by hospital based treatment and instead will be by community based psychiatrists. However this is not new, in the old system the patient may have made his/her first contact with a G.P and then sent to a mental hospital for treatment, although this has not changed there are now community psychiatric teams to send the patient to the hospital an d to treat them inside and outside the hospital, The old system had a sole focus on the hospital, today it no longer directs, controls nor dictates the pace of treatment or care (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 196) There is a whole array of reasons discussed as to the demise of mental hospitals, one reason is the pharmalogical revolution which suggests that the advances in medical treatments, such as tranquilizers let patients be discharged in mass numbers, the introduction of chlorpromazine in 1952 made it easier to manage disturbed behaviour, and therefore easier to open wards that had been locked, to engage patients in social activities, and to discharge some of them into the community Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,197 quoting Gelder et al 2001,769) Scull blames economic determinism and decareceation for this massive decline in the use of mental hospitals, he believes that it was state sponsored policy of closing down asylums, with the emergence of the welfare state, segrative control mechanisms became too expensive. Inflation contributed by unpaid patient labour and cost of employees, ex-patients also required care which had considerable costs, community care was the cheaper option. Another reason would be the shift of focus from chronic conditions to acute conditions such as depression and anxiety which has been described as the common cold for mental health specialists, these acute conditions were once treated by mental hospitals but it has shifted to the GP and is easily treated by them meaning that the majority of people with mental heath problems never seek specialist treatment. Additionally, as mentioned before community care played a significant role in the downfall of asylums, many specialists found that a change of sce nery was very beneficial to the patient, even patients with long-term chronic illnesses can return to society and live in community residences with good results making the mental hospital useful for a short period yet quickly and easily disposed of at point of departure; no longer serving any purpose nor use to the ex-patient. However many studies have found that many psychiatric wards are non-therapeutic and that they share the same problems as they did in the Victorian era, mainly because , according to Goffman, they act as a repair garage; a problem is brought in, fixed and then sent out. Only medication is given, total care is not. A study conducted by Braginsky, Braginsky and Ring (1973) found that the minor patients all wanted to go home, while the more serious cases had no interest in leaving and instead maximised their comforts in the hospital as theyd rather stay in the hospital than become a victim of poverty outside . The focus has also shifted to the cause and solution of mental health, epidemiology (the study of patterns of health and illness in public health) and treatment were separated in the era of the mental hospital, today they are much closer, the hospital has disappeared leaving the attention to the inequalities in mental health prevention and positive mental health To conclude, the mental hospital has made leaps and bounds in the field of mental health with its aim to understand mental health scientifically and tried to cure mental illness, even though that was deemed impossible. Its failure was mainly due to costs and the shift of attention to other fields of treatment. Yet two types of institution has been created due to this, community mental health centres and district general hospital units both modern in their treatment. Although there are still many similarities, high risk patients are still held against their will. Overall the care is much more professional, information is available over the internet, telephone or even the television, but more importantly there is a focus on the patients life and freedom, many may argue that the government still no longer offers a complete care system, but its a start.

Influences of Biological Factors on Individual Personality

Influences of Biological Factors on Individual Personality Examine to what extend biological factors account for an individuals’ personality? The term ‘personality’ is used in general conversation in many ways. When psychologists discuss personality they are concerned primarily with individual differences – the characteristics that distinguish one individual from another. This essay discusses personality in terms of the biological approaches that view characteristics as traits and considers the roles of genetics and environmental influences in the stability of individual characteristics. A lot of evidence points to the conclusion that individual differences, mostly measured as psychological traits are substantially influenced by genetic factors (Carver Scheier, 2000). This conclusion raises questions about research and theory in Psychology in terms of the variation of these traits in the population and the existence of psychopathology (Bouchard, 2004). Trait psychology has a clear set of assumptions including the heritability of traits and a causal model attributing individual differences in brain function into behavioural and learning differences (Gale Eysenck, 1992). The behaviour and molecular genetic evidence confirm that biology has its role in personality traits (Carey, 2002). Since the 1950’s Eysenck claimed that most of the differences we observe between people’s personalities can be accounted for by just three factors, expressed as bi-polar dimensions: (1) introversion-extraversion; (2) neuroticism-stability and (3) psychoticism. Eysenck (1994) also gave his typology a biological basis, linking it not with body fluids but with the central nervous system (introversion-extraversion) and the autonomous nervous system (neuroticism-stability). He proposed that individual differences in introversion-extraversion are explained by inherited differences in the excitatory potential of central nervous systems (CNS). Individuals whose excitatory potential is low are predisposed towards extraversion since the bias in their CNS is towards cells being inactive (inhibition) rather than active (excitation). This means extraverts require more going on around them for their brains to function adequately, and to maintain a reasonable level of alertness, than introverts do. Extraverts are ‘stimuli-hungry’ and not only have a CNS which switches off more readily, they take longer to dissipate the inhibition that has built up in their CNS while attending to a stimulus. Conversely, introverts, through their high excitatory potential, are already reasonably alert and thus less prone to switching their attention to other sources of stimuli; in other words, introverts are less easily distracted than extroverts. Introverts would also be less likely to have what is termed as ‘micro sleeps’ (switching off for a few seconds), because they dissipate any inhibition much more rapidly than extraverts do. Even before Eysenck’s theory was available, large individual differences had been observed in the ease with which individuals, in some occupational settings, doing jobs like radar and sonar operations, could cope with the low levels of signals on their screens or reported signals when none were present, while the performance of others seemed relatively unaffected by the low level of simulation (Eysenck Eysenck, 1985). Eysenck’s theory seemed to offer an explanation of this and other similar differences of behaviour. Extraverts because of the low level of activation in their nervous systems, find it difficult to cope with environments which provide low levels of unvarying stimulation. Introverts, on the other hand, with central nervous systems already reasonably activated find these environments ideal. Conversely they would be swamped by high levels of stimulation, which would cause a considerable reduction in their performance. Much of the impact of these physiological differences on psychological differences between individuals was presumed to arise from its effect on an individual’s conditionability (Eysenck, 1994). Introverts, since they build up inhibition slowly, are easier to condition than extraverts. This implies that introverts are constitutionally more likely to assimilate, through conditioning, the rules, obligations and attitudes of their social environment. Conversely, the impact of socialisation on extraverts is attenuated by their weaker conditionability. Extraverts are therefore less likely to acquire conforming and conscientious behaviour patterns than introverts. Though Eysenck, for the most part, has focused on exploring the biological substructure of the introversion-extraversion dimension, he has suggested that an individual’s position on the second dimension, neuroticism-stability, reflects the stability of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is the part of the nervous system, not directly under the conscious control, that carries a number of reflex activities; it is also involved in certain emotional responses. Some people inherit a labile ANS, which responds vigorously to stress and also takes some time to return to baseline. In addition, they experience more spontaneous activity, that is, shifts in activation which are not clearly attributable to external events. Conversely, some individuals are born with stable ANS characterised by weaker responses to stress, a more rapid return to baseline and spontaneous activity. This means individuals with a labile ANS are constitutionally more prone to worry, anxiety, embarrassment and stress than those with a stabile ANS. Thus, individuals towards the neuroticism end of the dimension have greater ‘free floating’ anxiety which, through conditioning, can become attached to events or people. This may mean that social interaction can, for some individuals, become ‘loaded’ with a considerable amount of anxiety. However, an important implication of Eysenck’s theory is that neuroticism is normally distributed along a continuum. In other words, there is not a discontinuity between normal people and conditions such as agoraphobia (i.e. fear of open spaces), which are simply the result of somewhat higher levels of anxiety response. If the agoraphobics can learn a more neutral response he or she will be able to resume a normal life. However, despite clear connections between an individual’s biological status and neuroticism, there are clearly very significant environmental considerations. Tong et al., (2000) found that levels of neuroticism (N) were causally related to environmental factors and, in particular, to the failure of affect ional bonds provided by a social network of friends and acquaintances. Similarly, Bouchard (2004) found that women with children at home under 15 years old and men and women who are unemployed are more likely to have neurotic problems. Thus, 25.4% of unemployed women and 13.6% of unemployed men had neurotic illness as compared with 8.9% of employed women and 5.5% of full or part-time employed men. The employed status of the subject’s spouse also plays a part in the prevalence of neurotic symptoms. Men with a wife at home are less at risk than those who have a wife at work. In women, those with an unemployed husband at home are more at risk than their peers with a husb and at work. Thus neuroticism, though having a large genetic component, seems to be also partly environmental, although the direction of cause-and-effect in such studies should not be presumed. Children in maturation process value immensely consistent parental, familial and peer encouragement and emotional support (Bouchard, 2004). Inadequate or culturally atypical child rearing practices, parental illness, marital disharmony and family disturbance are all associated with personality disorder. Nevertheless, the role of learning cannot be over-estimated. Many personality disorders, for example, can be described in terms of inappropriate thresholds to incoming stimuli (Krueger Markon, 2006). Low thresholds to frustration or tolerance lead to impulsive behaviour or loss of temper. A high threshold in relation to emotional sensitivity leads to over defensiveness and emotional coldness. Thus, a child with little innate tendency to loss of temper but, in a family where tempers are regularly lost and are socially effective and valued, will model this behaviour and lower her threshold. Impulsive behaviour may be more likely in children where impulsive behaviour flourishes in the f amily and subculture. In terms of genes and cognitive abilities, several researchers have estimated the separate effects of genes and environment in the expression of intelligence by comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twins raised in the same environment with those raised in different environments (Bouchard et al., 1990). These can be viewed as experiments of nature (monozygotic and dizygotic twins) and experiments of nurture (raised in birth or adoptive families). Genes and environment are both correlated in birth families because the same parents provide both genes and environment. In adoptive families, the birth parents provide the genes and the adoptive families provide the environment. These studies have demonstrated that the correlation of the IQs of siblings raised in different environments is low, just over 0.20 (Bouchard McGue, 1981). Monozygotic twins of course share 100 percent of their genes, whereas dizygotic twins and other siblings share 50 percent. Clearly genes have stronger effect on I Q. However, the outcomes of twins studies do not refer to individual members of the populations under investigation. In other words, conclusions about the relationship between genes and IQ do not apply to individuals regarding the research evidence available. Nevertheless, the decreasing role of the environment in IQ seems to be counter-intuitive because research by Petrill et al., (1998) has shown that the longer twins experience different environments the more dissimilar should become. In other words, the effect of the environment on IQ is important in childhood but becomes increasingly unimportant in adulthood (Petrill et al., 1998). Nowadays, trait psychology has been challenged in terms of whether or not should we maintain individual differences in the functioning of broad neural systems as the principal explanations of personality? Cognitive and social-cognitive models may provide viable alternatives considering the impact of moderating factors. Further, both Eysenck and Gray assume that each trait relates to a single, key underlying system, but there might not be any simple one-to-one mappings between brain functions and traits (Zuckerman, 1991). These challenges presented by cognitive theorists and multiple-systems models of traits may be met in various ways. For example, improvements in the methodology for assessing brain functions may reveal that Eysenck and Gray are correct. Another approach maintains the centrality of neurophysiological explanations and seeks to develop more complex physiological models (e.g. Zuckerman, 1991). Furthermore, an alternative is to consider cognitive variables as mediating co nstructs so that they facilitate neural processes. In conclusion, some personality characteristics (such as general mood and energy level) are influenced by inherited biological factors. Eysenck (1985; 1994) thought that personality was determined more by genes than by environmental factors. Various personality attributes seem to be identifiable within weeks of birth and remain relatively stable in each child during the first three years. Although this clearly attests to the large genetic influence on early personality development, these biological factors cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Experiences that are common to the culture and the subculture group (such as gender roles) and experiences that are unique to the individual interact with inborn predispositions to shape personality. Personality develops in a constant interactive process between biological potential, environmental circumstances and social opportunity. References Bouchard, T. J. Jr. (2004). Genetic Influence on Human Psychological Traits: A Survey. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol 13 (4), August, 148-151. Bouchard, T.J. Jr. McGrue M. (1990). Genetic and rearing environmental influences on adult personality: an analysis of adopted twins reared apart. Journal of Personality, (58), 263-292. Carver, C.S. Scheier, M.F. (2000). Perspectives on personality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Carey, G. (2002). Human Genetics for the Social Sciences. London: Sage Eysenck, H. J. (1994). Personality: Biological foundations. In P. A. Vernon (Ed.) The Neurophysiology of Individual Differences. London: Academic Press. Eysenck, H. J. Eysenck, M. W. (1985). Personality and individual differences. New York: Plenum. Gale A Eysenck M W (Eds.)(1992). Handbook of individual differences. London: Sage. Krueger, R. B. Markon K. E. (2006). Understanding psychopathology: melding behavior genetics, personality, and quantitative psychology to develop an empirically based model. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15 (3), 113-117. Matthews G. Gilliland K. (1999). The personality theories of H. Eysenck and J. A. Gray: a comparative review. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 583-626. Petrill, S. A., Plomin, R., Berg, S. (1998). The genetic and relationship environmental relationship between general and specific cognitive abilities in twins age 80 and older. Psychological Science, 9, 183-189. Tong, H. J., Donald, W. P. Wade H. (2000) Genetic Influences on Neural and Behavioral Functions. CRC Press. Zuckerman, M. (1991) Psychobiology of Personality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Management Issues of Implementing Welfare to Work Programs In Californi

Management Issues of Implementing Welfare to Work Programs In California In August of 1996, our chief executive of the United States, President Clinton, changed the structure of welfare dependency. He signed into law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. This act, with its entire new legislature, has come to be known as welfare reform. Our state leaders, administrators and managers face many challenges and constraints in their attempt to implement a law, which will restructure the welfare dependency roles. This paper will take a detailed view of the specific challenges faced by state public sector leaders, in the attempt to implement these new laws which created a new welfare system for the United States. This paper will also highlight the various programs, created from the new legislature, and examine them from implementation through their operations. As the structure of welfare dependency begins to change, the primary challenge faced by state administrators is the ability to get its citizens, who have depended on federal funds to support their families, to depend on their own work generated incomes. For over 60 years, the government has been financially providing a subsidized income for its needy citizens. The government has begun to look for ways to assist its needy and able bodied, welfare dependent citizens, to become much more self-sufficient. The government was also looking at ways to decrease its national debt. Government studies revealed that too many Americans had become too dependent on the financial assistance of the government to support their lifestyles. Tax payers, as well as the republican parties were pushing for a change. They believed that the needy, those that were able sh... ...tive ways to implement dependency reduction programs to fit a large sum of people with a limited and amount of time and funds. Bibliography Barnow, Burt S. and Nightingale, Demetra S., Status of the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program After One Year Challenges, Resources and Flexibility: Using TANF Block Grant and State MOE Dollars http;www.urbaninstitute.org/welfare/wtw_labor.html http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/calworks/caworks.html http;www.urbaninstitute.org/welfare/wtw_labor.html http://www.hudson.org/wpc/states/cal-tanf.htm http:///www.urban.org/welfare/grants_program/grans_prog.html http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/calworks/caworks.html http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/hsp/isp/xsleszn.htm Welfare Policy Center/ Hudson Institute http://www.hudson.org/wpc/states/cal-tanf.htm wysiwyg://119/http//www.ncsl.org/statefed/welfare/flexblty.htm

Elites And The Masses Essay -- essays research papers fc

Elites and the Masses There are many theories pertaining to the nature of power in society. In modern society, it is important to identify where and when power is exercised, who benefits and who suffers from it being exerted upon them. In this tradition, it is useful to examine the managerialist perspective.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Managerialism focuses on organizations as the basis, or unit of analysis of society, to which all other aspects of society are subordinate to. These organizations use their resources in an attempt to dominate each other and society. Managerialism tells us that power is concentrated among a group of elites who control organizations, and use them as an instrument to gain more power and expand their realm of control. Organizational power is increasingly the most important force that explains the direction of change in both state and society (Alford and Friedland, p.174). Thus, elites are becoming the most important factor that determines our society, and do not serve the full interests of society, but rather attempt to manipulate the masses to better serve itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Max Weber’s theory of bureaucracy lends itself to the notion of the managerialism. He claims that as society becomes more integrated and complex, organizational elites come to be more dependent on specialists and experts, or bureaucracies to advise and influence them on decisions. Bureaucracies are groups of individuals doing specialized tasks which blend into a cohesive and efficient unit. Power becomes increasingly centralized within bureaucracies and the elites who control them because as they grow, becoming more powerful, they use that power to gain more control over the masses. Weber saw the historical development of societies as a movement toward rational forms of organization, that is, groups organized not on the basis of the authority of personalities and traditions but on the basis of specific functions to perform or objectives to meet (Marger p. 72). Weber often used the notion of a machine to illustrate what he meant by modern organizations, refer ring to people as “cogs'; that serve the machine, losing their identity and creativity in the process. Although Weber admitted that both mechanization and bureaucracy together created an extremely efficient and productive economic system, they also worked to bui... ...with common interests who join together for a common goal, while managerialism believes that power is centralized among a small group of elites who work to get more power, and will even manipulate the masses in their own best interest. Pluralism believes that the citizens dictate to our government the proper policies to enact, when managerialism says that people in a position of power dictate policies to the public. In addition, pluralism assumes a consensus of values among individuals, while managerialism sees society working by conflict and coercion Bibliography Alford and Friedland, Chapter Seven, “State and Society in Managerial Perspective,'; in Powers of Theory, 1985, p.161-83. Martin Marger, Ch.4, “The Elite Model,'; in Elites and Masses (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1981). George Ritzer, “The Weberian Theory of Rationalization and the McDonaldization of Contemporary Society,'; p 37-62 in P. Kivisto (ed.), Illuminating social like (Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press, 1998). C. Wright Mills, “The Structure of Power in America,'; in James Farganis (ed.), Ch. 11 “Conflict Theory,'; Readings in Social Theory (NY: Mcgraw-Hill, 1996).

Handmaids Tale Essay -- essays research papers

Does the women of Gilead know that they are being controlled?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Are the women of Gilead aware that they are being controlled by the society? In Margaret Atwood ¡Ã‚ ¯s The Handmaid ¡Ã‚ ¯s Tale, the theme of control is a very important factor of the book. In the story, at the Republic of Gilead, the women are being controlled by the society to do what the society wants them to do. The handmaids are brainwashed before they start working for the society. But since the brainwashing happens so naturally over a period of time, the handmaids don ¡Ã‚ ¯t fully realize that they have been brainwashed by the society to do what the society wants them to do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The theme of control and being brainwashed could be found in many parts of books in many forms. For example, before the women became handmaids, they were at a institution where they get educated and influenced by the aunts on how they should live their lives. In the institution, the aunts treat the women like children.  ¡Ã‚ °But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up on plump finger. ¡Ã‚ ±(93), aunts ask such questions, which leads the women to think the way the society wants them to think.  ¡Ã‚ °Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison. ¡Ã‚ ±(94), and the women repeats the answer out loud as a whole as if they were young kindergartners, and by doing so, they are being influenced and brainwashed. By treating them like children and making them repeat after what they say, they slowly ...

APC 309 Strategic Management Accounting

Module Title: Strategic Management Accounting Module Code: APC309 Individual assignment SUNDERLAND BUSINESS SCHOOL Date: 16/04/2011 Introduction: As Gowthope (2005, p. 148) said that: â€Å"A budget is a plan, expressed in financial and/or more general quantitative terms, which extends forward for a period into the future. Budgets are widely used in organisations of all types and sizes. † –Budgeting actually refers to the process that, after the strategic plan of the business has been made, companies made a short term plan (usually one year) to meet the strategic purpose. Traditional budgeting has offered a lot of contributions in so many years? ractice; no one has a better summary of all advantage of traditional budget as (Umapathy, 1987, p. xxii): â€Å"I believe that budgeting provides managers with a wonderful opportunity to rejuvenate their organisations. There is no other managerial process I am aware of that translates qualitative mission statements and corporat e strategies into action plans, links the short term with the long term, brings together managers from different hierarchical levels and from different functional areas, and at the same time provides continuity by the sheer regularity of the process. . So, many organisations use a „traditional budget? –the short term plan that meet the strategic purpose of the organisation- because of the easiness of preparation and its simplicity to coordinate budget across various departments. But it seems it is more and more unsuitable for the modern business. In this paper, I will give a brief induction for traditional budgeting; and then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional budgeting; last I will explain and evaluate the alternative approach that will be more accurate and work for today? dynamic markets. In the second part I will tackle the working capital concept by giving some ways to improve parts of Working capital in XYZ limited which is a medium sized manuf acturing business. Today, reducing costs, improving quality, and saving time through all parts of an organisation are the mantra of executives in every industry. In their pursuit of those goals, however, they tend to overlook working capital productivity because it is an indirect measure. They see it as a narrow financial calculation and miss its link to the overall systemic performance of an organisation. As a result, executives forfeit a powerful lens to track improvements across the company. Section 1: Budget and Budgeting: â€Å"Budget reflects a choice – not an easy choice, but the right choice. And when you think about it, the only choice. The choice to take the responsible, prudent path to fiscal stability, economic growth and opportunity. † –George E. Pataki. An American politician. The use of budgets dates back to 1920 where it was used as a financial tool for business enterprises (Hofstede, 1968, p. 20). The budget is an indispensable management tool or as Horngren, T. et al, (2000, p. 178) said: â€Å"the most widely used accounting tool for planning and controlling organisations†. A budget is an estimated plan over a given period of time expressed in monetary terms for the allocation of funds and distribution of scarce resources through internal communication to get the planned activities done. When used properly a well designed budget can be a helpful tool in decision-making, it can ensure the controlling process and performance measurements, facilitate communication, and can act as a motivational tool. (Highered. mcgrawhill, accessed 2011) â€Å"Budgeting may be defined quite simply as the process of compiling budgets and subsequently adhering to them as closely as possible† (Maitland, 2000, p. 1). Though budgeting process is complex, time consuming and requires a lot of decision-making (refer to Appendix, figure. for an outline of the budgetary process), it is an essential part of the strategic planning process that helps communicating the goals of the organization and facilitates, coordinates and controls various departments of the organization in order to steer the company to its desired goals, it involves the annual cycle to plan actions, better coordination and allocation of resources, and at the end measuring and controlling performance with regard to the pla ns agreed. Traditional Budgeting Approach (TBA): There are various methods to prepare a budget. Here we are concerned with the traditional approach to budgeting known also as the incremental budgeting which involves basing next year? s budget on the current year? s results plus an extra amount for estimated growth or inflation (APC309 Workbook, 2008). It is claimed that in many organisations the traditional budgeting remains widespread, and that 99% of European and US companies are using budgets and have no intention of abandoning them, it was also stated that over 60% of those companies claim that they are not highly satisfied with their current budgeting systems and are continuously trying to improve the budgeting process to meet the demands set for management in creating sustainable value (report: Better Budgeting, 2004, p. 2-3). From this perspective it is obvious that traditional budgeting approach and budgets in general hold many benefits as well as problems. Implementing TBA on a static market: When implemented within businesses, such technique will be more suitable for firms where each year? s performance and activities are similar to the previous one and conditions are predictable, an active market that can take up large sales which do not change much in relation with changes in prices and where demand is slack. If we take an example of a company „A? operating in a static market, let? s say that our company is selling „sugar?. So for such company using the TBA (Traditional Budgeting Approach) will be perfect and will work well because first, sugar is a necessary good so the market demand is steady i. e. the buying behavior of sugar does not change much, it is a food basic that people consume on a daily basis, the market demand in this case is predicted and quite unchanged, so „A? an constantly base its expenditures and estimated revenues on those of previous year and that makes it suitable for our company here to be using an annual budget based on historical data, thus, will make it easier to compare actual results with budgets and monitor organizational functions. Second, senior managers won? t be forced to spend an amount of time reviewing budgets. Again, focusing on the benefits of TBA we can say that this approach enhance controlling and is asy to prepare and understand , administratively unambiguous and simple to operate, so this method is cheap. It is probably the simplest method that ensures a quick and low preparation costs, however, I would insist on the point that for any business it? s good to provide and introduce change gradually, therefore, the only major weakness that would limit our company „A? is the fact that senior managers will never be able to have a general and overall picture of the performance, and also some people will be offended when it comes to supervision, humans tend o work at their lowest possible standards especially when there is lack of motivation and rewards, as a matter of fact the budgetary control touch on the culture of blame and mistrust, plus there is a fact that scarce resources will not be allocated effectively and efficiently so that would create an obstacle and prevent employees from performing at their best, and their creative spirit would then be stamp down. Implementing TBA on a dynamic market: â₠¬Å"Fixed budgets don? t work today. A budget is a too static instrument and locks managers into the past – into something they thought last year that it was right. To be effective in a global economy with rapidly shifting market conditions and quick and nimble competitors, organisations have to be able to adapt constantly their priorities and have to put their resources where they can create most value for customers and shareholders. † Juergen H. Daum. (A management and executive adviser) As Juergen explained, budgeting tools that were created to serve businesses back in the manufacturing era where production costs and revenues were foreseeable will not be effective in today? s „information age? where the market is globalised. This traditional annual budgeting system is not suitable or relevant in rapidly changing markets, many companies believe that budgets do not deal with intangible assets like brands and knowledge and fail to focus value (Davies T. and Boczko T. 2005 p. 408). In today? s global market where conditions and demands are unpredictable and hard to be determined in advance, an event like 9/11, the Arab? s revolution, and the earthquake that hit Japan will definitely change the way organisations do their businesses especially those big companies that are opened to the global market, in this matter, adopting a raditional budgeting approach will cause more damages. Considering a company „B? operating in a typical dynamic changing market let? s assume here that „B? is a hotel business where each year? s activities and number of tourists accommodated are completely different than the previous year and hard to be predicted, this kind of businesses system is changeable, adjusted constan tly and boost employees to give their best with waking up their creativity spirits, our company „B? needs a full use of its potentials and should keep innovating in order to survive in its market and that would not be achieved if employees and managers are not motivated. For „B? to become the success that all companies are striving to reach today, it has to avoid relying on historical performances or fix their employees performance on fixed budget to deliver the planned outcome, and if adopting any method of budgeting it should do so by designing it on a „bottom-up? basis. So, in a dynamic market a use of TBA would cause more problems to such companies. TBA is inaccurate for our company „B? where each year is very different to the previous one in terms of activities, cost, and market demand. Here, I would suggest the use of the ZBB (Zero Based Budgeting) approach since the number of tourists change according to seasons and unexpected events worldwide, it will be beneficial to re evaluate all of the company? s activities from a zero base annually and respond to any condition changes within the environment each year. Thus, inefficient and inaccurate activities will be removed and any wasteful cost will be cut which means a better allocation of resources, also, this technique promotes the bottom-up of budgeting which will automatically lead to bring up the motivation of employees. Nevertheless, the weakness of this method is that each pound spent must be justified, and if we have a big company which held too many activities, using a ZBB will generates more work that is hard to managed, and because decisions are made at the budget time, it will be difficult to react and deal with changes that might occur during the year, so here as a suggestion the company while performing the zero based budget may use a rolling budget every year. Furthermore, it will be challenging especially for private organisations that have indefinable activities and discretionary cost to be put into decision packages. There were some argues about the traditional budgeting approach being as a barrier to change. For that Hope and Fraser (1997) suggested a new alternative process to budgeting which is termed as â€Å"Beyond budgeting approach†. They claimed that this approach will free people from the top-down performance contract and allows a use of knowledge and best allocation of resources to satisfy customers and beat competitors. This alternative way of budgeting is about the development of leadership principles and help decision making to be made. The thing about it is that this model does not lead to change in some parts but require a systems transformation. (Refer to appendix, figure: 2 for a budgeting and beyond budgeting model). However, even with this model that will break managers free from the annual performance of budgeting, it has a disadvantage that it underpinned their organisation? s performance transformation. To alleviate all those limitations, companies must seek for alternatives approaches that combines and put in practice the benefits of each approach without forgetting to give priority to employees and managers? otivation, the human aspect behavior plays a crucial part in every business because success of any company nowadays rely on its number one asset which is the human labor (knowledge, know-how, expertise, experience†¦.. etc. ). Section 2: Working Capital: Nowadays, the market requires companies to diversify its products and services within a short time delivery, so, companies are striving to keep o n track with global markets? need and competition from other rivals in order to meet the customers? expectations and satisfy their needs. For that, companies will have to focus its resources and potentials to create the business? value, satisfy the shareholders and balance between its liquidity and profitability, this will be through improving all forms of cash flow and increasing their working capital productivity. In an article from (tutor2u, accessed 2011) working capital is: â€Å"The period of time which elapses between the point at which cash begins to be expended on the production of a product and the collection of cash from a customer† (Refer to appendix, figure. 3 for working capital cycle) Working capital is the concern of all firms; it is defined as the current assets minus the current liabilities (working capital = current assets – current liabilities). While in the APC309 Workbook, (2008) it was said that: â€Å"Working capital required because the company has to pay for goods and services before recovering the money from customers, and represented by the difference between current assets and current liabilities. † Company XYZ: a manufacturing business: Considering XYZ Limited, a medium sized manufacturing business. For such manufacturing businesses, XYZ needs to spend cash to purchase raw materials (inventories) and manufacture them. While waiting for the finished goods to be sold it needs to stock them. After selling the goods it can incur some costs. And before receiving the revenue (cash) it waits for the cash receipts from the customers (accounts receivable) and can delay the payments to vendors (accounts payable). So, working capital is an important source of cash throughout the business cycle. (Refer to Appendix, figure. 4 for a diagram of the Working capital cycle in manufacturing firms). Improving XYZ’s working capital: Focusing on working capital will help XYZ? s manager to create lasting value, examine the organisation? productivity and efficiency, and XYZ will become stronger. Starting with the following formula: (working capital = current assets – current liabilities) to analyze the operating cycle of XYZ in order to improve its working capital. Liquidity assessment: cut-down the operating cycle. Shorten XYZ? s operating cycle and cash holding costs by maintaining a cash balance, this would be done through a trim of the stock on hand – the XYZ company however should pay attention not to be in short of stock which will affect it badly and will be unable to meet its customers? emand-, also, make a consignment of stock obtained, lowering the time needed to manufacture the goods and selling them, and a cut down of cost which will definitely increase their cash. Stock when necessary: reduce inventories. Inventory surplus is one of the ways to neglect any cash sources, so in order to boost cash flow; XYZ would better reduce production time and its inventories and lowering them to avoid over production. By a reduction in inventories meaning made a consignment of stock, managing the supply chain and varying the goods manufactures. Also, to increase profitability, XYZ can benefit from cutting costs through this reduction in both inventories and warehouse space needed. Accounts receivable funding: get paid now. Until the customer pays XYZ, the sale is not considered as achieved. The working capital cycle must be completed or the company will regret making the sale if the customer went away without paying. So, XYZ should take into consideration terms of payments, invoices and well manage the cash. Some ways to improve the cash will be speeding up cash collection, ameliorate the reduction of payment terms and collection processes, besides, a strong credit control and a rigorous collection procedures will help to positively improve profitability. While collecting past due cash, XYZ should secure favorable payment terms, obtain payments, approve new customers and maintain a good relationship with clients that pay on time while keep an eye and be careful from both doubtful and risky clients. Accounts payable: negotiating the best agreements possible. While dealing with suppliers, XYZ should rethink payment terms and avoid early payments. Paying its suppliers before the due date is strongly unacceptable and better be avoided, and accomplished within or after the due date. Raising terms and procedures of payments, and optimizing discount is highly recommended. Seeking an increase in cash flow operation and the company? s profitability will be achieved by asking for longer credit terms from suppliers, and if possible take inventories on consignment. Other ways to improve working capital can be to consider leasing when thinking of purchasing equipments this will improve the amount of cash in short term only but can lead to additional costs in long term. Also, consider outsourcing and benefit from price differences. And always negotiate and try to get discounts, besides there is the possibility of converting debtors? cash into factoring or utilizing a bank loan or overdraft. For a XYZ Limited to have working capital the current assets must exceed the current liabilities, it is managing the use of both current assets and current liabilities to improve the company? s short-term liquidity. There is a direct connection between working capital cycle and business performance. Hence, the most important thing that? s needed to improve and have an efficient working capital cycle is not actually focusing on components of balance sheet that are: inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable but is the business cycle TIME that is measured from the time we identify the customer? s need, till we receive the payment of the finished product. Then, by reducing any necessary cash or inventory we will succeed to reduce our working capital cycle. Almost any business performance improvement effort influences the working capital (W. C) cycle productivity of the business here talking about XYZ and will also affect other businesses that deals either directly or indirectly with it. For example if XYZ did not succeed in collecting cash from its clients it cannot be able to pay its suppliers and debtors and that will be bad since the relationship between them and XYZ will be sensitive so, that would build a miss trust and XYZ will find difficulties to be supplied or get credits this later will cause trouble because it will not have any raw materials and the business will then stop operating. Taking XYZ limited as a manufacturing business, any of the ways to improve its W. C that was mentioned above will help cut down costs and boost overall working capital productivity by shrinking inventories and driving down accounts receivable. Also, the results behind paying suppliers before the due date would lead to reduction in working capital productivity. XYZ and should closely track its competitors? improvements to ensure that it is performing better. Furthermore, it can be useful to benchmark itself with regard to other industries for perceptions and opportunities to improve working capital productivity and cash flow. Benchmarking the performance of XYZ? system as a whole more accurately with regard to benchmark with other companies in the same sector would be of benefits. References: -APC309 Module Workbook, 2008. „Strategic Management Accounting Version 1. 0?. University of Sunderland. -Davies T. and Boczko T. , 2005. „Business Accounting And Finance. Second Edition.? Mc Graw Hill Education, p. 408. -Drury C. , (2001) „Management Account ing for Business Decisions. Second Edition.? Thomson Learning. -Gowthope C. , (2005) „Management Accounting for non specialists, 2nd Edition?. Thomson Learning, p. 148. -Hofstede G. H. , (1968) „The Game of Budget Control?. Koninklijke Van Gorcum & Comp. N. V. , Assen, p. 20. -Hope J. and Fraser R. , (1997) „Beyond budgeting: breaking through the barrier to „The third wave. Management Accounting, London. -Horngren Charles T. , Foster G. , Datar M. (2000) „Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 10th edition?. Upper Saddle River (NJ). Prentice Hall, p. 178. -Lucey T. (1996) „Management Accounting, 4th Edition?. London: Letts, p. 108. -Maitland I. (2000) „Budgeting for Non-Financial Managers: how to Master and Maintain Effective Budgets?. London. Pearson Education, p. 1. -Satish B. M. (2002) „Working Capital Management and Control: Principles & Practice?. New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers. Web sites: ? Behavioral Aspect of Budgeting: http://highered. mcgraw-hill. com/sites/dl/free/0074711717/57451/Budgeting_Ch09. pdf [Accessed the 25th February 2011] ? Better Budgeting: A report on the Better Budgeting forum from CIMA and ICAEW. (2004), Chartered Institute Of Management Accountants. P. 2-3 http://www. cimaglobal. com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/betterbudgeting_techrpt_2004. pdf [Accessed the 28th February 2011] ? The Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT) www. bbrt. org [Accessed the 5th March 2011] ? Beyond budgeting http://www. juergendaum. com/bb. tm [Accessed 5th March 2011] ? Working capital cycle http://tutor2u. net/business/finance/workingcapital_cycle. htm [Accessed 20th March 2011] http://blog. maia-intelligence. com/2009/06/15/working-capital-management-and-bi-part-ii/ [Accessed 20th March 2011] Appendix: Source: Lucey, 1996, p. 108. Figure. 1: Outline of the budgetary process. Figure. 2: From traditional budgeting model to the emerging management model „beyond budgeting? Source: http://blog. maia-intelligence. com Figure. 3: Working capital cycle. Source: tutor2u. net [accessed 20th March 2011] Figure. 4: working capital cycle for a manufacturing firm

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Explain each of the areas of learning and development and how these are interdependent |Area of Development |How it is interdependent | |PSED – This area ensures children make positive relationships |Communication and language for e. g. aking relationships as often| |with other children and that children have awareness of their |communication can be the foundation of building relationships | |body and have self-confidence, children will also be able to | | |manage their feelings and their behaviour. | |Physical Development- moving and handling, Health and self-care, |PSED- need self confidence to join in physical activity with | |understand how important Physical development is. |friends. | | |Self confidence for self care | | |Positive relationships with someone to teach self-care. |Communication and Language |PSED- may not have confidence to speak | |Listening and attention |Literacy-may not be able to read something out to speak | |Understanding | | |Speaking | | |Li teracy |Physical Development If the child doesn’t have fine motor skills | |Reading |then they will struggle to hold a pencil to write their name | |Writing |Communication- Have trouble reading out loud | | |PSED – no confidence to read aloud, don’t have anyone to read | | |with so it’s hard to make progress. | |Mathematics |Literacy- Cant read, won’t understand numbers. |Numbers, Shape, space and measure |PSED- Counting together- self-confidence can’t play games won’t | | |be able to communicate properly. | |Understanding of the world |PSED- Begins to have their own friends- needs this to progress | |People and communities |knowledge | |The world |E. A. D Need pretend play to imitate every day actions | |Technology |P.D-need fine motor skills to make noises and explore the | | |environment | |Expressive arts and Design |PD- If you don’t have fine motor skills then you can’t develop | |Exploring Media and materia ls |your drawing skills e. g. can’t hold a pencil | |Being Imaginative |Communication – not understanding colours for example literacy | | |will be difficult to use media. | | |U. O. T. W, Can’t be imaginative as nothing to base it on. |