Elizabeth Visits GPC’s French Subsidiary Essay

Background: The case ‘Elizabeth Visits GPC’s French Subsidiary’ is about Elizabeth Moreno who is a key specialist within GPC. She is travelling from the subsidiary in the Philippines to visit another located in France. The text is about the cultural differences between different countries and people and shows how companies deal with it. GPC has subsidiaries around the world. Despite all technological advances, face-to-face meetings and on site consolations are used widely. France in particular have regular visits from GPC execs and scientists. The case study highlights the challenges that Elizabeth Moreno got communicating with the French subsidiary manager. To prepare dealing with cross-cultural issues, the company’s human research management department gives courses to prepare for foreign assignments. For Elizabeth this contrast is even bigger as she just leaved the Philippines. The text shows that the different language is not the only thing to worry about. There ar e different challenges in every country. Also miscommunication is much more likely to occur among people from different countries or backgrounds than among those from similar backgrounds. Even in the communication style differences can be found. Question 1: Drawing from your understanding of verbal and nonverbal communication patterns from this chapter, explain what Elizabeth Moreno can do to establish her position in front of French managers. How can she get them to help her accomplish her assignment in five days? French managers work quite different than others. They regard authority as residing in the person, so employees respect the position and not the person. French managers have a different relation to their superiors and they do not value the same working ability in a company. In fact they do not even try to learn something about their employees personal lives and their real personality, they even want to be less personal in their working environment. In difference to America French do not try to create a relationship to each other at their workplace. They differentiate between work and private live and do not want to mix it together. In order to establish her position in front of the French managers and with her knowledge about their culture Elizabeth has to adopt her managing strategy to be really efficient. She has to think in the French way. In contrast to America it is not very useful to try to become friends with the French managers and employees. They have to respect her position and not her as a person. In order to get authority she has to act like the superior. Question 2: What should Elizabeth know about high-context versus low-context cultures in Europe? How can this knowledge help her be successful there? Elizabeth needs to know the differences between high-context and low-context cultures when dealing with European countries. It shows the communication between different working and thinking styles. Low-context culture means that everything that is need to understand has to be said. When talking to a low-context cultural you have to speak and write as clearly as possible. The communication needs to be much more explicit and straight to the point whereas a high-context culture is a culture where words and word choices are very important because they can communicate a very specific and complex message. The knowledge about these two very different communication styles can be very useful in doing business or communicating with people from different cultures. For Elizabeth it might be easy to communicate with the French managers as they are both from a low-context country. (International Management, Pearson, Seventh Edition, p. 136) However, Elizabeth should be very careful when addressing to French employees. Too much information leads people to feel they are being talked down; too much little information can mystify them or make them feel left out. She has to use right words by thinking about what they could interpret what she is saying. Because after all, these two are different countries with a different cultural background, even though they are both low-context countries. Question 3: What should Elizabeth include in her report, and what should be the manner in which it is communicated, so that future executives and scientists avoid communications pitfalls? Elizabeth should include in her report how to deal with French employees explaining how they view authority and they have only a business relation. French managers are also very proud of their thinking ability, they think they got a higher knowledge and deal in a different way with problems. In their eyes they solve them by using their brainpower and not their education. She also has to mention that France is a low-context culture, which is similar to America. When explained the main differences between the two business cultures she should focus on explaining the do’s and don’ts in communicating and acting with the French employees. Question 4: How can technical language differ from everyday language in corporate communications? Explain. Technical language is very different from the every day language and might in some cases be more effective, because it is more precise and easier to understand as there are no two ways in interpreting. For companies communication problems might be very expensive and that’s why they try to be as effective in their language as possible. An universal language is easier to understand around the world so most companies concentrate on a very technical language especially when dealing with people from another country or another culture.

Toiiiiiiiiiiiwo social psychological theories of aggression

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory suggests that acts of aggression are learnt through the observation of role models. His original â€Å"Bobo Doll† study showed that when exposed to aggressive behavior small children copied this behavior, not just by being physically aggressive but even copying the verbally aggressive behavior. However this study focuses on children who are supposed to learn in this manner, this doesn’t demonstrate that this would also be true in older children or adults who already have a set moral compass that would interfere with copying aggressive behaviors.However Bandura’s later study showed that if children saw someone get punished for aggressive behavior they were less likely to be aggressive themselves when they were allowed to play with the bobo doll but if they saw someone get rewarded for this aggressive behavior then they were much more likely to act aggressively themselves, this shows that vicarious reinforcement is important to the learning of aggression through the social learning theory, as receiving direct positive reinforcement leads to people having high self efficacy making them very likely to repeat the aggressive behaviour that they were rewarded for.In terms of aggression this reward could come in many forms such as acceptance from a violent gang they want to be a part of or just attention from a parent or teacher. Moreover, Walter and Thomas' study in 1963 further supported this theory as the results of the study demonstrated that aggressive behavior was a result of imitation of role models. However, the social learning theory does not explain what triggers aggression. Additionally, the study emphasizes nurture and learning through observation – ignoring nature and biological explanations.On the other hand, Zimbardo’s theory of Deindividuation suggests that aggressive behavior occurs in groups as a person’s normal constraints become weakened when they are part of a group a s they take of the identity of the crowd as they feel that when part of a group their own actions are no longer bad making aggressive behaviour easier as they do not seem it as themselves carrying out the aggressive behaviour but the group as a whole as they become faceless, just part of the group not an individual.Commonly members of violent or aggressive groups have a reduced private self  awareness as they have some kind of tie to the rest of the group that makes them become a faceless member of the crowd, examples of this are common items of clothing in gangs and at football matches as supporters wear the same clothing and are all sat together. Zimbardo formed this theory around his Stanford Prison experiment where when the guards were giving a common uniform they became much more aggressive in their behaviour towards the prisoners as they became â€Å"guards† so felt that as a guard behaviour they would normally not see as acceptable suddenly became the appropriate res ponse to their own frustrations.However in contrast with this the prisoners were all deindividuated but apart from one small failed act of rebellion they did not become aggressive, in fact they became more obedient and passive, this suggests the Deindividuation of an individual as part of a group only leads to aggressive behaviour if aggression is what is expected of the group such as violence being the expected behaviour from teenage gangs.Like Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, this doesn’t explain what causes aggression but this does suggest that in some causes individuals themselves do not feel any kind of cue for the aggression they demonstrate but act in that way because the rest of the group does explaining how large scale acts of aggression can commonly occur as it could only require a small number of people to actually have a cue such as frustration to trigger the aggressive behaviour.

A Letter of Advice to Nhs Litigation Authority on Clinical Neglgence Case of Missed Fractured Scaphoid Bone

To: NHS Litigation Authority, Re: Chandler Bing v Friends Health NHS Foundation Trust Dear Sir/ Madam, Thank you for your referral of the case concerning Mr. Chandler Bing’s missed fracture scaphoid bone received on 31 August 2010. The following is the Letter of Advice to the NHSLA concerning the above-mentioned case. The Claimant: 1. The Claimant was born on 8 April 1969. As a result of the events referred to in their particulars of claim the claimant is now represented by Bloomingdale Solicitors to launch to launch a civil action against Friends Health NHS Foundation Trust on 31 August 2010. The Defendant: 2. The Defendant was at all relevant times responsible for the management control, and administration of Friends Health NHS Foundation Trust, and for the employment of doctors, nurses, and other medical specialist s including emergency medicine, radiology and orthopaedic surgeons at and for the purpose of the said hospital. Duty of care: 3. Each of the doctors, nurses, and other staff employed at the hospital who treated the Claimant at the hospital owed the Claimant a duty of care. This duty included a duty in respect of: a. The advice given to the Claimant; . The diagnosis made in respect of the condition of the Claimant; c. The treatment prescribed for the Claimant and advice as to the effect of the treatment; d. The monitoring of the Claimant whilst treatment was given to the Claimant. 4. The Defendant is vicariously liable for any such breach of duty on behalf of any of its employees. Procedural Steps: 1. Protocol Steps: a. Obtaining health records: to provide suf ficient information to alert the Healthcare provider where an adverse outcome has been serious; to request for specific medical records involving the case. . Request for copies of patient’s clinical records with approved standard forms. c. Make sure the copy records to be provided within 40 days of the request and for a cost not exceeding changes permissible under the Access to Health Records Act 1990. d. If the Healthcare provider fails to provide health records within 40 days, their advisers can then apply to Court for an order for pre-action disclosure. e. If Healthcare provider considers additional health records are required from a third party, these should be requested through the patient. Third party Healthcare providers are expected to co-operate. 2. The response: Letter of response: a. Provide requested records and invoice for copying. b. Comments on events and/or chronology. c. If breach of duty and causation are accepted, suggestions for resolving the claims and request for further information offer to settle. d. If breach of duty and/or causation are denied, outline explanations for what happened by Healthcare provider suggests further steps like further investigations, obtaining expert evidence, meetings, negotiations or mediation, or an invitation to issue proceedings. e. Healthcare provider should acknowledge receipt of letter of claim within 14 days of receipt. f. Healthcare provider should, within 3 months of letter of claim, provide a reasoned answer. g. If claim is admitted, then the Healthcare provider says so. h. If any part of claim is admitted, then Healthcare provider makes clear which issues of breach of duty and/or causation are admitted and which are denied and why. i. If claim is denied, include specific comments on allegation of negligence, and if synopsis or chronology of relevant events provided and is disputed, Healthcare provider’s version of events provided. . Additional documents, for instance, internal protocol, copies provided. k. If patient made an offer to settle at this stage as a counter-offer by supporting medical evidence, and/or other evidence in addition to claim in healthcare provider’s possession. l. If parties reach agreement on liability, but time is needed to resolve claim, then aim to agree a reasonab le period. Witness Evidence: The witnesses concerned in this case include: 1. Claimant’s family members and colleagues concerning the accused loss of function in daily activities of living. . Healthcare providers beside the medical doctor in Accident and Emergency Department, including accident and emergency doctors and consultants, radiologists, orthopaedic specialists, nurses, family doctors, etc, who have treated the Claimant. 3. The Claimant himself. Where a witness statement or a witness summary is not served, the party will not be able to call that witness to give oral evidence unless the Court allows it. Matters to be covered in the witness’s statement will include: 1. Occupation and working ability of the Claimant, if this has changed, since the injury, previous occupation of the Claimant. 2. Brief description of marital and family circumstances including dates of birth of all the family members of the Claimant. 3. The Claimant’s amount of the sequence of events relating to the treatment in question. Care should be taken to avoid importing text and phraseology from medical records or reports that the Claimant would not use in the normal course of discussing the case. 4. If the witness’s factual recollection of events differs in any important respect from the medical records, or from the version of facts set out in the Defendant, the statement should acknowledge this and comment upon these differences. 5. The witness should describe the effects of the injury; this will include the effects on his physical condition, emotional condition, the practicalities of everyday life, the Claimant’s financial affairs, family life, and future plans and projects. Additional witnesses should state their relationship to the Claimant. If a amily member is providing a statement which is collaborative of the Claimant’s amount of events, the witness should confirm that he or she has read the Claimant’s statement and state that he or she agrees with its contents, insofar as those within his or her knowledge. The statement should then deal with issues of which the witness can give primary evidence. Where a party is required to serve a witness st atement and he is unable to obtain such a statement, for example because the witness refuses to communicate with the Defendant’s solicitor, he may apply to the Court for the permission to serve only a witness summary instead. This application should be made without notice. The witness summary is a summary of the evidence which would otherwise go into a witness statement, or if the evidence is not known, matters about which the party serving the witness summary will question the witness. Expert Evidence: 1. In clinical negligence disputes, expert opinions may be needed: a. On breach of duty and causation. b. On the patient’s condition and prognosis. c. To assist in valuing aspects of the Claims. The main expert witnesses to be considered include: a. Orthopaedic specialists. b. Accident and Emergency specialists. c. Radiology specialists. 2. The new Civil Procedure Rules will encourage economy in the use of experts and a less adversarial expert culture. It is recognized that in clinical negligence disputes, the parties and their advisers will require flexibility in their approach to expert evidence. Decisions on whether experts should be instructed jointly; and on whether reports might be disclosed sequentially or by exchange, should rest with the parties and their advisers. Sharing expert evidence may be appropriate on issues relating to the value of the Claim. However, this protocol does not attempt to be prescriptive on issues in relation to expert evidence. 3. Obtaining expert evidence will often be an expensive step and may take time, especially in specialized areas of medicine, where there are limited numbers of suitable experts. Patients and Healthcare providers, and their advisers, will therefore need to consider carefully how best to obtain any necessary expert help quickly and cost effectively. . Assistance in locating a suitable expert is available from a number of sources. Here the NHSLA has already supplied a number of experts for this case. 5. This is a case of missed fracture of the waist of the scaphoid, for a patient initially seen in the Accident and Emergency Department, is often a clinical diagnosis rather than a radiological diagnosis, because this fracture may not become apparent on an X-Ray until often a period of 10 days, and some times konger, has elapsed. . Tenderness in the anatomical snuffbox at the base of the dorsal aspect of the thumb, or pain produced by proximal pressuring on the wrist joint in radial deviation by comparison to the unaffected side, together with diminished power of grip, is an indication for the forearm to be put into a scaphoid plaster of Paris. 7. The patient must have the plaster checked the following day and will need to be X-Rayed again in 10 to 14 days if a fracture line was not initially visible. 8. When a fracture of the scaphoid is suspected, â€Å"scaphoid views† should be asked for. 9. The doctor at Accident and Emergency Department must ensure that 4 views have been carried out: Anterior-Posterior, Lateral, Supination oblique, and Pronation oblique. 10. If there is doubt about the diagnosis or the fracture is displaced, then a more senior or orthopaedic opinion must be sought forthwith, otherwise a scaphoid plaster must be applied, and the patient referred to the next Accident and Emergency review clinic or fracture clinic. 11. There is a component of contributory negligence by the Claimant who insists to remove the plaster in the follow up clinic despite he was strongly advised not to do so. The effect of this contributory negligence on the Claims should be further explored and evaluated. Quantum of damages: The means to calculate the quantum of damages made in this case of clinical negligence include various heads of the following damage: 1. Pain, suffering and loss of amenity; 2. Loss of earnings; 3. Care and assistance; 4. Travel and parking; 5. Miscellaneous expenses. The Claims on items (1), (3), (4) and (5) are measured quite subjectively by the patient affected. The calculation of loss of earning could be done by using the Ogden tables, which are involving a set of statistical tables for use in Court case in the United Kingdom. Beside the age of this patient (Date of Birth=08/04/1969) being 41 years old on the date of claim (that is 12-11-2010) is known, we still need to know about the patient’s earning per annum, what is his occupation, whether he had any disability resulted, his qualifications, and his planned age for retirement. In case where the period of loss of earnings will continue for many years into the future, it is particular important to ensure that amount is taken of likely periodic changes to the Claimant’s income. The Claimant will want to point to anticipated career progression. In such cases, the Court will either: 1. Determine the average multiplicand, based upon the likely earnings throughout the period of loss, which will be applied to the full period of the loss, or; 2. Use stepped multiplicands for each stage of the Claimants career. Generally, this will result in a lower multiplicand at the beginning and possibly at the very end of the period of loss, with one or more higher multiplicands to represent the likely career progression that would have been followed. There is a need to interview the Claimant in more details to decide these uncertainties for a more comprehensive evaluation. Last but not least, the importance of expert evidence in such a case is vital. Medical evidence can provide an indication as to what work the Claimant will be capable of undertaking, both at present and in the future. This, together with evidence of the Claimant’s employment prospective, will assist the Court in determining what will happen to the Claimant in the future. Another means to calculate for the approximate quantum of the damage in this patient is to look into common laws and journals for similar cases for comparison and a rough estimation of quantification of similar claims. In Johns v Greater Glasgow Health Board1, a 44 years old lady broke her scaphoid bones in both wrists in a fall. The fractures were only diagnosed three months later. As a result the fractures would not unit, causing continuous incapacity and pain. Bone grafting was contemplated, despite an earlier unsuccessful attempt. Held, that solatium was properly valued at 11,000 pounds with wage loss to date and for a further 4 years. In W v Ministry of Defence2, which is a case of failure to diagnose fractured scaphoid from Clinical Risk 2010; Volume 16: p. 198 (by Collier et al). The case was settled concerning damages awarded to the Claimant pursuant to the delay in the diagnosis of the fracture of his hand, without which the Claimant could have avoided undergoing surgery and regained his complete and normal wrist function. W made an offer to settle in the sum of 15,000 pounds. The amount awarded to the Claimant was reduced to 9,000 pounds after further negotiation. 1. Johns v Greater Glasgow Health Board (1990) SLT 459. 2. W v Ministry of Defence (2009) MLC 1652 In B v Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital3, the Claimant, a male nurse aged 29 years, had attended the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust after falling off his bike in July 2004. His left fractured scaphoid bone wad missed and a non-united scaphoid fracture with humpback deformity and associated ligament damage had occurred. The Claimant thus made a Part 36 Offer for the sum of 14,000 pounds that was agreed with the Defendants in March 2006. In N v Pontypridd & Rhona NHS Trust4, the Claimant injured his right wrist in a fall whilst ice-skating on March 14, 1998. He attended the Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department and was noted as having a tender scaphoid. An X-Ray of the wrist was taken which was interpreted as disclosing no fracture. Nonetheless the wrist was set in plaster of Paris and the Claimant released. On March 19, 1998, the Claimant re-attended the Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department still in pain. The cast was removed; no X-Ray was repeated. The Claimant was given tubi-grip dressing and told to exercise the wrist. On April 29, 1998, the Claimant attended a different Hospital complaining pain and swelling over scaphoid region. X-Ray showed a fracture of scaphoid bone in his right dominant hand. On May 29, 1998, the fracture showed sign of delayed union. As a result, a settlement of total damage of 12,500 pounds; general damage of 8,000 pounds, and special damage for income loss and care of 4,500 pounds were awarded. In P v United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust5, the Claimant was involved in a fracas at nightclub in Bristol and arrested for punching security camera. The Claimant attended Accident and Emergency Department at the Bristol Royal Infirmary on 27 May 2000 and he experienced problems relating to his right wrist. The SHO treated the injury as being a sprain and no X-Ray was taken. The Claimant’s GP then identified tenderness in anatomical snuffbox. An X-Ray confirmed fracture through scaphoid being missed by Accident and Emergency Department. The Claim was finally settled for 40,000 pounds with causation proved. 3. B v Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital (2006) MLC 1350 4. N v Pontypridd & Rhona NHS Trust (2003) MLC 1031 5. P v United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust (2004) MLC 1159 QBD Settlement Where a Claimant has received State Benefits as a result of a disease and is subsequently awarded compensation, the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) will seek to recover these benefits from the Defendant via a system operated by the Compensation Recover Unit (CRU). The CRU is also responsible for collecting from a Defendant the cost of any NHS treatment that a Claimant has received following a clinical negligence. Notifying the DWP: Section 4 of the 1997 Act requires the compensator to inform the DWP not later than 14 days after receiving the Claim. The Notification should be made on Form CR1 which is sent to the DWP. On receipt of Form CRU1, the CRU will send Form CRU4 to the Defendant. The Claim then progresses to the settlement stage. When ready to make an offer of compensator, the compensator submits form CRU4 to obtain a Certificate. The CRU acknowledges receipt of form CRU4 within 14 days. The CRU sends the Certificate to the compensator- a copy will also be sent to the Claimant’s solicitor. The compensator will then settle the compensation claim and pay the relevant amount to the DWP within 14 days of the settlement. The compensator will also complete and send to the DWP Form CRU102 detailing the outcome of the Claim. The rules relating to recovery of benefit apply to clinical negligence claims. Due to their complexity, especially relating to causation, the CRU has set up a specialist group to deal with the claims, and makes a special request their compensators inform the CRU about clinical negligence claims as soon as the pre-action correspondence is received. Part 36 Offer: A party who wishes to make a Part 36 Offer must first apply for a Certificate of Recoverable Benefit from the CRU. Although Part 36 does not spell it out , guidance from case law suggests that the offer should therefore particularize the various heads of damage, and indicate the amount of benefits to be deducted against each head. Mediation: The parties should consider whether some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedure would be more suitable than litigation, and if so, endeavour to agree which form to adopt. Both the Claimant and Defendant may be required by the Court to provide evidence that alternative means of resolving their dispute were considered. The Courts take the view that litigation should be a last resort, and that claims should not be issued prematurely when a settlement is still actively being explored. Parties are warned that if the protocol is not followed, then the Court must have regard to such conduct when determining costs. Mediation is one option for resolving disputes without litigation: it is a form of facilitated negotiation assisted by an independent neutral party. The Clinical Disputes Forum has published a guide to mediation which will assist, available at www. clinicaldisputesforum. org. uk The Legal Services Commission has published a booklet on â€Å"Alternatives to Courts†, CLS Direct Information Leaflets 23, which lists a number of organizations that provide ADR services. It is expressly recognized that no party can or should be forced to mediate or enter into any form of ADR. (Total: 3000 words) Bibliography: 1. Lewis: Clinical Negligence: A Practical Guide, 6th edition, Tottel Publishing. . Khan M, Robson M, Clinical Negligence, 2nd edition, Cavendish Publishing. 3. Powers and Harris: Clinical Negligence, 3rd edition, Butterworths. 4. Woolf S (1995) Access to Justice – Interim Report HMSO. 5. Woolf S (1996) Access to Justice – Final Report HMSO. 6. (1999) The Civil Procedure Rules HMSO. 7. â€Å"Making Amends†, at www. dh. gov. uk 8. †NHS Redress Bill† at www. publications. parliment. uk 9. Civil Litigation Handbook by Woolf, Lord Justice; Burn, Suzanne; Peysner John (2001), The Law Society. 10. A. A. S. Zuckerman, Ross Cranston (1995), Reform of Civil Procedure- Essays on â€Å"Access to justice†, Oxford University Press. 11. The Judicial Studies Board, Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases, 9th edition, Oxford University Press. 12. Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Tough Conditions – The Lawyer 10/10/05, www. lexisnexis. com 13. Opinion: Edwina Rawson: The Lawyer 26/09/05, www. lexisnexis. com 14. Butterworths: â€Å"Risk Assessment in Litigation: Conditional Fee Agreements, Insurance and Funding†, David Chalk 15. The Law Society: â€Å"Conditional Fees: A survival Guide†, Napier and Bawdon 16. The Law Society: â€Å"Civil Litigation Handbook†, Peysner. 17. â€Å"Mediating Clinical Negligence Claims†, Roger Wicks, www. medneg. com articles 18. â€Å"Guide to Mediation†, www. clinical-disputes-forum. org. uk 19. â€Å"Guide to Mediating Clinical Negligence Claims†, www. clinical-disputes-forum. org. uk 20. Kemp and Kemp The Quantum of Damages, Sweet and Maxwell. 21. Medical Litigation Online, www. medneg. com 22. AvMA Medical and Legal Journal 23. â€Å"General Damages – the NHS Case†, Philip Havers Q. C. and Mary O’Rourke, Quantum, Sweet & Maxwell (2000) 24. Practice Direction at www. justice. gov. uk 25. NHSLA website www. nhsla. com 26. Civil Procedure Rules at www. justice. gov. uk 27. Pre-action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes and Practice Direction – Protocols, www. justice. gov. uk 28. â€Å"Guidelines on Experts’ Discussions in the Context of Clinical Disputes†, Clinical Risk (2000) 6, 149-152 29. The â€Å"Draft Guidelines On Experts’ Discussions in the Context of Clinical Disputes† (published by the Clinical Disputes Forum) 30. Part 36 and its Practice Direction, www. justice. gov. uk. 31. The NHS Redress Act 2006 can be found online at www. legislation. gov. uk/ukpga/2006/44 32. Johns vs Greater Glasgow Health Board, (1990) SLT 459, www. medneg. com 33. W v Ministry of Defence, (2009) MLC 1652, www. medneg. com 34. B v Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital (2006) MLC 1350, www. medneg. com 35. N v Pontypridd & Rhona NHS Trust (2003) MLC 1031, www. medneg. com 36. P v United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust (2004) MLC 1159 QBD, www. medneg. com

Viuses are Non-living particles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Viuses are Non-living particles - Essay Example The modes of transfer of viruses from one person to the other vary significantly. Viruses can be spread through vomits, coughs, sneezes as well as bites from infected organisms (Shors, 4). There are several reasons why viruses are included in biology even though they are non-living. One of the reasons why viruses are included in biology is the fact that they affect living organisms in various ways (Mettenleiter & Francisco, 73 ). Viruses are always associated with several serious diseases in living organisms. Viruses are known to be pathogenic to human beings. They can lead to alteration of the activities of the cells that they have invaded (Shors, 54). This is because viruses are only active when they are inside living cells. Viruses also have the ability to attack as well as infect bacterial cells. These are some of the reasons why viruses are included in biology. Treatment of viral infections is always very difficult using antibiotics. This is because viruses always hide inside the cells (Rogers, 75). This presents a big challenge for the antibiotics to reach them. Therefore, treating viral infections with antibodies is difficult. In addition, the nature of viruses makes it difficult to treat them with antibiotics. Viruses have simple structures. As such they use their host cells’ structures to accomplish their activities. This makes it ineffective to use antibiotics to cure

ODiscussion Board reply Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

ODiscussion Board reply - Coursework Example Even though an increase in minimum wage produces positive effects on businesses in the form of increased demand, conventional macroeconomic modeling indicates that it is likely to reduce GDP and eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. Therefore, Equal Pay Act of 1963 is the best tool to increase the level of gender equality. The government must ensure that women are motivated to pursue highly rewarding careers by offering them sufficient incentives. This is done by ensuring fairness to the hardworking Americans particularly women. We must constantly work hard to help the weak and the poor by making sure the Equal pay Act of 1963 is adhered to because helps in availing certain positions to the less disadvantaged. For instance, it has had important effects on the nature of the US human resource due to the fact that women nowadays hold positions that they never held (Reskin & Bielby, 2005). On the other hand, the Paycheck Fairness Act should be implemented to help reduce the huge wage differences across gender in the

Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Risk Management - Essay Example To do this, the airline embarks on several risk management processes. It is not surprising therefore that for all but the second year of operation Emirates Airlines have recorded profits and growth that always span above 20% (CNN Money, 2005). The airline has recorded a profit every year, except the second, and growth has never fallen below 20% a year. In its first 11 years, it doubled in size every 3.5 years, and has every four years since Current Risk Management Process In the view of Tatum (2011), Risk management is a logical process or approach that seeks to eliminate or at least minimize the level of risk associated with a business operation. Kolakowski (2011) posits that â€Å"risk management is concerned with identifying and measuring the risks faced by the firm.† This makes risk management more of a preventive venture than a curative one. In light of this, the Risk Management Magazine (2011) argues that, most airlines have their risk management undertaken by the intern al audit department. Risk management undertaken by companies varies in scope. Some of the commonest identified scopes of risk management include financial risk and field risk. With particular emphasis on the Emirates Airlines and other aviation services, special emphasis are laid on risk associated with staff and customer safety of customers and staff when talking about risk management. Commenting on a typically workable risk management model for airlines, the Risk Management Magazine (2006) outlines nine areas that airlines could look out for in their risk management exercises. These nines models are â€Å"station size, last audit date, last management change, prior audit report rating, compliance with submitting inventory reports, promptness of remitting funds, promptness of submitting sales reports, magnitude of unreported sales (passengers flown for which the ticket sale was not located), and magnitude of discrepancies with local disbursements† (Goepfert, 2006). Still wri ting on management process for airlines, the International Air Transport Association (2010) outlines areas that airlines may consider in their risk management efforts. According to the association, â€Å"Crew fatigue has typically been controlled by a simple set of prescriptive rules concerning flight time limitations (FTL) and flight duty limitations (FDL).† These model, when carefully followed by airlines guarantees financial returns as well as employee and customer safety. Such safety assured among customer also goes a long way to promote a continued business relations with the airline and invariable ensures profitability for the company. Risk Management Problems Like in every other human endeavor, undertaking a useful measure towards the growth of a company does not come easily. In an attempt to ensuring risk management, there certain challenges that the management of Emirates Airline encounters. First and foremost, there is the problem of defining potential risk. Brodzin ski (2006) notes that the definition to a risk too general. This is to say that in an organization such as an airline where there are certainly many managers in charge of the risk management business of the organization, coming to a consensus about what to include in the risk management plan of the organization always becomes the first and most challenging task. This is because what may seem to be a potential risk to manager ‘A’ may not seem a risk to manager ‘B’. It should however take the identification of a problem before any further action on

Where does Europe end and why Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Where does Europe end and why - Essay Example The boundaries which constitute Europe are thus vague, rather dynamic as Delanty and Rumsfeld (2005) indicate, i.e. Europe is still going through an economic as well as political transformation whereby it is struggling to incorporate the spaces surrounding the traditional Europe as buffer regions, stability of which is crucial for the sustainability of European states. The European Union is consistently going through a transition which is further expected to enlarge after the incorporation of Turkey into the European Union. In this case, according to the social theory model of EU proposed by Delanty and Rumsfeld (2005), the boundary in further going to be enhanced creating a further confusion about the end of Europe. The paper aims at answering the question in geographical as well as in economical, political and sociological perspectives to give the most valid explanations about where does Europe actually end. The paper intend on arguing that the boundaries of Europe in its true sens e extend beyond the Russian as well as Turkish borders. To further draw patterns and conclusions across variables, it is important to assess the traditional borders of Europe which the geographers have relied upon for years. According to the geographers, Europe is divided from Asia at the East from Ural Mountains and seas, whereas it is surrounded by watersheds on other sides. By this explanation, Europe ends somewhere around Russia at its East, and in Turkey around it`s South East where Asia or rather Middle East begins. This is where the problems still lie. Russia and Turkey both are located about halfway in Europe, thus it becomes difficult to assess where the other continents begin. Geography can`t be studied keeping political and sociological angles aside, thus when these factors are also considered it becomes difficult to decide where Europe ends. It can however be concluded, for the purpose of eliminating confusion that Europe ends

Rethinking the European Integration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Rethinking the European Integration - Essay Example European integration as it exists today is largely confined to the domain of economics. In other words, the dismantling of labor movement barriers between nations, the floating of a common currency, the adoption of common laws pertaining to trade and commerce, are all outside the purview of domestic/internal policy. To this extent, the constituent nations retain their cultural and social uniqueness, while still benefiting from new economic opportunities created within Europe. This essay will look into the advantages and challenges created by the process of integration by way of studying its various facets. Given the long history of war and conflict between European nations, there emerged a need for a strong commitment toward cooperation and mutual benefit. The first step toward this cooperative framework was initiated with the formation of Council of Europe and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the year 1950. An impressive 40 European nations subscribed to the resolutions carried forward in the convention. Yet, the Council of Europe remained a peripheral institution as the continent was divided in two during the Cold War. It would be another forty years for the next significant step toward integration, which came with the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 and with it the collapse of the Soviet Union. The commitment toward amicable relations within Europe resumed with the signing of Maastricht Treaty in 1993, which was further expanded in the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the year 2000. The Charter drew together â€Å"all EU-protected p ersonal, civil, political, economic, and social rights into a single text. But it goes beyond simply restating already respected human rights by addressing specifically modern issues such as bio-ethics and protecting personal information and data†. (Nagel, 2004)

The cola market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The cola market - Essay Example As a new entrant in the market, Red Bull’s product for its new cola will only aim to cater and serve certain segments of the market. In order to know the market well, Red Bull has to segment its market carefully in order to assess which market segment should be chosen.The Red Bull brand has been associated with various lifestyles in the functional segment of the beverage market in the UK. Because of this existing association which is rooted from the lifestyle segment of the market, Red Bull’s new product can also use the lifestyle or psychographic segmentation for the cola market.According to Tom Duncan in his book â€Å"Principles of Advertising and IMC†, he defines psychographics as â€Å"measures that classify customers in terms of their attitudes, interests, and opinions as well as their lifestyle activities.† Since the Red Bull brand is positioned using the lifestyle segmentation of the market, the entry of its new product in the cola market can use t he lifestyle segmentation as well in order to make its product successful.The segment for the functional beverages has increased over the years due to the aging population of UK, as well as the shift to the more health-conscious products. With this, Red Bull has capitalized on the health-conscious segment of the market which looks for â€Å"regenerative and rejuvenating properties†.This strategic segment of the health-conscious group of consumers, according to Mad.co.uk (2008) will be entered by Red Bull with a â€Å"head to head on-trade† with Pepsico’s Pepsi Raw.

International Business Competing in the global marketplace Essay - 1

International Business Competing in the global marketplace - Essay Example Free trade must be encouraged. What this says about targeted trade barriers is that they are restrictive and detrimental to the cause of free trade. Q3) The United States is a net debtor nation and hence the FDI flows into Japan are lesser than the FDI flows into the US from Japan. Moreover, the attractiveness of the US market for its consumption patterns and its sheer size make for businesses from all over the world to invest in the US. The implications of this trend would be that more and more businesses in the US would be owned by Japanese and may not be good for the US economy in the long term. Q4) I would recommend setting up a wholly owned subsidiary in Europe as this would lead to a case where my firm can make use of the local subsidies and also leverage on the fact that the technical competence available with my firm makes it possible to manufacture the computers at half the cost. As for the other options, exporting directly from the US may involve paying tariffs and duties. And licensing to a European firm means that my firm has to share the know how with them. Q1) This is a classic question about whether free trade is beneficial or domestic market driven economies are good. My opinion is that we should go by the theory of comparative advantage and thus let firms invest abroad and complete the cycle of investments from those countries flowing back home and creating jobs. Thus, the cyclic view of trade and inflows and outflows must be taken into account while making a decision regarding investing abroad or domestically. Q2) Any multilateral trading agreement would benefit the world economy in the longer term. What one country is good at and what another is good at and hence barter or exchange has been the underpinning of the world economy and thus free trade and multilateral trade agreements benefit everyone in the longer run. As for

Advertising and Sales Essay Example for Free

Advertising and Sales Essay Assignment Q1. What is the meaning of advertising? Explain the advertising pyramid with a neat diagram. Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media to reach broad audiences† The five basic element of this pyramid are: attention, interest, desire, action and satisfaction. Attention: The first objective of advertising is to capture attention of the consumer. The job is easy as even shouting or clapping can draw attention. Therefore, the copywriter usually makes the headline very catchy by using the bigger fonts. The other techniques are to use short punch lines in conversational language. Interest: The advertisement’s next objective is to create interest in the readers about the product. After giving a good headline, their interest is retained by elaborating on the key features of the product. This is usually incorporated in the body copy. Desire: In this step, the advertisement creates a situation for the prospective customer to enjoy benefits of the product vicariously. The writer creates a situation that makes the reader feel as though there is a lot that is being missed if one does not use the product. Action: The purpose of this step is to motivate people to do something. No advertisement is successful if it cannot induce any action. This is not a difficult step because if the copy is clear then surely the reader will act. Satisfaction: The tip of the pyramid is satisfaction. After the product is bought, the buyer should have a feel of satisfaction. The customer should always feel that it has got the appropriate returns for the money spent. Q2. What do you understand by integrated marketing communication (IMC)? What are the various roles? â€Å"IMC is a strategic business process used to develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated, measureable, persuasive brand commun ications programs over time with customers, prospects, employees, associates, and other targeted relevant internal and external audiences. The goal is to generate both short-term financial returns and build long-term brand and share-holder value.† Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a process involving coordination of various promotional elements and other  marketing activities that communicate with a firm’s customers. It includes managing customer relationships that drive brand value through communication efforts. The role of IMC can be discussed with the following points:  · Identifying the target audience  · Specifying promotion objectives  · Setting the promotion budget  · Selecting the right promotional tools  · Designing the promotion  · Scheduling the promotion Identifying the target audience: IMC’s first function is to identify the right audience. It is very important to deliver the message to the right audience. Specifying promotion objectives:  · Designed for a well-defined target audience  · Measurable  · Cover a specified time period Hierarchy of effects: Sequence of stages a prospective buyer goes through Use as a tool to develop objectives  · Awareness – Ability to recognize and remember the product or brand  · Interest – Increase in desire to learn about the product features  · Evaluation – Consumer’s appraisal of the product on important attributes  · Trial – Consumer’s actual first purchase and use  · Adoption – Repeated purchase and use of the product or brand Setting the promotion budget:  · Percentage of sales: Funds are allocated as a percentage of past or anticipated sales  · Competitive parity: Matching the competitor’s absolute level of spending Selecting the right promotional tools  · Specify the combination of the five basic IMC tools – advertising, Personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing  · Promotion mix can vary  · Assess the comparative importance of the various tools Designing the promotion:  · Design of the promotion plays a primary role in determining the message that is communicated to the audience  · Design activity is viewed as the step requiring the most creativity  · Design each promotional activity to communicate the same message Scheduling the promotion:  · Determine the most effective timing  · Promotion schedule describes  · Factors such as seasonality and competitive promotion activity can influence the schedule. Q3. While developing an advertisement, some theories are useful. Discuss the two theories to design an advertisement. In developing an advertisement for an advertising campaign, several theoretical frameworks are useful. The first theory is the hierarchy of effects model. The second is a means to an end chain. Both the hierarchy of effects model and a means to an end chain can be used to develop leverage points. 1. Hierarchy-of-Effects Model Among advertising theories, the hierarchy-of-effects model is predominant. It helps clarify the objectives of an advertising campaign as well as the objective of a particular advertisement. The model suggests that a consumer or a business buyer moves through a series of six steps when becoming convinced to make a purchase. These six steps are as follows: Awareness – If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator’s task is to build awareness, perhaps just name and recognition with simple messages repeating the product name. Consumers must become aware of the brand. Knowledge – The target audience might have product awareness but may not know much more; hence this stage involves creating brand knowledge. This is where comprehension of the brand name and what it stands for become important. What are the brand’s specific appeals, its benefits? Liking – If target members know the product, how do they feel about it? If the audience looks unfavorably towards the product then the communicator has to find out why. If the unfavorable view is based on real problems, communication campaigns alone cannot do the job of erasing it. Preference – The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others. In this case, the communicator must try to build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and other features. Conviction – A target audience might  prefer a particular product but not develop the confidence about buying it. The communicator’s job is to build conviction among the target audience. Purchase – Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get around to making the purchase. Th ey may wait for more information or plan to act later. 2. Means-End Theory A second theoretical approach a creative (team) can use to design an advertisement is a means-end-chain. This approach suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that lead the consumer to a desired end state. Means – end theory is the basis of a model called the Means-End Conceptualizations of Components for Advertising Strategy (MECCAS). The MECCAS model suggests using five elements in creating advertisements.  · The product’s attributes – delicious and refreshing are the products attribute.  · Consumer benefits – delicious and refreshing are linked with the benefit of freshness and good taste.  · Leverage point – the leverage point in the advertisement is the link between the benefit of delicious drink and the personal value of choosing the right drink of an athlete.  · Personal Values – the value of the consumer, the reason of buying Coca Cola. He could value the ’refreshing’ or the ’delicious’ attributes. The marketers need to understand the personal value so that the message will hit the right target. Q4. What do you mean by public relations(PR)? What are the difference between PR and advertising? â€Å"Public relations† is used to build rapport with employees, customers, investors, voters or the general public. Public Relations (PR) is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual etc. in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers etc. The most comprehensive definition is as follows: â€Å"Public relation is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action and communication to earn public understanding and acceptance.† The following are the differences between advertising and public relations. Advertising 1. The company pays for advertising the company. Hence the focus is on getting its products or  services. 2. Since you are paying for the space, you have creative control on what goes into that advertisement. 3. Advertisements can be published or run repeatedly. An advertisement generally has a longer shelf life than one press release. 4. In advertising, you get to exercise your creativity in creating new advertising campaigns and materials. 5. If you are working at an advertising agency, your main contacts are yours-workers and the agencys clients. 6. You are looking out your target audience and advertise accordingly. You would not advertise a kid’s Product in a business magazine. 7. Some industry professionals such as Account Executive have contact with the clients. Others like Copywriters or Graphic Designers in the agency may not meet with the client at all. 8. â€Å"Sales!, 20% discount, Buy this product! Act now! Call today!† These are the things you can say in an advertisement. You want to use those buzz words to motivate people to buy your product. Public relations 1. The objective is to get free publicity for space. You know exactly when that advertisement will on air to be published. 2. You have no control over how the media presents your information, if they decide to use your information at all. They are not obligated to cover your event or publish your press release. 3. You submit a press release about a new product or about a news conference once. The PR exposure you receive is only circulated once and the editor will not publish more than once. 4. In public relations, you have to have a nose for news and be able to generate buzz through that news. You exercise your creativity in the way you search for new news to release to the media. 5. In PR, the main contacts will be people in the area of publications and broadcast media. 6. It is generally not possible to segment, target or position the product or service. 7. In public relations, you are very visible to the media. PR professionals are not always called on for the good news. In an emergency you may have to give a statement or on-camera interview to journalists. You may represent your company as a spokesperson at an event. 8. You are strictly writing in a no-nonsense news format. Any blatant commercial messages in your communications are disregarded by the media. Q5. What are the four types of annalists used to develop a comprehensive model for evaluation of a sales organization? There are mainly four factors or types of analysis that are usually needed to  develop a comprehensive model for evaluation of a sales organization. They are: 1) Sales analysis 2) Cost analysis 3) Profitability analysis 4) Productivity analysis 1) Sales analysis: It is an important factor for evaluating the effectiveness of a sales organization. Sales analysis detects strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Sales analysis is described as a detailed inspection of a company’s sales data, which includes assimilating, classifying, comparing and drawing conclusions. Sales analysis is done based on the following parameters: a) Levels in sales organization: Sales analysis should be done at all levels of the sales organizations. This includes evaluation of sales performance from the company level down to the last level. b) Types of sales: The analysis of different types of sales at different organizational levels definitely increases the sales manager’s ability to detect problem areas in the company’s sales performance. For example, analysis can be done: a. Based on type of products b. By distribution channels types c. By type of customer classifications d. By size of orders 2) Cost analysis: Cost analysis is the analysis of costs that affect sales volume. The purpose of marketing cost analysis is to determine the profitability of sales control units, like market segments, sales territories and products. This is done by subtracting the marketing costs from the sales revenues, associated with the sales control units. 3) Profitability analysis: Profitability analysis of marketing units (that is, regions, branches, channels, products or customer groups) can be developed by preparing profit and loss (or income and expense) statements for marketing units. However, the question arises as to how to allocate indirect or shared expenses to various marketing units. There are two approaches for profitability analysis 4) Productivity analysis: Productivity is usually measured by ratios between outputs and inputs. For example, sales per salesperson are used by many companies as a measure of productivity. There  are other productivity ratios such as selling expenses per salesperson, sales calls per salesperson, and quotations submitted per salesperson. Q6. Describe the meaning and importance of media fix decisions. A media mix is the way various types of media are strategically combined in an advertising plan, such as using newspaper and posters to announce a new product as the iPod managers did, followed by television advertising that shows how to use the product and billboards that reminded people to look for it when they go out to the store. A media vehicle is specific TV program (Comedy Circus, CID), newspapers (The Telegraph, Mumbai Mirror), magazines (The Sport star, Elle). Media planning is the way advertisers identify and select media options based on research into the audience profiles of various media; planning also includes scheduling and budgeting. Media buying is the task of identifying specific vehicles, such as TV channels/programs or websites, negotiating the cost to advertise in them and handling the details of billing and payment. Frequency refers to the number of times a person is exposed to the advertisement. An impression is one person’s opportunity to be exposed one time to an advertisement in a broadcast program, newspapers, magazines or outdoor locations. Circulation means the number of copies sold. In the media industry, there are professionals who do both, sell and buy advertising. Media sales people work for a medium, such as a magazine or television channel and their objective is to build the best possible arguments to convince media planners to use the medium they represent. There are also media reps, who are people or companies that sell space (in print) and time (in broadcast) for a variety of media. The rate base is the real number of copies of a newspaper or magazine that gets printed and sold. Readership is the average number of readers per copy sold.

On the Value of a Degree in the Philippines Essay Example for Free

On the Value of a Degree in the Philippines Essay The employment chances of a fresh college graduate is only 4 in 10, with only 1 in that 4 attaining work relevant to one’s course. Even in light of the unprecedented growth of 6. 6% in GDP over the last year, the labor sector fails to follow suit in what economists characterize as a job-shedding growth. So where does a college degree place us? With the increased pressures on the youth to attend college, many consider the existence of a higher education bubble. The concept hypothesizes, in part, that movements in factors such as tuition payments and unemployable graduates severely decrease the rate of return to a college degree up to a point where it is rendered useless. In the case of the Philippines, effective capping of tuition fees to relatively affordable rates, spaces us from a bubble as of yet. However, it is to be stressed that with everyone jumping in the college wagon all at once – as is apparent now– we will soon find college degrees as no more useful than scratch, and then the true bubble begins. There are too many college graduates. All college students should be aware that although a degree does open doors it loses much of its value as more and more people achieve this accolade. In 2012, a total of 517,425 college students graduated and entered the labor force. With another half a million expected to graduate in March this year, there is increasing concern on their place in the labor market. The number of graduates increase over the years, however jobs increase terribly less, if they increase at all – 882,000 jobs were reported to have disappeared in 2012. Since too many people compete for the same job, employers can afford to lower wages or increase qualifications as much as possible. This is apparent in the over qualification of some jobs – now supermarket baggers or janitors are expected to have had some years of college or even graduated the same, as opposed to the minimum of high school undergraduate in most other countries. College courses are insufficient or incompatible with jobs offered in the market. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) holds job and livelihood fairs across the country, recently offering a total of 360,777 job vacancies. But on a nationwide count only 5,101 job applicants were hired on the spot. In another attempt, the government posted in its Phil. JobNet website 230,000 jobs but only 117,000 applied. Apparently, the jobs created by the government are inconsistent with what graduates believe they deserve or were trained for in those four or more years of education. To add, even once employed underemployment lingers – tainting up to about 7. 2 million job matches – with insufficient base pay as main culprit. Nearly everyone believes a college education is essential. In our society, the college degree has been stigmatized as the best and surest – and sometimes only – path to take in preparation for one’s career. This is contestable however as evidenced in European countries where entrepreneurship and technical education are much more popular and profitable paths than college. The Philippines doesn’t necessarily lack these options, (i. e. TESDA) rather we lack awareness and social approval for these said alternatives. Solutions De-emphasize the necessity of a college degree. The higher education system of countries like Germany, remain stable and un-depreciated, since non-professional or non-corporate jobs are highly popular and equally regarded with college education. Removing the stigma of a college degree can relieve pressure on prices and rates of return to higher education. Therefore, introducing and popularizing technical courses – which are actually highly demanded – can solve much of the Philippine labor problem. Redesigning colleges and curriculums to incorporate in-demand jobs. Supply may be easier adjusted to cope with the requirements of demand, rather than the other way around. Close association with firms accompanied by an overhaul of course curriculums to better suit the needs of employers can effectively reduce mismatch. Administrators and faculty should understand the factors at work in how their programs are depreciating since if the market for college degrees becomes over-saturated we will all pay the price of meaningless degrees and poor opportunity for many in the workplace. Many experts and opinions point to the government’s futile efforts at job creation (i. e. demand) as the main antagonist in this story. However, the equally policy-relevant yet rarely focused upon supply side of labour may offer other, more easily interceded directions. Solving the Philippines’ problems on labour is a tall order however attacking from all sides – both demand and supply – can better efforts towards the nationwide goal of inclusive growth. Reference: Higher Education Bubble Will Burst, May 3, 2011 http://www. usnews. com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2011/05/03/higher-education-bubble-will-burst, Accessed February 11, 2013 The Value of a Degree, May 06, 2011 http://www. popecenter. org/commentaries/article. html? id=2517, Accessed February 11, 2013 Joblessness: How deep, what needs to be done?, February 06, 2013. http://www. bworldonline. com/content. php? section=Opiniontitle=Joblessness:-How-deep,-what-needs-to-be-done? id=65457, Accessed February 11 ,2013 For inclusive growth: Jobs with higher wages, February 9, 2013 http://www. philstar. com/opinion/2013/02/09/906642/inclusive-growth-jobs-higher-wages, Accessed February 11 ,2013 Oversupply of Unemployable Graduates, January 23, 2010 http://planetphilippines. com/migration/a-disastrous-oversupply-of-unemployable-graduates, Accessed February 11 ,2013 Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics Commission on Higher Education.

Is Participation In Development Still A Tyranny

Is Participation In Development Still A Tyranny Over the past thirty years Participation has become development orthodoxy in both theory and practice (Cornwall 2003: 1325). The basic aim of participatory development (PD) is to increase the involvement of socially and economically marginalized peoples in decision-making over their own lives (Guijt, 1998: 1). PD approaches claim to empower local communities and recognizes rural poor themselves as the primary agents of change with the capacity to transform their lives (ESCAP, 2009). In recent years, however, there have been an increasing number of criticisms from policy makers, practitioners and academics regarding the widely applied participatory approaches to development. Many elements of this approach have been challenged on the basis that participatory approaches often failed to achieve meaningful social change, due to its inability to engage with problems of power relations and underlying politics (Hickey and Mohan, 2005: 237). Questions have been raised regarding the methods of participatory development and the impact of policies on various aspects of development, such as community relations, power structures, social conditions, rights of the poor, the role of grassroots civil society organisations in rural development, and the nature of knowledge (ESCAP, 2009). In this context, important publications have emerged representing different views and critiques of the participation approach, one against: Participation: The New Tyranny? (Cooke, and Kothari, 2001), and another more positive assessment: Participation: From Tyranny To Transformation? Exploring New Approaches to Participation in Development (Hickey, and Mohan, 2004), which scrutinizes the various arguments. These works have generated heated debates about the concept of participation which some argue carries within it an inherent tyrannical potential for marginalising those who are already less vocal, but whom it seeks to empower (Cooke and Kothari, 2001). Later, more optimistic publications discuss, what can be done around participatory development and social change (Chambers, 2005b: 718). In order to address the question at hand, this paper examines the current debates on participation in development. The essay will consider a case study that uses participatory approaches in their project. This intervention has been implemented with varying degrees of success. The case chosen focuses on a project entitled the Rural Water Supply Management Programme in Rajasthan, India, in order to illustrate some of the different effects of applying this approach. The paper is divided into four sections: The first section begins by discussing the emergence of participation in development from both the historical and conceptual perspectives. It then proceeds to the second section which analyses participatory development in practice. The length of the paper does not allow for a detailed discussion on the methods of participatory approaches, such as participatory poverty assessment, rapid rural appraisal and participatory rural appraisal (PPA/RRA/PRA). Therefore, this section will only provide a brief overview of these approaches and their use in development projects. In the third section follows a discussion on what is meant by the tyranny of participatory development. The fourth, concluding section seeks to draw some lessons from the discussion and analysis of the case study and provides a hint of what the literature suggests may be in store for participatory development in the future. 1. Emergence of Participation in Development: First let us consider how participation in development has emerged and what are some of the contentious interpretations of this concept. The emergence of the participatory development is tied into critiques of both theory and practice (Mohan, 2002: 50). In the late 1950s, the term participation or participatory was coined for the first time in the field of development (Rahnema, 1992: 117). The inception of participatory development is linked to colonial times and the mission to bring modernity from the west to the then developing countries. Thus, there was an increasing trend to equate development with modern western knowledge and practices by means of a top-down approach to countries in the south (Schuurman, 1993: 187-191). Critiquing this trend, social activists and field workers observed that non-inclusion of the people concerned in a development project from its inception to the implementation stage led to limited benefits of the development venture (Rahnema, 1992:117). This top-down approach carried Eurocentric and positivists ideas which disempowered beneficiaries (Escobar, 1995; Peet and Watts, 1996: 20-25; Chambers, 1997; cited in Mohan, 2002: 50). This concern was raised in the 1970s, by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, who argued that development should not be the privilege of some few persons, but the right of everyone (Freire, 2003: 88). He promoted participatory development approaches, in contrast to top-down practices, by arguing I cannot think for others or without others, nor others can think for me (Freire, 2003: 108). In his Pedagogy of Oppressed Freire emphasized knowledge creation of the marginalized by increasing their awareness about their rights and establishing networks of soli darity to encourage dialogue which would enable people to express their needs and give them a sense of ownership of the projects. A similar view was echoed by Robert Chambers who challenged the various biases of development polices and interventions that make the poor invisible by distinguishing between uppers, i.e. the powerful practitioners and lowers, i.e. the powerless beneficiaries (Chambers, 1983; 1997: 2005a; Williams, 2004: 560). He argued that this [top-down approach] implies uppers empowering lowers between all levels. To do this, they must individually relinquish degrees of control themselves (Chambers, 2005a: 72). Thus, for Chambers, participatory development is a new paradigm, which will lead to empowerment of the beneficiaries, and a shift from hierarchical top-down development projects. He advocates open power structures which will bring personal and institutional change (Williams, 2004: 560). Hence, participation of local communities was stressed to end the top-down approach in development projects and participation became widely practiced. 1.1 Participatory Approaches: There are a myriad of methods for conducting participatory development in practice. However, the most extensively used methodology is Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). The other approaches include Participatory poverty assessments (PPA) and Rapid rural appraisal (RRA). The PRA approach is based on achieving change and a reversal of roles, behaviours and relationships. Though, this may be carried out by external development practitioners, their role is limited to facilitating the focus group, by listening to them and sharing methods with the local people to help them reflect on their on own knowledge. The outsiders do not transfer technology. The strength of the PRA method lies in understanding the local needs; providing local ideas; extracting, developing and investing local resources; and generating development ideas (Chambers, 1997: 103, 2005a:87, also cited in Mohan, 2003: 52). PRA collects and records data on local customs and practices for a predefined development issue, wher eas the RRA approach is used by outside practitioners to plan, and target the improvement of a given intervention. Finally, PPA, influences policies at the macro level in relation to poverty reduction development projects (cited in ESCAP, 2009: 13; for original see Norton et al., 2001). Thus, PRA is considered to be the more important approach to promote empowerment. The participatory development method involves all stakeholders who are affected, by the policies, decisions, and actions of the system. This may include individuals, groups, communities, local government institutions, local and international institutions, self-help groups (Chambers, 2005a:87). This approach is used by the World Bank, non-governmental organisations, aid agencies and academicians, which for instance have applied PRA for climate change adaptation projects. 2. Participatory Development in Practice: This section will examine (the) participatory development in practice through case study. The aim of this example is to illustrate different aspect of participation in development and how it can lead to potential tyranny. Case Study: Rural Water Supply Organisation in Rajasthan, India: This case study, which looks at the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation (JBF) situated in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, demonstrates how Gender is dynamic and gender norms can be altered when matters as significant as social participation are negotiated and water management is put into practice (Berry, 2010:48). Social participation is associated with gender in the conduct of this non-governmental organization in water supply management. India is the one of the largest consumer of water today. Water is considered to be a womens resource in large parts of rural India, as women have the responsibility to fetch water for domestic purposes 86 per cent of the time (Bhatia, 2004; cited in Berry, 2010:49). Women seeking water often have to travel long distances, and sometimes are confronted with reduced water supply availability. This means that women having to spend more time in storing and preventing contamination of water. This predicament applies to rural women in many regions. For example, women in Nepalese villages are house bound with domestic responsibilities in juxtaposition with men engaged in economic activity, which may put women in a situation where they are excluded from participating in water management decision making. Moreover, a lack of electricity hinders women from collecting water from the water pumps (Shah, 2006; Berry and Mollard, 2010: 49). The household shapes gender relations, as well as playing key role in the use of water. Domestic water use connects women with women of other households (Cleaver, 1998). These household dynamics and local customs reinforce gender inequities (Cleaver, 2001; cited in Berry, 2010: 50). Thus, because of their low social status, women are perceived as being uneducated and unable to take official decisions, which constrains their participation in water user associations. Barriers to institutions and political engagement make women dependent on informal forms of participation'(Mohan and Hickey, 2004; and Berry, 2010: 51). Thus, when women go to fetch water, they meet other women socially and engage in informal discussions about their lives and information sharing. In South Asia, and specifically in India and Nepal, caste, race, religion, age and family play a significant role in defining how gender affects and is reflected in water management practices. Thus high caste women are likely to be involved in decision making due to their interest in the quality of water, whereas, lower caste women may be more supportive of having easy access to the water supply. It is also important to note that since most of the rural women are poor and are likely to lead the kind of life mentioned above, they will be less interested in participating in water supply management due to their already busy schedules. Given these types of social scenarios, JBF a non-governmental, has taken initiatives to empower women in water management decision making and provide public space for their participation, as women are the real stake holders. In addressing the above issue, JBF is required to develop relations with governments, aid donors and work within the customary practices of the local communities. UNDP has been actively involved with JBF to promote womens participatory water initiatives and make governance more participatory. A UNDP sponsored evaluation in 2008 acknowledged the progress made by JBF by building wells and tanks closer to houses, resulted in a reduction of the four kilometer average walking distance in the targeted regions and decreased the time spent by women for collecting water (Berry, 2010: 54). JBF also helped these rural women by establishing self help groups and linking them with banks for small house loans. Even though the JBF project resulted in varying degrees of success, criticisms were raised, regarding the lack of convergence between water initiatives undertaken by mainstream village institutions dominated by men and womens self help group (ibid.). JBF recognizes that womens role is central to the community water management practices. Communities may also manifest themselves as sites of conflict and shifting alliances influenced by power and social structures, both exclusionary as well as inclusive (Berry, 2010: 58). JBF faced the following problems in the case of Rajasthani women, such as their having low autonomy even in their own households and often being unable to work out of the house, due to cultural norms. The women often did not attend meetings, as they were illiterate, and therefore it was difficult to get them involved in village water practices, as they also felt shy to talk in front of men. These rural women are facing two contradictory problems. Firstly, patriarchal society and traditional customs exert pressures geared to maintaining privileges associated with the prevailing social and gender hierarchy, and, secondly, they have been faced with the introduction of modernity which is transforming rural economies. H ence, traditional understandings of gender, and local power structures have come into conflict with the externally disseminated strategies. As a result of this conflict, JBF projects have provided little benefit to rural women although they were meant to promote gender equity and participation on one hand and reifying traditional cultural practices on the other (McCusker and Oberhauser, 2006; cited in Berry, 2010: 63). 3. Tyranny of Participation in Development: Much of the discourse on participation in development has been challenged over the past two decades. Criticisms have been raised about the participatory approaches and demand at best their rethinking, if not their abandonment (Cooke, and Kothari, 2001:2). The critiques mainly emerge from within the field of development itself (ibid. :5) after the failure of current forms of participatory development to engage with the issues of power and politics raised by its language of empowerment' (Hickey, and Mohan, 2005: 241). These criticisms are viewed by Cooke, and Kothari (2001) as tyranny in development practice. Tyranny here means, Illegitimate exercise of power in participation. The authors have identified three types of tyrannies; first, the Tyranny of decision making and control; second, tyranny of the group and third, tyranny of method. However, there are other points of criticism raised by academics and practitioners which will be referred to in relevant parts of the following discus sion. 3.1 The knowledge claims of Participatory Development: Participatory development is designed to uncover the local realities of the poor and ensure their involvement in decision making (Cleaver, 1999: 599-600). This claim to understanding the local knowledge and particularly PRA approach has been highly criticised by field practitioners. Chambers (1994) makes claims in support of the reliability and accuracy of the knowledge obtained through PRA approach. However, Campbell (2001) rejects these claims, and argues that whilst approaches, such as RRA and PRA, were aimed to generate more or less accurate information, practitioners have been using them as the only model for undertaking research. Hence, Campbell proposes an integration of PRA approach with qualitative and quantitative methods to generate in-depth understanding which would not be possible to achieve through techniques of observation (ESCAP, 2009: 22-23). 3.2 Tokenism Reference to participatory models have become an attractive slogan and strategy for governments to acquire political advantages and foreign aid. These slogans generate the impression that governments are sensitive to all the local needs (Rahnema, 1992:118). Participatory methods in development process are increasingly viewed as an important tool to effectively avoid the past mistakes by undertaking projects which require awareness of the local knowledge of the field; access to networks which help to succeed the ongoing project and provides avenues for future investments in rural areas; and cooperation of the local organisations to carry out development initiatives. In this view, grassroots organisations play significant role in providing technical and human resource assistance in the field, and by acquiring investments for the projects (Rahnema, 1992:119). The foreign assistance agreements with recipient countries show the willingness of the latter to participate in the global efforts of their developed associates. This collaboration has helped developing countries governments with sophisticated systems of control over their populations (Rahnema, 1992:117), as this approach allows governments to be present everywhere to manage democratic participation. Thus, this approach to participation results in exploitative practices contrary to the wishes of the majority of the population, whereas development polices have a tendency to influence the minds of the people to become dependent on modern services. In this manner, their participation in policymaking and decisions is sought to confirm the support for the same needs. Thus, development projects which benefit only a few obtain majority support due to misperception that these advantages will soon be accessible to them as well (Rahnema, 1992:118). 3.3 Tyranny of the Group and Tyranny of Method: The participatory development approach is critiqued for considering communities as socially homogeneous rather then distinguishing the heterogeneous groups of people in a society or community. This view does not take into account the embedded inequalities within the communities, and ends up reinforcing the existing marginalization and power conflicts between uppers and lowers (Cleaver, 2001: 44; Kothari, 2001: 140; Mohan, 2002: 53). Others, Mosse (1994, 2001) and Guijt (1998), have raised concerns about the nature of knowledge and reliability of the information. Although, this approach may have empowered a given local community to some extent, the literature suggests that support for community has meant that funding and authority is transferred to the already privileged whilst the oppressed are further excluded (Mohan, 2002: 53). However, in this context, gender differences and community need to be distinguished as separate groups in applying PRA and other approaches, as conflating t hese conceptually could be problematic. Mosse argues that local knowledge is generated in a social context which is influenced by power, authority and gender inequality (ESCAP, 2009: 23). Mosse further highlights that the problem of knowledge generation via PRA approach is likely to be influenced by the predefined agenda of the outsider and their interaction with insider community members. This space of interaction is where each group repeatedly tries to anticipate the others wishes and intentions (ESCAP, 2009: 23). This supposition is a matter of concern to Mosse and he discusses how the process of acquiring the local knowledge shapes the relationship between beneficiary communities and development institutions. Thus, this makes local knowledge, compatible with bureaucratic planning (Mosse, 1994; ESCAP, 2009: 23). The case study discussed on gender equity in this paper shows that local village men do not share the same, nor are they willing to cooperate. They are caught up in local politics. Often decentalisation and participation cause the more vocal in the already advantaged group to remain in their position, which defeats the very purpose of participatory development by preventing the flow of contextualized knowledge, and diminishing the effectiveness of interventions (Perret, and Wilson, 2010:196). Criticisms have also been levied against the methods of Participatory Development. Stirrat (1996) raised concerns about the idea of dual forms of knowledge local and scientific knowledge. He argues that in the age of globalization, knowledge cannot exist in isolation but is mutually dependent on interrelationships. 3.4 The Myth of Community: According to Cleaver (2001: 603) the community in participatory approaches to development is often viewed as natural social entity characterized by shared values. It is believed that these values can be manifested in simple organizational form. This view is refuted by many. The assumption that the community as a natural entity and is identifiable in any location with defined boundaries and rights to membership appears to be simplistic. This imaginary view of a community or myth can have wider implications and lead to generalizations about all communities as having similar characteristics. As Stirrat (1996) notes, communities are physical spaces where people interact socially. 3.5 The Tyranny of Decision Making And Control: This view of Participatory approaches which emphasizes consensus building -and shared values is rather illusiory. Stirrat (1996) argues that these approaches with their supposed cooperation and solidarity is a new form of Orientalism, which ties in with ideas of domination and power relations. It is evident that in practice the power of decision making ultimately lies with the development agencies (Mosse, 2001). Therefore the participatory approach is criticised for not recognizing the social diversity and conflicts which pave the way for social exclusion (Cleaver, 2001; ESCAP, 2009: 24-25). It is argued that the approach is used in the name of empowering people and represents external interests as local needs, [and] dominant interests as community concerns (Mosse, 2001:22). This perception of participation has the potential of oppressing the beneficiaries and leading them to challenge the social hierarchies in the society (Kothari, 2001: 143). 3.6 The Bureaucratic organizations: When the organizational interests clash with the ideals of empowerment this leads to bureaucratisation of participation (Richards, 1995: Mohan, 2002). This conflict can lead to withdrawal of the project (Mosse, 2001). The civil society organisations can create competition with local organizations, as large amounts of aid money are chanelled through such organisations. This competition can sideline the weaker organisations, which will further undermine their development projects. In order to seek better funding, these organisations develop alliances with the donor organisations in the North. This perspective shows how the local governments authority is by-passed and that these grass roots agencies focus on increasing their capacity. Many such partnerships between northern countries organisations and those of southern countries come with a price. The delivery of aid money comes with an agenda (Mohan, 2002: 53). Thus, in effect, the development project of such organisations subjugates t hose who are supposed to be empowered. As these civil society organisations are accountable to their donor originations, they are also time bound and have certain targets and objectives to achieve in order to continue the source of their funding, which may affect the development of the projects (Stirrat ,1996; ESCAP, 2009). 3.7 From tyranny to transformation: This section briefly examines the present state of participatory approaches from the works of Hickey and Mohan (2004) and other literature produced in the aftermath of criticisms about the shortcomings and tyranny of participatory approaches. They argue that participation has expanded its role in development, with new methods appearing in theory and practice, and note that, in recent times, developing countries are engaged in formulating creative strategies to express their needs and are better aware of their rights. They stress the transformative approach to development by means of gaining an understanding of the power structures and politics of participation in development. Hickey and Mohan propose the creation of synergies between local projects and political action and governance at the state level. They claim that this synergy will help to overcome the potential tyranny of localized projects and promote social justice and rights based approaches through radical political action. This view proposes changes at the institutional and hierarchal level in order to provide oppressed citizens with an opportunity to take charge of the decisions which affect their lives and advocates promoting the agency of active citizenship by relocating participation within the wider realm of sociopolitical practices. It is assumed that this model of participation in development discourse will provide increased opportunities to the poor to exercise their rights as active members of the society and give them better control over socioeconomic resources (ESCAP, 2009: 25). 4. Conclusion: Participation has become a popular approach in contemporary development discourse. To draw some tentative conclusions from the above analysis, it is evident that empowerment through development has not been fully achieved. Although participatory development has benefited some local communities, the literature suggests that the participatory approach has a patronizing relationship to development. It has been abused by different stakeholders for various ideological and self-serving purposes (Stokke, Mohan, 2000: 263), and provided little or no gain to those whom it seeks to empower. As the evidence from the case shows, in the struggle for power observed in the rural water management programme in Rajahstan India, the unequal status of women meant that they had little access to participation in the water management incentives. It seems reasonable to conclude that many theorists and practitioners may be justified in their claims that participation is disempowering those who are already oppressed because of its inherently tyrannical nature. It can undermine the role of state and powerful transnational development organisations. However, it is important to note that studies on the subject, such as Participation: The New Tyranny?, and similar work, does not discourage the use of participation in development per se. The debates on participation rather suggest that issues of inequality and social structure must be addressed to overcome current problems and improve the participatory process. Although the tensions discussed in this paper continue to hinder development, they also present opportunities for the effective use of participatory approaches. Continuing efforts to challenge and transform local power relations by participatory practitioners and agencies with similar interests can bring them on the same platform to work together for effective local participation to the benefit of development. In recent times, many development agencies have changed their focus to incorporate the broader questions of citizenship and sovereignty. Many of these organisations are now seeking avenues for building institutional and state capacity (Mohan, 2002:53-54). Thus, as Cornwell argues: participatory approaches have much to offer, but will only make a difference if they are used with sensitivity to issues of difference and diverse social realities (Cornwall, 2003: 1338). Bibliography Cited: Berry, K. (2010). Gender and social Participation in a Rural Water Supply Organisation in Rajashtan, India, In Berry, K. and Mollard, E. (eds). Social Participation in Water Governance and Management: Critical and Global Perspectives. Earthscan, London. Bhatia, R. (2004). NGOs in womens economic development in India: an evaluation, in S. Hassan and M. Lyons (eds) Social Capital in Asian Sustainable Development Management, Nova Science Pub, New York. Campbell, J.R. (2001) Participatory rural appraisal as qualitative research: Distinguishing methodological issues from participatory claims. Human Organization. Chambers, R. (1983). Rural Development: Putting the last first. Longman, Harlow. Chambers, R. (1997). Whose Reality Counts? Putting the first last, Intermediate Technology Publications, London. Chambers, R. (2005a). Ideas for Development. Earthsacn, London. Chambers, R. (2005b). Review: Participation: From Tyranny To Transformation? Exploring New Approaches to Participation in Development, Development in Practice, 15, (5): 717-718. Taylor Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Oxfam GB. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4030152, [Accessed March 1, 2011] Cornwall, A. (2003). Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory Development, World Development, 31(8): 1325-1342. Cooke, B. and Kothari, U. (eds). (2001). Participation: The New Tyranny? London: Zed books. Cleaver, F. (1999). Paradoxes of Participation: Questioning Participatory Approaches to Development, Journal of International Development, 11: 597-612. Cleaver, F. (2001). Institutions, Agency and the Limitations of Participatory Approaches to development in Cooke, B. and Kothari, U. (eds). Participation: The New Tyranny? London: Zed books. ESCAP. (2009). Regional trends, issues and practices in rural poverty reduction: Case Studies on Community Participation. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific Publications Office. ST/ESCAP/2571. Available at: http://www.unescap.org/pdd/publications/poverty_and_development/trends_rural.pdf [Accessed March 1, 2011] Escobar, A. (1995). Encountering Development: the making and unmaking of the Third World, Princeton University Press, Princeton. Freire, P. (2003). The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th anniversary edition, New York. Guijt, I. and Shah, K. M. (eds). (1998). The myth of Community: Gender Issues in Participatory development. IT Publications, London. Hickey, S. and Mohan, G. (eds). (2004). Participation: From Tyranny to Transformation? Exploring New Approaches to Participation in Development. London: Zed Books. Hickey, S. and Mohan, G. (2005). Relocating Participation within a Radical Politics of Development. Development and Change, 36 (2): 237-262. Kothari, U. (2001). Power, Knowledge and Social Control in Participatory Development in Cooke, B. and Kothari, U. (eds). Participation: The New Tyranny? London: Zed books. Mayo, M. and Craig, G. (1995). Community Participation and Empowerment: The Human face of Structural Adjustment or Tools for Democratic Transformation?, in Craig, G. and Mayo, M. (eds) Community Empowerment: A Reader in Participation and Development, Zed Books, London. McCusker, B. and Oberhauser, A. M. (2006). An assessment of womens access to natural resources through communal projects in South Africa, GeoJournal, vol. 66, pp. 325-339. Mosse, D. (1994). Authority, Gender and Knowledge: Theoretical Reflections on the Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal. Development and Change, Vol. 25, pp. 497- 526. Mohan, G. (2002). Participatory development. In: Desai, V and Potter, R (eds). The Companion to Development Studies. Arnold London, UK: Hodder. Mohan, G. and Hickey, S. (2004) Relocating participations within a radical politics of development: critical modernism and citizenship, in S. Hickey and G. Mohan (eds). Participation: From Tyranny to Transformation? Exploring New Approaches to Participation in Development. London: Zed Books. Norton, A. and B. Bird, K. Brock, M. Kakande, C. Turk (2001). A Rough Guide to PPAs. Participatory Poverty Assessment: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. London: Overseas Development Institute. Peet, R. and

Should Marijuana Be Legalized? Essay -- Legalization of Marijuana

For thousands of years human beings have attempted to find ways to get passed the struggles of their lives. With the pain of the world stopping people from enjoying simple pleasures, sometimes there is a need for help. Marijuana brings millions of people relief from the pain they feel on a day-to-day basis. This completely natural plant which helped so many people has puzzled the leaders of our nation for a long time. The THC in marijuana causes its users to experience a mild-huluciginic or high. The effect that marijuana has on a person has prevented the product from being legalized. Many other details about the plant, like the speculation of it being a gateway drug, have put another blockage on its legalization. Even though there are speculations about the plant, the benefit that it brings to the table most definitely out way its disadvantages. The plants help benefit by supplying us as a natural ingredient for medicine; however, nowadays, some people have been using it wrongly. Sh ould marijuana be legalized? Many Americans have this question roaming through their heads. Marijuana is an illegal drug in the U.S. and many other countries; it comes from dried flowers and leaves of the hemp plant. It has been available since the 1960s, but is 20 times more potent than before. Many youngsters believe that marijuana should be illegalized. However, they fail to know its many long term side effects. In the long run marijuana usage has a very high effect on the person’s body. Also, it’s known for a fact that marijuana has a high rate for addiction. Some people also believe that marijuana is accepted as medical use; however this is not true. In my eyes, marijuana is illegal for extremely powerful reasons, and it should stay that way. As... ...ere is a side affect of this individual drug. As stated before, marijuana affect our health, such as short term memory and our logical thinking. Teens who have used marijuana, their health may have been affected by these illness. And it can’t easily be cure, because once you are addicted to marijuana it is very difficult for one to detach him or her self from the drug without any medical profession. To prevent unnecessary use of marijuana, the drug shouldn’t be used because can be very dangerous to the body and health. Beside from using such drug, it is better if we were to use a different one, not marijuana alone. Pain killer may relieve the pain of each individual, but there might be some side affect to it as well. Exercise, be active, and communicate can also solve unwanted problem, too. Not just the drugs alone. Works Cited about.com ic.galegroup.com