Structural Transformation through E-business Essay

Structural Transformation through E-business - Essay Example Fred Smith of FEDEX Corp built up his business by identifying a need – the need of Companies for timely delivery of important documents. He invested large amounts of capital in building up an expensive transportation network, because of his belief that a strong market existed among businesses for overnight delivery of time sensitive documents. A centralized computer system existed which kept track of all packages delivered and this was known as COSMOS (Customer Operation, Service Master Online System). A bar code was placed on every package at the pick up point and scanned at every stage of the delivery process. Fred Smith realized early on that the Internet would play a significant part in revolutionizing the logistics of the transportation industry. The centralized database system was improved by introducing various pioneering features, such as handing out PCs with FEDEX software for tracking of packages, hand held signature devices that delivery agents could use to record s ignatures and a website that contained information on package delivery status. Using EDI and the Internet, FEDEX also worked backwards along the supply chain and provided management services at several points along it, where different services could be provided; for example, transportation, inventory control, purchasing, etc. 3. In the achievement of its goals, FEDEX has capitalized the vision of its founder, Smith who believed the success of the Company lay in IT(Lappin, 1996) and has implemented IT systems that are geared towards strengthening its e-commerce operations. The realization that information systems could play a vital role in ensuring the success of business has enabled the Company to survive and gain a head start in package delivery (www.garyclarke.com).

Hr Challenges In The Hiring Process Management Essay

Hr Challenges In The Hiring Process Management Essay Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the spectrum of challenges encountered by the HR professionals while managing the hiring practices in a multicultural society in medium-to-large health care organizations, both private and governmental, within Abu Dhabi and Al Ain cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research methods were used to obtain the required data, and in-depth individual interviews with key HR professionals were conducted. Findings The findings of this study have indicated that there are unique, major and minor challenges that workforce diversity inflicted on the hiring process, among the selected health care organizations in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Research limitations/Implications The time and resources for this research study were not adequate to gather sufficient samples outside Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. All interviewees have rejected the tape recording and it was difficult to conduct focus group interviews to gain wider perspective. Since this research is qualitative in nature, it is hard to generalize across other sectors and cities. It is required to have quantitative researches in this area. Originality/value This paper provides valuable insights regarding the hiring processes challenges in Multicultural society in UAEs health sector which has not been adequately investigated before. Keywords: Hiring Challenges, Culture, Multicultural society, Diversity Management, Recruitment, Selection, Orientation, United Arab Emirates, Health industry. Paper type Research paper Introduction Diversity management has been one of the widespread research areas in Human Resources Management in the 21st century that aims at understanding and improving the management of culturally diversified workforce in organizations. Diversity is a fact that could not be ignored or avoided and it has both good and bad sides. The importance of this topic lies in the significant impact of cultural differences on how work groups interact (Kossek Others, 2003). Also, it is seen as a source of competitive advantage through effective management of a diverse workforce. Another reason is the changing composition of workforce around the world towards different language, age, gender, ethnic background, nationality, lifestyles and other characteristics (Seymen, 2006). According to Harris (2004), Promoting cultural synergy influences social change in human behavior and improves system effectiveness. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, in general and UAE in particular, are considered a rich area for research on diversity management due to the unique composition of workforce and demographics (Forstenlechner, 2010). This high level of diversity has great influence on managing the hiring process and results in many challenges which will be discussed in this research. Multicultural Societies According to Marshall (1998), multicultural societies are featured by cultural pluralism which means the division of the culture into diverse religion, age, ethnic, linguistic, racial groups, national origin or gender (DNetto Sohal, 1999; Kossek Others, 2003). It can be found at various levels, such as cities, nations, schools, neighborhoods or businesses. Organizations foster and manage diversity in order to survive in increasingly heterogeneous societies and to sustain their competitive advantage. Diversity stimulates problem solving, creativity and system flexibility (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin Cardy, 2007). Diversity Management at multicultural (or diversified) organizations means building and maintaining policies, practices and regulations that will treat all employees fairly and will leave no advantage for a group over the others in order to enable them to reach the required levels of performance to achieve the organizational goals (DNetto Sohal, 1999; Jenner, 1994; Thomas, 1994). The Hiring Process The hiring process is divided into three sections: Recruitment, Selection and Orientation. The Recruitment Process is the process of creating a pool of candidates who are potentially suitable for the position by using a variety of recruitment sources. The selection process is the process of making the hiring/rejection decision for the list of applicants according to the selection criteria and by using a variety of selection tools. While the orientation process is the process of getting the new employee to know all aspects of the organization (Gomez-Mejia et al., 2007; Ivancevich, 2010). Diversity Practices in the Hiring Process Successful organizations aim to attract the best candidates regardless of their ethnicity, gender or age. Their hiring practices should be based on job-related and organizational criteria. In addition, the recruiters should be trained and skilled to run a successful selection process (Kandola Fullerton, 1994; Cornelius, 1999). And in order to assure that a diversified group of candidates apply to the job, the advertisements should be placed in ethnic language newspapers as well as the regular daily newspapers and websites. It is also important to have a diversified interview panel and selection techniques that would allow diverse people to answer to the questions or tests at their best capability (Morrison, 1992; Schreiber et al., 1993). The interview panel should be highly skilled and trained to understand candidates from different cultural backgrounds, researchers have found that most interviewers have no understanding of special interview techniques that suit candidates from different ethnical backgrounds (Caudron, 1990; Morrison, 1992). Challenges in Multicultural Societies The literature on cultural diversity management has studied issues like understanding the concept of diversity management (McVittie, 2008; Miller Rowney, 1999), the effect of diversity on individuals and groups, the benefits of diversity (Risberg SÃ ¸derberg, 2008), the diversity management best practices and HR strategies (DNetto Sohal, 1999, 2003), and the effect of diversity on organizational performance (Richard S. Allen, Gail Dawson, Kathleen Wheatley, Charles S. White (2008); Velma E. McCuiston, Barbara Ross Wooldridge, Chris K. Pierce, (2004). Most of the available literature has addressed the diversity in Western European context (McVittie, 2008, Miller Rowney, 1999; Harris, 2004; Leveson Joiner, 2009 ; Kramar, 1998). On the other hand, less attention is given to diversity management studies in the Middle East region and the subject is considered under-studied according to the 4th Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference (2010). Some of the available literature in the region studied employees attitudes towards diversity (Bakr Ahmad Alserhan, Ingo Forstenlechner, Ahmad Al-Nakeeb, (2009) ; Tariq M. Khan, Fintan Clear, Ahmed Al-Kaabi, Vahid Pezeshki, 2010) as well as managing diverse teams in the Middle East (Forstenlechner, 2010 ; Neal, 2010). With regards to the challenges faced by HR professionals in multicultural societies, the literature has studied the challenges in Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and the hiring difficulties when doing business abroad (Dowling et al., 2008). Increasing diversity through recruitment practices is another widespread topic (Tipper, 2004) as well as challenges in leading diversified workforce in general (McCuiston et al., 2004). Some of the challenges that face HR professionals when managing a multicultural workforce is convincing the higher management that diversity as well as good quality diversity management programs are useful to the organization. These challenges stem from the fact that some top managers still perceive diversity management as costly and can cause disruption in the organization (DNetto Sohal, 1999). Another challenge faced by HR professionals is the communication issue (Adler, 1986; Loden Rosener, 1991). Case of UAE The United Arab Emirates, like the GCC labor market in general, is considered a unique case because of its workforce composition. According to the (Statistics Center Abu Dhabi, 2010), the size of the employed labor force in 2008 in the city of Abu Dhabi was 889,417 of whom only 10% are nationals. This high profile of non national workforce is considered a challenge for HR Professionals. According to Mohammed Ben Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (2008), the insufficiency of skilled labor in Gulf countries and UAE is a major problem. Most of the literature about UAE has discussed topics related to Emiratization as an employment challenge (Forstenlechner, 2008), diversity in banking sector (Alserhan et al., 2009) and difficulties in training a diversified workforce (Jones, 2008). No literature was located on the challenges in the hiring process within a multicultural society like UAE. Therefore, this study contributes to the HR Management literature by exploring the spectrum of challenges encountered by the HR Professionals while managing the hiring practices of culturally-diverse workforce in UAEs health care organizations. Challenges in the Hiring process in UAE The supply of the labor force is being affected by the economic and growth conditions. For example, India (which is a strong resource for cheap labor inside UAE) now undergoes a major technological and economical growth which causes the skilled labor to return to India (or what is called Brain Gain) and reduces the flow of labor outside the country (Anand, 2007). According to Al Ali (2008), it is difficult to strategize for long term programs as this non-national workforce is hired on a temporary employment visa which is considered a transient environment that doesnt encourage long term commitment as it creates a sense of job insecurity and uncertainty. Therefore, special efforts need to be given in the hiring process to attract and retain the workers. Another challenge facing HR professionals is hiring female workers. According to Naithani (2010): Participation of female in migrating workforce to GCC is one of the least in the world with only 29 per cent of the migrants being females. This shows that females have less opportunity for finding a job. Also, the laws and regulations related to visas and work permits sometimes prevents workers from exchanging jobs as they would need a no objection certificate from their previous sponsor (Naithani, 2010). The majority of non national workforce in the UAE is from Asian countries like Philippines or India, which is considered a challenge when hiring. According to Al-Waqfi Forstenlechner (2010), managing groups of people from similar nationality has multiple difficulties and can lead to conflicts, stereotyping as well as to less commitment as these groups indentify with their similar social group over the organization. STEROTYPING MAHA ADD HERE In terms of team management, multicultural workforce can be a true challenge when managing teams. Therefore, the hiring process should take into consideration that the new hire will fit in the team (Neal, 2010). According to Mohammed Ben Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (2008), 91% of the key positions in Gulf countries are occupied with expatriates due to lack of qualified national workforce. The report also revealed that in healthcare, only 63% of the Arab CEOs believed that there is an adequate transfer of knowledge and know-how from expatriates to nationals which led to continuously depending on expatriates to fill the positions and not achieving the required Emiratization quotas. The report also highlighted that fact that the cost of non national labor is increasing significantly which will reflect on the hiring process in terms if rising wages and security. In terms of hiring expatriates in different levels, the report shows that it is extremely difficult to hire in senior management, followed by middle management and operational/technical positions. Methodology Since the research approach that has been selected is exploratory in nature, qualitative research methods are best suited for obtaining the required data. To explore the variety of challenges encountered by the human resource personnel while managing the hiring practices requires the use of qualitative research methods. The researchers have decided to conduct the research on health care organizations due to ease of access and availability of many heterogeneous hospitals in size and ownership. Data Collection The selected organizations are located in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain cities, these hospitals were all selected within Abu Dhabi Emirate to save travelling time and expenses on the researchers. Five in-depth interviews were conducted with key HR personnel in the selected organizations. The researchers have approached the organizations through email and phone calls to obtain the approval for interviews. Once the approval was obtained, a detailed email was sent to the interviewees including the date and time of the interview as well as a consent form stating the purpose of the study, the procedures, and the confidentiality of data. All of the selected organizations have rejected the use of tape recording. Following acceptance of their verbal approval, the research team was divided into groups to conduct the interviews simultaneously. All interviews answers and notes were transformed from handwritten notes to typed transcripts and notes ready for analysis. The adopted analytical approach was Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) where the research team scanned the transcribed text, created and applied relational coding between categories and recognized common themes across participants. The research team has adopted the introductory techniques shown in Appendix 1. This ensures conformity and unifies the approach to potential participants at all research sites. Research Questions The literature review has discussed few challenges faced by multi cultural organizations in the hiring process; however, it has not totally uncovered those challenges in UAE. Hence this research aims to explore more challenges faced by the HR Department during their hiring process in multicultural organizations. In this study, two main research questions were formed. These questions were ordered from general to specific and from most significant to least significant. Further questions were probed according to the interviewee answers. Main Research Questions: RQ1: What are the hiring challenges faced by HR professionals in health care sector in the multicultural society of UAE? RQ2: What were the most difficult challenges faced? What were the least difficult challenges faced? The interview is mainly loosely structured with open-ended questions to maximize participants responses (Mack et al., 2005). Data Analysis Kvale (1996) details seven stages of conducting in-depth interviews. Verifying involves checking the credibility and validity of the information gathered. A method called triangulation is used as a means of checks and balances. Basically, one type of triangulation would be to use multiple perspectives to interpret a single set of information. Another simple way to triangulate would be to have a colleague read the transcripts to see if he/she came away with the same overall meaning (Guion, 2009). Initially, each team member was assigned a transcript, since the research sample consists of five health care facilities and the research team members are five. Each member read the assigned transcript and attempted to identify main themes. Then, as a method of credibility and validity check, triangulation was implemented. Afterwards, the research team sat together to do the final analysis. Categories were color-coded by using text highlight color. This section represents the final template of data analysis. Each title covers a broad theme and its associated categories. The initial research objectives are directly addressed by the following themes: Communication Challenge, Working Hours, Hiring Cost, Group and Team Management, Cultural Group Dominance, Failure to Adjust to the Culture, Turnover, Bias and Stereotyping, Selection Process, Emiratization. These themes provide a general outline of the research team interpretations of the interviewees perceptions. Participants in this research were referred to the as interviewees. The words of the interviewees were presented in quotes where they were italicized and bounded by double quotation marks. The final discussion section of this research report will review the research analysis entailment in relation to the research objectives and derive from the interview data a summary of perceived diversity challenges in the hiring process. Each title presents a data summary within each theme Results Research questions The results of this study have indicated that all selected hospitals have been facing challenges in the hiring process due to high rate of cultural diversity in UAE. The reported challenges were divided into major and minor ones. Some of these challenges were found to be common among the selected hospitals, like communication, hiring cost, culture group dominance, and group and team management. The minor challenges were found to be the working hours, Emiratization, failure to adjust to culture, biases and stereotyping, turnover, and selection process (certificate authentication and background check). The research questions have also uncovered new challenges that were not found in the studied literature review, for example the working hours, failure to adjust to the culture, selection process (certificate authentication and background check). Discussion The challenges were sorted under the three phases of the hiring process: recruitment, selection and orientation phases. Based on the discussed literature review, the challenges are: Diversity Challenges in Recruitment Phase Working Hours: Attracting a diversified workforce in terms of gender was found to be a challenge affected by some culture group requirements in working conditions. For example, Arabic female candidates prefer shorter working hours due to family obligations as well as cultural norms. The nature of work in the health sector requires 24/7 service which may not be suitable for females. On the other hand Naithani (2010) has reported a different set of challenges pertaining to hiring female workers. Also, it was reported that UAE national candidates want to continue their education which may conflict with the working hours. This challenge was not discussed in the researched literature review. Some locals are still studying so they cant leave the collage to work with us. With UAE fen males, it is difficult for them to accept shift jobs because they need to go home late. Cost of Hiring: The cost of hiring was found to be a common challenge in all hospitals which confirms what Mohammed Ben Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (2008) and Naithani (2010) have reported. In terms of health sector, the problem is even bigger. Part of the cost is related to the workforce demography in UAE which is composed mainly of non-nationals. These include the cost of international advertisements, the cost of relocation (i.e. visa, air tickets, shipping allowances, and hotel accommodation), competitive compensation packages, the high cost of living, using hiring agencies abroad, and the high standard lifestyle and backgrounds of certain nationalities. The other part of the cost is related to UAE employment regulations. The Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) regulations which require passing the licensing test for the medical jobs. The test for nurses is online however for the physicians they must take it in person inside HAAD. The hospital brings them on a visit visa to take the test and bears the accommodation and other expanses. Not all candidates pass the exam; hence the hospital takes the risk of losing such expanses. The maximum number of exam trials is three. Furthermore, security check is required by UAE immigration law before hiring any candidate they should pass the security clearance. However, not all cases are being cleared which imposes a hiring cost on the organization. We face a major problem related to the cost of hiring because first we bring the medical staff on a mission visa which costs us 1800 Dhs, tickets charges and hotel accommodation to take the exam an in many occasions they fail. We bare the cost The maximum number of trials for the exam are three, and if they fail we are unfortunate Emiratization: The challenge that was tackled by Mohammed Ben Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (2008), as well as in this research, is related to Emiratization particularly the lack of qualified local workforce in the health care field led to the heavy dependence on non-nationals. In most cases the non-nationals are more qualified so the selected hospitals prefer to hire the expat over the local employee based on skills only. Some challenges were unique to our research findings. For example, the female UAE nationals wear the veil which conflicts with organizational policies. As a result, Emiratization efforts in the health care are challenged by this matter. In addition, as previously mentioned in the working hours theme, Emirati female candidates are repelled by the long working hours in the health sector. Moreover, Emirati workforce is more attracted to work in the governmental sector because of better packages. We do have instructions to nationalize medical positions, but local candidates prefer to apply for governmental hospitals due to better benefits. And To attract more UAE nationals, the aptitude tests differ between the non-nationals and the UAE nationals. The test runs for 30 munities for locals while 20 for non-nationals. As well as the test is easier for locals than others Diversity Challenges in Selection Phase: Communication It was found that communication is a major challenge among all selected hospitals; the same was reflected in the studied literature review (Adler, 1986; Loden Rosener, 1991). It was found as a common challenge during the interview time because some candidates do not speak English or if the interviewer is not bilingual. Because I speak only English, when I interview an Arabian candidate who doesnt speak English, I call for a translator Another part of this challenge is the necessity of selecting bilingual candidates who speak both Arabic and English to communicate easily with the patients. All the doctors must be able to speak Arabic and English to build a trust relationship with their patients. The same situation is for the nurses as they need to understand the patient language and needs. Bias and stereotyping Another challenge revealed by our research is bias and stereotyping during interviews. The HR department in one of the hospitals is made up solely of one nationality which could increase the risk of biases during interviews as the selection panel is usually a one man show. Add Drs Ref about Emiratization The nationality of the hiring committee members generally consists of the local people of the country who are having enough knowledge about the people residing in their country so the local people are usually chosen for the selection procedure. The gender does not generally matters in this procedure as the person who is recruiting should have knowledge of their sector instead of gender which is not seen in this area. The age of the committee members are aged which have great experience in their whole life which are filled with the fully filled experiences which are bad and good every time. We dont consider this problem a major one because we do make our selections based on personal qualifications requirements. I conduct all the interviews by myself. Background and Security Check Two unique challenges were uncovered by this research. First, the challenge of conducting background checks overseas because of the difficulty in checking the criminal records and the possibility of falsifying these records. Second, the slow and tedious certificate attestation process. UAE Embassies around the word have a system called IntegraScreen to make sure the certificate is authentic. As an example of the first challenge, HAAD requires the proper certificates authentication that they conduct by themselves to avoid any forged certificates. As mentioned in the previous phase of recruitment, failure to pass the security check clearance reduces the pool of candidates in the selected hospitals. HAAD also requires the proper documentations; hence they run the authentication by themselves to avoid any fraud certificates. Emiratization A final challenge in this phase is linked to Emiratization as some of the selected hospitals have tailored their selection tests (i.e. English Proficiency Test) to accommodate the deficiencies in the national workforce, for example, one of the selected hospitals and in an attempt to attract more UAE nationals have created aptitude tests which differ between the non-nationals and the UAE nationals. We make our English Test for nationals easier to attract them as part of our Emiratization program. The test runs for 30 munities for nationals while 20 for non-nationals Cultural Group Dominance The selection of the candidate is influenced by the HR department inclination towards the selection of certain nationalities like Indians and Filipinos. The selection decision is generally skewed towards candidates who fall under the interviewer nationality preference. This can partially explain the cultural group dominance. An example of this dominance, one of the selected hospitals mentioned that it has 30% of its workforce from Philippines and 20% from India. Most of them are in clerical and nursing jobs. Their majority is because they are qualified and they pass the licensing exam. Another hospital mentioned that Indians constitute almost 70% of the total workforce, in this organization all HR Department professionals are Indians. The diversity rate in our HR department is 0% Diversity Challenges in Orientation Phase: Cultural Rigidity: During the orientation training some of the new comers may remain culturally rigid against the newly introduced national culture of UAE. For example, some of them may reject the idea of adhering to the dress code which is reflecting the UAE Islamic culture. During Ramadan Time, non Muslims are not aware about prohibition of eating publically so we tell them to go for a specific room to have their lunch. Limitations of the study This research study has some limitations. Due to the lack of sufficient time and resources, the research team was not able to expand the study to other sectors and cities. Hence the study was in in a confined regional area (Abu Dhabi and Al Ain). The research team has planned to do focus group interviews with tape recordings to enable the interviewers to focus on the discussion rather than note taking, and to gather information from different perspectives. However only one or two HR personnel per hospital were available and they have all refused tape recordings. Most of the studied organizations have refused to give precise documented statistics about the level of diversity. The majority of the interviewees were from the HRs management; hence it is likely that their answers to the challenges have a negative bias. Implications for future research The newly explored challenges in this research have implications for future researches. First, as this study focused only on one sector Healthcare and in two cities (Abu Dhabi and Al Ain), future researches can study different sectors and emirates using quantitative research methodology to study those challenges in dept in order to identify their causes and help to find solutions to them. Second, this study lacks the use of focus group interviews to gain different perspective and the interviewees were mainly from the management of the HR. Hence future research can be done by interviewing focus group members with different levels of seniority. Third, this study was done only in UAE, it can be replicated to other GCC organizations to assess the level of challenges in UAE compared to other GCC and find the gaps. The study can be further expanded to include Middle East countries to asses UAEs challenges in a regional market.

Essay on Freedom in Chopin’s Story of an Hour and Gilman’s Turned

Freedom in Chopin’s Story of an Hour and Gilman’s Turned  Ã‚     In â€Å"Turned,† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† by Kate Chopin, two female protagonists gradually reject and overcome their socially constructed and internalized female consciousness’. These changes of heart happen when horrific events that relate to both the characters’ husbands occur. The women are then forced to define themselves as individuals rather than relying on their mates, their families, and their households to give them meaning. Their life-changing realizations are shown through the environments surrounding them and through suggestive water images. In these pieces, the female mind and thought process is dissected to show how these women discover their complex and somewhat hypocritical social positions. Both protagonists are finally able to comprehend the weight of their roles as wives and as women in their confining societies. Through their new found understanding, they are forced to see the idle and petty li ves they have been living to attain the other’s acceptance. In effect, the characters attempt to renounce their oppressed female roles and adopt lifestyles of their own.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The â€Å"turns† that transpire in these feminist works are suggested in the environment that the females live in. Their surroundings not only imply a change of lifestyle, but indicate a shift in the tone of the stories. Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† opens with Mrs. Mallard receiving word of her husband’s death through her sister. With the tragic news hovering inside her head, Mrs. Mallard withdraws up to her room to be alone. Her room becomes a retreat to her; she is able to peer down on society without participating in it as well as contemplate her n... ... of femininity and of marriage. Achieving independence, although it may result in one’s death or may cause one to be an outcast in society, becomes the ultimate objective of Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Marroner.    Works Cited and Consulted Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." In Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters, Eds. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. Martin, Wendy, ed. "Introduction." New Essays on The Story of an Hour. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1998.    Beer, Janet. Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Studies in Short Fiction. NY: St. Martin's P, 1997. Knight, Denise D. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1997. Lane, Ann J. To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. NY: Pantheon Books, 1990.

Child Abuse and Neglect Essay

Crisis is a condition, which upsets the balance in the regular functioning of a person, family or a society in a destructive fashion and the situations can not be overcome through general problem solving resources. Crisis leads to a stressful situation, which is generally difficult to cope with, and needs proper and planned ways of intervention to be resolved. To understand crisis, a scenario can be discussed. In this case the person in crisis was a girl of 13 years of age belonging to an Indian tribal family. She worked for a family as domestic help. She was very thin and weak but extremely aggressive in nature. The person who identified her problem was the lady who employed her. The lady was a housewife from a well to do family. According to the lady, the girl started working at her place at the age of 11. She belonged to a local tribal family where girl child was not at all welcome. She had three younger sisters and a brother. Her parents were working as daily laborers. Her father spent all the hard earned money to the local wine shop and her mother found it extremely difficult to support the family with her meager income. She sent her eldest daughter to work and earn money for the family. Not only that, her father used to beat her and her mother regularly for money. The girl was extremely malnourished and neglected and was used as a money earning machine. Her employer tried to send her to a school but did not succeed as according to her family going to school was complete wastage of time. The problems of child labor, lack of education, gender bias, physical abuse, problem between parents all existed together in her life. This was not a typical case but a general picture in several poor backward class families in India. The situation is treated as a crisis because the solution of all these problems was beyond the capacity of the little girl. She was the victim of the situation of chronic crisis in her family and was unable to cope with the situation. It was evident from her aggressive nature, attraction towards bad company, eagerness to shun her family, physical injuries and weakness, etc. She was a victim of developmental crisis. Her parents unknowingly restricted the development of her physical and psychological health. Hailing from a poor tribal family only aggravated her situation. The social class she belonged to was not at all favorable to a girl child. They generally thought of them as family burden as the child was unable to earn for them and after growing up was going to support another family after marriage. Lack of knowledge and education made them treat school education as wastage of time and money. Being a child the girl could not speak her mind or was suppressed forcibly. Thus, she lacked education, was forced to work, losing her psychological balance and was growing to lead a cluttered and abusive life and may also become a problem for the society. Timely intervention at the time of crisis is the most important part in crisis intervention. In most of the cases of child abuse it is often too late before the society comes to know about the occurrence and can take any action to save the child or repair the damage. In this case as the event was of chronic crisis the intervention may start as soon as the crisis was identified. Here the child needed a support system either from family or outside. Her employer in this case could provide the support, which was lacking from her family. (â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†) During crisis individuals generally experience some common feelings that can affect psychological balance and produce impact on assessment and treatment of the crisis. These kinds of feelings and their reflection in life should not be treated as mental illness. In such conditions people may show disorganized and confusing behavior where they forget important details or practice inappropriate actions which were helpful in the past. They tend to confuse fear and wishes with reality. To cope with such disorganization they tend to be involved in insignificant activities. Crisis laden people may become hostile or emotionally distant from any sort of intervention. Some people act impulsively without thinking about the consequences and lead to more complex situation. People may depend completely on the person trying to help them in time of crisis, like in this case the child can depend on her employer and expect her to fill the gap created by her parents. Identity crisis, lower self-perception, and withdrawal are also observed as common behaviors. (â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†) To intervene to the crisis, the assessment of the situation is the key point. Every individual or family responds to certain situations differently. Still it is necessary to assess the risk of abuse in the given situation. To assess the crisis it is required to consider each member of the family individually as well as the part of the family. Listening to each member’s version of the crisis individually may help reach the root of the problem. Active and careful listening is the most important criterion of the crisis worker while assessing the crisis. Identifying the underlying problem and precipitating events, observing family interactions and conditions and determining the family needs carefully help assessing the risk to the family members accurately. The safety measures can be practiced accordingly especially for children. A few screening instruments may be helpful in this respect, namely, Child Abuse Potential Inventory, Child Maltreatment Interview Schedule, Family Assessment Form (FAF) and few Family Risk Scales. Training to use all such instruments can be very helpful for the crisis worker. Before terminating the service the crisis worker should be very sure that the risk factor has been removed completely and the child or other family members are totally safe. All family members should be involved in each and every step of crisis assessment and intervention. Non-judgmental and open-minded crisis worker helps the family best in crisis assessment and intervention. S/he must understand the social customs and family traditions and must convince the person or family in crisis that s/he came to listen to their problem and to help them in coping with the situation and not to accuse them. Lack of understanding or acceptance at either end may lead to more complicated circumstances. (Blakester) For successful crisis intervention the crisis worker first needs to understand the crisis thoroughly and needs to be competent enough to provide expert support to the victims. Crisis intervention is time limited. Therefore the crisis worker needs to set specific goals to make the intervention as a success. Like in the present case it was not possible to solve all the family problems, which were the root causes of the child’s crisis at a time. So the crisis worker should prioritize the problems to be solved. The worker can first try to make good rapport with the girl and the family of the girl and listen to the problems carefully. The family first needs to understand that their child is facing a crisis due to their behavior. This may help the girl as well as her family to accept his/ her intervention to solve the crisis. S/he can try to find out their actions to deal with the situation. The worker can try to find out the strength of the girl that can improve her self esteem and her needs which need to be taken care of. Her family’s potentials and requirement need also be assessed. The reasons behind the crisis can then be chalked out. Once the reasons are established, the worker can suggest alternative approaches which can motivate the child and her family to overcome the crisis. The crisis worker can then help them with the formulation of goals, objectives and actions based on their priorities. The actions must be achievable at first to increase the confidence of the family. To be successful the worker needs to be focused but at the same time compassionate and flexible to slight changes in goals. In this case, the family can first stop the physical abuse of the child. Then they can try to improve interpersonal relationship by listening to what the girl has to say. If possible they can help her with her needs and if not then try to make her see the reasons peacefully. They can spare her a little time for her education. Simultaneously, the girl’s father needs counseling to cope with his bad habit and be able to support his family. As the crisis worker finds the situation to improve s/he can reduce support slowly and observe the family if they can continue with their own. Follow up must always be done to motivate them to work positively. (â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†) An event of successful crisis intervention in a child abuse case can be cited to conclude the discussion on a positive note. Windale in the New South Wales Lake Macquarie region of Australia was declared the most socially disadvantaged community of New South Wales in1999. All possible events of child abuse were present in the community. Percentage of child protection was only 1, the worst in New South Wales. (Blakester)Under these circumstances a community centre named Alcazar Centre was established there attached to the local primary school. The community centre initiated programs as below: †¢ parenting classes; †¢ the staged introduction of preschool-aged children to schools; †¢ joint exercise and sociability groups for isolated mothers; †¢ an Aboriginal health service and community nursing; †¢ the identification of talented youngsters and provision of academic extension opportunities; †¢ locally created scholarships and the Department of Housing’s relocation of some families to make schools more accessible; †¢ the involvement of fathers in making various contributions to the life of the school and a general increased involvement by parents in school life; †¢ a Shop Smart nutrition program; †¢ improved street lighting, enabling safe travel at night, and a Windale ‘welcome’ landmark, building community pride; and †¢ the sponsorship of school and sporting needs by local businesses With regular work on the above programs Windale Primary School became the model of schools as community centres across whole New South Wales. The Alcazar Centre was given an Award for Excellence by the Director General of the NSW Department of Education and Training. Windale community proved that prevention of child abuse is possible with case specific approach and almost insignificant steps can altogether make the difference. The child protection in Windale community was found to reach 25%, being the best in New South Wales in 2003. (Blakester) Works Cited 1) Blakester, Adam, â€Å"Practical child abuse and neglect prevention (Case Study 2)†, Child Abuse Prevention Newsletter, vol. 14 no. 2 Winter 2006, Australian Institute of Family Studies, National Child Protection Clearing House, ISSN 1447-0039 (Print); 1447-0047 (Online), 13 June 2008, < http://www. aifs. gov. au/nch/pubs/newsletters/nl2006/winter. html > 2) â€Å"Crisis Intervention in Child Abuse and Neglect†, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Gentry, User Manual Series 1994, Circle Solutions, Inc. , McLean, VA, under subcontract No. S-105-89-1730 with Westover Consultants, Inc. , 12 June 2008,

The Greeks and Achilles

The opening of Virgil’s epic [â€Å"I sing of warfare and a man of war† or â€Å" I sing of arms and of the man†] is a skillful allusion to Homer’s Iliad [â€Å"Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles†]. Both rely on nouns. Discuss how the two interact in both works. Just as Homer used the first lines of the Iliad and Odyssey to announce the main themes of those poems, Virgil presents the two main themes of the Aeneid in the first line.What are these two central themes? In The Aeneid, Virgil's first two lines â€Å"I sing of warfare and a man at war. / He came to Italy by destiny. † Like with Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey, Virgil's central theme for The Aeneid is war, though in a vastly different light than that of Homer's two epics. With Aeneid, the central character Aeneas fleas Troy during a darkened time for his native city, when it is being ravaged in a war between the Greeks and Achilles.The line He came to Italy by destiny tells me that The Aeneid's focus is central to fate and destiny and how so many people during this time put a lot of their energy believing in, and raging wars in the name of both. What universal force is responsible for Aeneas's sufferings as an exile (see line 3)? In accordance with this universal force, what is the purpose of his sufferings? Land and sea are what are responsibile for Aeneas sufferings as an exile while he made the journey from Troy to Italy.Aeneas' suffering was at the hands of Juno, who was angry that with Aeneas' arrival into Carthage meant that the fate of her most favorite city would soon be teasted when the war made it's way from his beloved Troy, where he was fleeing from, to Carthage. Explain the reasons for Juno's hatred of the Trojans. Juno's hatred towards the other Trojan's was because the arrival of another Trojan, Paris, voted in a beauty contest against Juno, a contest that she ended up losing.Compare and contrast Homer’s de scription of the shield of Achilles in the Iliad (XVIII. 572ff. ) with Virgil’s description of the shield of Aeneas in the Aeneid (VIII. 24ff. ). Both Aeneas and Achilles are given shields that help to defend against their enemies. With Aeneas, he is given a shield to help protect Rome from an invasion, whereas Achilles is given a shield to face off and carry out his revenge against Hector. Both similar in their uses are vastly different in design. For Achilles, his holds engravings of common life during his time.