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Patient care financial problem is one of the reasons why today’s populations are unable to receive high quality care that they need to achieve improved health outcomes. The problem of huge health care cost is a big burden to low income earners who always lack adequate finances to purchase drugs and to pay for hospital bills (Kelley, McGarry, Georges, and Skinner, 2015). It becomes even worse for patients who are suffering from chronic health conditions such as diabetes and cancer.
According to Kelley et al., (2015), dementia is one of the chronic diseases that are attracting large social costs for patients in the United State. For this reason, being a fatal health condition, many dementia patients in the United States are dying due to patient care financial problem. Patient care financial problem has an impact on federal and national budgets. Nurses play a very big role in ensuring that patient care financial problems are integrated into the national and federal budgets by analyzing information that may be required for budget development (Luga & McGuire, 2014)
Health care cost: Heath insurance
Lack of health care insurance and high costs of prescription drugs are the most common patient care financial problems in today’s society. According to Saksena, Hsu and Evans (2014), health care coverage helps to protect patients from financial risks, and lack of it becomes a big burden for many populations. In addition, paying for health care through out-of-pocket payments prevents many people around the world from accessing care.
Although lack of health care insurance is a financial problem for patients, it is always associated with both non-financial and financial health-related impacts to public health. For instance, limited access to quality health care as a result of lack of health care coverage, results into negative health outcomes for the population. This is a good example of a non-financial impact associated with lack of health insurance (Luga & McGuire, 2014).
With regard to financial-related impact, an increase in disease burden among populations is of great financial impact to the public health sector, which must allocate additional funds to clear disease from the society (Saksena, Hsu and Evans, 2014).
The other financial problem that is related to patient care is high costs of prescription drugs. Many patients and their families really have to struggle in order to meet health care costs, especially medication costs. According to Walkom, Loxton, and Robertson, (2013) in a study conducted with the aim of assessing the impact of high medication costs on patients’ ability to adhere to prescription drugs, it has been discovered that 27 percent of participants from Australia and 36 percent of subjects from the United States tend to skip their drug doses because they are unable to purchase drugs which are charged at extremely high prices.
In addition, the need to purchase prescription drugs through out-of-pocket payments is one of the contributing factors to poor health among populations in today’s society (Luga & McGuire, 2014).
Lack of insurance as well as high costs of prescription drugs have an impact on federal and national budgets. This is because the government has to integrate health care costs into its budget to help low income earners to access care and to achieve improved health outcomes (Saksena, Hsu and Evans, 2014). According to Saksena, Hsu and Evans (2014), the number of uninsured citizens is on the rise in the United States because many people are reluctant to join available Medicare and Medicaid programs following increased uncertainties that continue to surround their use.
If the current trend persists, the federal government will be compelled to integrate patients’ health care costs into its budget in order to increase the percentage of United States citizens who receive quality care. As Kelley et al., (2015) explain, there is great need for the federal government to increase budget that it allocates for helping the society to manage chronic illnesses, considering the fact that chronic health conditions become more severe among the uninsured patients than among patients with health care coverage.
Similarly, high costs of prescription drugs have an impact on federal and national budget because the government has to increase its spending on these drugs to promote positive health among its population, especially the low income earners (Luga & McGuire, 2014).
Nurses play a very crucial role in solving patient care financial problems because they are charged with the responsibility of analyzing public health information that is needed for budget development. The federal government depends on information collected by nurses regarding health care costs to make a decision on the most appropriate funds that should be allocated for patient care (Salmond and Echevarria, 2017).
In order to ensure that the right information is used for budget development, nurses must be sure to collect accurate and specific information as this will help the government to distinguish between funds that are allocated for health care coverage from those that are designated for prescription drugs. The staff nurse plays the role of collecting data directly from the community and presents it to the nurse manager.
The nurse manager analyzes the presented information and evaluates its relevance before passing it to the chief nurse. The chief nurse analyzes the information and forwards it to the agencies responsible for budget development, stating the reasons why it should be included in the budget (Salmond and Echevarria, 2017).
References
Kelley, A. S., McGarry, K., Georges, R. & Skinner, J. S. (2015). The burden of health care costs for patients with dementia in the last 5 years of life. Annals of International Medicine, 163(10): 729-736. doi: 10.7326/M15-0381.
Luga, A. O. & McGuire, M. J. (2014). Adherence and health care costs. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 7: 35-44. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S19801
Salmond, S. W. & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 36(1): 12-25. doi: 10.1097/NOR.0000000000000308
Saksena, P., Hsu, J. & Evans, D. B. (2014). Financial risk protection and universal health coverage: Evidence and measurement challenges. PLoS Med, 11(9): e1001701. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001701
Walkom, E., J., Loxton, D. & Robertson, J. (2013). Costs of medicine and health care: A concern for Australian women across the ages. BMC Health Services Research, 13: 484. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-484
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Financial Management: Health Care Workers Compensation
Financial Management
Overview of the Financial Issue
While a reduction in compensation of health care workers may be influenced by organizational constraints, health care organizations may at times be compelled to trim workers’ wages and salaries due to poor financial management (Bai, Gu, Chen, Xiao, Liu, and Tang, 2017). The most recently reported financial management issue is a reduction in nurses’ compensation from 300 to 250 United States per month due to improper allocation of funds, which resulted in purchase of equipment that is not urgently needed by the organization.
RacKol Health Care organization specializes in delivering cancer care to the community. The company has been experiencing a rapid rise in nurse turnover rates over the past two months. This has resulted in an increase in patient mortality rate from an average of 3 people week to 10 people every week. It is anticipated that the number of nurses who are leaving the organization is on the rise due to the recent reduction in their salaries that is majorly attributed to poor financial management (Dong, 2015).
To determine the actual cause of the financial issue, the Chief Finance Officer and the Senior Accountant have been interviewed, and they have been asked to share their opinions concerning a possibility of mismanagement of funds in the organization. The Chief Finance Officer is charged with the responsibility of preparing financial plans for the organization and for keeping records of those plans.
The Senior Accountant is responsible for compiling accounts information of the organization by checking whether there is a balance between assets and liabilities (Johns, 2013). According to the Chief Finance Officer and the Senior Accountant, the recent reduction in nurses’ compensation is solely attributed to improper allocation of funds during budgeting that made the organization to purchase cancer care equipment for pediatrics. The two interviewees have explained that the organization has tried to address the current issue for the past one month.
Finanacial Management: Measures that have Been Taken to Address the Issue
Officials in the finance department have taken two measures to address the financial management issue that is currently faced by RacKol Health Care. One of the measures is a move to align organizational plans with available funds without compromising the performance of health care workers. Initially, the health care organization did not take any actions to evaluate whether it has available funds to help it accomplish future financial plans.
Since they faced the challenge of compensating nurses, the Chief Finance Officer in collaboration with the Senior Accountant has begun to align future financial plans of the organization with available funds at any given time, as this helps the organization to only allocate funds to useful projects (Dong, 2015). The other measure that is currently implemented by the organization to prevent improper allocation of funds is involvement of departmental heads in financial decision-making.
Before the current financial issue, officials in the finance department did not involve heads of other departments in making financial decisions. As supported by Walsh (2016), involving departmental heads in financial decision-making facilitates proper allocation of funds because it prevents the purchase of equipment that is not urgently needed by the organization.
Future Steps that Have Been Planned to Address the Issue
RacKol Health Care is highly committed to ensuring that the current financial issue does not repeat itself in future. For this reason, officials in the finance department have documented a plan of how they will improve financial management in the organization over the coming months. For instance, they have a plan to hire an Information Technology professional with competent knowledge of data analytics.
The organization anticipates that with an expert in data analytics, it will be able to understand the specific financial needs of various departments and allocate funds based on the urgency of these requirements. In this manner, it will be able to avoid using funds to make purchases that are not urgently needed by the organization (Walsh, 2016).
Moreover, RacKol Health Care is planning to create a feedback loop that will allow free reporting between executives and the management. With a properly implemented feedback loop, executives on the finance department will be able to understand and strive to address concerns of various departments as far as quick financial allocation is concerned (Dong, 2015).
Potential Blocks in Resolving the Issue
The Chief Finance Officer and senior accountant, however, foresee some problems that may prevent the organization from successfully addressing the financial issue that it is currently facing. One of the problems is the lack of motivation by departmental heads, which may make them to be reluctant to take part in financial decision-making and the creation of the feedback loop.
Moreover, these officials feel that heads of various departments in the organization may lack sufficient training on important issues related to financial management (Bai et al., 2017). Again, managers may lack knowledge and skills to apply in financial management due to unavailability of sufficient financial, managerial tools for use as a reference.
To mitigate these challenges, RacKol Health Care should train all heads of department on basic issues related to financial management. This will enable them to utilize the acquired knowledge and skills to prevent the occurrence of similar financial issues in future (Bai et al., 2017). Personal perception on the current financial issue is similar to the perception of those who are working on finances in the organization.
References
Bai, Y., Gu, C., Chen, Q., Xiao, J., Liu, D. & Tang, S. (2017). The challenges that head nurses confront on financial management today: A qualitative study. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 4(2): 122-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2017.03.007
Dong, G. N. (2015). Performing well in financial management and quality of care: Evidence from hospital process measures for treatment of cardiovascular disease. BMC Health Services Research, 15: 45. doi: 10.1186/s12913-015-0690-x
Johns, M. (2013). Breaking the glass ceiling: Structural, cultural, and organizational barriers preventing women from achieving senior and executive positions. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 10(Winter): 1e.
Walsh, K. (2016). Managing a budget in healthcare professional education. Annals of Medical & Health Sciences Research, 6(2): 71-73. doi: 10.4103/2141-9248.181841
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Gerontological Nursing: Identification and Description of the Interviewed Individual
The interviewee is a male individual aged 80 years, and who currently stays with his wife and their son in the city. This client is a retired accountant who has been out of work for the past five years. Also, he is married with three children; two sons aged 25 and 36, and one daughter aged 40. Furthermore, the patient participates in three major health promotion activities including walking regularly, limiting consumption of salt and sugary foods, and participation in community’s social support groups.
The interviewee believes that increased consumption of fruits and foods rich in sorghum and millet help people to live long. Being 80 years old, the interviewee is considered to be the oldest family member who has ever reached such age. Furthermore, the interviewee is on insulin medication to help with management of diabetes clinical problem. He visits the doctor at least twice a week for a general medical check-up and to obtain clinical guidance on how to effectively manage diabetes symptoms.
Gerontological Nursing: Identification and Description of the Cultural Implications for the Individual
Personal values and beliefs about old age and health have a great implication to the care of the interviewee. For instance, the interviewee’s philosophy on living a long life may make it difficult for him to appreciate the fact that aging is a normal process. He believes that living long is God’s blessings while deaths that occur when people are still young are associated with curses.
Also, the interviewee has unique thoughts about people who are considered to be of old age. He feels that for a person to qualify to be of old age, lack the capacity to perform daily physical activities, be unable to maintain an upright posture, and must put on glasses to assist with vision. These cultural beliefs may impact negatively on the care of this client because the clinician will find it difficult to change the interviewee’s perceptions and replace them with new ones that can promote positive health outcomes (Shrack et al., 2016).
Additional cultural implication related to the interviewed person include; his or her beliefs regarding health and illness and his values about health status and treatment of older adults. The most appropriate way of eliminating the impact of the person’s cultural values and beliefs is through maintenance of cultural competence throughout the interview and when giving interventions.
To establish what the interviewee can accomplish as well as those that he cannot do properly at his age, a comprehensive functional assessment has been performed using four tools namely; Tinetti Balance and Gait Evaluation, Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living, Assessment of Home Safety, and The Barthel Index. The person’s movement ability has been assessed using the Tinetti Balance and Gait Evaluation.
The client’s ability to perform various activities independently has been evaluated using the Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living. The most appropriate tool that has been used to measure the safety of the patient’s environment is the Assessment of Home Safety, while that which has been used to examine whether the identified individual can accomplish some daily tasks independently is The Barthel Index.
A duly filled Tinetti Balance and Gait Evaluation, Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living, Assessment of Home Safety, and The Barthel Index tools used during the interview have been provided in the Appendix section of this paper.
Gerontological Nursing: Comparison of Age-Related Changes
There are similarities and differences between the expected age-related changes and those observed in the interviewee. Older adults are expected to present with some physiological, physical, pathological, sensory, and motor changes, which significantly affect their ability to perform their activities of daily living and to make various physiological controls. According to Shrack et al. (2016), older adults aged 65 years and above have problems with maintaining gait and balance.
Similarly, the interviewee experiences problems with maintaining gait and balance, both while he is seated and whenever he is standing. Also, Tkatch, Musich, MacLeod, Alsgaard, Hawkins, and Yeh, (2016) point out that older adults often need assistance with various activities of daily living such as dressing, cooking, washing, and toileting. Although the interviewee is 80 years old, he needs assistance only in certain activities of daily living such as rising from a chair.
However, he is still strong enough to feed alone once the food is made available for him. Older adults are at high risk of falls, and there is therefore great need to keep their home environment free from objects that may increase the possibility of falling (Phelan, Mahoney, Voit, and Stevens, 2015). Similarly, the interviewee is at a high risk of falling considering the fact he has a problem controlling balance and gait.
For this reason, his home environment is often kept free from equipment that may increase the risk of falling. Again, as it happens in older adults, the interviewee occasionally finds it difficult to control his bladder and bowel and therefore may always want people to stay around to assist.
Gerontological Nursing: Preliminary Issues Assessed from the Interview
Four major preliminary issues have been assessed from the interview. The four issues include; age-related changes that are taking place or that have taken place in the interviewee, health promotion activities that the interviewee is currently involved, the interviewee’s cultural values over old age and living longer, as well as actions that have been taken to promote safety at the interviewee’s home environment.
As Tkatch et al. (2016) explain, nurses who are providing care to older adults must be able to understand the impacts that their age-related changes have on their abilities to perform daily activities. Using this information, these nurses must recommend relevant health promotion activities for their clients, including how they can keep their home environment safe for living. The nature of care given as well as the nature of health promotion strategies recommended will depend on the client’s cultural values and beliefs over old age and long life (Tkatch et al., 2016).
From the current assessment, the interviewer has discovered that the interviewee has undergone various physiological, physical, pathological, sensory and motor-related changes as a result of old age that greatly affect his ability to perform daily activities. Furthermore, the interviewer has found that the client engages in a few health promotion activities such as frequently walking to keep fit and consuming fruits.
Through current assessment, it has also been established that some actions have been taken to keep the interviewee’s home environment safe by eliminating objects that may increase the risk of falls. Most importantly, the interviewer has found out that the interviewee believes that God helps people to survive through old age, that the society is less concerned about assisting the aging population, and that God promotes healing and recovery.
Based on results obtained from this assessment, the interviewer understands health problems that majorly occur in older adult as well as factors that must be taken into consideration when establishing the most appropriate health promotion strategies of the elderly (Shrack et al., 2016).
Gerontological Nursing: Alterations in Health
The interviewee has alterations in health in three major functional areas namely; physiological functions, motor functions, and physical functions. Concerning physiological functions, the interviewee is struggling to manage diabetes, which is a common chronic health problem among older adults. Due to old age, the interviewer’s body cannot control blood sugar levels as required, and hence the observed onset of diabetes (Kezerle, Shaley, and Barski, 2014).
As far as motor functions are concerned, the interviewee has a problem with bladder and bowel control, which makes him have short call accidentally and long call at any time. This problem occurs mainly because of reduced motor function, which is greatly influenced by old age (Westra, Savik, Oancea, Choromanski, Holmes, and Bliss, 2011).
Furthermore, the interviewee experiences physical problems related to balance and gait maintenance, which put him at high risk of falls. He has reported that he needs support when rising from a chair and when moving upstairs. This means that his physical movement has been limited by old age. Therefore, the nature of intervention that would be recommended for the interviewee must target physical, physiological, and motor functional areas described in this section (Tkatch et al., 2016).
Gerontological Nursing: Interventions for Identified Problems
Interventions should be implemented based on individual health problems that the interviewee is currently suffering from. The most appropriate interventions for diabetes include nutrition counseling, exercise training, and drug adherence training. The interviewee should be guided on those foods that he should avoid keeping his blood glucose level low. Also, he should be trained on the importance of exercise in managing weight, and his family members should be guided on how to offer the right support.
Again, the interviewee should be reminded of the importance of drug adherence in reducing diabetes symptoms (Kezerle, Shaley, and Barski, 2014; & Tkatch et. al., 2016). Three different interventions can be implemented to help the interviewee to reduce risks of falls. First, the interviewee should be guided on how to perform simple exercises that will help him to improve balance and gait.
Second, his family members should be taught on strategies for reducing hazards in the interviewee’s environment to maximize safety. Third, risks of falls can be eliminated if the patient is trained in safety-related behaviors and skills (Phelan et al., 2015). The best interventions for bowel and urinary incontinence include training the interviewee on how to perform pelvic floor muscle exercise, offering nutritional counseling, and educating him on usage and side effects of anticholinergic for the bladder that is overactive.
Frequent pelvic muscle exercise will help to avoid incontinence actions of the urinary bladder and the bowel. Again, the interviewee should be taught to limit fluid intake and to avoid foods that cause bladder irritation. Furthermore, correct use and adherence to anticholinergic can help the interviewee to effectively manage bladder and bowel incontinences (Westra et al., 2011).
References
Kezerle, L., Shaley, L. & Barski, L. (2014). Treating the elderly diabetic patient: Special considerations. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, 7: 391-400. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S48898
Phelan, E. A., Mahoney, J., Voit, J. C. & Stevens, J. A. (2015). Assessment and management of fall risk in primary care settings. Medical Clinics of North America, 99(2): 281-293. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2014.11.004
Tkatch, R., Musich, S., MacLeod, S., Alsgaard, K., Hawkins, K. & Yeh, C. S. (2016). Population health management for older adults: Review of interventions for promoting successful aging across the health continuum. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, 2 (1): DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2333721416667877
Westra, B. L., Savik, K., Oancea, C., Choromanski, L., Holmes, J. H. & Bliss, D. (2011). Predicting improvement in urinary and bowel incontinence for home health patients using electronic health record data. Journal of Wound Ostomy & Continence Nursing, 38(1): 77-87.
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Development of a health care policy is one of the ways through which developing nations can be influenced to take actions that promote public health and reduce mortality rates, especially in countries where health inequality is a common problem. The Nature of health policy developed largely depends on specific health care problems that exist in a country at any given time.
Furthermore, one has to consider various social determinants of health in a country before developing and implementing a health policy (Kumar and Preetha, 2012). According to Kumar and Preetha (2012), social factors such as demographic patterns, political and economic changes, cultural issues, and learning environments are believed to influence health situations of many countries around the world.
A health policy that is aimed at reducing health inequality can be effective in promoting public health, and can greatly be supported by a country whose health is negatively impacted by disparities in health care. This paper explores the concept of health policy development and implementation about health inequality while giving special consideration to Malawi.
Health Care Policy: Rationale for Selecting Malawi
Malawi has been chosen for this case study because it is one of the world’s developing countries whose public health is negatively impacted by health inequality and lack of health policy to guide proper health care delivery. According to Daire and Khalil (2015), failure to access primary health care is one of the causes of high death rates among children aged below five years in Malawi.
Daire and Khalil (2015) further assert that health care for socio-economic barriers largely face Children in Malawi that policy makers in the health sector must address to promote positive child health in the country. Children who are born to low-income families in Malawi are highly likely to experience limited access to health care as compared to those who come from wealthy families. The main reason for the high infant mortality rates among low-income families in Malawi is a lack of primary health care policy.
According to Makaula, Bloch, and Muula et al., (2012) and Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et al., (2014), Malawi continues to experience low life expectancy because it currently lacks a primary health care policy to guide health care access among poor families with children aged below 5 years. Now, Malawi utilizes the Essential Health Package (EHP) program to implement primary health care.
This has impacted negatively on health care access among poor households and a significant reduction in life expectancy in the country. In this regard, Malawi is one of the developing countries that are experiencing high rates of infant deaths due to lack of primary health care policy and would; therefore, attract the attention of health policy makers (Daire and Khalil, 2015).
Social Determinants of Health in Malawi and Why they should be Addressed
There are two major social determinants of health in Malawi that need to be addressed. According to Kumar and Preetha, (2012), social determinants of health refer to factors in the social setting that influence the ability of a country’s population to obtain care at any given time. Examples of social determinants of health include socio-economic factors, family patterns, cultural beliefs and attitudes, learning environments, and demographic patterns.
In Malawi, the two social determinants of health that should concern policy makers are; economic affordability and geographic accessibility of health care facilities. These two social determinants are highly rampant among residents of rural Malawi. Rural populations in Malawi cannot access quality health care due to limited finances and high concentration of health care facilities in urban areas (Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et al., 2014).
In a study conducted by Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et al., (2014), the researchers have found that health care facilities are mainly located in urban Malawi, and this makes households based in rural Malawi to travel to the urban areas to seek for care. Ideally, rural Malawi does not only lack adequate health care facilities, but it also has poor roads that make it difficult for occupants to reach urban areas.
The long travel time coupled with high costs of transport prevent children from low-income families from receiving quality care, hence the observed high infant mortality rates in the country (Makaula, Bloch, and Muula, et al., 2012). Furthermore, variation in economic affordability among affluent and low-income families determines the nature of care that these two groups of populations can receive in Malawi.
Families in rural Malawi with either small or lack of basic income are faced with the challenge of obtaining care for their children as opposed to those in wealthy regions with high basic income. For this reason, limited economic affordability among residents of rural Malawi presents significant economic burden which prevents families from obtaining quality care for their children (Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et al., 2014; & Makaula, Bloch, and Muula, et al., 2012).
There is a great need to address social determinants of health about economic affordability and geographic accessibility of health care facilities to increase access to care for families in rural Malawi. As Daire and Khalil (2015) explain, one of the ways through which health inequality in Malawi can be solved is by addressing those factors that hinder citizens from accessing health care.
It is only by addressing these social determinants of health that Malawi will be able to reduce infant mortality and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Health care accessibility in Malawi will greatly be improved if the ability of low-income families to meet health care costs and to access health care facilities is enhanced (Daire and Khalil, 2015).
Potential Public Issues that might be encountered
Two major public issues may be faced in Malawi in an attempt to influence health policy development in the country. The possible general issues that may be encountered are related to the level of cultural awareness and health literacy among the country’s population. Health literacy refers to the ability of individuals to comprehend basic health information and their capacity to utilize it in decision-making.
High health literacy is directly related to improved health outcomes while limited health literacy is associated with poor public health. According to Smith-Greenway (2015), high infant mortality rates in Malawi are largely attributed to limited health literacy among low-income families in rural areas. Residents of rural Malawi rarely receive health education, and the public sector has not initiated any programs in those areas to keep citizens informed about health.
Also, the majority of households in rural Malawi can only speak their local language, and they do not understand any information presented to them in pure English (Smith-Greenway, 2015). Lack of public health education and proper communication of public health information are the primary causes of limited health literacy in Malawi. Consequently, limited health literacy may impede successful development and implementation of health policy in Malawi (Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et al., 2014).
The other public issue that may be encountered during health policy development and implementation in Malawi is the level of cultural awareness among the country’s population. According to Daire and Khalil (2015), cultural knowledge in a country determines the possibility with which a new policy can be developed and implemented. In this regard, it becomes difficult to implement a health policy that goes against the cultural beliefs and values of a country’s population.
As Reiney, Watkins, Ryman, Sandhu, Bo, and Benerjee, (2011) explain, low cultural awareness is a big problem in Malawi because it negatively affects health utilization among the country’s population. Specifically, cultural beliefs and values of the country’s population largely influence the patterns of health utilization in the country in the sense that, health underutilization is common in rural Malawi where occupants do not believe in care that is being offered by health care organizations. Ideally, low cultural awareness among rural populations in Malawi may prevent successful implementation of health policy in the country (Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et al., 2014).
Relationship Between Health Inequality and Life Expectancy in Malawi
There is an inverse relationship between health inequality and life expectancy in Malawi. In this regard, high disparities in health are associated with low life expectancy while low disparities in health are related to high life expectancy in Malawi. Life expectancy is low when infant mortality rate is high while life expectancy is high when infant mortality rate is low (Deurzen, Oorschot, and Ingen, 2014).
According to the World Health Organization report of 2017, health disparity in Malawi is significantly higher than that of Japan. Furthermore, an infant born in Malawi is highly likely to die at the age of 47 while a child born in Japan will probably die at the age of 87. Therefore, when health inequality is high in Malawi, life expectancy in the country is significantly low, especially among the rural populations (World Health Organization, 2012).
The inverse relationship between health inequality and life expectancy among poor populations is supported by research evidence. In a study conducted by Deurzen, Oorschot and Ingen (2014) the researchers have found that the rate of infant mortality is higher among the poor than among the rich populations. Therefore, a policy that can reduce health inequality will help to reduce infant mortality rate and eventually raise life expectancy (Deurzen, Oorschot, and Ingen, 2014).
Current Efforts in Malawi to Reduce Health Inequalities
The government of Malawi has worked hard to reduce health inequalities in the country with the aim of reducing infant mortality rates that occur among its rural populations. These efforts are geared towards addressing two major social determinants of health: economic affordability and geographic accessibility of health care facilities. As Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et. al., (2014) explain, governments can increase geographic accessibility of health care facilities by constructing additional organizations in rural areas.
Between 2003 and 2010, the Government of Malawi constructed a total of 39 health centers in the rural areas. This has helped its rural populations to access health care and to save time and money that could have been spent in traveling to the urban areas to seek for health care. Additionally, Malawi has taken appropriate actions to mitigate financial barrier among its rural populations by increasing their ability to meet health care cost.
In the year 2010, the Government of Malawi signed an agreement with facilities that operate under the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) to allow free health care services for mothers and children. With free access to child and maternal health care services, Malawi has been able to record a decrease in infant mortality rate with a slight increase in life expectancy (Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et. al., 2014).
Health Policy
The best health policy to address health inequality in Malawi would be that which will get the support of the country’s population, considering the fact that residents of rural Malawi have limited health literacy and do not have trust in the care offered by health care organizations (Makaula, Bloch, and Muula, et al., 2012).
An example of a policy that might be developed to reduce health inequality in Malawi is the creation of a National Development and Social Fund to support programs that facilitate construction of health care facilities in the rural areas, while at the same time meeting the health care costs of mothers and children who reside in rural Malawi.
The Government of Malawi should set aside funds to facilitate implementation of this policy to ensure that both rural and urban populations have equal access to health care. Successful implementation of this policy will result in a reduction in infant mortality rates among the poor populations in Malawi, which will eventually translate into high life expectancy in the country (Ustrup, Ngwira, and Fischer, et. al., 2014; Dairen and Khalil, 2015).
References
Daire, J. & Khalil, D. (2015). Analysis of maternal and child health policies in Malawi: The methodological perspective. Malawi Medical Journal, 27(4): 135-139.
Deurzen, I. V., Oorschot, W. V. & Ingen, E. (2014). The link between inequality and population health in low and middle-income countries: Policy myth or social reality? PLoS ONE, 9(12): e115109. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115109
Kumar, S. & Preetha, G. S. (2012). Health promotion: An effective tool for global health. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 37(1): 5-12. doi: 10.4103/0970-0218.94009
Makaula, P., Bloch, P…..& Muula, A. S. (2012). Primary health care in rural Malawi: A qualitative assessment exploring the relevance of the community-directed interventions approach. BMC Health Services Research, 12: 328. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-328
Reiney, J. J., Watkins, M., Ryman, T. K., Sandhu, P., Bo, A. & Benerjee, K. (2011). Reasons related to non-vaccination and under-vaccination of children in low and middle-income countries: Findings for a systematic review of the published literature, 1999-2009. Vaccine, 29(46): 8215-8221. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.08.096
Smith-Greenway, E. (2015). Are literacy skills associated with young adults’ health in Africa: Evidence from Malawi. Social Science and Medicine, 127: 124-133. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.036.
Ustrup, M., Ngwira, B…& Fischer, T. (2014). Potential barriers to healthcare in Malawi for under-five children with a cough and fever: A national household survey. Journal of Health Population and Nutrition, 32 (1): 68-78.
The various counter terrorism units in the country play an integral role in ensuring that the fight against terrorism is won. They are focussed on ensuring that not only the USA but the world in general is peaceful. A number of agencies are involved in the fight against terrorism in the USA but the focus of the paper will be centered on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The FBI serves as an intelligence and law enforcement agency and has its headquarters in Washington D.C. The agency was started in 1908 and has grown immensely to cover a wider range of responsibilities. It currently has over 35,104 employees that have a wide range of skills and knowledge that are essential in protecting the citizens of the USA from terrorism attack (Gulati, Raffaelli, and Rivkin, 2016).
Counter terrorism: Structure of FBI
The FBI has a centralized organizational structure that ensures a seamless flow of information. The head of the agency is the director who works in close conjunction with the office of the General Counsel, chief of staff, inspection division. The next in line is the deputy director who works in close conjunction with the office of professional responsibility, office of equal employment, office of the public and congressional affairs.
The other units that are controlled directly by the director and deputy director are criminal justice information service division, tracking division, administrative services division, training division, information resource division, information resources division, national security division, criminal investigative division, laboratory division, finance division, investigative services division, and counter- terrorism division ( United States Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI) Academy Handbook, 2014, p.89).
From an international perspective, the FBI has over 64 legats and smaller sub offices in various cities around the world. The presence of the agency is present in over 200 countries and they have been set up through a mutual understanding from the governments and the agency. Most of the offices are located within the U.S embassy or the consulate. Their main aim is to ensure that they share intelligence information that will benefit the country they are operating and the USA (International operations, 2017).
The agencies that they work with are Interpol, foreign police, CIA and other international organizations that safe guard the people. The interactions between the country they are hosted and the USA is based on the treaties, statues, executive orders and Attorney general guidelines that are agreed upon by all the agencies.
The Legat program goes further ahead to offer international intelligence training to the security agencies in the different countries that they operate. The training does provide an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the agency, USA and the countries they operate in. Moreover, it does provide an opportunity to consolidate the security of the entire world with respect to combating terrorism activities (International operations, 2017).
After the 9/11 attacks in the USA, the agency’s responsibility, intelligence work increased immensely to ensure efficiency in the operations to combat terrorism (McClintock, 2016). The counter terrorism division within the FBI is divided into four branches which are operations Branch 1, operations Branch II, analytical and operations support branch.
The Operations Branch I is further divided into two sections which are the international Terrorism Section I that does concentrate on al Qaeda activities on a regional and international basis. The second section concentrates on terrorism affiliated groups in Iraq/Syria/Libya, Palestinian rejectionist groups, Iran and Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups that are present in different parts of the globe (Anderson, 2010, p. 19).
The second branch, operations branch II, concentrates on weapons of mass destruction, terrorist financing operations, domestic terrorism and communications exploitation sections. The FBI does provide intelligence information on nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical or other weapons that are used by terrorist groups to clear a large number of people or cause extreme damage to the infrastructure of any nation. The second section, terrorist financing operations section, focuses on the investigating the funding of the terrorism groups and freezing their assets to decapitate their operations (Gulati et al., 2016).
The section does play a vital role in carrying out in depth investigation, prosecution, disruption and continuous demolishment of the terrorist activities that are tied down to fund-raising activities. The section has been further divided into four units to enhance efficiency, they are financial intelligence analysis, global extremist financial investigations, radical fundamentalist financial investigative, and domestic WMD, and global financial investigations unit (Gulati et al., 2016).
The third branch is the counter terrorism branch that deals with analysis and preparation of the intelligence reports. The branch does serve as the clearing house for all the intelligence gathering and processing. The branch has five divisions which are activities, ideology, linkages, trade craft and terrorist group composition. The branch does identify intelligence assets, blind spots and gaps in the intelligence system, evaluating the threat levels within the country, and the source of funding for all the terror groups.
The most dangerous groups that the branch monitors are the Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas. Last but not least it does share the intelligence they have gathered with other security agencies in the country to consolidated their work efforts (FBI Counter terrorism Analysis Branch Jobs and Salary, 2017).
The last branch, operations support branch, does focus on handling a number of responsibilities that are essential in ensuring that the tactical personnel are able to operate efficiently in the various missions. They develop budgets, organize training programs for the units, formulate CTD strategies, and consolidate partnerships with external private entities in the intelligence security organizations (FBI Counterterrorism Operational Support Branch Jobs and Salary, 2017).
The branch has two divisions which are the national threat center and the counter terrorism operational response section. The division is the backbone of the FBI and does share intelligence information with the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Department of Homeland Security to counter terrorism. Moreover, the unit also shares information with the general public when it comes to counter terrorism programs.
Additionally, the branch oversees the FBI personnel who have been seconded to other security agency and finally it does work in close conjunction with the Department of Defense when it comes to coordinating operations (FBI Counterterrorism Operational Support Branch Jobs and Salary, 2017).
On the logistic perspective focuses on ensuring that the agency can be able to work effectively in their operations. The employees in the logistic centre work in construction, space management employee health and safety, telecommunications management, facilities operations, mail/freight management, and security electronics. The logistics of the team does go beyond consolidating the operations within the Washington D.C offices and the legate in different parts of the world (Our very own global logistics Service, 2017).
Logistic aspect also does come into action when the FBI is engaged in field activities. The team that handles their logistics is referred to as the Rapid Deployment Logistic Unit (RDLU), the unit is the first respondents when the agency is called to handle an attack and it does constitute counter terrorism experts, communicators, medical staff, military liaisons, lab personnel among others. They also have the Crisis Advance Team (CAT) that does determine the number of specialist that are required to combat counter terrorism.
When the specialist responds to any attack the field specialists segregate areas to set up the command post, and other machines that will be essential in linking the operation to the FBI offices in the USA. The RDLU also does work in setting up temporary operation centers that provide the team with an opportunity of hosting major diplomatic meetings, international sports and other special events (Our very own global logistics Service, 2017).
On the financing aspects the agency does receive funds for operations mainly from the federal government. The president does provide the agency with the finances required to run the operations each financial year based on the budget prepared by the operational support branch of the FBI. The machinery and weapons used by the tactical team vary based on the mission that the agents are carrying out. As discussed, the unit has different agents handling varying issues with respect to countering terrorism (Operational Technology, 2017).
The one aspect that is clear is that the agency uses the latest technology in their role to combat terrorism in the USA and the world at large. The FBI has launched the operational technology division located in Virginia that does incorporate technology in the intelligence, law enforcement and national security aspect of the nation. Some of the specific areas that they focus on are advanced electronic surveillance and search, digital forensics, radio program, specialized support and coordination, tactical operations, technical personnel and defensive programs among others (Operational Technology, 2017).
In conclusion, counter terrorism is an issue that does affect everyone in the different parts of the world. The FBI is one of the agencies that our focus group concentrated on evaluating their organizational structure, size, the different responsibilities of the branches, the finances and the type of machinery that is used. The FBI is not the only agency that tackles terrorism issues, but it does play an effective role by collaborating with the internal and external agency to combat terrorism.
REFERENCE
Anderson, J. W. (2010). Disrupting Threat Finances: Utilization of Financial information to Disrupt terrorism. Diane Publishing.
Gulati, R., Raffaelli, R., & Rivkin, J.W. (2016). Does “what We Do” Make Us” who We Are”? Organizational Design and Identity Change at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Harvard Business School.
Explain the five factors that influence the adoption and diffusion of an innovation
According to Karakaya, Hidalgo, & Nuur, (2014), the adoption and diffusion of innovation is impacted by the cultural, socioeconomic, legal and technological factors. Individual variables also come into play like the demographics, and psychological. The term diffusion from a marketers’ perspective refers to the possibility that the identified customer segment will be able to accept a new or modified product and service that is being delivered to them.
Contrariwise, the term adoption focuses on the rate that the customers will accept the product and service. The process of diffusion and adoption of innovation is dynamic as it alters from one product and service to another (p. 393).
There are five factors that influence the process of adoption and diffusion of innovation; they are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability. Relative advantage refers to the degree to which an innovation is perceived to be better than a similar existing product or service by the users. The greater the level of perceived value, the higher the rate of adoption.
The relative advantage of a product can result from a lower price, accessibility and enhancement of the features of the product or services. The 4P’s of marketing play an important part in the relative advantage when it comes to innovation adoption price, place, promotion, but most customers concentrate on the productive-based advantages (Oldenburg & Glanz, 2008, p. 314).
An example of relative advantage that has managed to penetrate different parts of the globe is the ATM teller machines that are slowly replacing the bank teller counters. The introduction of the ATM teller machines reduced the long queues in the banking halls in different places of the globe.
Compatibility of the innovation
The second aspect is the compatibility that focuses on how closely the product and service does relate to the past experiences, values, culture and the needs of the potential adopters. The greater the compatibility to factors that the customer can relate to the higher the rate of adoption and vice versa. Incessant and dynamic innovations have a higher compatibility level than the discontinuous innovations when it comes to the diffusion and adoption as more customers can relate with them (Robinson, 2009, p. 2).
A good example is the introduction of fast food restaurants in Asia and Africa took a longer period to record higher returns when compared to the Europeans. The reason being that most of the people grew up eating traditional foods and the culture in the two continents encouraged home cooked meals shared by the entire family.
The third factor is a complexity that focuses on the ease of comprehension, purchase and use of the product and service. When customers understand the importance of the innovation and ways to use it, the level of adoption increases than in areas where they need to acquire new skills and knowledge to operate it. In the adoption of innovation, the complexity of technology often does act as a hurdle to its diffusion.
The notion of complexity when it comes to technology is based on the age group, the youths are more tech savvy when compared to the older generations, hence have a higher adoption rate (Ballard, 2015). A good example is the mobile phone industry, there are two models the complex one and the simpler one for texting, calling and sending SMS.
The fourth factor is trialability, which focuses on the rate at which the innovation is experimented with on a limited basis, increases its rate of diffusion. The notion of tried and tested in various products does appeal to the end customer and endear the innovation to them. Providing the customers with free samples, test-runs, and demos increases their confidence in the product, hence increasing the adoption rate. When it comes to electronic products the introduction of warranty and guaranty does increase the diffusion rate of the customers. An innovation that is trialable has minimal risk and has a high rate of diffusion among the customers (Karakaya et al., 2014, p. 395).
The final aspect is observability, the easier it is for people to see the result of the innovation the greater the likelihood for them to adopt it. Individuals are more attuned to accept things that they can see. It does reduce their rate of uncertainty instilling confidence in the innovation. New innovations that are likely to be diffused at a greater rate have the following properties in them they are tangible, social visible; benefits can easily be viewed within a short period of time. Observability does stimulate peer discussion, which in the end does propagate the diffusion of the innovation to target market (Robinson, 2009, p.2).
Question 4
What are the differences between organizational climate and culture?
Based on Schneider, Ehrhart, & Macey, (2013), organizational climate refers to the perceptions that are shared by the employees with respect to the practices, procedures and policies that guide their daily routines. On the other hand, organizational culture does refer to the shared orientations that glue the organization together based on beliefs, norms, values, and assumptions. They tend to shape the behaviour of the employees when they are working within their operations (p.381).
Secondly, organizational climate is centred on the micro image of the organization while organizational culture concerned with the macro vision of the organization. The macro aspect of culture is centred on the fact that the behaviour is ingrained in employees and is quite difficult to alter unlike organizational climate. Culture refers to the personality of the organization and does unite the members. The micro organizational aspect is centred on the way that the individuals within experience the culture of the organization and it does change quite frequently (Agafonovas & Alonderiene, 2013).
Thirdly, there are four types of organizational culture and climate. In organizational culture we have clan, market oriented, adhocracy and hierarchical culture while in the organizational climate, we have rule, goal, innovation, and people oriented. Fourthly, the management and external forces on the other hand the organizational culture is rarely altered can easily alter organizational climate and it is influenced by all the employees within the organization (Differencebetween.com, 2014).
Organizational culture is more static as it takes a longer time for it to be altered while organizational climate is dynamic and changes more rapidly. Lastly, organizational climate can easily be measured unlike the organization culture that is more based on peoples’ behaviour and perceptions making it difficult to quantify. Organizational culture has its roots in the fields of sociology and anthropology while organizational climate focuses on the psychology sector. On the culture perspective, it does focus on stories, rituals, and physical artefacts while climate focuses on the factors that influence behaviour (Differencebetween.com, 2014).
Discuss five climate factors that influence innovation.
The five climate factors that influence innovations are risk-taking, freedom and autonomy, ideal time and support, challenge and involvement and trust and openness. Risk taking refers to engaging in activities that have a lot of uncertainties with respect to the expected outcome. Innovation and risk are synonymous in the organizational climate. Organizations that are risk takers have a higher chance of investing in progressive unlike risk averse organizations. Risk averse climate often does stall innovation and turns organizations into followers of organizations that have adopted the climate of risk (Bolton, Mehran, & Shapiro, 2011, p.456).
Risk is influenced by a number of factors that are conscious, affective and subconscious. The conscious factors are based on manageability, proximity, severity of the impact to the organization and the society. On the other hand, subconscious factors are heuristics in nature and involve availability, representatives, lure of choice et cetera. Lastly, affective factors focus on the intelligence, fatalism and optimism bias (Crenshaw & Yoder-Wise, 2013, p. 26).
The second aspect is freedom and autonomy, which does focus on the creating a climate that gives the employees in the organization the independence to come up with innovations. The employees have the creative freedom to exploit the resources that are within the organization to come up with new driven products and services. In the spirit of freedom, the management often does create policies that make the innovative process flexible as long as it is in line with the goals and objectives of the organization (Acemoglu, Akcigit, & Celik, 2014).
The third factor focuses on ideal time and support from the organization. An innovative climate often does begin from top management where the employees are given full control of the resources that they need to come up with creative products and services. The organizational structure is often decentralized, hence creating a seamless flow of communication, policies and procedures (Acemoglu et al., 2014).
On the time perspective, most of the procedures are integrated to ensure that there is an easy coordination within the organization that is channelled to facilitate the research and development department. The support also does come from external partners like suppliers, investors, and higher institutions of learning among others. The entrance of partners does provide the organization with financial and academic knowledge that plays an integral role in shaping the innovations that will lead to the creation of new products and services (Zennouche, Zhang, & Wang, 2014).
The fourth factor focuses on challenge and involvement, innovation process does face a large number of hurdles that arise from both the internal and external climate. The internal challenges often deal with limited finances that often do incapacitate the progress of innovation. Innovative climate does require a continuous flow of innovation to ensure that the employees in an organization can formulate products and services.
The second challenge is constant failures in the innovative process that does demoralize the employees in the creation of innovative products and services. Another perspective is that the challenges that individuals face can easily create an innovative climate. Challenges trigger human beings to think analytically in ways they can resolve them resulting in the creation of creative and innovative products (Zennouche et al., 2014). The laptops for example were created to enable human beings to deal with the portability challenges posed by the computers.
On the other hand, the involvement factor does focus on the interpersonal exchange between the employees in the organization. The employees work together to foster an amicable and creative climate that does foster innovation. The employees are willing to share their knowledge and skills in different departments to foster the creation of innovative products that will enhance the competitive advantage of the organization (Axelsson & Sardari, 2011, p. 31).
A good example is the Apple Incorporation; the company has created a climate that enables the employees to willingly share their ideas, hence the increase in the number of innovative technological products coming from the organization.
The last aspect deals with trust and openness that refers to the environment where the employees know each other and have developed a deep relationship. A trust environment goes further to inspire the employees to willingly share their intellectual property with their fellow employees. Additionally, the environment enables the employees to formulate clear, distinctive strategies that are vital in chartering the innovative process (Henry, 2001, p. 35).
Moreover, it does enable the formulation of a common long-term goal that inspires the creation of innovative products and services within the organization. An open climate enables the members in the organization, especially top management to accept the failures that arise in the creation of innovative products and services. The acceptance encourages the employees to overcome their failures and create progressive products (Henry, 2001, p.35).
REFERENCE
Acemoglu, D., Akcigit, U. and Celik, M.A. (2014). Young, restles and creative: Openness to disruption and creative innovations (No. w19894). National Bureau of Economic Research
Agafonovas, A. and Alonderiene, R., 2013. Value creation in innovations crowdsourcing: example of creative agencies.
Axelsson, P., and Sardari, N. (2011). A framework to assess organizational creative climate. Division of management of organizational Renewal and entrepreneurship.
Ballard, J. A. 2015. Decoding the workplace: 50 keys to understanding people in organizations. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Bolton, P., Mehran, H., and Shapiro, J. 2011. Executive compensation and risk taking. FRB of New York Staff Report, (456).
Crenshaw, J. T., and Yoder-Wise, P.S. 2013. Creating an Environment for innovation: <i> The Risk- Taking Leadership Competency<i>. Nurse Leader, 11(1), pp. 24-27.
Henry, J., 2001. Creativity and perception in management. Sage.
Karakaya, E., Hidalago A. and Nuur, C., 2014. Diffusion of eco-innovations: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 33, pp. 392-399
Oldenburg, B., and Glanz, K. 2008. Diffusion of innovation. Health behaviour and health education, 4, pp. 313-333.
Robinson, L., (2009). Changeology. A summary of Diffusion of Innovations. Creative Commons Attrribution- Noncommercial. Australia.
Scheider, B., Erhart, M.G., and Macey, W. H. 2013. Organizational climate and culture. Annual review of psychology, 64, pp. 361-388.
Zennouche, M., Zhang, J., and Wang, B. (2014). Factors influencing innovation at individual, group and organisational levels: a content analysis. International Journal of Information System and Change Management, 7(1), pp.23-42.
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According to Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick (2012), marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships to capture value from customers in return. The marketing concept can be defined as the strategy that companies implement with the aims of satisfying customers’ needs, increasing sales, maximizing profits and overcoming competition in the business environment.
The marketing concept is a function of the marketing. Marketing can thus be said to be a department of management that is charged with the responsibility of trying to design strategies that will build profitable relationships with the target customers. Marketing is essential to every firm as it defines how well a firm will conduct its business to succeed. It shows the manner and way in which the firm is willing and able to go to fulfil the needs of their clients.
The product concept is one of the marketing concepts. This concept is mainly focused on the design and quality of products. With this concept, it is believed that customers will automatically buy products that are of high quality. Consumers are known and believed to favor products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. With this concept, research and development is an essential element.
It is important for firms to invest in research and development to ensure that they sell the products that are believed to be the best to the consumers. Firms do not bother to study the market and consumer in depth. The main belief with the product concept is to the consumers. The consumers are believed to more likely be loyal if they have more options of products or if they get more benefits from the products of the firm.
Marketing concept: Limitations
Despite the advantages of product concept, it does have its limitations that may hinder the efficiency of the firm in trying to satisfy its customers. The first limitation arises from the fact that firms rely on the product to “sell itself” based on its quality, performance, and reliability. This, however, can result in negligence of some audiences from the advertising. In the market, there may be some potential consumers who would have bought the product.
Failing to advertise this product to the real potential consumers means that they will not be aware of its launch or availability. This reduces the firm’s consumer reach, market share, revenues and overall profitability. Another disadvantage arises if the firm fails to carry out a detailed research about its target audience. This means that the firm will miss the essential advertising opportunities. Additionally, the firm will not be able to supply the product specifications for the audience’s desires and needs.
Question 2
The current business environment is changing, and this means that marketing is changing too. Some of the reasons that lead to a change in the business environment are globalization and technology. Currently, a successful marketing strategy is where a firm lets its customers find them through strong search engine presence or through discovering the value of the firm’s service.
With the changes in the business environment, there is the rise in international marketing and firms need to keep up with is to be sustainable and competitive. According to Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick (2012), international marketing is defined as identifying needs and wants of customers in different markets and cultures, providing products, services, technologies and ideas to give the firm a competitive marketing advantage, communicating information about these products and services and distributing and exchanging them internationally through one or a combination of foreign market entry modes.
The modern market is characterized by inbound marketing. With the increase in technology and globalization, consumers are searching for and purchasing services and products online. The firms have thus shifted their focus on content creation, social media, search engine optimization and landing pages. Currently, marketing is centered on content, and this means that firms are required to attract and maintain customers with information and content.
With technological advances, there has been the increase in the use of social media as a marketing strategy to influence consumers and customers. Several firms are on social with Facebook accounts, twitter handles, Instagram as well as LinkedIn accounts. The reason behind social media is that it is a great tool for cultivating relationships with customers and sharing contents. Firms effectively distribute their content to potential clients through social media as it allows them to immediately see if people like, commenting or sharing its content. The better the content of the firm is, then the more likely the firm will gain new customers.
In the modern marketing environment, marketers combine inbound marketing with the outbound promotion. Despite the fact that inbound marketing is cost effective, it cannot however fully substitute outbound promotion. Additionally, modern marketing strategies leverage iterative execution and optimization by exploring new channels as well as adopting innovative tools and technologies. The best way to maximize marketing efficiency is through technology and optimization in the modern market.
Efficiency is enhanced through elimination of manual tasks, the establishment of communication workflows, centralization of data reports as well as facilitation of events. Additionally, modern marketing enables firms to adapt to market shifts as well as to outdo the competition by improving creative strategies and solutions. Finally, it is important for firms to measure and analyze their performance. This will enable a firm to determine the marketing strategies that are working and improve them.
Project failure in the business world is a result of lack of proper implementation of the project management principles. Most businesses focus on the partial implementation of the concepts, or they are in a rush to complete the project an aspect that results in poor project performance. The paper will evaluate the failure of Target Corporation expansion plan concerning penetrating the Canadian retail industry.
Project management refers to the application of knowledge, skills, methods, and concepts to ensure the requirements of a project are fulfilled. White elephant projects often arise more common in social projects than in business one due to the high amount of investment that is channeled in the achievement of the project (Larson & Gray, 2013, p. 11).
Target Company launched an impressive expansion project to Canada that ended up in complete failure. The company has a successful track record in the USA retail industry. The company building on this successful track record decided to venture into the Canadian market. In Project management, the time frame is set before the initiation of the project in this case the retail store had set a time frame of 10 months for the project to be completed (Megitis & Schuster, 2015, p.13).
Target bought 220 leases of the Zeller stores in Canada in January 2013, that was a declining Canadian discount chain store located in Hudson Bay. The retail store required extensive remodeling to improve its outlook as most of the stores had been neglected by Zeller store.
The immense desire to open the stores within the hyped time frame made the American retail store to ignore most of the project management steps that had been stepped up. The time frame set up was unreasonable for them to be able to open over 120 stores in Canada and stock them entirely (Megitis & Schuster, 2015, p.13).
In project management, comprehending the scope of the project does increase the success as the project team members can comprehend the magnitude of their operation. The magnitude and scope of the Target project were under estimated which resulted in poor coordination of the entire project. Target Company has a renowned design in their stores that sets it apart from other stores in the USA.
The retails store was focussing on bringing this concept to the Canadian market, but the poor state and design of the retail stores increased the magnitude of work that had to be done (Austen, 2014).
In project management, the managers and their teams work hard to control the level of uncertainties. In the case of the Target launch into Canada, it seems the complete evaluation of the project was not conducted to pinpoint all the hurdles that they were likely to face. The paper will delve incorporate the project management techniques and concepts in the evaluation of the reasons why the project failed immensely. Forcing the company to count their losses and close all the retail stores in the Canada and move back to the USA to regroup.
Project management: Project Life Cycle
All projects fall into five groups, which are an initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and finally closing. The initiation refers to the commencement of the project where the idea generated is evaluated to determine if it is viable and will benefit the goals and objectives of the organization. In this phase the decision-making team which in most cases is the top level management evaluate the feasibility of the project and the resources required to ensure the success of the project against the benefits (Kerzner, 2013, p. 15).
In the case of Target Company was successful in the USA market and they were looking for new opportunities concerning global expansion. The company preferred the expansion in the form of physical brick and mortar retail store to e-commerce. The selection of Canada as the suitable area to launch their expansion plan was based on the fact that the country is geographically close and the Target market was popular among most Canadians who had visited the USA (Dahlhoff, 2015).
This reduced the marketing and advertising cost that would be required to create customer awareness about the retail store. Another factor that was taken into account in the selection of the country was that they were facing minimal levels of recession when compared to the USA. This meant that the consumer had more disposable income compared to the USA consumers, hence increasing the chances of the retail store to make high levels of profits (Dahlhoff, 2015).
The second phase of project management is planning. The planning phase refers to creating a detailed outline that transforms the feasible idea into a plan. The plan does guide the execution of the project as it details the series of steps to be followed in the utilization of the resources. It does ensure that the project team members can manage cost, time, quality, change, and risk among other issues (Serrador, 2012, p.5).
In the case of Target Company, the retail store failed to come up with a comprehensive plan that would have increased the success of the company in their launch of the retail store. The first dent in their plan is that they bought Zellers stores that were widely known. It seemed like a good idea in the initiation phase as the retail store was built on a present store and they, therefore, did not need to start from scratch (Banjos & Trichur, 2014).
The defect in this plan was that the Zeller location was located in areas that were difficult to access and had limited storage spaces. The Canadian customers were expecting the launch of large retail stores in the country that were similar to those in the USA. The downpour on their expectations resulted in negative reviews from the customers an aspect that decreased their sales (Banjos & Trichur, 2014).
The third phase of project management is execution phase, which is the longest one in the project management lifecycle. The execution phase is when deliverables are created and completed. During this phase, the members involved in the project are informed of their roles. The project manager does monitor and controls the utilization of resources and expenditure as during this phase a lot of them are expanded (Burke, 2013, p. 23).
In building the deliverable, the activities are undertaken often vary with the type and scope of the project. The activities are often executed in either a waterfall or an iterative manner. In a waterfall, the sequencing aspect is introduced where the projects are run one of another until they are completed while iteratively the deliverables are made until the needs of the customers are met (Burke, 2013, p.23).
In Target Company the project was executed iteratively. The retail store had purchased 220 stores from Zeller, but due to the short time frame of 10 months when they were expected to open their stores they had to rush the remodelling and design. The project managers were forced to alter their waterfall sequence and bow down to the pressure to open the stores on time.
The number of stores to open was reduced to 122 to meet the organizations tight opening time. The aspect was the genesis of their downfall as the project managers were unable to recreate the stores to resemble the ones present in USA (Wahba, 2015).
According to Leach, (2014) the fourth phase of the project life cycle is focussed on monitor and control which focuses on ensuring that all the resources are utilized to achieve the goals of the organization. The resources that are monitored are time, cost, procurement, change among others (p.27). The Canada expansion project was poorly monitored hence the high losses that the company incurred.
The purchase of the Zeller store was a poor strategy. The company could have benefitted more from renting their stores that would have been easy to simulate to the retail stores that they have in the USA. Additionally, there were a lot of subprojects that were started within the main project that ended up overshadowing the main project.
The company’s marketing team had created a huge hype for the opening of the retail stores in the country. The hype placed a lot of pressure on the management and project team which resulted in them racing various components of the project to beat the unrealistic opening team set up by the management team (Wahba, 2015).
Time and cost management come into play within this phase. Time management is the process of managing the time spent in the completion of a project. The time sheet form or the Gantt chart is used to create a projective time scale that the project will run and provides guidance on ways to execute the project (Lewis, 2010).
As discussed in the paper the concept of time management contributed immensely to the failure of Target Company to launch their stores in Canada. On the cost management aspect, the company had underestimated some finances required to launch the project in totality (Sorensen, 2015).
Target market did not carry out an extensive study of the retail industry in Canada. There are many other retail stores in Canada that posed a huge challenge to the company like Wal-Mart. In most cases when a business enters a new market, they either have to start small and build their brand or merge with another corporation (Sorensen, 2015).
Change management refers to the process whereby alterations to the project scope are evaluated and approved for them to be implemented. The project encountered some changes when it stepped into the Canadian market, which they had not anticipated. In the case of Target Company, they were new to the Canadian retail industry and. They purchased Zeller who was one of the big discount stores in the company. The company was thrown into a big feat to not only set up their operations to meet the size of Zeller but to also meet the customer expectations of the Target retail store (Sorensen, 2015).
Procurement and Logistics management focuses on the consolidation of all the suppliers and distributors under one umbrella. It ensures a seamless flow of supplies from the distributor to the requester. This aspect is enshrouded in building supplier/distributor relationship that enforces the spirit of confidence among them (Chen, 2015, p.1398). The confidence makes the suppliers and distributors go out of their way to deliver the supplies where they are needed.
Moreover, in the retail industry, the inventory notion cannot be ignored it is pertinent to the success of the stores. The managers of the retail store need to ensure that their warehouse is located at the central point that will enable them to access their requests on time (Leach, 2014, p. 27).
In the case of Target Company when they opened their retail store the happy bubble quickly busted when their customers encountered empty shelves in their different stores. Additionally, they had limited product offerings in their retail stores especially the products that were mostly stocked by their retail stores in the USA like Cherry Coke soft drink. The store does operate on the principle that they are a one stop shop, but in the scenario of Canada this was not the case. It increased negative reviews from their customers resulting in a sharp declining in sales and a damaged reputation in the country (St. Louis, 2015).
The problem is attributed to the fact that their warehouse was located at a far point from the retail stores. The poor positioning of the warehouse delayed the arrival of the orders to their 122 retail stores in different parts of the country. Moreover, the company had not established any relationship with the suppliers in the nation. The lack of supplier relationship affected the speedy delivery of products into the stores; most of the suppliers operated on a cash basis as the retail store was new and had no credit track record in the nation. The aspect resulted in them being unable to stock their stores with the products needed within the predetermined time frame to satisfy their customers’ needs (St. Louis, 2015).
The last phase of the project cycle is closing. In the closing, the entire life cycle is evaluated to determine if the objectives that initiated the project have been met. In the case they have been fulfilled, we then conclude that the project is successful in the case they have not been met the project is termed as a failure (Kerzner, 2013, p. 17). In the case of Target Company as discussed in the paper the expansion project was a total failure and resulted in not only immense losses that amounted $ 7 billion but also damaged the reputation of the retail store (St. Louis, 2015).
According to Johnson, Scholes & Whittington (2008), stakeholders are the individuals that have an interest in the operations of the organization. The stakeholders might be actively engaged in the project concerning its completion. Additionally, the stakeholders have the power to influence the project either positively or negatively. In other words, they are the main drivers of projects as they ensure that the resources are required to carry out the project are readily available.
In the modern project management, stakeholder engagement has taken the central role. They are more actively involved in the running of the projects in different areas. The involvement of stakeholders in the organizations is a show of corporate responsibility. The stakeholders include investors, employees, customers, suppliers, distributors among others. All of them benefit directly or indirectly from the successful completion of a project (Tammer, 2009, p.4).
Based on the stakeholder discussion, when they are ignored in the implementation of a project the chance of failure is higher. This was the case in the Target Company global expansion project in Canada; the stakeholders were not actively involved, hence the huge amount of losses. The customers’ needs were not taken into consideration to determine the type of retail stores that they wanted (The Globe and Mall, 2017).
The company worked on the assumption that the name Target will be enough to sell their product and services to the new market. Additionally, the customers have different purchasing behaviors to that of their customers in Canada. Moreover, they failed to include the suppliers and the distributors in their Canadian expansion plan (Penny, 2015).
Communication
In project communication management the focus is often concentrated on a seamless information flow between all the parties involved in running the project. The first process starts with them establishing the channels of communication to ensure that all the members involved in the project can relay their concerns. The response structure involved in the communication process should be decentralized to enable faster decision making (Heagney, 2016, p. 36).
Communication plays a role in integrating all the aspects of the project and ensures that in the case a problem is detected in one sector of the project, there is a prompt response. The medium of communications and response to situations is identified. A streamlined communication in all instances leads to the success of the project as all the members involved are reading from the same script (Heagney, 2016, p. 36).
Taking this into consideration, the Target Company expansion project plan in Canada there was a limited communication that hampered its success. There was a communication breakdown between the suppliers, distributors and the retail store operates. This caused most of the store shelves to lack most of the commodities (Sorensen, 2015).
Additionally, the communication between the management in the USA and the people set up to handle the operations in Canada was clouded with a lot of lies. The reports that the USA Target team received showed that the stores were performing at a slow pace and everything was going according to plan. The time when the management came to investigate they found a deplorable situation in most of their stores. The aspect forced them to close their stores a clear sign that the project was a big failure for the retail store (Sorensen, 2015).
Risk Management
Project risk management refers to all the processes that are involved in the identification, analysis, and control of risk. It involves concentration on increasing the positive results of the project while reducing the negative effects. The process involved in risk management entails risk identification, risk quantification, risk response development and risk response control (Pritchard & PMP 2014).
The process of risk identification focuses on the determination of the risks that have a higher chance of affecting the project (Pritchard & PMP, 2014). Target Company focussed on the superficial risk aspects that were going to affect the launch of their retail store in Canada. They analyzed the competition in Canada and to outwit Wal-Mart retail store they believed purchasing a known company will give them some head start, but this was not the case as the project failed (Span, 2015).
A risk development plan refers to the steps that have been created to manage threats when they occur. It does focus on the avoidance, acceptance, and mitigation (Moran, 2015, p. 18). There is a high possibility that the company lacked a risk response development plan. The reason for stating this arises from the fact that when they started incurring difficulties in; filling their stores, expanding the spaces, and offering the products at affordable prices like their retail stores in the USA they decided to throw the towel (Shaw, 2015).
The last step in the risk management plan is the risk response control. The risk response entails the execution of ways to manage the risk process. When it comes to controlling risk the first step that the company should have taken is to reduce the number of stores (Schwalbe, 2015, p.23). The 122 stores were unmanageable and did play a major role in the failure of the project.
Conclusion
In conclusion, for a project to be successful all the concepts of project management have to be taken into consideration. As discussed in the essay the failure of the project was due to lack of a risk management plan, communication process, and non-involvement of the stakeholders. Target Company failed to carry out a detailed project control when they launched their operations in Canada.
REFERENCE LIST
Austen, I., 2014. Target push into Canada stumbles. The New York Times. Retrieved on May, 25, p.2015.
Banjo, S. and Trichur, R., 2014. How Target Missed the Mark in Canada. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on May, 25, p.2015.
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Chen, H.L., 2015. Performance measurement and the prediction of capital project failure. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), pp.1393-1404.
Megits, N. and Schuster, J., 2015. Target Canada: Lesson from Failure of International Entry. Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research (JEECAR), 2(2), p.13.
Moran, A., 2014. Project Risk Management. In Agile Risk Management (pp. 17-32). Springer International Publishing.
Penny, J. (2015). Target Canada – Why Do Projects Fail?. [online] Calleam.com. Available at: http://calleam.com/WTPF/?p=7467 [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017].
Pritchard, C.L. and PMP, P.R., 2014. Risk management: concepts and guidance. CRC Press.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Serrador, P. (2012). The importance of the planning phase to project success. Paper Presented at PMI. Global Congress. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Sorensen, C. (2015). Off-Target: How a U.S. retail giant misread the Canadian market. [online] Macleans.ca. Available at: http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/off-target-how-a-u-s-retail-giant-misread-the-canadian-market/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017].
Span, S. (2015). Why Target Canada Failed (Hint: It was culture and management). [online]. Available at: https://www.eremedia.com/tlnt/why-target-canada-failed-hint-it-was-culture-and-clueless-management/. [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017].
Tammer, M. D. (2009). Early stakeholder involvement in projects. PM World Today, 9(4).
Wahba, P. (2015). Dumpy locations, empty shelves, and poor pricing compared to Wal-Mart doomed Target’s efforts in Canada. [online] Fortune.com. Available at: http://fortune.com/2015/01/15/target-canada-fail/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017].
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What is Luke’s presentation of the role of spirit baptism in achieving God’s plan of salvation?
Salvation is enshrouded in baptism which takes two forms water and Spirit baptism. Spirit baptism does provide one with an opportunity to let go of their sinful nature and transition into a righteous nature. Most Christians comprehend one form of baptism that is water baptism.
The proposal seeks to focus on the Spirit baptism and its role in salvation. In the book of Luke 3:16, John the Baptist said that he was going to baptize them with water, but the one who will come after him will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire. The one who he was referring to was Jesus Christ.
The book of Acts chapter 2 delves in depth in elucidating the baptism by the Holy Spirit, and its impact on the people who experienced it. In Acts 2:2-4, the disciples were the first people in masses to be baptized by the Holy spirit. There was a noise that came from the sky that sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the entire house.
The disciples saw what looked like tongues of fire that spread and touched everyone in the room and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The immediate effect according to Acts 2:4 is that they began to speak in other languages that they were not familiar with before.
Therefore, in the act of baptism by the Holy Spirit Jesus is the baptizer while the medium is the Holy Spirit. This point is further elaborated in Acts 2:38, where Peter states that everyone should turn away from their sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The baptism will lead to the forgiveness of sins and will provide them with an opportunity to receive God’s gift that is the Holy Spirit.
The verse has different interpretations based on what Peter told the people. Some scholars believe that baptism comes after the forgiveness of sins while others believe that the verse means that their sins were already forgiven and he was employing them to be baptized.
What then is the role of baptism by the Holy Spirit? In Acts 2:14, Peter echoed the message of Prophet Joel who stated that in the last days God would pour His Holy Spirit that will enable people to proclaim the Lord’s message in different spheres of the world. Based on this verse the Holy Spirit will help in spreading the word of God to all people irrespective of their religious inclinations and cultures.
In the book of Luke 10:21, the Holy Spirit brings joy in the lives of Christians and enables them to comprehend the scriptures better. How does the Holy Spirit perform this role and how is it interlinked with God’s salvation plan? In Luke 10:21, it is written that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed that the Lord had shown to the unlearned what he had concealed from the wise.[1]
Does God’s plan encompass everyone on earth? In the book of Acts11:17, when the Holy Spirit descended it went to the Gentiles who were not baptized by water. An indication that God had wanted not only the Jews to come to him but also people from other nations through one way that is repentance and living by His Word.
Christians and scholars alike have sought to understand the concept of baptism and its role in Christianity and salvation. In the Book of Acts, the subject of spirit baptism is widely mentioned and based on readings from this book; it is clear that spirit baptism plays the role of remission of sins.
Based on this, it can be established that the role of spirit baptism in cleansing sins is considered an important undertaking in the lives of Christians and those who seek to convert to Christianity. The Book of Acts also speaks about the understanding of God’s words and repentance as a requirement for baptism, which to a great extent portrays baptism as playing a role ensuring that individuals repent and understand the word.
In Acts 2:38, Peter alludes that baptism is a process in which an individual decides to leave their life of sin and begin a new chapter of life, characterized by believing in Jesus Christ and his teachings.[2] About this, Luke writes about two types of baptism: baptism by water and baptism by the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 1:5, Luke talks about baptism by the Holy Spirit by recalling what Jesus said to the disciples “For John baptized you with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Baptism in the Holy Spirit is differentiated from water baptism in that after baptism with the Holy Spirit, an individual receives power, following the encounter with Spirit of God (Acts 1:8).
The entire book of Acts does portray the power of the Holy Spirit after the baptism that took place in Acts 2. After the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, they received the power to perform miracles and wonders the same way Jesus Christ performed numerous miracles in the book of Luke (Acts 5:12-42).[3]
The role of Baptism
Baptism for the remission of sins
This alludes in various instances in which baptism is mentioned in the Book of Acts and where individuals get baptized on different occasions. The verse, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38) demonstrates that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins.
Besides showing that individuals who are baptized are forgiven, Peter in this verse further calls on individuals to repent, which essentially refers to an acknowledgment of a life of sin and the desire to have one’s sins forgiven to begin a new life.[4]
The verse Acts 2:38, has initiated a lot of discussion in Christianity. According to Dunn’s interpretation, the verse talks about a new covenant that came into existence after the repentance of sins. In the book of Luke, only Jesus Christ had the holy spirit as all the other people had not had their sins purged via spirit baptism. The day of Pentecost provided an opportunity for the believers to be filled with the holy spirit as their sins had been cleansed via the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.[5]
On the other hand, Ervin does provide a different interpretation of the verse where he breaks the relation between salvation and the gifts of the holy spirit. According to him, he does believe that the start of Christianity is limited to repentance and water baptism. The gift of the holy spirit is secondary to the Christian faith.[6]
David Petts is another Scholar who came up with a new interpretation of Acts 2:38, he does associate the spirit baptism with the missionary work. According to him forgiveness and the reception of the holy spirit are intertwined, unlike Dunn who does separate the two.
Dunn interprets the verse to mean that forgiveness of sin has to occur first before the spirit baptism takes place in a person.[7]For David Petts to support his argument, he does point out the case of Cornelius in Acts 10:43, where in faith he reached to God for forgiveness and received both forgiveness and the holy spirit.[8]
Max Turner, another scholar, does present another interpretation of the verse Acts 2:38, according to spirit baptism is part and parcel of Christianity but it was not intertwined with missionary outreach work. According to him the book of Acts does not indicate that all the Christians who received spirit baptism took part in evangelical work.
It was limited to only a select few individuals like the apostles.[9] He says that the spirit baptism takes place in an individual for a particular purpose not necessarily taking part in the apostolic activity. Based on him the spirit baptism does provide people with an opportunity to experience Jesus Christ directly. It does come into place through faith when one does accept Jesus in their lives.[10]
Based on my understanding of the verse I concur with Dunn’s interpretation of Acts 2:38. Spirit baptism is based on forgiveness of sins where one confess and through their faith in Jesus Christ they receive salvation. Despite my personal views, my research paper will aid in deeply explaining the verse as it is central in comprehension of the role of spirit baptism in salvation.
Baptism as the beginning of a new existence
Baptism is a declaration of one’s willingness to act according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Hence the reason baptism has often been considered as a rite of initiation. According to Carlson[11], baptism can be considered a Christian initiation rite, through the introduction of an individual into Christian ways, having read the word and understood it.
A similar connotation is given in Romans 5:12-21, where Paul notes that individuals who are baptized by the spirit experience a transformation, in which their former sinful existence is negated Carlson[12] and they are inaugurated into a Christ-ruled reality or existence.
Baptism as a sign of believing in Christ
According to the Book of Acts, it is evident that spirit baptism is only for those who believe, such that baptism plays the role of ensuring that people understand God’s word. In Acts 18:8, many Corinthians who heard the word and believed were baptized; while in Acts 2:41, ‘those who gladly received his word’ after hearing Peter’s sermon were baptized.
Given that baptism is meant for those that hear the word and understand it (Acts 2:36-37), and receive its message (Acts 2:41), individuals who refuse to believe cannot be baptized.
2.4 Baptism and repentance
Repentance is a prerequisite of baptism as provided in Acts 2:38. Peter instructs ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ….’ He does not simply ask them to get baptized but instead asks them to repent first, an indication that getting baptized is a major decision to turn away from sin and commit towards serving Jesus Christ.[13]
Baptism as the gateway to salvation
A controversial question that arises based on the teachings on baptism as given in the book of Acts is whether baptism is compulsory for Christians to receive salvation. This is based on Acts 2:38, where Peter calls on repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. This is invariably interpreted as meaning that baptism is a prerequisite for forgiveness, hence the importance placed on baptism.
Paul was also baptized to be forgiven his sins and Ananias asking him to get baptized while calling on the name of the Lord to be redeemed can interpret it to mean that one cannot be saved if they have not been baptized. While this view is greatly supported, the bible numerously talks about the forgiveness of sins without mentioning baptism[14].
In Acts 10:43 for example, Peter says to Cornelius that everyone who believes in God will receive forgiveness. Furthermore, it was only after Cornelius, and his family believed and received the forgiveness that they were baptized (Acts 10:47-48). Cornelius was spirit baptized when he was in prison. This is an indication that the spirit baptism took place. This is an indication that salvation does precede water baptism. [15]
Role of Baptism in God’s plan for salvation
Examples of Citing the Bible
Acts 1:5
Acts1:8
Acts 2: 2-4
Acts 2:14
Acts 2: 36-37
Acts 2:41
Acts 10: 47-48
Acts 11: 15-18
Luke 3:16
Romans 5:12-21
Conclusion
Bibliography
Atkinson, William. Baptism in the spirit, Luke-Acts, and the Dunn Debate. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2012.
Callam, Neville G. “Baptists and the Subject of Baptism.” Ecumenical Review 67, (October 2015): 334-361.
Carlson, Richard. “The Role of Baptism in Paul’s Thought.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 14, (July 1993):255-266.
Dunn, James D. Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-examination of the New Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in relation to Pentecostalism Today. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd; 2010.
Ekundayo, Lawrence O. “The Practice of Baptism and Its Justification in Anglican Church.”
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 21, no. 4 (April 2016): 32-38.
Jensen, Robin M. “Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity.” Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012.
Petts, David. “The Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Theological Distinctive.” Pentecostal perspectives (1998): 98-119.
Reardon, Timothy W. “Cleansing through Almsgiving in Luke-Acts: Purity, Cornelius, and
the Translation of Acts 15:9.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 78, no. 3 (July 2016): 463-482.
Schreiner, Thomas R., and Shawn D Wright. Believers Baptism. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2007.
Spruce, Jim. Baptism: An important step in your life with Christ. Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House, 2012.
[1] Lawrence O. Ekundayo, “The Practice of Baptism and Its Justification in Anglican Church.”
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 21, no. 4 (April 2016):35.
[2] Richard Carlson, “The Role of Baptism in Paul’s Thought,” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 14 (July 1993):255.
[3] Robin M. Jensen, Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2012), 65.
[4] Jim Spruce, Baptism: An important step in your life with Christ (Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House, 2012), 15.
[5] William, Atkinson, Baptism in the Spirit Cambridge (The Lutterworth Press, 2012), 10.
[6] Howard, Ervin, Conversion-initiation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A in the Holy Spirit (Hendrickson Publishers; 1984), 65.
[7] James, D. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-examination of the New Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in relation to Pentecostalism Today (Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd; 2010), 80.
[8] David Petts, “The Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The theological Distinctive,” (Pentecostal perspectives. 1998):65.
[9] Max, Turner, Power from on High: The Spirit in Israel’s restoration and witness in, Luke-Acts (A & C Black; 1996),398.
[11] Richard, Carlson “The Role of Baptism in Paul’s Thought,” 255.
[12] Richard, Carlson “The Role of Baptism in Paul’s Thought,” 257.
[13] Thomas R. Schreiner, and Wright D. Shawn, Believers Baptism. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2007),43.
[14] Neville G. Callam, ” Baptists and the Subject of Baptism,” Ecumenical Review 67 (October 2015): 335.
[15] Timothy W. Readers, “Cleansing through Almsgiving in Luke-Acts: Purity, Cornelius, and the Translation of Acts 15:9,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 78, no. 3 (July 2016): 464.
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